You Are Not Immune to Propaganda
A sociological analysis of the role video games play in political messaging, historical misinformation, and the messy relationships between games, the military-industrial complex, and the broader political media apparatus.
This paper was the synthesis of a few different concerns and interests of mine: tactical/military shooters, Hollywood, history, sociology, conspiracy, necropolitics, and the cultural, legal, and/or procedural norms associated with all of the above.
My interest in how games depict violence doesn’t come from a place of disdain for the content nor genre; it’s a conscious effort to question and critique games’ depictions and contextualizations of violence, so that future projects can be more emotionally resonant with audiences, more accessible to those with conditions like PTSD, and more respectful of the subject matter designers choose to adapt or pull inspiration from.
In summary, I’m not an outsider who’s disapprovingly wagging a finger at military shooters; I’m a genre aficionado who wants to see them evolve to fulfill their vastly untapped potential.
090606-N-6891S-102 U.S. Army soldiers with Echo Company, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade prepare to clear a staircase during a combined training exercise with Iraqi soldiers near Bahbahani, Iraq, on June 6, 2009. DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kim Smith, U.S. Navy.