When someone thinks of crime, or the word ‘criminal,’ they often think of someone who intends for their actions to be harmful. They think of someone who intends to gain benefit from someone else’s suffering. We have all been taught to avoid criminals since we were children and it is completely understandable to have this point of view. However, sometimes it is important to look at a crime from the criminal’s point of view.
The criminal justice system is slowly becoming infamous for how it treats the criminals that are subjected to it, whether too harsh or too lenient. We must show more sympathy and realize when it is understandable that someone thought they had no other option than to break the law and work from there to help them recover from their difficult situation.
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Metalhead
The episode “Metalhead” in Netlix’s Black Mirror shows us that not all criminal acts are committed with the sole intention of hurting other people and that some “criminals” are people who need help recovering from a difficult situation. The answer to fighting crime is not always incarceration. “Metalhead,” which is shot in black and white, seems far-fetched, but may not be as imaginative after analysis. The episode begins with three people driving through a dystopian, uninhabited desert discussing the risk of what they are about to do. They imply that they are only doing “this” for a sick child. The audience is given time to ponder the lengths they would go to for their children and if they feel they would break the law to see their child happy before they pass away. The 3 people, two men named Anthony and Clarke respectively, and a woman named Bella, pull their car in front of an abandoned warehouse. Bella and Clark nervously get out of the vehicle while Clarke stays behind as the getaway driver. Anthony and Bella enter the warehouse discreetly and find what they are looking for, only for a robotic dog to appear and attack and eventually kill Anthony. Bella escapes the building in a separate vehicle from Clarke. The dog chases down Clarke’s car and kills him as well. The rest of the episode is about Bella running from the dog, pulling out trackers that were injected into her skin, and risking her life by driving off a cliff. The struggles that Bella encounters throughout the episodes encapsulate the struggles that a criminal can endure when dealing with the criminal justice system. The criminal is given a bad reputation no matter the crime they committed. This ends up affecting their employment opportunities, potential benefits, and potential time that they get to spend with their families. The end of the episode showcases Bella accepting defeat as additional dogs close in on her location. The camera pans through all of the destruction left behind and eventually to what the 3 people were trying to steal for the sick child: a teddy bear.
The answer to fighting crime is not always incarceration.
Life Imitates Art
In this episode, the robotic dogs, clearly inspired by the Boston Dynamics Robotic Dogs that are so often trending on social media, represent the criminal justice system. Once a target is placed on a criminal’s back, there is no other alternative than to “eliminate” them in the episode or place them in prison in real life. No sympathy or emotion is shown, the criminal justice system is just a system seeking to eliminate threats from society. In order for the criminal justice system to be more effective and rehabilitative we must implement more emotion into how we make our decisions.
Symbolism Within the Episode
Bella feels that it is her duty to steal the teddy bear for the sick child because she wants the child to be happy during the last days of their life. This can be compared to a parent who feels the need to steal food from a grocery store because they do not have enough money to afford their groceries. The parent is not stealing the food just for the thrill of stealing, they are committing this crime because they feel it is necessary in order to feed their family. The wreckage at the end of the episode represents the amount of effort and resources the criminal justice system will use and the destruction of a person’s life that they will cause just to put them in prison. The bear is a symbol of a criminal stealing food from a supermarket to feed their family or selling drugs in order to pay for rent or bills and keep a roof over their children’s heads. There are good intentions behind their actions, and it is crucial to recognize this when putting a criminal through the law enforcement system.
The episode is shot in black and white for a distinct reason. In this age of technology, there is practically no reason to make a piece of cinema in black and white unless there is meaning to it that the audience is supposed to think about. The reason that the director, David Slade, chose to make this episode in black and white was to highlight how much work we have to do within the criminal justice system and as a society in order to make the criminal justice system a system that works properly. Slade is calling the system ‘dated’ with his choice to film the episode in black and white. When we finally recognize the differences between people who desperately need help and true criminals such as murderers, we will be able to see the criminal justice system in color.
Real World Relevance
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of parents of minor children that are held in prisons increased by an astounding 79% between 1991 and 2007. Almost 4 in 10 of the fathers placed in state or federal prisons during that time were black, while almost 5 in 10 of the mothers were white (Bureau of Justice Statistics).
Having a parent in prison can have major adverse effects on a child.
According to youth.gov, having a parent in prison can impact a child’s mental health, social behavior, and education. Without having a guiding force in their life, the chances of a child taking the wrong path in life increase greatly. In order to progress as a society, we must acknowledge the idea that not all criminals are inherently evil people. There are criminals that only need help getting their life on track. We must learn to implement sympathy into our CJ system. Without sympathy, the CJ system is just one giant soulless robot.
Discussion Questions
- What are some reasons why people might engage in criminal behavior despite not being inherently “bad” people?
- How do socioeconomic status and access to resources influence criminal behavior, and can this lead to some individuals being unfairly labeled as “criminals”?
- Are there certain types of crimes that are more likely to be committed by “good” people? How might this challenge our assumptions about criminality?
References
- Csernatoni, Raluca. “Technological Terror, Killer Robots, and Black Mirror’s ‘Metalhead’.” E-international Relations (2018).
- “Youth Topics: Children of Incarcerated Parents.” Youth.gov, 14 Apr. 2023, https://youth.gov/youth-topics/children-of-incarcerated-parents.
