Introduction

Metalhead is the fifth episode in the Black mirror forth series. The director of this film is David Slade, and the creator is Charlie Brooker. The episode was first aired on 29^th Dec 2017, with the rest of the fourth series, and it is entirely filmed in black and white colors. The episode shows Bella plight trying to free from the robotic dogs, after the collapse of human society. Boston dynamics such as Big Dog influenced the robotic dogs in the film. The black mirror episode, “Metalhead,” last for only 41 minutes. A lot of people have given this episode a positive review; they compare the artistic work in the episode to “Terminator.” This is because both “Metalhead” episode and “Terminator” involves the ideology of robots chasing people. A lot of people who have viewed this episode have praised the designs of robotic dogs, along with others saying that the cinematography in the movie is appealing. This episode shows how technology can affect humans when it is not in command of the human being. Bishop also says this “the show is known for reminding us that the technology we surround ourselves with every day could be leading us toward a dystopian hellscape where our very humanity may be lost” (Bishop,2018). The review, therefore, is a critical analysis of autonomous technology on the “Metalhead” episode in the “Black Mirror” series.

Summary

The main idea of the episode is that it gives a view about AI and inspire by Boston Dynamic robots that are shown in the movie like dog robots. In this movie, there are three characters named Bella (The main character), Clarke, Anthony. This episode was made in England in an area where the society is extinct. The director, Charlie Brooker has formed great, blood-curdling horror; he appropriately leans nastiness to “Metalhead.” The episode shows the ideology of post-apocalyptic future where a bunch of thieves makes a mistake of breaking into the unguarded warehouse (somewhere in northern England). “Metalwork” starts with tense and works its way to the nightmarishness arena. In the episode, the killer robot is a very brilliant creature; Bella and her doomed friend refer to it as a “Dog.”

When the robotic dog first appears in the movie hunkered behind a cardboard box, we see it as a very cool creature which is harmless. This is because at first, it seems like a helmet discarded by its owner. However, after some time, we realize the dog is dangerous when its spindly legs unfurl, and it starts firing off tiny bullets (Slade, 2017). The introduction of the movie is superb because it establishes how dangerous these garget weapons are. The dogs cannot only blow the mind of an individual, but it can also break the lock of a house using the USB device as well as picking up the keys and driving a car. The robot may not have eyes or mouth, but it has the real character of galloping swiss army knife.

The next act shows the slaughtering of all the secondary characters in a spectacular and quick gory fashion leaving the protagonist in a deadly situation. When all this is taking place in the episode, Charlie Brooker bring outs some few background information which helps the viewers to predict the causative agent of societal collapse (Martin, 2018). This information helps the viewers to guess who might be owning these robots.

The third act in the episode occurs in the sleek, postmodern home of wealth and now a dead couple; this scene brings out an appealing shift in the texture. Immediately after this, the audience is removed from the dank warehouses and taken to a cage of shiny surfaces and glasses where Bella final confrontation with her nemesis takes place.

Analysis

Anytime that I load an episode of Netflix drama, there is nothing that makes me happy than seeing the 41-minutes running time. Of the complaints that I have about peak TV is how creators have become indulgent, and how as a result, they make their shows overlong. I am automatically cringed to give “Metalhead” a good review, considering how taut the narrative is. Above that, “Metalhead” is an example of something that I would like “Black Mirror” to adapt and do it more in the future seasons. It’s a straightforward piece of genre television, lacking gimmicks and twists (Schinagl, 2018). The story was set in a post-apocalyptic England of some sort; generally occurring on the sweeping Scottish moors. The episode does not tell us who ruined the world to the situation it is currently in the episode, nor do we need to know about this. “Metalhead” has brought out an eye-popping survival tale, pitting an empty-handed woman, Bella, against some lingering technological police state remnants.

I prefer “Metalhead” to other episodes such as “Crocodile” because it is brief and shocking, it arrives in shorts spurts anytime the robot comes across a living creature. This is the opposite of Crocodile which always tries to make a larger view but never hits the target. Most of the “Metalhead” drama is wrapped on wondering what is happening next rather than focusing on the extent of some real-life allegory. This makes it easier for the audience to put up with the dark horror mood in the episode.

Unlike many of the one-person narrative, “Metalhead” does not play up the gore about wilderness survival. The episode’s visuals are appropriately utilized, Slade makes sure that every empty moor glimpse has high contrast black and white photography. The Peak that I know from the United Kingdom comedies such as “Shameless” and “Dinnerladies” keeps everything grounded under her understated performance. She only focuses on how she can survive in the wilderness.

Metalhead’s final scene is charming. Here, we see the teddy bear, a precious item that Bella was searching for to comfort a child in this horrible world when she first disturbed the robotic dogs. This scene is a shred of recognizable humanity that later converts human to animals for being hunted (Albrecht, 2018). I was amazed at the ending of the metalhead episode; the jarring teddy bear sight that closes the movie.

Conclusion

You must watch “Metalwork” because it brings a clear theme of how lack of intelligence in autonomous technology can ruin the globe. One of the scariest things about Metalhead’s robotic dogs is their lack of intelligence; their emotional nuance shows that the cold programmed logic rules them. Whenever they detect an intruder, their main target is to neutralize the threat; it does not matter whether the threat is a stuffed toy or an individual coming to steal the precious equipment. In the world today, we do not have robotic dogs patrolling warehouses, but there are various talks we have heard in the news about the military drones. Technology is good, but when it lacks artificial intelligence, it may become largely autonomous (Turing, 2009). We have heard various individuals such as Steve Wozniak and Elon musk urge the banning of autonomous weapons before they emerge. “Black Mirror” visually arresting and scariest episode, “Metalhead” has added fuel to these arguments. It is essential to be cautious when developing autonomous weapons because sometimes they can be dangerous. Terminator eats your heart out.

References

Bishop, B. (2018). Black Mirror’s Metalhead suggests technological disruption is unavoidable     (and terminal). Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/5/16853982/black- mirror-metalhead-season-4-Maxine-peake-Boston-robotics-robot-dog.

Slade, D. (2017). Metalhead [film]. Hollywood: Choose Your Own Adventure.

Martin, A. (2018). Cautionary: Reflections: Looking into the Black Mirror. Screen Education, (90),         16.

Schinagl, W. (2018). Robocopter. In Satellite-Based Earth Observation (pp. 69-77). Springer,      Cham.

Albrecht, M. M., Alleyne, O., Allard-Huver, F., Berns, F. G. P., Blackwell, D. R., Constant, S. J.,            … & Faure, A. (2018). Black Mirror and Critical Media Theory. Rowman & Littlefield.

Russell, S., Dewey, D., & Tegmark, M. (2015). Research priorities for robust and beneficial         artificial intelligence. Ai Magazine, 36(4), 105-114.

Turing, A. M. (2009). Computing machinery and intelligence. In Parsing the Turing Test (pp. 23-            65). Springer, Dordrecht.