Why People Don’t Catch The Politics In Their Favorite Games - Aftermath
aftermath.site
external-link
"There’s something very intentional about consuming or framing these works as entertainment rather than as art"
@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
37
edit-2
8M

It’s actually very possible to miss the message of Bioshock. Andrew Ryan built the perfect city and Atlas ruined it. Andrew Ryan cast him out, but Atlas brought the player character as his final ultimate weapon. You eventually rebel, saving the capitalist Utopia.

I have seen people who abided by this interpretation. Any art with any level of subtlety can be misinterpreted. It’s inherently subjective and depends on the viewer’s personal biases.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
88M

Capitalist utopia? Isn’t the whole point that it’s a Libertarian utopia?

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
15
edit-2
8M

Are you unfamiliar with capitalism as a theory? Or Ayn Rand? Yes, capitalist utopia. That’s the entire libertarian ethos. Libertarianism is a political framework for governance, pure capitalism is its economic policy.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
28M

Don’t get me wrong, the only Libertarianism I’ve ever known is intertwined with Capitalism. But they aren’t the same thing, and I always read BioShock as being a take on Libertarianism specifically.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
18M

deleted by creator

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
6
edit-2
7M

Bioshock is most specifically about Randian objectivism, which promotes a version of extreme laissez-faire capitalism, not libertarianism in general.

And I think that’s the most economic philosophy buzzwords I’ve put in a sentence before.

Create a post

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Weekly Threads:

What Are You Playing?

The Weekly Discussion Topic

Rules:

  1. Submissions have to be related to games

  2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

  3. No excessive self-promotion

  4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

  5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

  6. No linking to piracy

More information about the community rules can be found here.

  • 1 user online
  • 199 users / day
  • 800 users / week
  • 2.3K users / month
  • 6.32K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 4.89K Posts
  • 101K Comments
  • Modlog