Index Comunicación (May 2016)
Beyond the technological dystopia: surveillance and activism in ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Mr. Robot’
Abstract
The dangers of technological development have been the subject of many stories over the years, depicting dystopian societies in which the human being has been defeated by his own creation, either because the machines have rebelled against him/her or simply because citizens have been completely alienated and mesmerised by its possibilities. In this direction, this article analyses the representation of information and communications technology (ICT) in contemporary tv shows, by focusing on two of the most shocking titles that have impacted in both critics and the audience in recent years: Black Mirror (Channel 4, Charlie Brooker, 2011-) and Mr. Robot (USA Network, Sam Esmail, 2015-). These shows offer, a priori, two different visions of an alleged near future. However, far from the initial approach, a deeper analysis allows to discover that the forecast is not too promising and that, in any case, the benefit or the harm does not just lie in the technology itself, but in the use made of it.
