Metal Gear Solid (1998) vs. Mass Murder (MGS1 Retrospective Ep 13)
378Welcome to the final section of our retrospective video essay series on 1998's METAL GEAR SOLID. In this episode, we look at a number of important themes for the game, from the end of the Cold War to the next generation of nuclear threats, genocide, extremism, and terrorism.
(NOTE: Apologies to any newer subs who dislike this format. Existence is a passion project I've been working on for a while now. I don't talk as directly about the game in question in these types of videos as the YT traditional format would dictate. I will continue to release more conventional videos along with more 'virtual essays' like this.)
Whereas prior episodes feature more directly from MGS1, this is a special occasion. With the prospect of war with Iran supposedly now on the horizon, it's more important than ever to stand up against genocide, extremists, and what Orwell dubbed "the gramophone mind." Yes, it's ironic for me to endlessly quote Orwell about being anti-orthodoxy, but that irony is intentional. I'm trying to make the point that until the atmosphere of thought Orwell articulated in NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR is no longer in EXISTENCE, Orwell will remain the closest thing we have to a true prophet.
"For all I know, by the time this book is published my view of the Soviet regime may be the generally accepted one. But what use would that be in itself? To exchange one orthodoxy for another is not necessarily an advance. The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played at the moment." - Orwell, 1945 (aka Year Zero).
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/08/archives/the-freedom-of-the-press-orwell.html
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0:00 - Prologue (travel back in time through the 1990s in reverse gear)
1:53 - Cold Open / Introduction
3:14 - Opening Credits, Song "Swastika Eyes" by Primal Scream (2000). Remixed by Chemical Brothers (get it?)
05:04 - Story sequence part one (Snake begins disc 2 by infiltrating the underground nuclear housing bay on Shadow Moses Island. More and more frequently, we hear advice from his 'Big Brother'-like mentor, Master Kazuhira Miller. The episode's major themes and motifs are all foreshadowed. Important reference: Dante's Inferno.)
06:12 - Essay sequence part one (Discussion of Francis Fuyukama's 'The End of History & the Last Man', Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the end of the Cold War.)
09:41 - Story sequence part two (Snake continues his descent)
10:56 - Essay sequence part two (Discussion of 'neoliberalism', terrorism, and how just as the 1990s prefigured the 21st Century, the 90s, in turn, were set into stone by the 1980s. This in turn foreshadows the Orwellian concept of "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.")
13:02 - (On terrorism, neo-liberalism, and extremism. We first directly state the primary focus for the episode: making the case for widescale nuclear disarmament.)
19:33 - (Countering the 'End of History' thesis. Revelation of silent genocides, all to make the case stronger that nothing is preventing another Holocaust, either with nukes or ethnic cleansing.)
21:16 - Story sequence part three - (Snake hears about ravens. The ravens in this episode, as in the game, are metaphors for the 'Other' - those we hate, or fear, or see as foreign. Those who circumstance has driven into extreme behavior purely to survive.)
23:12 - (Orwell, the gramophone mind, and why the answer isn't extremism.)
24:25 - (Machiavelli and Civil Conflicts since WW2 and, in turn, since the end of the Cold War. I try to convey the two are really one: historical progress, in other words, has been arrested in the police state that emerged from World War II.)
27:49 - Story sequence finale (Confrontation with Vulcan Raven in the Dante's Inferno-like frozen core of hell.)
30:17 - Epilogue, selection from Fukuyama. This isn't meant to endorse any of the names listed, merely to explain the dark rationale behind the appeal of war in the 21st Century, and murderous gilded tyrants like Trump. It's also drawing a straight line from Fukuyama's deranged endorsement of a world where pain is our only sign of meaning and existence, to Trump, the war in Afghanistan, and any other wars he may start or people he may have killed by the time I finish typing this sentence. I include the paper crumpling sound intentionally to make a point that freedom is now slavery - whether I personally want to or not, I have been signed up for Fukuyama's philosophy and so have you. That changes the minute we realize it's existence, and gain the inner strength to truly try and change the world...for the better.)
31:20 (ending theme, 'Policy of Truth' by Depeche Mode. Everything from the episode I try to condense and amplify via the emotive power of music.)
33:48 (classic MGS style post-credits scene.)
Further viewing / featured clips:
"Nuclear weapons nightmare? 'Terrorists just need one'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr-DaLtiCCM
Other Videos By Futurasound Productions
Other Statistics
Metal Gear Solid Statistics For Futurasound Productions
At present, Futurasound Productions has 1,247,233 views spread across 62 videos for Metal Gear Solid, with the game making up 22 hours of published video on his channel. This makes up 19.37% of Metal Gear Solid content that Futurasound Productions has uploaded to YouTube.