DEBUNKING Conservatives who think Hideo Kojima is a Nationalist who HATES Che Guevara
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- The Metal Gear Solid franchise is probably one of the most overtly political in gaming. It is also explicitly anti-imperialist, anti-authoritarian and often anti-capitalist too. The 2010 entry, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, also has many of the central characters (Big Boss, Miller and Amanda) fanboy over the iconic socialist revolutionary.
However, in my video analysing how Right Wingers do not understand video games, many stated that Kojima was actually using Big Boss's praise of Che to depict him as the villain. Which is ridiculous.
In this 'comment comeback' video, I respond to these arguments and address them.
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I hate this idea that villain cannot make a good point on something. They have to be completely reprehensible and the hero has to be completely sympathetic. Such a narrow view on story telling.
its a realy black and white mentality, thats why i love metal gear its a complex shade of grays
i'd say its childish but i played 1st MGS as an 11year old and sympathised with basically all the bosses and was sad to have to kill them
@@ince55ant That's not childish at all, it just shows that you understood the point of the game.
@@Darthpsychonis he means that having such a black and white world view is something that is naive and childlike but then provided an example of how even as a child he understood these things that they do not. Suggesting that their develope mental capacity is lacking in ways that go beyond experiend and biological maturity.
I mean in Peace Walker Big Boss prevented a nuclear apocalypse with help of sandinistas, so evil.
I love how the conservative response is immediately to go to "art has no inherent intended message and all readings are valid" lol
Especially since they're often the same ones who insist that any LGBT themes, subtext, theories, pairings etc that people notice is "wrong" and that people who pick up on LGBT coding are just "seeing what they want to see."
Exactly the hypocrisy of it is in incredible
@@ZethsCraftDesk remember when people flipped because the creators of the Matrix confirmed that it was a double entendre for being trans? It’s so enjoyable lol
"Unlike those crazy postmodernists on the left, I reject there being any one totalizing metanarrative that allows us to uniquely fix the true meaning of a text."
Conservatives: come on, art isn't supposed to have meaning or reflect any kind of ideology or politics.
Also conservatives: modern art is valueless and degenerate because it has no meaning or purpose.
"people only started putting their political opinions in media in the past 8 years' is what happens when you get your history/politics lessons taught to you by sargon of akkad
Facts
Can't believe he's still around.....
You know because when Ratchet and Clank from *2002* has a scene that explicitly uses the term "socio-economic disparity" it wasn't being political at all.
@@Zyberetro SToP pUtTiNg PoLiTiCs In My GaMeS!
it's funny.
Imagine a conservative making the argument that the Soviet film Come And See can be viewed as a pro-fascist film.
Yeah. Those idiots would not ser The clear message even if the author itself shows up and shout it in their faces
Lol, the ones who said Big Boss ends up being "the bad guy" didn't understand his ideology or don't know the difference between villan and antagonist.
Or they never played most of the series.
I'm not trying to argue a larger point here, epecially since I've only played the Solid titles and not the original Metal Gears but isn't it possible for a character to change or lose their way? By the end of MGS4 Big Boss makes it sound as if he and Zero both had gone off in wrong directions in life after the death of The Boss and only at the end come to regret some of his decisions.
@@cherimiss7983 None of that argues against what OP said.
@@kiskara If you read the point, I already pointed out that I wasn't trying to argue against it in the first place. I mostly agree, however there seemed to be some missing context and grey areas that even the character himself acknowledges by the end.
