Metaficción y espejos narrativos en la saga Black Mirror

Abstract

This paper analyzes Black Mirror as a space where metafiction emerges as a postmodern device. Through its intertextual games, Charlie Brooker’s series acts as a distorted mirror that reflects the audience’s own image, questioning the credibility of the narrative and exposing the constructed nature of every audiovisual story. Episodes such as “White Bear” (2013) and “Demon 79” (2023) employ recurring signs—such as the decision tree—to create an expanded universe built from symbols with multiple meanings. The interactive film Bandersnatch (2018) pushes this device to the extreme with an ergodic narrative that forces the viewer to choose among options that—though seemingly free—follow a predesigned script. Similarly, “Joan is Awful” (2023) introduces an audiovisual mise en abîme that multiplies representations, from the original protagonist to her dramatized versions, revealing overlapping realities and dynamics of algorithmic control. Black Mirror demonstrates how screens—both as metaphor and medium—shape a subjectivity trapped in narrative networks. This article argues that metafiction serves as a way to make coherent the union of content and form in postmodern storytelling.