Themes and Ending Explained
Black Mirror ‘Metalhead’: Story and Ending Explained
We’ve already mentioned the effect of the black and white filter enhancing the grim post-apocalyptic thematic setting of Metalhead’s world. It’s also crucial in that it relates to the core themes of the episode. The grey colors mimic the matte, lifeless metal of the robotic “Dog.” An animal in nickname only, it has destroyed all life within this dark world, turning lush countryside into bleak nothingness.
On the surface, the title Metalhead relates to the explosive shards that lodge into the faces of both Anthony and Bella. Our final image of Bella is of her looking into the mirror and examining her wounded face, full of metal shards. But perhaps the title of the episode is trying to convey more than just this irony. Director Slade explains:
“Metalhead doesn’t have a happy ending, but there’s something in the lead-up to Bella’s sacrifice that makes it more than just a grim outlook on the future. It’s wrestling with how we treat all of these qualities in the present… If we get to the point where we have military robots guarding our merchandise and killing people, it would seem to me that we have a great lack of humanity. The theme, if there is one, was to do with how important it is to hold onto our humanity. I feel like the most important thing is that you feel it.”
Notably, too, Bella, unlike the soulless robotic Dogs that hunt and kill life, possesses a humanity that differentiates her. Bella decides to take her own life rather than risk her friends being discovered (by inadvertently leading the Dogs to their camp). Moreover, in the final scene in which we see the teddy bears, we realize that Bella and her friends have risked their lives to ease the pain and suffering of someone else. As the advancement of military technology in our own world sees autonomous drones doing the killing for us, Metalhead encourages us to remember that, as humans, we’re responsible for remembering the value of human life.
As with so many Black Mirror episodes, Metalhead hits home because it portrays a scenario that is frighteningly imaginable based on the projection of technological advances.
