A Multilevel Analysis of the representations of Technology in «Years and Years»

Abstract

The analysis of science fiction narratives is valuable to explore possible futures. This article analyzes the representation of technology in the television series Years and Years (2019), a co-production by the BBC and HBO created by Russell T Davies. This audiovisual narrative depicts key problems of the present in a representation of the near future, enabling the identification of new socio-technological paradigms. We applied the method of Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), a prospective analytical tool used both for the study of diverse current phenomena and for the design of possible futures, which includes the levels of the litany, systemic causes, discourse/world vision, and myth/metaphor. The analysis showed that Years and Years offers a vision of a world in chaos, based on a global capitalist and technological project that threatens fundamental rights, and the existence of the human species. In the series, technologies are imbibed in all the fundamental systems of Western societies, pushing common people into obsolescence. Three narratives uphold the myth of the dominion of science and technology: the technological transcendence of human beings, the irrelevance of humans before technology, and the ubiquitous panopticon of digitized power. Through its bleak version of the future Y&Y puts into focus aspects of technological development that make us reflect critically and urgently about the present.