Liquid audiovisual narratives of future masculinities: gender identity in Black Mirror

Abstract

Cinematographic representations of identities in popular culture have never been arbitrary; they work by negotiating political meanings with their audiences. Media images can help to emancipate or limit the potential of those represented. Assuming that masculinity has always been a floating signifier ready to be rearticulated, this text aims to analyze the male representation present in the first episode of the fifth season of Black Mirror, entitled Striking Vipers, which gives its name to the video game shared by the protagonists. The results point out the contradictions of media representations that affect the debate on gender identity and performativity. On the one hand, the premises of the story support an emancipatory thesis of gender identities, based on the awareness of their performativity. On the other, the outcome contradicts this idea, generating a conservative and traditional representation despite its apparent progressive character, which is masked by technological dystopia.