Charlie Brooker is a genius. Not just a genius but an auteur. He's flawed, brilliant, whimsical, frightened, passionate, compassionate and that is what fuels what he does and how he does it.
(Not bad flaws, he mirrors the flaws in us and wider society, pardon the pun, in ourselves)
His influences are in line with my own - (Romero, Carpenter and the fears/pitfalls of "reality television"). Alongside the potential dangers of rogue, fascist, bullying and thuggish "organisations". (Time will tell on this one).
He describes himself as a "worrier" which makes sense. He's a walking dichotomy and a paradigm shift on legs (If he ever actually read this, he'd call me a pretentious wanker and I would say, Charlie, go back to playing Manic Miner and watch all those Alpha Intervision VHS tapes we loved back in the day). Not in an insulating way (Edit - I meant to say "insulting" but my stupid brain did a "thing" - the 80's, for all their faults we like comfort media food for the brain) but I think that he understood the 80's gaming and movie culture were a much better and more honest place. Hence the way he tries to challenge the status quo.
The point is, he's a voice and a writer for *my* generation. He vocalises our fears, passions and more importantly, the ideals we stood for.
I think future media commentators will liken him to Rod Serling, William (Uncle Bill) Burroughs and more importantly, Ballard and Orwell.
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