What is the origin of the name Black Mirror?
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9This exact question could be found with a quick Google search, fyi.– BruceWayneCommented Feb 3, 2018 at 5:05
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3 Answers
The creator, Charlie Brooker, has said it is a reference to our screens when they are turned off.
Because any TV, any LCD, any iPhone, any iPad – something like that – if you just stare at it, it looks like a black mirror, and there's something cold and horrifying about that, and it was such a fitting title for the show.
Charlie Brooker
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4I'm surprised! I always assumed it was a reference to the Bible quote, "we see the world through a glass (mirror), darkly". Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 23:09
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15@ToddWilcox: Christian bible quotes aren't really a thing outside of the USA / god states. In the UK, a people who quotes the bible would be considered a weirdo and probably creepy too.– anonCommented Feb 3, 2018 at 13:21
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27@Evi1M4chine Your comment was a double-edged sword (and he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword!) You opened yourself up to me pointing out how many common English phrases come from the Bible, and so are very frequently quoted: any single Bible quote that I fit in here is a drop in the bucket. I'm being terribly holier than thou but after your comment I was at my wits end. Hopefully I've put you on the strait and narrow. You cast the first stone but please take this as a peace offering. I may be casting my pearls before swine, but this comment was a labour of love. Commented Feb 3, 2018 at 18:43
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This comment thread was getting long and attracting "no longer needed" flags, so I've moved it to chat.– Rand al'Thor ♦Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 18:01
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Really? Charlie Brooker might be the most perspicacious one of all and still, doesn't the idea that any TV, LCD, iPhone, iPad - anything like that - if you just stare at it, looks like a black mirror, seem more fanciful than realistic? Brooker might have a cold and horrifying imagination and why not test his idea? Try right now switching off all your screens and reporting back which ones in fact look like black mirrors? Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 21:34
It is because when you look at your phone or computer screen after it's turned off you see your reflection on the black screen
Historically in the UK, mirrors made with black glass were also used by witches to tell the future.
Mirrors also bestow the power to look into the future. The Black Mirror is a divination technique heavily influenced by the moon, visions being most clearly defined at the fool moon. The original black mirrors were highly polished pieces of obsidian stone, but nowadays any piece of glass with a black backing will do nicely.
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1Can you offer any evidence of this? And any evidence that this was what the makers had in mind?– ValorumCommented Feb 3, 2018 at 21:24
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No evidence that they meant that, but I did add a reference for fortunetelling mirrors to be called "black mirrors" by witches, although I don't know if the usage is historic. Commented Feb 3, 2018 at 21:55
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It most definately is historic. There are some antique ones at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic In Boscastle. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Witchcraft_and_Magic. In Snow White, the mirror the witch queen uses was meant to be one of these. Commented Feb 4, 2018 at 8:56