We hold these truths to be self-evident: not all promotional pictures are created equal. And when it comes to the highwire storytelling act of anarchy happening at the heart of USA’s Mr. Robot, it should be a surprise to no one that this new look at the series’ second season is rife with meaning, code, and secrets to further extrapolate.
Remember the classic John Trumbull painting of the Founding Fathers called The Declaration of Independence? Here’s a visual reminder:
Well, in fsociety’s iteration, mastermind Elliot Alderson and his cohorts Darlene, Angela Moss, and Mr. Robot himself, do far more than just visually emulate the style. In the photographic homage to the painting, the five-man drafting committee presenting their draft of the Declaration to the Congress represents the role each of fsociety’s members play in the brave new world the E-Corp hack has created. John Hancock—the mastermind—is Elliot, with Angela, Darlene, and Mr. Robot making up the likes of John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, respectively.
Given the goings-on in the finale, it makes sense that the network would choose this image to represent the future of the series. Because—as is stated in the document—”When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Isn’t that exactly what the hack was?
Here’s the image below, and there’s a clickable version (here) you can use to dig into the image because—guess what?—there are INSTRUCTIONS INSIDE THAT TAKE YOU PLACES (really)!
Doing a bit of junior hacking ourselves, we found some wildly amusing information:
…and may or may not have found this telling GIF when we followed the instructions hidden in the image above:
Is there more to be found in the image and on the site it may or may not direct you to itself? MAYBE — but that’s where you come in! We want you to tweet us or Instagram us the context clues YOU’VE found in your quest for answers. We’ll retweet them!
Are you looking forward to Mr. Robot’s return on July 13th at 10PM with TWO back-to-back episodes? Let us know in the comments below!
And here’s our chat with the Mr. Robot crew from last year’s SDCC:
Images: USA Network; John Trumbull
