Bandersnatched: Infrastructure and Acquiescence in Black Mirror

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-4-2020

Publication Title

Critical Studies in Media Communication

First page number:

1

Last page number:

14

Abstract

We argue that Black Mirror delivers an amplified experiential analog to the structured excesses of digital techno-culture, affectively “inoculating” viewers with the poison of dark futurity. Through critical examinations of “The National Anthem,” “Hated in the Nation,” “The Waldo Moment,” and ||Bandersnatch|| we track how Black Mirror actualizes the entanglements of digital agency and mediated acquiescence in its viewing experience. Bandersnatch, in particular, offers performative infrastructurality as a mode of experiential critique, thus exemplifying Black Mirror’s tendency of prodding audiences into contemplating the terms and conditions of their own digitized interpassivity. Ultimately, we argue, Black Mirror delivers its viewers to a position of virtualized agency engendered by the vague power of mediated acquiescence.

Keywords

Black Mirror; Bandersnatch; Netflix; Algorithmic acquienscence; Interpassivity; Infrastructure

Disciplines

Communication Technology and New Media | Film and Media Studies

Language

English

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