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From sci-fi to sport, entertainment shapes our cultural understanding of wellness, illness, and care. What are the affordances and constraints of this messaging? Can pop culture help us imagine a more just future of healthcare? In this seminar, we will explore representations of health, healthcare, and medicine in a variety of pop culture texts, including film, literature, television, and social media. Together, we will critically examine the stories that are told about health and medicine, and trace how they reflect/challenge historical and contemporary politics and concerns. We will discuss topics like contagion, reproductive health, mental health, and fitness, and inquire about the role of medicine in society more broadly. Ultimately, we will answer the questions 1) what is health? 2) what does it mean to be healthy? and 3) what do we want healthcare to be?