Bioshock infinite propaganda posters11/19/2023 ![]() The article argues that a critique of a mainstream religious movement such as evangelical Christianity is not possible for a multi-billion-dollar industry which is wary of critical topics that may potentially estrange its broad consumer base. In this construction, Infinite strangely vacillates between a biting liberal caricature of religiously fueled nationalism and a nod to widespread moderate mainstream values in which unusual religious movements are negatively portrayed. Infinite plays with popular notions of evangelical religion, mixed with themes related to so-called dangerous cults and sects. The analysis shows how the game uses familiar but simultaneously transformed American imagery, such as a religiously legitimated American Exceptionalism in which George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are worshiped as saintly figures. Through a dissection of the aesthetic and narrative dimensions of the game, the article analyzes elements of religious history from which the developers of Infinite drew their inspiration, such as the biblical motif of Exodus or the still-popular concept of millennialism. After an overview of the game's production process and a literature review, several specific religious and historical motifs are discussed. This article examines how religion is represented within the game and how motifs from American religious history are used to construct its game world. ![]() Released in 2013, BioShock: Infinite is a blockbuster first-person shooter which explores topics of American nationalism and religion. The player is the time traveler here, even more so than the character they are playing, making BioShock Infinite one of the most literal representations of time travel and the tourist experience which video games can represent. Although the soundscape matches the rest of the environment, the anachronistic covers seem to be directed at the player, the only one who would recognise them as out of place. Music becomes an integral part of Columbia but also an integral part of the player experience. Decidedly steampunk, this vision of 1912 makes considerable use of popular music of the past alongside a small number of anachronistic covers of more modern pop music (largely from the 1980s) at crucial moments in the narrative. ![]() The third installment in the BioShock series has as its setting the floating city of Columbia. BioShock Infinite takes it one step further, weaving popular music of the past and pop music of the present into a compelling tale of time travel, multiverses, and free will. Recently, video games have followed their example, with franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Fallout and BioShock using appropriated music as an almost integral part of their stories and player experiences. Finally, it culminates in the idea that necessity operates as one of the worst types of violence and that civil disobedience is the true form of legitimate violence.įilmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino have taken full advantage of the disconcerting effect that pop music can have on an audience. In addition, it resulted in a better perception of how the artistic work symbolizes the erosion of freedom in tyrannical regimes, of how propaganda is an essential tool for lying in politics, of how violence is the weapon of a government without authority, and of how the privileged citizens tolerate the oppression of the less favored people due to the banality of evil, depersonifying them. It resulted in the advancement in understanding the symbology behind the name Columbia, the different forms of manifestation of tyranny and the role of the founding fathers as ancestors for American society. The methodology employed is that of a bibliographic research, based on Gilbert Durand’s mythocritique, which aims at revealing the imagistic meanings behind art. ![]() For this, the paper presents the analysis of the fictional work BioShock Infinite through the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, considering the link between Law and art forms. This research aims at contributing to the understanding of the contemporary “legitimate violence” phenomenon.
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