Black Mirror’s episode Be right back: technologies, finitude, and the art of finding an end

Abstract

The paper analyses Black Mirror’s episode Be right Back in order to discuss certain contemporary issues concerning the technological agenda. It highlights its Faustic inflexion such as emphasized by the Portuguese sociologist Hermínio Martins, and relates this question to José Gil’s investigations on the closure of the porosity of the skin, as well as its effects on the corrosion of Eros. Finally, it refers to the Nietzschean art of finding an end as a counterpoint to the sufferings related to loss and finitude, which constitute the central problem explored in Be right back.

Keywords Black Mirror; Faustic notion of technology; contemporary culture; finitude