@@cherimiss7983 Both Zero and Big Boss were radicals with their own version of The Boss' dream, the difference is that zero manipulated and sacrificed inocent lifes while Big Boss recluted people that knew what they were getting into (they chose that sacrifice).
the "only in the last 8 years" line just cracks me up so much. You should send that to the Jimquisition. I bet it would end up on the Commentocracy
According to that idiot, George Orwell was just a centrist, and not a socialist at all. He was just writing a piece of entertainment, a story for people to enjoy without "jamming" his own political views down our throats. He has it all figured out, and us lefties are the ones that are just desperate for people to be political in their works. lmao
@@themajesticspider-man6116 George Orwell actually wasn't a socialist at all, he handed over communists and "anti-white" activists to the government
KRAPF Orwell called himself a democratic socialist (also a Tory-anarchist whatever tf that means), he was anti-Stalin and anti-Communist Russia
@@ernestokrapf yeah, I was so disappointed to learn this. Guess he wasn't as anti-fascist as he thought. It just draws a pall over all of his work. The ostensible anti-authoritarian who was happy to see his political enemies crushed by a repressive imperial state.
@@ernestokrapf
Imagine being this stupid.
Reminder that Kojima made Metal Gear Solid 2 around his spite against the fanbase that, he thought, missed the entire point of the original game's stance against jingoism, mass surveillance, and the military-industrial complex.
@Chandler Burse Yes, actually. Raiden was the way he was because Kojima realized playing as Solid Snake made too much of a role model, so Raiden is a sort of insult to the people who idolized Snake. Raiden, the effeminate pretty boy who slips on bird shit and has his girlfriend constantly nagging him, is Kojima saying "this is you" to the people who wanna be like Solid Snake. Then at the end, Raiden the former child soldier with sociopathic tendencies, PTSD, and the complete inability to live a normal life is Kojima saying "this is what wanting to be like Snake gets you".
Even after Raiden's past is revealed, the message doesn't change. He just goes from being an insult to the audience, to being a warning.
@@josh-oo And being really meta, the past of Raiden isn't even real, is actually tells you that he's in that way because he watched too much violent content without analyzing it.
@@manuelsalgadopalacios6729 Uh, no. Raiden's past is real. He really was a child soldier.
@Chandler Burse *MGS1 or MGS2
MG1 and MG2 preceded MGS1
its also that, when raiden returns as a pc, his whole game is centered around him being a force fighting against said ills of society, ending up to have him fighting a "trump-esque" figure that changes his political views towards disagreeing with the system entirely and seeking to copy senator armstrong's method but for a good use of dismantling the system.
And it's not even subtle! Kojima's basically waving a flag which reads "I LOVE CHE GUEVARA" and yet conservatives go "hmmm what could that possibly mean? Ah, yes, it means Ayn Rand was right"
The only thing more obvious he could've done was to film himself kissing a portrait of Che Guevara, saying "I love you man", and put the footage in as an easter egg... but I'm sure conservatives would still find a way to twist that into Kojima somehow being a Rand fanboy 🤦♂️
@Chandler Burse In latin america? He is indeed known for being a murderer and a criminal.
I don't think Kojima loves Che Guevara personally, it would be quite ironic and hypocrite of his part tbh.
@@harunocaleon5786 a soldier isn’t a murderer
@@apistate3-4 Sorry, I forgot they fight wars by cuddling and hugging each other.
@@harunocaleon5786 my point is you don’t label ww2 soldiers who killed nazis murderers, cause you agreed with standing against nazis. But since you don’t like Che he is a murderer, when he killed in war
People claiming that Snake and Big Boss are different characters are missing a *lot* of subtext. Snake is quite literally a younger, more idealistic version of Big Boss. The reason BB is the villain in the original Metal Gear is his disillusionment at the cycle of constant war and escalation, and the thing that stops him isn't an outsider, but literally himself from before he became disillusioned.
No, there are a lot of differences between Big Boss and Solid Snake.
The main difference between Solid Snake and Big Boss are their approach towards their ideals. Big Boss had a lust for war, going all the way back to Peace Walker. Solid Snake is the opposite as he fought for the sake of ending conflict. Solid is also a lot more of a stoic person. I think saying they're the same is a little misleading, but I see where you're coming from. They're cut from the same cloth, so to speak, and while Big Boss made his own attempt at fulfilling The Boss's wish, Solid (unknowingly) truly followed it.
