Helldivers 2’s Politics Appear To Be Flying Over The Heads Of Some

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.

tygerprints,

I wouldn't play this game because of my very "woke" anti gun and anti-war sentiments. I think whenever I see a game ad with someone holding a gun, what a sad thing that the video game industry has evolved into - everyone has to use a gun to solve their problems or get "points" in life. Pretty disturbing when you see how young males are groomed to be gun lovers. And really, it's the worst possible sort of image to be feeding them.

Sabata11792,
Sabata11792 avatar

If you can't tell it's satire, you are the punchline of the joke.

ZILtoid1991,

The virgin fascism satire as villain protagonists vs. the Chad over-the-top evil fascist antagonists.

caboose2006,

I’m gonna watch the opening video to restore my faith in managed democracy.

inclementimmigrant,

Paul would be so proud.

hatsa122, (edited )

"I want to make a movie so painfully obvious in its satire that everyone who understands it lives in perpetual psychological torment inflicted on them by all the people who don’t.”

Wellcome to the post-internet era, where u can no longer tell if that obviously idiotic argument was written by a bot, a troll, your average right-winger or a twitter justice warrior.

Gullible,

Poe’s law was a concern even before its inception by known bigot and casual science fiction writer Edgar Allen Poe. Satire is a corpse animated in allegory to any cause the reader sees fit.

arin,

Idiocracy was satire, but it turned into a documentary. Sadly they were too optimistic and their leaders listened to smart people unlike ours.

Ajen,

Sadly they were too optimistic and their leaders listened to smart people unlike ours.

Smart != benevolent

prole,

It was also kind of like,really pro-eugenics.

Kedly,

I wonder if when extreme satire flies over someones head, outside of not consuming the media critically enough, the difference between heavy satire and pantomime can be subtle. A quick example being One Punch Man, I’d categorize that show as a Pantomime of Anime Cliches rather than satire, as while its playing up the ridiculousness of common anime tropes, its clear it’s doing so with a full love of the medium, and indeed the tropes its making fun of

Buddahriffic,

I wonder if conservative fans of One Punch Man miss the progressive politics in there, too.

Kedly,

I mean if they’re missing that Super Troopers Hell Divers is satire, then probably xD

EncryptKeeper,

Starship Troopers?

Kedly,

lmao, you’re right, I got the name mixed up with the cop one

HawlSera,

I’m a Leftist who watched One Punch Man, doesn’t that show imply that gays are rapists and that anyone without a job most be lazy? Not very progressive…

DragonTypeWyvern,

It’s Japan, not executing the gay guy might as well be a pride flag

RGB3x3,

They definitely make fun of the rich though with the guy who’s building has a golden turd on top of it.

I don’t remember any part that implied anything about gays being rapists, what part are you referring to?

HawlSera,

The show’s sole gay character being Putty Putty Prisoner?

AnyOldName3,
@AnyOldName3@lemmy.world avatar

Purdy Purdy Prisoner is both gay and a rapist, and the two aspects aren’t presented as orthogonal.

RGB3x3, (edited )

Lol, how could I have forgotten that character.

I never got that impression that the two aspects were inseparable. And he is a very exaggerated representation of a gay man, so maybe it’s that exaggeration that hints at it making fun of those who think gay people are all flamboyant rapists.

Though, I admit it sounds like a stretch.

HawlSera,

Given that he’s the only gay character in the show…

Kedly,

This IS Japan we are talking about, anime FREQUENTLY draws black women more muscular than men, and other such shit thats noooooot the greatest

prole,

That just made me think of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. With Edgar Wright simultaneously: satirizing (at times bordering on parody) the genre; paying homage to the genre; and showing their love of the genre by making an actual really good, high quality film.

The third one of that trilogy is fine, but those first two are near perfect films. You could show either of them to someone who’s never watched a cop or zombie movie or whatever, and they would still be able to enjoy them on multiple levels. It’s kind of remarkable actually.

I can’t really think of many, if any, other films that fit the same criteria. Maybe that new-ish Weird Al “biopic”?

3volver,

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”.

