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CHID 211: APOCALYPSE AND POPULAR CULTURE
Freedom, Control, and Power in a Damaged World
Summer Quarter 2026 TTh 11:30-1:30 THO 135
Erin Gilbert
eringil@uw.edu
Padelford LL B-28
Office Hours: T 1:30-2:30 and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores how the dystopian anxieties and utopian fantasies that haunted the past century—the same ones that have given shape to our present reality—show up in graphic novels, films, and streaming series about social and environmental collapse in the near future. Students in this course will investigate popular representations of people building alliances, making kin, and resisting authoritarianism under apocalyptic conditions. We will focus on narrative strategies that invite audiences to reach beyond individual survival tropes to imagine shared futures for all beings—including flawed humans trying to survive on a damaged planet.
In a time of accelerating climate change, the sixth mass extinction, and widespread political volatility, our investigation of apocalyptic narratives raises urgent questions about the relationship between collective imaginaries, popular narratives, and possible futures. We will refine our questions by thinking with scholars working in fields ranging from archaeology to evolutionary biology to future studies. As we begin formulating answers we will ground our findings in the textual analysis and visual rhetoric methodologies of comparative literature, media, and film studies.
By the end of the quarter each learner will have composed a field journal of apocalyptic narratives, gained fluency and confidence discussing popular culture using a variety of scholarly approaches from different disciplines, and developed creative and critical capacities for appreciating expressions of dystopian anxiety and utopian fantasy in a rapidly changing world.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Practice autoethnographic and textual/media analysis skills.
- Gain familiarity and fluency discussing a wide range of critical and creative texts and media.
- Develop more sophisticated discussion and presentation skills in the interest of being better able to construct and defend their own arguments or interpretations.
- Identify relationships between artefacts of popular culture, their creators and consumers, and systems of power.
ASSIGNED TEXTS:
Eternaut (2015, Fantagraphics)
Course Reader (at EZ Copy & Print)
Sontag, Susan. “The Imagination of Disaster.”
“Free Will, Determinism and Doing What You’re Told.” 12 Monkeys
“The Imagined City in Silo: An Urban Design as a Tool of Social Conditioning.”
“Indigenous Science (Fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral Dystopias and Fantasies of Climate Change Crises.”
“What If the Natives Were Immune?: Dismembering Colonial Masculinity in Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum.”
“Zombie Experts and Anarchy Imaginaries: Fantasies of ‘Crises to Be’ in Climate Change Futures.”
“On Being Between: Apocalypse, Adaptation, McCarthy.”
“The Double Death of Humanity in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.”
“Vagabond Desire: Aliens, Alienation and Human Regeneration in Arkady and Boris Strugatskyʹs Roadside Picnic and Andrey Tarkovskyʹs Stalker.”
“‘Nobody Is Saved Alone.’ El Eternauta/The Eternaut (2025) and the Comeback of the Collective Hero.”
“Other Worlds within Other Worlds: Comics World-Building and Identity Formation in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.”
Films and Series
(These can be found streaming on a variety of platforms some of which require subscriptions. Plan ahead, talk to each other about setting up watch parties, and check the UW and Seattle Libraries as needed.)
La Jetée (1962)
12 Monkeys (1995)
Silo (2025) Season 1
Blood Quantum (2019)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
The Road (2009)
The Wall (2012) Note that other media bears the same title--this one is a film by Julian Pölsler based on a novel by Marlen Haushofer.
Stalker (1979)
Eternaut (2025) Season 1
Children of Men (2006) or I Am Mother (2019) or Civil War (2024) or ???
Station Eleven (2021) Season 1
Please note, this is an in-person course—both by designation and by design. As such, everyone is expected to contribute to class, complete assigned viewings and readings before the start of class, and come prepared for in-class projects and discussions. All readings and annotations will be completed on paper so they are available for reference without the distraction of devices.
