Post-Apocalyptia:
Fragile, Metro, and Fallout, Part 3
We're
back and talking about three great works in one of my favourite
genres! Before we conclude, here's some stray thoughts that don't fit
anywhere else. Together though, they kind of do.
The
supernatural
When
I started playing Metro, I was briefly surprised by the prominence of
an unexpected supernatural element. It doesn't jar, in fact it's
enmeshed in the world extremely well, and in a manner that
contributes to the plot and atmosphere. But you wouldn't normally
think to go that direction in a post-apocalyptic story. You might
think that the seriousness of the subject matter would funnel you
towards “realism,” and Fallout, after all, didn't really have
anything like th—oh, wait, Fallout had ghouls and Super Mutants.
Oddly,
none of the properties is satisfied to bank on interest in the
post-Apocalypse alone; all three decide to introduce a supernatural
element to the proceedings.
Fragile
features robots and woodland creatures as enemies, but also contains
plenty of supernatural enemies, such as ethereal jellyfish. More
significantly, of course, is the Glass Cage, whose entire premise is
on technology unavailable in the real world. The impact of this
decision is very large, given what it allows the creators to do with
the story, as only a select few humans are spared, and they're located far from one another. Seto also encounters several ghosts, one of
whom is his main companion throughout the adventure. Another is the
main antagonist, and others impede his path in various ways. There's
even an old woman who projects the residual self-image of a small
child. Many more appear as weak enemies, including banshee-like foes
and little kids playing hide-and-go-seek. It's unclear what causes
someone to linger after death, but it wasn't the failed human
instrumentality attempt per se, otherwise there would be millions of them
stalking the streets of Toukyou, rather than a few dozen.
It's
hard to say what's behind this interest in blending the serious and
supernatural, but it may be to make technology a little more
mysterious. We use it in our everyday lives, our dependence upon it
increasing by the second, so we tend to assume we have a pretty good
handle on it, and yet in these stories it has nearly destroyed us. By
introducing unpredictable effects, the creators point out how little
we really understand about
our own technology, and, indeed, the world around us.
The
place of technology
What's the most important piece
of technology you're going to need to survive the post-Apocalypse?
Your trusty gun, right? Of course not, don't be daft.
 |
"Millions...perhaps even billions, died because science
outpaced man's restraint!" |
By far the most valuable
technology is anything that can help you grow or acquire food or
water. Even Fallout knows this. Tons of major characters devote their
lives to seeking out powerful relics of the Old World. The
Brotherhood of Steel, a neo-knightly order of technophiles, jealously
hoards its knowledge, even placing the value of its retrieval over
that of human life (“After all, everyone knows how to make another
human, but the secrets to making a P94 Plasma Rifle are all but
lost”). Despite warnings from some members, the Brotherhood gets so
wrapped up in locating bombs and weapons schematics that it neglects
more useful technologies like aeration or securing the safety of the
populace. This difference of opinion tears apart one chapter and
nearly destroys another. Plus, the whole plot of Fallout 1 is kicked
off when your Vault's Water Chip fails, threatening to leave its
residents without potable drinking water and forcing the Overseer to
open the Vault early so that you can go look for one.
Metro takes this to a whole new
level. Sure, people value weapons maybe a little more than they
should, but they focus on the fundamentals of survival, tracking down
or reinventing the most primitive, unsexy technologies available.
We're talking water purification. Gardening. Domestication. That kind
of stuff. They don't talk about it, but I imagine electric sewing
machines fetch an outrageous price. And don't forget medicine! Some
medical textbooks have survived in Fallout, but in Metro we only ever
see two infirmaries in all of Metro, one at Polis in Last Light,
and one in I forget where in 2034. I'm sure I don't have to explain
why doctors would be highly valued. The gaudiest stations in the series are described as having medical facilities, hot running water, and adequate lighting.
The antagonist in Fragile
believed that technology would solve the world's problems, but
instead it nearly ended it. And all the everyday technology that once
made life possible now sits unused and decaying. Surely the writers
don't mean to suggest that we need to get some global genocide
happening pronto, but they may be trying to tell us that we'd do well
to get back to nature from time to time. Technology makes our lives
possible, but it can also end them. A sickle can sustain life, or it
can kill, depending how it is used. In these stories, we used the
bounties available to us to destroy ourselves. Hell, you could even
argue that we're doing that today, with problems like global warming.
Some creators may even have had this is in mind when making the
games. Nuclear bombs as a stand-in for global warming – well, the
latter is slower and less exciting, but just as deadly. And just as
avoidable.
What is the place of technology
in our world – and in theirs? What technologies should these people
pursue – and what should we? These stories are not necessarily
anti-technology, but they do seem to warn against its misuse.
Sex
and sexuality
 |
| Fahrenheit, an ass-kicking woman from F4 |
In
Fallout, conventional racism has given way to an equally insidious
prejudice towards the irradiated, nigh-immortal ghouls. Sexism,
however, has all but been obliterated. Oh, you still have the odd
old-fashioned gender roles type cropping up here and there, but for
the most part, except as it pertains to whether or not you want to
sleep with somebody, sex and gender are a bit of a non-issue. When
your camp is assaulted by raiders, nobody cares what's between your
legs – they only care how well you can fight. (The exception to
this is Caesar's Legion, in which women are childbearers and
caregivers and literally nothing else, but even this is more part of
Caesar's ruthless division of labour than actual sexism – the same
as how his veteran soldiers are never the first into battle not as
some kind of privilege, but because it's more effective to hold them
in relief until the enemy is already fatigued from fighting the
grunts.)
On
a related topic, homosexuality in the world of Fallout is a-ok.
There's only one instance where I can remember it being frowned upon,
and only because it was among a group of isolationists who felt that
it was their peoples' duty to procreate lest they all die out, so it
was more of a practical issue than actual bigotry. Basically you're
free to bang whoever you want; I always play a woman and try to be as
slutty as possible, and everybody's fine with it, and they give equally few fucks if you're a blushing virgin. Which is partly down to
freedom of player choice, but there are plenty of non-hetero
relationships between NPCs as well. It makes total sense that people
would have more pressing issues on their minds than who's sleeping
with whom, but there's also the fact that danger is a powerful aphrodesiac, and Post-Apocalyptia is nothing if not dangerous.
Biology drives them to panic procreate, and perhaps they also realise that every chance at a good hard pounding may be their last,
so they pretty much just take whatever they can get, whenever they
can get it.
Also,
Fragile features a totally out of nowhere boy-on-boy kiss, in a game
from a country not exactly noted for its social progressivism, so
wrap your head around that one.
Ammunition
As
described above in the section on economics, both Fallout and Metro
feature interesting substitutes for money. Metro uses pre-War AK-47
casings, now impossible to counterfeit. The underground inhabitants
still make bullets, but they are vastly inferior to the industrial
products manufactured for use by the actual military back when there
was one.
Similarly,
the people of Fallout use Nuka-Cola bottle caps as currency, as their
veracity and scarcity are guaranteed because no one knows how to make
them anymore. However, as soon as people started cobbling together a
semblance of society once again, one of the first things they
relearned how to make was high-quality weapons and ammunition. I
think that says a lot.
(And
by the way – in Mad Max, people don't
ever figure out how to mass-produce ammunition, leading to the
emphasis on melee combat.)
Glad you could join me for
today's session! I've got one more point to make, so I hope I'll see
you again next time.
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