Poor Devils

Abstract

My thesis explores how the empathetic portrayal of offenders and felons in British science-fiction anthology Black Mirror’s episodes titled “White Bear” and White Christmas” contributes to the characterisation of their respective socio-institutional contexts as dystopias. My premise is that the treatment of criminals is one of the fields where empathy is the most difficult to apply; therefore, by eliciting viewers’ empathy with their protagonists despite their misdeeds, with a focus on unduly harsh punishment, the two episodes accentuate the oppressive quality of the societies they depict.