Solid Snake isn't just a copy of Big Boss. While Snake does go through the same trauma as Big Boss (used by his own government to kill his mentor and parental figure) and is just as dissolutied as Big Boss was by the time of MGS, his interactions with Hal, Meryl, Frank, and Naomi as well as his confrontation with Liquid (Solid's shadow-self made manifest) cause Snake to go down a different path than his father. Rather than continuing to perpetuate war, Snake seeks to make the world a better place by trying to eliminate the use of Metal Gears.
Snake does not go through the same shit as Big Boss until mgs1.
The one who sent Snake to kill Big Boss was not the government… it was Big Boss himself.
@@AlejandroRodriguez-lw2pj Big Boss sent Solid Snake to kill Venom Snake. That wasn't the case for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake when he infiltrates Zanzibar Land and ended up having to fight both his best friend and his real father. This was on behalf of the US government, Big Boss wasn't commanding Foxhound at this time. Solid Snake is already bitter and jaded at the start of MGS. He is not the same as Big Boss at the beginning of MGS3. The events of MGS are what cause Solid to go in a different direction that Big Boss did.
Hideo kojima seems to have only good things to say about Che, even if one believes that he was the devil or whatever, he really was a man with principles and he died doing what he believed was the right thing to do.
I cannot understand how the right has no problem with redeeming figures much more problematic (even evil) than Che and here we are discussing as if he had been one of the worst people in the world.
There are people on the Right that think McCarthy did nothing nothing wrong...
Even if he were a bad buy, it would stillpaint him as inpirational, which he was, if even a bit of the stories that are positive ar true, he was a saint, involved in wars and thus shedding blood, but for that , a saint. After all wars has no innocent participants. But for that extremely humaniterian.
And given kojimas track record in games that comment very much on systemic criticim in line with progressive leftleaning values, thats redicilous.
I think actually most socialist and further americans that stay in america, do so because they love america, but not because they are nationalist, but they love the people, despite everything.Socialists and further let love a country argumently more.
@@marocat4749 To call him a bad man would be stretch. You execute a few people, and Americans are quick to describe you as inhuman. Yet any US president can order drones strikes and command wars that kill hundreds of thousands, yet no moral judgment is made on these people. Whatever you think of Che, you have believe that every US president is much worse. OR you're delusional.
@@EggEnjoyer I dint say that, i meant that even for someone involved in war, he had the principle and followed them lik a saint if that was true. And yeah he was in a position where he did kill people, in a war. I didnt ay that it maks him bad, the opposite,
I mrant if you can be in a bloody conflict nd that principled and humaniterian, you are a saint. And killing people in war, is just a fact that exists, doesnt make a person bad. Unless its a terrible warcrime which he appearently executed some for, as again, leader in a war. because someone had to, there.
I agree he is a saint, a saint in a war, which yeah, people are killed in wars, but a saint regardless.
*cough matt gaetz*
My long working hypothesis is that in western media, as a result of Capitalist Realism, heroic characters are not allowed to actually be revolutionary and say and fight for things like real change. Which is why villains are more and more taking semi-revolutionary stances, or the only honest heroes are forced to be morally and ethically antiheroes.
I'd love to see this expanded on. Danny from GoT seems to fit the bill. What others do we have?