FlyingPiisami,

Are you sure it was the bugs that launched the meteor

3volver,

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.

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. "

DragonTypeWyvern,

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.

Buddahriffic,

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.

3volver,

Now you’re applying real laws of physics to a movie which clearly breaks the laws of physics many times throughout the movie, by that logic none of their spaceships would function at all realistically. Just make believe whatever you want at that point, it’s all fiction anyway, I was trying to go off of the fandom lore, now I don’t care.

Buddahriffic,

There’s usually some kind of technological leap that gets around the light barrier in space travel sci fi and fantasy. It’s possible they are just using a “space isn’t that big” model, which would make it possible. The movie doesn’t really go into how they travel, which I was ok with because it is all made up, but I did end up making a “they figured out ftl travel” assumption.

AnyOldName3,
@AnyOldName3@lemmy.world avatar

Federation ships explicitly have warp drives in the movie, allowing FTL travel.

Buddahriffic,

My bad, I should have said I didn’t remember if they addressed that in the movie.

DragonTypeWyvern,

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?

3volver,

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

Not true.

With what technology?

starshiptroopers.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma#Arachnids

Not replying after this as to not waste my time.

DragonTypeWyvern,

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?

3volver,

I think for myself using the official movie’s lore to make my judgments, but you can bend it however you’d like.

DragonTypeWyvern,

Funny, because I just actually watched the movie and knew the director’s stated intent.

the_crotch,

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

DragonTypeWyvern,

🤢

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.

Forester,
@Forester@yiffit.net avatar

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.

Red_October,

Oof, looks like someone had a deadline looming and decided to take the non-issue of a few dummies lacking media literacy and blow it up into a full article.

FrowingFostek,

I’m not sure its just that. There seems to be alot of discourse surrounding this game.

Do you have any thoughts about the topic or did you just want to be critical of the article?

Red_October,

Of course there’s a lot of discourse, it’s a popular game, it’s a lot of fun and it’s been a long time since something so high profile was also so over the top in it’s satire.

Now I thought these comments WERE about the article, but if you want thoughts on the topic itself before you’ll be satisfied, sure.

There will always be people who miss the point. There are people who unironically think Starship Troopers is the best thing ever and represents a model society. There are also people who honestly think Fallout doesn’t contain any political commentary. There are people who thought SpecOps: The Line was just an okay modern military shooter. That isn’t a flaw of the media itself, nor is it the problem of people who do understand. Dummies with a complete lack of media literacy or social awareness aren’t a new concept, and the media they fail to understand isn’t responsible for them. It isn’t news that some people didn’t understand a thing, and trying to MAKE it news is just disingenuous and reeks of clickbait and lazy journalism.

FrowingFostek,

Thanks for clarifying your point.

I agree its not a particularly noteworthy occurrence, I thought your comment seemed kinda gatekeepy.

I don’t know much about the game so I value your insight.

Quill7513,

Bruh the more light we can shed on media literacy in this election year the better…

CancerMancer,

This seems like some made up shit. For all 5 people who don’t seem to get the stinging nature of this game’s satire, I just can’t bring myself to care.

Sylvartas, (edited )

Just have a look at the steam discussions for the game. It’s a cesspool of edgy 14 years olds yelling about politics in their video games.

Yes, I am aware that this describes the steam discussions for most games.

zalgotext,

It’s actually refreshingly different for Overwatch Steam reviews, where people mostly just complain about 6v6 being gone and post Widowmaker ASCII porn.

Socsa,

Lemmy is literally the other side of that coin though. A bunch of 14 year olds yelling “fuck capitalism/America” in every thread.

Sylvartas, (edited )

I have zero actual data to back this up but I think the average age on lemmy is much higher than in the steam discussions. A normal discussion between people with opposing viewpoints can somewhat happen on lemmy. On steam it usually immediately devolves into name calling and “edgy” comments

Cowbee,

The same thing happened with Fallout: New Vegas when chuds realized Joshua Sawyer is a Socialist

LaserTurboShark69,

Do you mean Joshua Graham?

