This video essay surveys fifteen mainstream science fiction films of the 21st century, highlighting the conspicuous and melancholy recurrence of 20th century culture (songs, fashion, movies) in their diegetic worlds. I bring attention to this trend through the lens of the end of history, the ‘mythic umbrella’ under which narratives of the future are cultivated (Mosco 2004: 72). The persistence of culture from before the digital era proper, along with the prevalence of dystopian fiction, posits the transition to a globalised digital world as a fall from grace, or the ‘afterlife’ of history.