The Real-Life Inspiration Behind Black Mirror's Hated In The Nation Episode

"Black Mirror" has found increasingly terrifying ways to comment on modern society. Many episodes focus on technology, usually something similar to what we have today but amplified to the tenth degree. But one episode, in particular, was applicable to series creator Charlie Brooker.

2016's "Hated in the Nation" follows a string of deaths linked to a social media meme. People go online to write "#DeathTo" before filling in the rest with whatever public figure society detests at that moment. It's a prescient piece of art on cancel culture, which Brooker knew about all too well. Brooker spoke to BBC about the public backlash he endured in 2004 when he made this satirical comment to The Guardian about President George W. Bush: "Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr – where are you now that we need you?" The implication of assassinating a sitting president didn't sit well with a lot of people, and he received plenty of hate emails. Twitter didn't exist yet, so he avoided being the main character of that platform for the time being.

But his experience with such vitriolic treatment influenced how he wrote "Hated in the Nation."

"Hated in the Nation" may be an episode of "Black Mirror," but it plays like a feature-length movie, clocking in at 89 minutes. It makes sense Charlie Brooker would have a lot to say about this subject while adding killer bee drones to the proceedings. But he certainly drew upon what he experienced to inform the characters of the episode, telling BBC, "My own incident pre-dated Twitter, and my vilification was done by good old-fashioned email, but some of the characters in Hated in the Nation say things that I was experiencing at the time."

The episode deals with cancel culture events anyone who's chronically online would be familiar with. People get targeted by the hashtag for insulting their fans or posting inappropriate pictures. Cancel culture came a long way from 2004 to 2016, so naturally, Brooker did additional research to inform the plot, going on to say, "I also read a book for research that deals with people caught up in Twitter storms. The author hangs out with them and sees how devastated they are, often by the sheer volume of comments they receive. The whole thing is terrifying."

Seeing how social media has only become more prevalent in people's lives, "Hated in the Nation" remains a solid watch to this day. In addition to taking in the technological themes, viewers should also pay attention to the slew of "Black Mirror" Easter eggs hidden throughout its runtime.