The societies of destruction

Sf narratives featuring destruction have long found commercial success. Across several popular genres, in fact, when the entire societal structure in a narrative pivots on destruction, we often see technologies and teams defending or reclaiming control from devastation. In these moments, destruction forces all other issues aside. Thus, destruction is at once the ultimate threat to control and its absolute tool. While action, disaster, fantasy, horror, and superhero narratives can center on existential threats, texts based on the irrational, impossible, mythical, paranormal, and/or magical do not reflect societal change in the same way sf can. The future, which unites the destructive challenges of today with the solutions and the consequences issuing therefrom, can forecast societal transitions that either begin or relapse in the face of destruction. Just as Foucault suggests that society transitioned from sovereignty to discipline and Deleuze suggests that we are now emerging from discipline into control, I contend that control is facing destructive challenges, which are reflected in popular sf. Accordingly, this article will explore how destruction and control oscillate across popular sf texts while advancing and interrogating the societal implications thereof, ultimately revealing how futuristic narratives productively mirror the societies for which destructive forces now shape experience.