Killing the Creator in “Metalhead”

This chapter offers a close textual analysis of the Black Mirror (2011–) episode “Metalhead” and situates this analysis in the broader nested contexts of similar dystopian and horror films as well as the meaning of Black Mirror as a whole in the context of early-twenty-first-century social and cultural anxieties. I consider the ways in which Charlie Brooker, the episode’s writer, and David Slade, its director, use various science fiction and horror elements such as wide shots that showcase the barren, post-apocalyptic landscape, refutal of human agency, and stalking sequences that highlight female-victim vulnerability in this rather typical “rise of the machines” story. The result is a narrative that thoroughly critiques increasing human interaction with technology and leaves the viewer with a nihilistic sense of the future while simultaneously refusing the possibility of change. True to the thematic arc of Black Mirror as a whole, Metalhead not only examines but also indicts a burgeoning human addiction to technological interventions in our everyday lives; further, this episode reflects our own fears of being replaced or worse, made obsolete.