Infrastructure in Dystopian and Post-apocalyptic Film, 1968-2021

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic movies from 1968to 2021 usually conclude with optimism, with awindow into what is possible in the face of socialdysfunction - and worse. The infrastructure thatpeeks through at the edges of the frame surfacessome of the concrete ways in which dystopian andpost-apocalyptic survivors have made do with theirdamaged and destroyed worlds. If the happyendings so common to mass-audience films do notprovide an all-encompassing vision of a betterworld, the presence of infrastructure, whether oldor retrofitted or new, offers a starting point for thecontinued work of building toward the future. Filmimaginings energy, transportation, water, waste,and their combination in the food system revealwhat might be essential infrastructure on which tobuild the new post-dystopian and post-apocalypticcommunities. We can look to dystopian and post-apocalyptic movies for a sense of where we mightbegin.