this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
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Helldivers 2’s Politics Appear To Be Flying Over The Heads Of Some (www.forbes.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
201 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

There is currently a very funny, kind of sad dust-up over Helldivers 2, in which self-proclaimed “anti-woke” gamers have previously heralded it as a rare game where they believe “politics” does not play a factor. Their faith was been shaken by an Arrowhead community manager they believed they found to be (gasp) progressive who was then subsequently harassed, but their head-scratching reading of Helldivers 2 as a “non-political” game is worth examining.

The only thing that makes sense is that these players have the shallowest of surface-level readings of the game. You are a patriotic soldier serving Super Earth. You must kill bugs and evil robots trying to hurt your brothers-in-arms and innocent citizens. There are no storylines to insert progressive causes into, everyone wears helmets so no “forced diversity.” Therefore, no politics.

Of course, this is…wildly off the mark, as Helldivers 2 is about the most blatantly obvious satire of militaristic fascism since the film that inspired it, Starship Troopers.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The satirical nature of Helldivers 2 is obvious, but in Starship Troopers the bugs flung a meteor at Earth which destroyed a major city and killed millions. I would argue that Starship Troopers has a bit more of a serious vibe with subtle satire, aside from some of the commercials like the one of soldiers giving kids guns. In Helldivers 2 the intro video shows that bugs are killing civilians, which could be true or could be purely propaganda. But yea, anyone who doesn't understand that Helldivers 2 is satirical is a fucking idiot. It all makes fun of militaristic imperialism, you can literally name your ship "King of Democracy".

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Are you sure it was the bugs that launched the meteor

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

As per the lore of Starship Troopers, yes I'm sure. There is no evidence even slightly that it was done by humans in that universe. On the other hand, in Helldivers 2 the intro video is clearly staged and prerecorded produced by the "Ministry of Truth" with the statement "scenes like these are happening all over the galaxy" making it clear that it was a staged video.

https://starshiptroopers.fandom.com/wiki/Bug_Meteor

The bugs in Starship Troopers even tried to send another one which was stopped:

"Later, at a certain point, the Arachnids launched a second meteor towards Earth. Fortunately for the Federation, it was destroyed by a Missile defence turret on Luna Base. The meteor would have slammed into southern Africa, possibly at Cape Town. "

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

So the thing is that it's not just the movie and novels that should be taken as separate canons, it's the first movie and everything else built off the movie that should be taken as separate, including the pre release materials.

The novel wasn't a satire of fascism (and wasn't fascist either, but that's a whole other thing).

The movie was, but Verhoeven fairly famously didn't read the book, and everyone around him knew what "due diligence" means so they did the bare minimum, so all the other material built off it has a different direction.

That said, Buenos Aires was definitely a false flag/accident in the movie.

I don't know if you know much about space, but a small amount of energy applied to an object at a distant point can have significant implications for the trajectory of, say, an asteroid traveling through space.

We see the asteroid that hits Buenos Aires, and a Federation ship bumps into it in space.

It couldn't possibly have been on a ballistic path to take out Buenos Aires, that bump would have made it miss.

But, okay, maybe it was just lobbed in Earth's general direction, and that was just a tragic accident? (This is what the supplementary material goes with btw)

With what technology?

The bugs in the movie show absolutely zero technological use. Not one bit.

These are the questions Verhoeven wanted you asking. They're also the ones every other bit of material ignores, despite the clear criticism (if not actually fair to source) laid out by the movie.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The bugs aren't even in the same solar system as Earth. An asteroid would take centuries or millennia to travel from a different system. The whole premise is ridiculous, which makes it perfect for a satirical false flag.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

Yep. That's what Verhoeven wanted.

Too bad for him the marketing team decided there needed to be some 5d Bug plan centuries in the making to... Kill one single city by sheer accident?

[–] [email protected] -5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That said, Buenos Aires was definitely a false flag/accident in the movie.

Not true.

With what technology?

https://starshiptroopers.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma#Arachnids

Not replying after this as to not waste my time.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Well, I can't say I'm surprised to find someone going to bat for the movie Federation despite everything in the gaming sub.

Got any opinions on how Caesar's Legion is the only hope for New Vegas?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Got any opinions on how Caesar's Legion is the only hope for New Vegas?

There was actually supposed to be lore backing that up, and making the decision more complicated that "NCR good, legion bad" but they ran out of development time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

🤢

Also, btw, the game wasn't "NCR good."

They're an openly genocidal republic beset with corruption and slavery with extra steps.

It's almost like they were a deliberate mirror of America in the Westward Expansion/Pre Civil War era...

But they had the coolest uniform, and that's ultimately what people care about.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

Ironically the best option for the people of Vegas is a stable benevelont dictatorship. Either house+courier (the house always wins) or the courier + yesman (no gods no kings no masters). Definitely not Kaisar and his faulty understanding of helgen dialectics. However, you can still make a strong case that the NCR can be reformed if you take the correct actions as The courier. Let Kimball eat it and force everyone else to play nice. The game shows that while many are corrupt, there are still several people in the NCR who uphold their values.