This course investigates the conjunction of contemporary global capitalism, spectacle, and militarized neo-liberal governmentality in order to develop a critical understanding of the inter-related forces that constitute the most current and politically and ethically pressing events in the world today. These may include the war on terror, the disaster film genre, technologies of surveillance, politics of humiliation and scandal, and theological and financial speculation and visions of the future. Readings will draw upon both historical and in many cases the latest work in political theory, cinema and new media studies, critical philosophy, and religious studies.