Immunity fiction and false consciousness. On Black Mirror's "Men Against Fire"
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Published
03-03-2018
David Becerra Mayor
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5282-3402
Abstract
The main objective of this article is to analyze the episode entitled "Men Against Fire" of Black Mirror, the UK series broadcasted in Netflix, through two theoretical and critical tools: "immunity fiction" by Roberto Esposito and "false consciousness" as the first definition of "ideology" produced inside the Marxist tradition. Set in an unspecific place and time, probably in the not too distant future, "Men Against Fire" dealing with a community that needs to immunize from individuals who, stigmatized as sick, could disrupt the community spreading their infection and even could threat the existence of the community. They must build an immunity border to save the species, to build a fiction or a false consciousness acting as a wall to avoid the entrance of those individuals into the community. They must build an otherness evidencing they are not as us. This article seek to show the way by which the construction of the other as a dehumanized subject not only works as a narrative built to protect the community, but also to produce indifference and, thus, to prevent the moral reactions by those who pulls the trigger during the war to destroy the enemy. In order to oppose the narrative of those in power, it claims the notion of truth as an instrument to fight against the fictions of the power.
How to Cite
Becerra Mayor, D. (2018). Immunity fiction and false consciousness. On Black Mirror’s "Men Against Fire". Papeles De Identidad, 2018(1), papel 189. https://doi.org/10.1387/pceic.18873
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Keywords
immunity fiction, false consciousness, ideology, Black Mirror, dehumanization
Section
Single Topic Issues
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