Netflix's "The Circle" is my seventh layer of hell, and I can't stop watching it

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/03/netflixs-the-circle-is-m.html

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From that description, It sounds more like the older Black Mirror episode “One Million Merits”, with the guy from Get Out.

Anyway, for some reason I’ve been doing very well lately at thinking “I don’t really care about this, so I’m not going to make mental space for it”. I think it might be a symptom of aging.

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Good for you.
But it’s not a symptom of aging, it’s a sign of maturity!
:wink:

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Thanks for posting this. I’d been wondering what this trashy Black Mirror business Netflix keeps trying to foist on us was, but not enough to actually risk watching it, and now I don’t have to. We can safely get back to bingeing all 937 seasons of Criminal Minds for our background-noise melodrama (note to self: becoming interested in literally anything makes one a weirdo who will either get murdered or start murdering) and hoping Queer Eye dials back the culturally awkward gimmickry next go-round (we’re in an Amazon tribal village!).

In fairness to Netflix, we only started watching Criminal Minds because we were so bummed to have run out of Mindhunter so quickly.

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It’s interesting you went with “layer of hell” instead of “circle of hell” in the headline. That seems like a missed opportunity, given the show’s title.

As for the 7th Circle of Hell…

Seventh Circle: Violence
I’ll be honest with you, dear reader: Dante was being kind of a dick when it came to designing this level. It is composed of three rings. The outer ring is filled with blood and fire and reserved for murderers and thugs. That’s fine, but it gets sketchier from here. The middle ring is where, according to Dante, suicide victims go. They’re transformed into trees and fed upon by harpies (which I guess are somehow related to termites?). The inner ring, a place of burning sand, is reserved for “blasphemers” and “sodomites.” Like I said, Dante was a bit of a dick. How about we ret-con this one (Sorry, residents of the sixth circle…) and reserve it for the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church? If that makes me kind of a dick, well, I’ll live with that.

A better circle may be the 2nd, from the same post as above:

Second Circle: Lust
The wind-buffeted second circle of Hell is the final destination of the lustful and adulterous — basically anyone controlled by their hormones. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy were among its most famous residents during Dante’s day, but you can expect this place to be full of angsty teenagers and reality television stars by the time you arrive.

On to my thoughts about the show, I think I’m way outside the target demographic, but I still may end up checking it out anyhow. I was surprised to discover that I enjoy the British show “Gogglebox” awhile back. I just wish it was easier for me to watch in the US.

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Weirdly, it was a conflict of my writer brain not wanting to have the word “circle” in there twice, in such close proximities. Also I wrote this immediately after watching the show, which I think broke my brain.

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Um, yeah, but no. I could just go down the street and look into a local greasy spoon’s dumpster for awhile. But I don’t want to do that either, so. :woman_shrugging:

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Congealed Fat? Punk band or Blues band or Blues Punk band?

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I’d go with Dumpster of Misery.

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I’ve been thinking the same way, and it feels good. Particularly when you’ve seen the same thing cycle through society a few times over the decades, it gets easier to ignore.

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I for one find it interresting in terms on how the reactions for Rebecca and Mercedeze will be.

Both have kinda “fake” personas in the literal sense. As such it could be interresting what happens if the truth gets revealed.

I am a bit biased here seeing that i am a transperson and had to deal with similiar situations for years.

Game theory wise i think it might be safer to be 8th place then closer to the top spots. As long the player appears non threatening the more competive players will be blocked.

Shubham and Chris might be safer since they display as Minoritie members. As such voting them out could be seen as racist/homophobic.

Damn you all to hell, Thomas. No way I would have gotten hooked on this trashy show without your post, and yet here I am, binging it.

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Any relation to “Cradle of Filth”?

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No, that’s a different branch of the tree. Here’s a not so distant relation from the right one.

FB_IMG_1576907286805

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Layer cake of heaven and hell.

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I’ve watched three episodes of this now, mostly because of your “recommendation,” and I think I have officially lost my Ph.D.

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I instinctively know that because I have no contacts and don’t try to make any that my great ideas for TV shows will never get any traction. but even then I get upset when I see something similar to one of my ideas make it on TV.

my Idea however was more psycho because its called “The Machine” but is based on the early sci-fi disaster story called “The Machine Stops”

"in this reality show, everyone starts off isolated in a (surprisingly nice) apartment, and with their online interactions as their only means of any communication. " Thats where my show idea starts as well but they also have their food brought to them through a hole in the wall. slowly but surely things start to glitch out and with the lights going off and on and eventually no internet, they appear forced to pry open their emergency hatches and go through tunnels that have horrible puzzles in them.

whomever survives to the outside world gets a amazon gift certificate and a pat on the head.

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A Waste of talent.

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richmond-cradle

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