Humanity in a Black Mirror

Jacob Blevins is professor and chair of English at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He is the editor of the journal Intertexts and the author or editor of six books. Zahi Zalloua is the Cushing Eells professor of philosophy and literature and a professor of French and interdisciplinary studies at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and editor of The Comparatist. He is the author or co-author of seven books.

“The speculative quality of the television series Black Mirror begs for a sustained theoretical analysis. Jacob Blevins and Zahi Zalloua have not only provided one but have produced a work that unlocks all the mysteries of the show and makes clear to everyone why they were interested in it in the first place. For anyone who has seen even one episode of Black Mirror, their book is simply required reading. It’s as if the series were invented just so that we could have this collection of remarkable interpretations that make clear the theoretical underpinnings of what we’ve seen.”—Todd McGowan, University of Vermont

• Table of ContentsIntroduction: Traversing the Fantasy of TechnologyZahi Zalloua and Jacob BlevinsThe Utopia of the Mirror: Angst, the Uncanny, and the Postmodern Mise en abymeRobert T. Tally, Jr.Paroxysm PoliticsPeter HitchcockThe Way the Cookie Doubles: Cripping the Cyber-Gothic of Black Mirror’s AI TechWhitney S. May“Men Against Fire,” MASS, and MoralityMelina Constantine Bell and Nathaniel GoldbergOn the Government of Children: Visions of the Politics of Parenting from Plato to Deleuze in Black Mirror’s ArkangelJeffrey R. Di LeoThe Question(ing) Concerning (Anti-)Black-Technology: Inhabiting the Crack of Black Being Through the (Pyro-)Techno-Poethics of “Black Museum”Andrew Santana KaplanParanoia as Reparation in “Black Museum”Nicole SimekTrolling the Audience: Bandersnatch, Coercion, and Posthuman CapacitiesPaul Muhlhauser, Sera McClintock, and Gianna D’AvellaGlass Walls and Unmasked Others: Anxiety and the Commodification of Desire in “Nosedive”Jacob BlevinsSexuality and the Real in “Striking Vipers”Zahi ZallouaConclusionJacob Blevins and Zahi ZallouaBibliographyAbout the ContributorsIndex