i dont even know what to say about this man

  • supafuzz [comrade/them]
    ·
    1 month ago

    There is no satire on the nose enough that its targets won't unironically adopt it

    • Carl [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      IMO all of these kinds of satire fail because they revel in the fascist power fantasy, but if you portray the fascists in your story as the lonely insecure dorks that they often are in real life I don't think they'd be so quick to appropriate the imagery.

      • FlakesBongler [they/them]
        ·
        1 month ago

        Right

        I like the game because it's chaotic, one second you're pouring napalm into a bug nest and the next you're being slammed into a brick wall at 60mph by a charger

        The problem is, it's a product designed to make money, so despite the inherent satire, Arrowhead appeases the reactionary parts of the fanbase

        The moment I knew they were never really going to make it as biting as they could was the whole "Save the Children's Hospital" MO

        I thought it was funny at first because why was there a children's hospital on the frontline of a war zone in the first place?

        But they played it completely straight and convinced the loudest worst chunk of the fanbase that even if Super Earth was bad, Helldivers themselves can be good people

        Even when they made fun of that with the MO to save the hospital for spindly 20-something men, it was cooked

        Well, There's that and the fact that i'm convinced that most of the people who play the game can't/won't read

        • chgxvjh [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          1 month ago

          It's a cool action game and as a antifascist I enjoy the satire but it's not going to educate the chuds.

          • FlakesBongler [they/them]
            ·
            1 month ago

            Definitely

            Arrowhead is selling a product and their behavior in doing so definitely defangs the satire

            but I am glad they refuse to put cowboy hats into the game

            Nothing froths up the chuds more than being denied their western wear

            • chgxvjh [he/him, comrade/them]
              ·
              1 month ago

              My friends didn't even remember element 710, even though I definitely didn't shut up about it while we played the mission smh.

              • FlakesBongler [they/them]
                ·
                1 month ago

                The number of people who have never picked up on the fact that Super Earth seeds planets with Terminids so that they can later kill them and harvest E-710 is astonishing

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 month ago

        You say that but I've met people who think Ignatius J. Reilly is supposed to be relatable and cool

      • Abracadaniel [he/him]
        ·
        1 month ago

        How do you feel about the film Jojo Rabbit? It used the more silly characterization you describe, but that exact thing is what many criticize it for. I think some found it too humanizing of the Nazis it portrayed.

        • FlakesBongler [they/them]
          ·
          1 month ago

          Oh yeah, the effeminate gay nazi in that movie was definitely played for laughs but also sympathy because of course the Soviets are portrayed as monstrous for executing him

          When, newsflash, he was eagerly participating in THE FUCKIN HOLOCAUST

    • AnarchoAnarchist [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      1 month ago

      While I think you are 99% correct, there are one or two pieces of satire I have not seen fascists adopt.

      "Springtime for Hitler", the musical number in "History of the World part 1" - both seem to effectively satirize the third Reich in a way that is unpalatable to fascists. I think in both cases, it's because they are made to look silly.

      Normally, satire of fascism tries to keep them dangerous and scary. Your typical fascist wants to be likened to a rabid dog, because a rabid dog demands respect, they want to be feared. They do not want to be the subject of ridicule. They want you to see their intricately choreographed marches and think that it is intimidating, not campy.

      Then again maybe I'm completely off base, and Nick Fuentes is actually a huge fan of both.

      • Frivolous_Beatnik [comrade/them, any]
        ·
        1 month ago

        not satire but this bit of anticommunist propaganda (political officer shooting deserters, one man gets rifle one gets ammo etc) from early CoD kinda goes hard

        Welcome to Stalingrad. You're about to begin the greatest moment of your life. The Germans have lost hundreds of tanks and planes. Hitler's brutalized hordes are now advancing towards Stalingrad over mountains of their own dead bodies. Our Bolshevik Party, our nation, our great country, have given us the task not to let the enemy reach the Volga and to defend the city of Stalingrad. Forward against the enemy!

        Up into the unremitting battle, comrades, for Stalingrad, for our great country! Not one step back! Cowards and traitors will be shot!

        Do not count days, do not count miles, count only the number of Germans you have killed. Kill the German - this is your mother's prayer. Kill the German - this is the cry of your Russian earth. Do not waver! Do not let up! Kill! Death to the German invader!

        mfw lenin-pogger

        • SickSemper [she/her, they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          COD did some unironically good portrayals of communists in WaW, especially compared to every other piece of American propaganda. Yeah they eventually go “killing nazi prisoners is bad”, but that moral stance rings hollow when you started out in a fountain filled with the corpses of your comrades as the fascists execute the wounded and dying. Plus ending the campaign blasting the Soviet anthem and planting the flag is incredible

          Show

          Show

  • nohaybanda [he/him]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Ironic fascisms in the end is just an invitation to gratuitously revel in the cruelty and awfulness of the ideology and then “safely” step away from it when you wish. I don’t think there’s a way to make it not a pipeline towards real fascism.

  • Johnny_Arson [she/her]
    ·
    1 month ago

    That is why yall should dump this game and play deep rock galactic with me instead. Also the dwarves are communists.

    • fox [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Are they communists? They're definitely in a union but they complain about their jobs and the company all the time

      • Frivolous_Beatnik [comrade/them, any]
        ·
        1 month ago

        Yeah - definitely have a strong union culture but I figured they're more "vaguely class conscious manual laborers/mercenaries" with aspirations of owning their own mining companies based on some of their lines.

        • fox [comrade/them]
          ·
          1 month ago

          Communism is when the company has spent eight years promising new kneepads and hasn't delivered

    • WokePalpatine [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Is the offline/singleplayer release worth checking out? I heard there's like a non-online/multiplayer version released.

      • Frivolous_Beatnik [comrade/them, any]
        ·
        1 month ago

        They have a singeplayer vampire-survivors-like called DRG Survivor, and a roguelite called DRG Rogue Core - though iirc Rogue Core is as singleplayer as the original DRG, in that you can play it solo or up to 4 player coop. I heard Survivor was fun but idk anything about Rogue Core