If you've ever played the game Fallout, or enjoyed the popular Amazon Prime series, you'd know that wandering the wasteland with a handful of bottle caps like a diverse investment portfolio already proves that you understand the Marxism themes throughout the series. The bombs may have decimated the planet, but branding happened to outlive most ecosystems... or people for that matter. Ghouls survive, society completely collapses, but Nuka-Cola still has a bomb marketing department.
The reality is that Fallout isn't just a story about nuclear war, it's about what happens when capitalism keeps running the program long after the hardware has melted. Before the Great War, Vault Tec promised safety, innovation, and the future. All of which turned out to be ridiculously unethical experimentation on the society of individuals who believed they had purchased premium apocalypse insurance. Apparently that package is non-refundable, and often is accompanied by pain and trauma.
That's the magic of marxism, once everything becomes a commodity, even human life becomes inventory. The residents in the vaults weren't "special", they were spreadsheets and when you start talking about the propaganda, Fallout's world is soaked in smiles and fun jingles. A good reminder that war never changes, but your attitude can be okie dokie if the font does! The toxic positivity is a classic example of ideology and the stories society can tell itself so no one notices that they're being exploited. And when you start to talk about the in class systems, well... those re-spawn faster than you do while playing the video game. Whoever controls water, electricity, weapons, or pre-war tech becomes the new upper class and everyone else ends up living off of radiation and Chem's.
The thing I enjoy the most about Fallout is that it never lectures you, but it's a subtle reminder that every rusted bottle cap and cheerful Vault Boy is an analogy for the subtle capitalism in the real world. Who knows, maybe your Vault Boy is lurking in the smiling faces of the influencers on your Instagram page, and your Nuka-Cola is eerily similar to that daily Swig run.
Just a reminder.... capitalism never dies in Fallout. It just respawns.
Okie Dokie?
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