@@IshtarNike It depends on what you mean. The Joker, in The Dark Knight or Joker, for example, is allowed to point out how certain types of violence enacted on certain groups is viewed as acceptable, or to be ignored, while when it is done to others it is not; usually those in power or upper class. Even Thanos, arguing for a better world and one can even argue his placement in the film is as heroic underdog fighting for a better world; in many ways his viewpoint is an anti-marxist version of heroism, as he seeks to thin the population for the sake of making like better, rather than just killing those who make living worse, or changing the ways peoples live. It's not that the villains are heroes, rather, that the villains are allowed to point things out that the heros would never be allowed to. The Joker can point out the horrors of the world, but he only piles on them, Batman does not point these out or act on them, he is merely a reactive force to bad things and seeks to conserve the society as is; excluding the bad actors who've just popped up. Thanos is allowed to strive forth towards what he believes is a better world while the Avengers just try to conserve how things are minus the bad actors. The villains are allowed to be reflective, or to move towards something and aspire, but their means must always be either insane, warped, or diabolical, and their ends must be about the same. Antiheroes are allowed more leeway, but they must be so damaged as to be either unattractive, ineffective, or crazy. Or they are the ineffective hero; like the character Howard Beal in the film Network. All of these things, for villains and antiheroes, allow the audience, through poisoning the well by making them either evil or so flawed they're despicable, that they will be brushed off by the audience while the heros are nothing but reactive conservatives holding down the status quo; one of the main reasons why I don't like much of the mainline super hero genre.
@@noheroespublishing1907 This was long as fuck but it was worth the read
@@nohpetsallowed3656 Glad you thought so.
Based and Mark Fisherpilled?
Kojima posted a pic with him smiling under a pic of Che on Twitter.
Unless he is trolling he comes across as a supporter of Che.
I know alt righters love MSG series but c'mon, how could anyone really think Kojima is a pro-imperialist, pro-capitalist right winger after playing through the modern MGS games? The messages of several games in the series are explicitly against the neo-colonialist status quo imposed by the global north nations.
Honestly right wingers only care about the aesthetics in media they consume and because of this the message goes over they’re head
@@jalisco-kallisto6216 they are beasts, more or less, barely capable of conscious thought
They have 0 media litteracy.
Gamers™️ are not the sharpest tools in the shed.
@@shis1988 I will said no, but the dumbest one has too much voice.
You forgot to mention the inclusion of the song 'here Is to you- by Joan Baez' for the first Ground Zeros trailer, and later as a soundtrack to The Phantom Pain. The song is a tribute to two anarchists of Italian origin, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were sentenced to death by a United States court in the 1920s.
@archons anti They weren't bad at all. They were killed as a message to other anarchists in the U.S. at the time. Similar to America's long and glorious tradition of union busting and protestor intimidation.
not even the trailer it was a big part of the narrative in Ground Zeroes in general. P sure they were drawing parallels between paz/chico and the subject of the song
Remember guyz Hidaddy Kojimbles is a based redpilled nationalist but also MGS is an apolitical gem!!! /s
People don’t understand stuff, then insert their nearest propaganda
I'm not a Metal Gear fan, but if Hideo Kojima is "pro peace" then that is pretty strong evidence for him being at least left leaning, as pacifism is a major component of liberal and leftist Japanese politics. A major issue in Japan is the debate over Article 9 of the constitution, which formally bans it from having offensive military capabilities. Repealing it is a long-held goal for Japanese right wing nationalists, including the previous prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Also, while Japan has long been dominated by the right, this is less a function of cultural conservatism and more a consequence of psephological issues, namely (1) a rigged electoral system (there is a huge malapportionment, benefiting rural over urban voters-guess who that benefits) (2) a divided opposition, allowing the ruling party to dominate the non-proportional seats, and (3) chronic voter apathy, with US style turnout levels
I believe che guevara is unfairly dehumanized in western states but this is the opposite in most states outside west where he is precieved as a revolutionary symbol. One simply need to look at his life from an objective apolitical pov to know why he is so admitted around the world
most of the things right-wingers (liberals, conservatives and fascists) say about him are easily refutable lies anyway, BadEmpanada made two videos on Che and debunked all the propaganda around him
There’s a bunch of Che murals in the indian state of Kerala
For someone who loves the world so much, he sure has killed a lot of people.
