Between Therapy and Revolution: Mr. Robot’s Ambivalence Toward Hacker Masculinity

Abstract

Focusing on Mr. Robot (2015–2019), this chapter examines how this television series, generally regarded as a dark dystopia of digital capitalism, contains a utopian counternarrative in its representation of masculinity. Although the series reproduces certain imaginaries of the hacker hero which cater to masculinist fantasies of control, it counterbalances this by decidedly emphasizing the hacker’s vulnerability and interdependence. Thus, Mr. Robot offers an ambivalently dialectical account of hacker masculinity: even though the hacker is still associated with toxic power fantasies, he is also capable of subversive change, potentially inspiring viewers to hack capitalism and patriarchy. By narrating a hacker’s personal and political struggle, the series can be interpreted as a powerful critical dystopia, both critical and hopeful toward contemporary masculinity.