ASSIGNMENTS
Brief Scene Notes
Each week, every student will submit brief notes on a specific scene of their choice from the reading/viewing assignment. If their scene is chosen as a discussion starter for the week, that student will elaborate on their notes and explain why they chose that scene. (Weekly Canvas submissions are graded as complete or incomplete according to posted requirements) 20%
Service and Leadership (Course Reading Completion and Annotation, Viewing Notes, and In-Class Discussion Participation)
Students earn credit by completing the readings, identifying and annotating specific passages, completing the assigned viewings, identifying and taking notes on specific scenes, and contributing to the class-wide discussions using hand-written annotation and notes (in-class discussions are device-free). (In-person activities, discussion participation, and writing prompts will be assigned throughout the quarter and graded as complete or incomplete according to set requirements) 20%
Midterm
A short open-book and open-note midterm to be completed in class will ask students to draw connections between the films, series, and scholarly texts. Students who wish to substitute an oral exam for the midterm can do so by emailing to schedule an appointment before the midterm is offered. (In-class July 21st) 20%
Final Project
The in-class final project will incorporate specific passages from the course readings, described scenes and dialogue from the assigned viewings, as well as responses to questions about key concepts covered in class throughout the quarter. The best way to prepare for the final is to annotate texts in your course packet and readings thoughtfully, look for connections between them throughout the quarter, and reflect on your own experiences (this will help you with the midterm project and presentation as well). The final exam is intended to give you the chance to respond to the entire course, rather than the selections you may have focused on in earlier assignments. (In class August 18th and 20th) 20%
COURSE POLICIES
Participation: In this course, as in many participatory lecture courses, much of the learning happens through a combination of attentive reading, viewing, and discussion, so preparation and in-class participation are especially important! Service and Leadership assignments are almost always completed in class and graded as complete or incomplete. If you must miss class due to an illness or emergency, you may ask to have the in-class assignments you missed that day excused via email, but you will still be responsible for submitting Brief Scene Notes, the Midterm, and the Final before the deadline. Since this course meets twice a week, if you miss more than two days, you’ll be missing more than 15% of the instruction and practice designed to support your success, at which point it would be a good idea to set up a meeting with me to figure out how to proceed. See “Deadlines” below for how to handle coursework due outside of class in cases of illness or emergency.
Deadlines: Assignments designed for the use of classmates (including discussion posts, in-class group activities, and peer review drafts and feedback) won’t be accepted late because they’re no longer useful to your classmates after the deadline. On the other hand, if you are struggling to finish a bigger assignment and need more time, reach out to me before the deadline to request a 1–2-day extension, and I will be happy to grant your request if I can—just remember, you need to request the extension in order to receive it. If you don’t reach out, I can’t grant an extension, and the assignment grade will drop 10% each day after the deadline.
Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI (GenAI): Nonhuman participation in human meaning-making and worldbuilding will come up in this course, so we will discuss emergent technologies and the role of LLMs/GenAI in our world, lives, and futures. However, while an LLM/GenAI product like ChatGPT or Claude can paraphrase ideas and concepts, they cannot understand them, and their energy cost has proven to be extremely high and alarmingly dirty. Your role, as a student, isn’t to write about these texts the way an LLM does—repeating and reformulating ideas according to the most predictable patterns to generate a generic overview (in slop style that obsessively follows the "rule of threes" and overuses adjectives like “rich” and “impactful” and nouns like "tapestry")—your role is to see how ideas, images, and concepts seep into your consciousness and change you as a thinker and writer, and then report back about that change in written, visual, or verbal form. Your task is intellectual, ethical, and entangled—you’re drawing on your own distinct and situated perspective, you’re working to use your embodied presence in the material world to interact with your environment, and you’re doing the contradictory, messy, creative work of expressing what those interactions mean to you in the moment, given what you’re learning and what you already know.
Academic Integrity: The University takes academic integrity very seriously. Behaving with integrity is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community. If you’re uncertain if something constitutes academic misconduct, ask me. I am happy to discuss questions you might have.
Acts of academic misconduct may include but are not limited to:
- Cheating (working collaboratively on quizzes/exams and discussion submissions, sharing answers, and previewing quizzes/exams)
- Plagiarism (representing the work of others—including LLMs/GenAI—as your own without giving appropriate credit to the original author(s))
- Unauthorized collaboration (working with each other on assignments intended to be completed by one student alone)
Concerns about these or other behaviors prohibited by the Student Conduct Code will be referred for investigation and adjudication by (include information for specific campus office). Students found to have engaged in academic misconduct may receive a zero on the assignment (or another possible outcome).
Religious Accommodation: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request).
Access and Accommodation: Your experience in this class is important to me. It is also the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.
