Demon 79 or Personality 79?

I’m sure many of us are familiar with the top rated Netflix show, Black Mirror. The show explores the connections between human life and evolving technology. Each episode is a different story, allowing viewers to get a sort of ‘short story’ feel for the show. In bingeing the new season, it became ever so tempting to binge watch the rest of the earlier seasons—in doing this I came across one of the most interesting episodes. 

Demon 79 is the final episode in Black Mirror’s Season 6—effectively ending the season off with a bang. Literally. The episode centers around a mild mannered girl named, Nida, and the journey she goes on when she meets a demon and is tasked with an impossible request. The episode takes place in the 70's mimicking the aesthetic and horror-like nature of most old horror movies. Nida works in a department store and due to her Indian heritage, she is constantly subjected to racist and overall insensitive comments and behavior. Although very shy and polite, Nida fantasizes about hurting the people who give her the most trouble; I.e. her racist boss, her dismissive and insensitive co-worker, and a fascist politician deadset on making the lives of POC individuals, hell. 

While at work on her lunch break, Nida’s boss asks her to eat her biryani in the basement due to its ‘smell’ and how it bothers the other employees. Consequently she goes down there and pokes around the old workshop Geophrey Possette, the founder of the department store. Inside an old drawer she finds a talisman and accidentally marks it with her blood—this is of no consequence to her until she finally gets back home. 

In the comfort of her own home, while holding the talisman, a demon named Gaap appears, manifests as the lead singer from Boney M., and gives her a set of instructions; more like a spiel. Gaap tells her that unless she carries out 3 kills in the span of the next 3 days, then a doomsday event will happen and effectively make the earth extinct. Nida carries out the three murders, however, there is a catch—one of the men she’s murdered has already killed someone else, making him a non-target for the big guy downstairs (the devil). 

However some of the details of the episode go unnoticed. When Nida is talking to the demon, Gaap, nobody else can see him. This begs the question of, is Gaap real, or is he in Nida’s head? What we’re exploring here is the link between Demon 79 and themes of mental health. Nida’s life of hardship has already made her predisposed to being corruptible; A fact that Gaap identifies when she asks why she was chosen. She is a good person, but the bias and racism that she’s experienced, ignites a certain sense of rage and resentment within her—thus making her corruptible. 

Throughout her assigned task, Nida struggles with the idea of killing a person— even though she's fantasized about it before. Thus, she resorts to killing people who deserve it. Gaap, is part of what encourages her; Everytime she encounters a perfect kill situation, Gaap will tell her all the horrible things the person has done in their lifetime; Really bad stuff. For example, the first person Nida kills is a man she encounters by a river. The man sees her talking to herself (talking to Gaap in reality) and tries to inquire on what she’s doing. Gaap then tells her that this man has been sexually abusing his six year old daughter—he then continues to tell Nida the future—that this man will continue sexually abusing his daughter, prompting her to kill herself at 28 years old. 

Nida becomes overwhelmed with the consequences of letting him live, and ends up clocking him in the skull with a brick. He then falls into the river and is discovered the next day by policemen. As Nida continues her killings, the police start to catch on at an alarming rate. Before she is able to kill the fascist politician that she hates, she is apprehended by law enforcement. During the interview, she attempts to alert the police to the real doomsday story, and of course they don't believe her. 

The episode ends with the world ending in fire and bombs; While Nida and Gaap frolick into eternal oblivion—begging the question of, was Gaap real or just a figment of her imagination? 

Every episode done by Black Mirror is a commentary on something. Whether it is technology, healthcare, or racism; However, I feel that Demon 79 is a commentary on mental health. During the entire episode the audience grapples with whether Gaap is real or not. There are some hints throughout the episode that suggest this. Firstly, Nida is a character that is unfortunately, predisposed to having some sort of psychological break. The episode takes place in the 70’s so themes of racism and ignorance are heavily present. When Nida experiences instances of racism, we can observe her true nature through her fantasies displayed on screen. For example, a clip of her smashing her co-workers head in after receiving a rather degaring comment. Of course she never injures anyone in real life before the killings—however the audience is meant to know that her brain WANTS to hurt the people who hurt her. Additionally, Nida mentions that her deceased mom, went crazy at some points—and she fears that the same thing will happen to her. 

When considering her private fantasies, and her growing enthusiasm for killing bad people, it becomes increasingly evident that Nida is struggling with some sort of psychotic break, possibly schizophrenia. Individuals with Schizophrenia often experience hallucinations, delusions, disorganized behavior or negative symptoms (losing interest in social function). These are all symptoms, or characteristics that Nida displays while on her journey with Gaap. 

The underlying factor of this hypothesis is the fact that Nida has been discounted for much of her life. In the episode, not much is shown to the audience; Nida doesn’t have any obvious family members or friends, she is usually isolated within her job and watches TV alone at home. Additionally, Nida experiences regular instances of casual racism—and this is present everywhere. On the street, in the news and while she’s on the job. Due to her mild mannered nature, and the nature of the racism towards her, this makes her an ideal candidate for a psychotic break. 

The last sequence in the episode consists of Nida and Gaap walking into oblivion together while the world burns. But what does this mean? It is completely likely that in Nida’s psychotic break she enters a completely hallucinative state where she imagines the world ending. Walking into oblivion with Gaap most likely symbolizes her finally being accepted. Gaap tells her that her true nature is corruptible, making her the perfect mark for 3 murders— and throughout this process, Gaap is the only one she can confide in. After all, he is a demon and he understands the darkness inside of her. 

Overall, Demon 79 serves as not only a social commentary but one on mental health and prejudice. Through the mistreatment of Nida, we’re able to see that her actions are due to a buildup of emotional junk. Coupled with isolation, social awkwardness and a hostile racial environment, Nida makes the perfect candidate for a human sacrificer. The entire episode shows us the consequences of racism, mistreatment and overall neglect, while showing us that mental health plays a large part in how we are treated. Nida’s mother was also a victim of mental health struggles, being branded as crazy at one point—which makes a helpful tool for determining if Nida is actually suffering from a psychotic break or not. 

Finally, this introduces a new question; Does a psychotic break get triggered from the environment the individual is in? Nida seemed to have a pretty content home life, aside from the discrimination she faced in the workplace and in public—which makes us wonder, what was the real trigger?