AmosBurton_ThatGuy,

“I don’t enjoy killing, but when done righteously, it’s just a chore, like any other.”

Cowbee,

No, Joshua Sawyer, the Project Lead. He wrote characters like Arcade Gannon, told Gonzales to add dialectics to the Legion, etc.

He has shown up on Communist podcasts and is vocally a Socialist on Twitter.

sleepmode,

And The Boys with Homelander when they realized he’s a caricature.

Socsa,

Most of them still haven’t figured it out as far as I can tell.

Keep in mind, these are the same people who watched the Colbert Report unironically for years. I genuinely believe that there is a certain portion of the population which lacks the cognitive tools to process satire.

sleepmode,

1000% There were some sad posts on the subreddit. I thought they were trolling at first but, no.

echodot,

There are still people who think that Starship Troopers should be taken seriously. This despite the fact that it has Neil Patrick Harris in it, a man who sings and dances in every possible opportunity.

kameecoding,

Just the other say I saw a facebook comment saying Starship Troopers is not a satire of fascism but its about patriotism and serving your country

roscoe,

Is there any chance that comment was satire?

kameecoding,

Nope

Klear,

I first saw it as a kid and didn’t like it too much because I took it too seriously. Rewatched it years later and I didn’t like it because the satire was just so way too obvious and forced to be enjoyable.

So I can kinda understand how it could over someone’s head since it did over mine (when I was like 10).

EatATaco,

You missed Goldilocks zone for watching it, apparently.

Klear,

Yeah. I’m hoping I’ll still hit it at some point in my life. The action is and always was awesome, but the overall tone went from way too scary to way too cheesy for me.

echodot,

Of course it’s age restricted so you’re not really supposed to watch it at 10. But anyway a 10-year-old isn’t really the target demographic, at that age you’re not going to have a developed understanding of politics yet so that’s not really a problem.

When I first watched the matrix I didn’t really understand what that was about either.

DragonTypeWyvern, (edited )

I don’t like it because I think it was both bad at being a Starship Troopers movie and bad at satirizing Starship Troopers.

At least read the whole book, Paul. Maybe then you’d have known Johnny Rico was Filipino and that particular reveal was actually a rather important detail when it was written. You did a white washing by accident, you crazy Dutch bastard.

biofaust,

Do we have /c/swoosh in here?

chicken,

This could be right and maybe I’m under a rock but I am suspicious of articles that reference dumb things people are supposedly saying without any quotes or citations

JasSmith,

I grow so tired of culture war stupidity. Who upvoted this drivel?

Blackmist,

Political = this game contains things I disagree with.

The usual things. Black people. Trans people. Women who aren’t just a set of tits with a gun.

AFC1886VCC,

I remember when some of them kicked up about Far Cry 5 because the villains were all white (which was relevant to the games setting) and they accused the devs of demonising white people LMAO

Blackmist,

More because they were a white Christian doomsday cult.

Clearly a little close to home for some people out there.

carpelbridgesyndrome,

The complaints about Wolfenstein becoming political really took the cake for me.

fruitycoder,

What? Wolfenstein the Nazi killin game is political? /s

DragonTypeWyvern,

Next thing you’ll say BJ wasn’t killing Nazis for Jesus

Couldbealeotard,
@Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world avatar

Most of the bad guys in Resident Evil 5 were black because of the relevancy to the setting, and people were similarly kicking up.

Is getting up in arms about one of those any different to the other?

(And just to be clear, I’m not taking about the tribal depictions, I’m referring to the reaction to the early trailers)

supersquirrel,

Yes, the difference is called historical context and the people mad that other people might be upset by the imagery of a white guy shooting up a town full of black people basically define their views on a willful ignorance of historical context.

EldritchFeminity,

I mean, a white guy going into a village of black people and shooting up the place is just colonialist history. There’s some potential racism to unpack there, so it’s not surprising that people’s first reaction was “what the fuck.”

This was people freaking out about a white guy shooting up a bunch of other white guys who were part of a Christian extremist militia in South Dakota or something. This was people being angry that the bad guys were white Christians, a group that could never be in the wrong.

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