I can see your point here, and you have made it very well, especially in reference to Mass Effect 2.
The way I see the Halo thing, however, is more as a part of the greater whole that is military-focused science fiction. Whatever way you look at it, there is a pervasive theme throughout many science fiction stories that portray idealised military institutions of human beings triumphing over the forces of alien cultures, and Halo is a good example of this.
I understand entirely that the reason the covenant are so varied is because to be fighting one particular enemy would be an incredibly boring game, but I find that regardless of this, from a certain point of view Halo is almost a caricature of these themes.
Take a look at
Stargate SG-1 for another example of this sort of thing. A military organisation as depicted through idealised characters triumphs over the forces of alien cultures. That said, SG-1 is much, much worse than Halo in this regard (don't get me wrong, I love watching the show) but the number of times the military personnel have gone up against civilian organisations that are always "out to serve nobody but themselves",
elected officials and have touted the whole "the people don't need to know things for their own safety" bullshit (this sort of thinking is what brings us ridiculous anti-terrorism legislation) is rather disturbing.
What I'm trying to get at is that this is a strong theme in a lot of science fiction, not just in Halo, and it bears thinking about. Although, perhaps not in such strong terms as MovieBob has seen fit to do so.
Vrex360 said:
Plus even though they are working together, they aren't equals. The grunts are treated as canon fodder and are rarely even allowed to have a name or any form of identity. In fact if you look into the way the Covenant races interact with each other and the way the racial caste systems work, it's actually more like fascism then the UNSC.
You do have a very good point here, since fascism is ultimately a political ideology based on collective identity and strength through organised violence, so the Covenant can be pointed to very easily as a theocratic fascist entity.
That said, in a slightly more abstract (and probably purely unintentional) way, the Spartans are also a good example of this. However, this is because
military organisations are all inherently fascist from the beginning. This doesn't mean that they're always under the control of governments that employ that particular method of politics, what it does mean is rather obvious. Military organisations are all about collective identity, strong hierarchy and strength through organised violence. In fact, that's the whole point of a military to start with.
Bob missed the point a bit, I reckon, by thinking the Spartans were some kind of unique example of this, whereas whenever we depict military personnel as the heroes of a story, we will inevitably carry these themes with us (however unintentional that may be).
The question I'm trying to get across is: "Why do we so often pick military heroes to tell a story?" I don't really have an answer to that, but I think it deserves some further discussion. Although, perhaps not in the comments to an internet video.
Vrex360 said:
EDIT: Also I apologize if I came across as rude or anything like that, I don't want to cause any offense.
Don't worry, it didn't, and I hope my posts don't either.
