Does anyone else find Bioshock Infinite's propaganda posters offensive?

[Guilherme Zoldan]

The city is supposed to be the incarnation of the american ideals of the time taken too far. It does parody the united states, but it uses exageration to do so.
About the whole thing with the forefathers being secularists, thats true. Doesnt mean the USA is not significanly culturaly dominated by christianity, specialy at the time the game is set.

 

[thirion1850]

snip

snop

You count the game as lies? It is fiction just as there is fiction showing that all Russians are still in love with Stalin. I am sure some of our Russian member will tell you they are not like the Russians in video games.

Spoiler: your name says troll am I obligated to accuse you of being one?

Right on cue. That porcupine is so freaking cute too, geez. x3

OT: Yeah... it's already been said I suppose - it's a dystopia in an extremist sense of that time and the views present during it. To connect it to now would be pretty hard considering the world changed vastly in 110~ years.

 

[Signa]

Fuck, if the OP hadn't pointed it out, I probably never would have noticed. Now my interest in the game is officially piqued, because before I couldn't give two shits about another Bioshock game. Now I see there actually is some of the thought going into this one is the same that made the original great.

 

[Nickompoop]

Don't mean to sound like a dick, but... it looks like you missed the point.

I second this. The point of the first poster is the serve as a satire about conservative Americans. I say conservatives because it seems to be advocating an extremely hardline conservative stance.

It is our holy duty to guard against the foreign hordes.

I could say this is the extreme immigration stance that current conservative politicians have taken in America (see: Arizona law). But I would only say that if I was some kind of cynic.

As for the second poster--it's mocking the McCarthyism of the Cold War and racism at the same time by blending the two. Quite clever, actually. This makes me look forward to the game even more.

 

[Hammartroll]

I'm extremely glad you've mentioned this. I found this both encouraging that someone agrees with me on America-bashing and that you're very well-thought.
I hadn't seen the mock posters until just now, but I agree with you. They do seem to be attempting to misconstrue America. America may have had its problems, but we are the most free country on the planet. The reason many countries hate us is largely because they are jealous. I met one girl who I believe was Mongolian, and I asked her why she came to the US, and she replied, "Because America is the Land of Dreams." People still call us that, because we provide more opportunities for equal treatment than any other country.
Also, I believe our Founding Fathers originally wanted to have equal rights for non-whites in America, but for some reason, couldn't. I can't remember the full details.

Thank you for being understanding. But after a day of being told it, I think I do understand I kinda missed the point(lol). I'm leaning more towords the idea now that the posters aren't really being serious in portraying American values or representing the developer's personal political feelings, but are more just a device to show how twisted the city of Columbia really is.
Problem is that I know for a fact that some of my friends are going to totally agree with the posters and believe that they make an intelligent statement about the current state of America just for the sake of hating on America, cause you know, that seems to be in style. They really should have more pride in being American, I mean, what's more awsome than being a bunch of ill equiped rebels fighting off the world's biggest empire? And yeah we all know that many of the founders owned slaves, but I think the idea of ending slavery may have been a bit ahead of it's time at that time. They just got done creating a nation with an unprecedented level of individual freedom; people need to give the founders a break. Plus the southern economy pretty much relied on slave labor to be profitable, all the way up to the civil war. I'm not justifing slavery, but southern poverty can be partially to blame for this. It was a very difficult problem to solve and trying to fix it right after the founding of the country just wouldn't have been an appropriate time.

 

[MrGalactus]

It's extremist propaganda in an extremist state. It's offensive, that's the point. Colombia is not America.

 

[Titan Buttons]

The game is more being realistic to its time frame and America during this era was a rasist country, just like most white dominated countries were.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I'm going to italicise this so you pay close attention, ok?

It's a game.

Ok? We all good?

 

[Chaos-Spider]

you must understand that these people thought they were above the rest, the saw Themistocles better than everyone and if you weren't like them then you are beneath them, it kinda like nazi but before they happen. It also seem like they had a different set of rules then america at the time.

Themstocles? as in the Athenian general that fought in the Persian Invasion circa 500BCE?

What does he have to do with the Bioshock games at all?

oh sorry i must have typed that and somehow, i meant to say " they saw themselves better than everyone-" yeah that was...wow...

I could still understand what you were trying to say in the sentence, but it is the most interesting typo that I have ever seen.

OT: Aren't the Bioshock game worlds basically a sci-fi version of different time periods in America's history as seen through an objectivist lens, with 1&2 being altered versions of the 50's and 60's while infinite is set in an earlier time period ranging from the 1860's to 1930's when such propaganda would have formed part of the accepted mindset?

 

[Gigano]

Oh no, a game series about failed philosophical utopias showing the ideals of the philosophy it deals with being misrepresented and twisted?

...wait? As in, accurately portraying what the whole thing is about?

Just how did anyone find this "offensive"?

...

And it's not like racism and the US don't mix anyway. Civil rights for racial minorities came through the courts (as they apparently have to do for all minorities in the US...), not through democratic means (which were instead used to pass "massive resistance" laws and such), so overall the American population haven't really showed much readiness to change in this regard. It's really something they should get to work on acknowledging, and if games can provide works of literary merit to be a part of that reflection, then all the better.