RESOURCES
Safety: Call SafeCampus at 206-685-7233 anytime – no matter where you work or study – to anonymously discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself or others. SafeCampus’s team of caring professionals will provide individualized support, while discussing short- and long-term solutions and connecting you with additional resources when requested.
The UW Food Pantry provides food to students, staff, and faculty who may be experiencing short-term food insecurity. It could be the result of a short-term disruption in finances, a food desert in the local community, or a lack of access to other financial assistance. Visitors are welcome to shop in person once per week and receive 2-3 days’ worth of food. The food pantry provides shelf stable products, UW Farm organic produce, ready-to-eat items from campus dining locations, and hygiene products at no cost to visitors.
Husky Helpline: If you are in crisis and need to talk to someone, Husky HelpLine operated by Telus (formally MySSP) to give students access to same-day, confidential mental health and crisis intervention support, 24/7 and in multiple languages. Husky HelpLine is available to support you to same-day access to a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.
The Q Center facilitates and enhances a brave, affirming, liberatory, and celebratory environment for students, faculty, staff, and alumni of all sexual and gender orientations, identities, and expressions.
The Clue Writing Center in Mary Gates Hall (141 suite, CUADSS lobby) is open Sunday to Thursday from 7pm to midnight. The graduate tutors can help you with your claims, organization, and grammar. You do not need to make an appointment, so arrive early and be prepared to wait.
The Odegaard Writing and Research Center is open in Odegaard Library Monday - Thursday 9am to 9pm, Friday 9am to 4:30pm, and Sunday 12pm to 9pm. This writing center provides a research-integrated approach to writing instruction. Find more information and/or make an appointment on the website: depts.washington.edu/owrc.
WEEK 1, Unit I: Shelter and Control
Day 1 (Tuesday, June 23)
Sontag, Susan. “The Imagination of Disaster.”
La Jetée (1962)
Day 2 (Thursday, June 25)
“Free Will, Determinism and Doing What You’re Told.” 12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys (1995)
WEEK 2
Day 3 (Tuesday, 30)
“The Imagined City in Silo: An Urban Design as a Tool of Social Conditioning.”
Silo (2025) Season 1: Episodes 1-3
Day 4 (Thursday, July 2)
Silo (2025) Season 1: Episodes 4-6
WEEK 3
Day 5 (Tuesday, July 7)
“Indigenous Science (Fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral Dystopias and Fantasies of Climate Change Crises.”
“What If the Natives Were Immune?: Dismembering Colonial Masculinity in Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum.”
“Zombie Experts and Anarchy Imaginaries: Fantasies of ‘Crises to Be’ in Climate Change Futures.”
Blood Quantum (2019)
Day 6 (Thursday, July 9)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
WEEK 4, UNIT II: Isolation and Adaptation
“On Being Between: Apocalypse, Adaptation, McCarthy.”
“The Double Death of Humanity in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.”
Day 7 (Tuesday, July 14)
The Road (2009)
Day 8 (Thursday, July 16)
The Wall (2012)
WEEK 5
“Vagabond Desire: Aliens, Alienation and Human Regeneration in Arkady and Boris Strugatskyʹs Roadside Picnic and Andrey Tarkovskyʹs Stalker.”
Day 9 (Tuesday, July 21)
Stalker (1979) first half
Midterm
Day 10 (Thursday, July 23)
Stalker (1979) second half
WEEK 6, UNIT III: Intertextual Afterlives
Day 11 (Tuesday, July 28)
“‘Nobody Is Saved Alone.’ El Eternauta/The Eternaut (2025) and the Comeback of the Collective Hero.”
Eternaut (2025) Season 1: Episodes 1-3
Day 12 (Thursday, July 30)
Eternaut (2025) Season 1: Episodes 4-6
WEEK 7
“Other Worlds within Other Worlds: Comics World-Building and Identity Formation in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.”
Day 13 (Tuesday, August 4)
Children of Men (2006) or I Am Mother (2019) or Civil War (2024) or ???
Day 14 (Thursday, August 6)
Station Eleven (2021) Season 1: Episodes 1-3
WEEK 8
Day 15 (Tuesday, August 11)
Station Eleven (2021) Season 1: Episodes 4-6
Day 16 (Thursday, August 13)
Station Eleven (2021) Season 1: Episodes 7-10
WEEK 9
Day 17 (Tuesday, August 18)
Final Project Presentations
Day 18 (Thursday, August 20)
Final Project Presentations