The ubiquity of dystopian themes in contemporary culture is perhaps entirely to be expected. As we will see, imagining post-apocalyptic or otherwise catastrophic futures can be read as one means of cultural critique. We shall thus examine these dystopic visions of a spectacular future as a critical engagement with the present. In our reading and film viewing we will encounter varied agents, institutions, and systems of social change, among them biotechnology (viruses, genetic engineering, cloning); media technologies; corporate culture; disaster capitalism; the intensification of state power; and ecological disaster.