 

[Iwata]

Is this thread a joke? The U.S. still is, these days, one of the most nationalistic countries on Earth! The whole "proud to be an American" thing, coupled with the absolute disinterest in foreign cultures is a trademark of the U.S. in this day and age, and back then, when the U.S. was still miles behind most of the civilized world in terms of human rights, that poster was quite suitable for the overblown, caricature context it's supposed to represent.

So, no. It's not offensive. If anything, it accurately portrays the POV of a vast portion of the American public, then and even somewhat now.

 

[kidd25]

Is this thread a joke? The U.S. still is, these days, one of the most nationalistic countries on Earth! The whole "proud to be an American" thing, coupled with the absolute disinterest in foreign cultures is a trademark of the U.S. in this day and age, and back then, when the U.S. was still miles behind most of the civilized world in terms of human rights, that poster was quite suitable for the overblown, caricature context it's supposed to represent.

So, no. It's not offensive. If anything, it accurately portrays the POV of a vast portion of the American public, then and even somewhat now.

there are many Americans who are proud to live here, aren't most people proud of their country, and second we do not have an absolute disinterest in foreign cultures, America has people from all over the world living here we study different country cultures through school and college. Okay so the humans rights one you got me their, but they improved throughout the years, then they started to decline when Woodstock hit.

 

[the_bearpelt]

I'm extremely glad you've mentioned this. I found this both encouraging that someone agrees with me on America-bashing and that you're very well-thought.
I hadn't seen the mock posters until just now, but I agree with you. They do seem to be attempting to misconstrue America. America may have had its problems, but we are the most free country on the planet. The reason many countries hate us is largely because they are jealous. I met one girl who I believe was Mongolian, and I asked her why she came to the US, and she replied, "Because America is the Land of Dreams." People still call us that, because we provide more opportunities for equal treatment than any other country.
Also, I believe our Founding Fathers originally wanted to have equal rights for non-whites in America, but for some reason, couldn't. I can't remember the full details.

Thank you for being understanding. But after a day of being told it, I think I do understand I kinda missed the point(lol). I'm leaning more towords the idea now that the posters aren't really being serious in portraying American values or representing the developer's personal political feelings, but are more just a device to show how twisted the city of Columbia really is.
Problem is that I know for a fact that some of my friends are going to totally agree with the posters and believe that they make an intelligent statement about the current state of America just for the sake of hating on America, cause you know, that seems to be in style. They really should have more pride in being American, I mean, what's more awsome than being a bunch of ill equiped rebels fighting off the world's biggest empire? And yeah we all know that many of the founders owned slaves, but I think the idea of ending slavery may have been a bit ahead of it's time at that time. They just got done creating a nation with an unprecedented level of individual freedom; people need to give the founders a break. Plus the southern economy pretty much relied on slave labor to be profitable, all the way up to the civil war. I'm not justifing slavery, but southern poverty can be partially to blame for this. It was a very difficult problem to solve and trying to fix it right after the founding of the country just wouldn't have been an appropriate time.

I rather agree with you. It also smacks of hypocrisy when white Americans are the only ones who have ever done wrong, according to some people. (Even though it's true that there were white slaves, and even some blacks owned slaves, apparently.) I do find it sad that only America has done wrong in the eyes of a lot of people. But, in truth, every country that stands now took it from someone else. It wasn't exactly nice, but we've moved past that to a large degree.

 

[AngelicSven]

You definitely missed the point of what they're doing. It's suppose to be offensive.

 

[Dustin Crump]

Is this thread a joke? The U.S. still is, these days, one of the most nationalistic countries on Earth! The whole "proud to be an American" thing, coupled with the absolute disinterest in foreign cultures is a trademark of the U.S. in this day and age, and back then, when the U.S. was still miles behind most of the civilized world in terms of human rights, that poster was quite suitable for the overblown, caricature context it's supposed to represent.

So, no. It's not offensive. If anything, it accurately portrays the POV of a vast portion of the American public, then and even somewhat now.

there are many Americans who are proud to live here, aren't most people proud of their country, and second we do not have an absolute disinterest in foreign cultures, America has people from all over the world living here we study different country cultures through school and college. Okay so the humans rights one you got me their, but they improved throughout the years, then they started to decline when Woodstock hit.

There's kind of a difference. Other countries are interested in their country doing well and having a good country, while the in the US you either think the USA is the "Greatest nation in the world anointed by God," or you're some kind of self-hating pinko (only exaggerating a little bit.) The whole point of Columbia is to zoom in and reflect this certain strain of political thought that has been oddly pervasive since 2009-ish in certain circles that America was designed perfect until "those people" came by filtering it through the lens of late 19th- early 20th century US politics. The racism pervasive in Columbia is supposed to represent this whole idea of "Real Amurika" and this stupid ideological purity that has been such a focus lately.
And none of this is surprising because Bioshock was a takedown of Objectivism and Libertarianism where Ayn Rand gets taken down by a man who goes by monikers reflecting the titles of her two objectivist screeds using the power of unrestrained capitalism she thought was a force purely for good. This Galt/Roark was then destroyed by a mixture of his own hubris and the self-sacrifice Rand so loathed.