The Farnese Atlas—a sculpture from the second century BCE, exhibited in the Sala della Meridiana in the National Archeological Museum of Naples—carries on his back a celestial sphere, probably the only existing depiction of the star catalogue of the astrophysicist Hipparchus of Nicaea. Footage of this Titan, who must bear the unbearable weight of the whole universe on his shoulders for eternity, is alternated with archival footage of the World War I, life in US suburbs in the ‘50s, and American advertisements from the ’80s. Through synecdoche, the film blends together the paradigms and contra- dictions of the Short Century, prompting reflection on the decline of the West.