Black Mirror is The Twilight Zone of the twenty-first century. Already a philosophical classic, the series echoes the angst of an era, a civilization and consciousness fully engulfed in the 24/7 media spectacle spanning the planet. With clever plots and existential themes, Black Mirror presents near-futures where humans collide with technology and each other-tomorrows that might arrive in five years or five minutes. Featuring scholars from three continents and ten nations, Black Mirror and Critical Media Theory is an international collection of critical media theory applied to one of the most intellectually provocative TV shows of our time and the all-too-real conditions that inspire it. Drawing from thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord, Marshall McLuhan, and Paul Virilio, the authors reverse-engineer Black Mirror by probing the ideas, meanings, and conditions embedded in the episodes. This book is organized around six key topics reflected and explored in Black Mirror-human identity, surveillance culture, spectacle and hyperreality, aesthetics, technology and existence, and dystopian futures.
Introduction Section 1: Human Identity Chapter 1: Race, Cyborgs, and the Pitfalls of Biopolitical Discourse in Black Mirror's "Men Against Fire" Diana Leon-Boys and Morten Stinus Kristensen Chapter 2: Digitally Natural: Gender and Sexuality Norms in Black Mirror Angela M. Cirucci Chapter 3: A Virtual Ever-After: Utopia, Race, and Gender in Black Mirror's "San Junipero" Eleanor Drage Section 2: Surveillance Culture Chapter 4: Black Mirror's "Nosedive" as a new Panopticon: Interveillance and Digital Parrhesia in Alternative Realities Francois Allard-Huver and Julie Escurignan Chapter 5: All Eyes on Me: Surveillance and the Digital Archive in "The Entire History of You" Derek R. Blackwell Chapter 6: Seeing the "Surveillant Face" of Technology in Black Mirror: Using Futuristic Scenarios for an Interdisciplinary Discussion on the Feasibility and Implications of Technology Pinelopi Troullinou and Mathieu d'Aquin Section 3: The Spectacle and Hyperreality Chapter 7: Waldo Wins IRL: Donald Trump, Black Mirror, and the Politics of Jean Baudrillard's Hyperreal Michael Mario Albrecht Chapter 8: Why Black Mirror is Really Written by Jean Baudrillard: A Philosophical Interpretation of Charlie Brooker's Series Manel Jimenez-Morales and Marta Lopera-Marmol Chapter 9: Spectacular Tech-Nightmare: Broadcasting Guy Debord Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns Section 4: Aesthetics Chapter 10: Rhetorical Ethics in Black Mirror: The Aesthetics of Existence in Hyperreality and Posthumanity Hillary A. Jones Chapter 11: The Hysterical Sublime: Black Mirror, "Playtest," and the Crises of the Present Matthew Flisfeder Chapter 12: Black Mirror, White Spaces: Nihilism, Enlightenment, and Technology Barry Vacker and Erin Espelie Section 5: Technology and Existence Chapter 13: Over-Extended Media: Hashtag Hatred and Domestic Drones Julia M. Hildebrand Chapter 14: Unbearable Burden: Discipline, Punishment, and Moral Dystopia in Black Mirror's "White Bear" Osei Alleyne Chapter 15: The Entire Evolution of Media: A Media Ecological Approach to Black Mirror Carlos A. Scolari Section 6: Dystopian Futures Chapter 16: Heterotopias and Utopias in Black Mirror: Michel Foucault on "San Junipero" Sarah J. Constant Chapter 17: Trapped in Dystopian Techno Realities: Nosediving into Simulation through Consumptive Viewing Erika M. Thomas and Romin Rajan Chapter 18: The Dystopia of the Spectator: Past Revival and Acceleration of Time in Black Mirror ("The Entire History of You" and "Be Right Back") Macarena Urzua Opazo and Antoine Faure Conclusion: Connecting Our Themes to Season Four and the Future Index About the Editors About the Contributors
