COLT 18.04 Climate Change, Fiction, and the Apocalyptic Imaginary
Following on the heels of the fantasies of nuclear winter that were so popular in the mid-twentieth century, apocalyptic scenarios of environmental degradation and climate change have become increasingly prevalent in contemporary genre fiction and film. How should we read and relate to these visions of catastrophe? How do different genres speak not only to our anxieties about toxic environments, but also to our desire for violence and enjoyment of apocalyptic dreams? How, moreover, might the concerns of our ecological era help us critically interrogate the marketable fantasies of popular genres? To answer these questions, this course proposes a survey of crime fiction, cli-fi, speculative fiction, action cinema, eco-horror and new weird. While examining the conventions of these genres and addressing their limitations, we will explore the resources that they might offer for thinking through apocalyptic scenarios.