On Killer Bees and GCHQ: “Hated in the Nation”

With a plot structured around an inquest into the deaths of thousands of people after attacks from hacked surveillance drones driven by social media campaigns, Black Mirror’s (2011–) “Hated in the Nation” interrogates an urgent intersection of current technological and social issues that are emerging into the realm of contemporary public debate. This chapter looks at the ways “Hated in the Nation” grapples with the use of increasingly ubiquitous drone technology for covert government programs, the vulnerability of digital infrastructure to hacking and backdoor hijacks by hostile actors, the role of social media in inflaming mob mentalities and trolling campaigns and the dangerous illusions of online anonymity. In doing so, this chapter also addresses the ways in which “Hated in the Nation” ironically frames these debates through a fusion of its science-fiction premise with other genre forms, particularly its combination of the contemporary “Nordic Noir” police procedural format with the tropes of 1970s B-grade “Killer Bee” horror films.