@@placeholdernameisplacehold7671 if your referring to guevara's jurisdictional death toll then it's only less than 150
@@billyb501stlegion5 You mean the racist homophobe who wanted homosexuals executed
Actually, for the original japanese left, nationalism is quite Common, but for them, nationalism is mostly a rejection of US imperialism.
Then there are the japanese ultranationalists who want imperial japan back
@@moustachio05 yes. They exist, too
@Chandler Burse Miyazaki (the socialist studio ghibli director) certainly does
As a foreigner currently living in Uruguay, hearing you talk about Mate was a welcome surprise.
I totally recommend tryin' it at least once.
It _is_ an acquire taste tho, but still.
Fair warning though (lol): There is an ongoing 'open conflict' between Argentineans and Uruguayans as to who invented Mate.
I support Uruguay hahah
Bro, I am Brazilian. I used to live in the northeast (Bahia) and now I live in the south. And mate is AMAZING.
I miss the comunal thing tho. But man mate is amazing once you get used to it
This is so funny to me. As a German I associate Mate immediately with... Let's say politically aware but not politically competent collage students. But if you say it's that good I might look over that fact and try it.
It what IS it?
It was discovered (not invented) by the Guaraní indigenous people. Any attempts by Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil or Paraguay to claim mate as their "invention" is pure BS.
No one thinks Kojima is a conservative. There are probably about 5 people who honestly think that.
you would be really surprised!
RIP El Che, off to the great Revolution in the sky.
Except for the Angolan MPLA. He absolutely hated them for just how incompetent they were.
Oh and let's not forget the gay people. Which he believed was a form of sexual deviance caused by capitalism
Yeah RIP to a racist homophobe who murdered his own people and executed homosexuals.
@@NatsumiTakanawa Have you ever read the book he wrote where he made racist and homophobic statements? At the end of the book, he admits he was wrong and apologises for his previous views.
Also, he never executed people for being homosexuals, that’s just a lie. He killed because he was essentially a soldier in a war. Would you call every soldier a murderer?
@@NatsumiTakanawa Firstly any racist comments he made came from his writings before his political awakening, which doesnt make it okay but he later went on to fight for the Congolese. Cuba as a whole also sent military aid to Angola to fight against European colonialists. and as far as the homophobia goes can you cite any evidence of that?
@@eririspencersawamura5291 Sources, please
I've been to Peace Park in Hiroshima, and it shocked me too. I've never played Peacewalker, so hearing that I was walking in the footsteps of Che Guevara is pretty shocking to me too.
Man wrote some of the most interesting convos in the series in Peace Walker a lot of which were dedicated to loving Che lmao.I will never get over how these people don't know what the games they "love" are even about
The most hilarious part of Conservatives not understanding media was Ben Shapiro's attempt to paint Hollywood movies as pro-conservative..
@@HeadGodoftheGodCouncil I remember that. His argument was : Kids in a movie. The movie is conservative.
@@somik-i3x Every time a woman decided she wanted a child: Conservative apparently.
Because there are no libs/leftists that want to have kids at all..
I've been playing it recently, its profound like the missing half of mgsV
@Chandler Burse They aren't considered a joke.. And why wouldn't Bennyboy and other conservatives want that considering that Hollywood is making the big bucks..
Another awesome The Kavernacle video! If you're going to be analyzing the politics of videogames maybe a video on Godzilla? TLDR the anti-SJW crowd is claiming Godzilla vs Kong is doing so good because it's free of "woke politics" despite the entire franchise being a metaphor for nuclear warfare, The Cold War, environmental destruction and how nationalism is inherently evil, aka it stands against they're politics line up with
Let them complain whenever they want. But the more they whine, the more crazy they are getting
the new one are about nature not being controlled by human, and that humans hubris stands against the balance of earth. for example, in the first one humanity is trying to stop the mutos and keep failing because they consider themselves as the peace bringers even do they make everything worst, while Godzilla is the one that actually bring balance by killing the mutos. kong skull island is about human interfering with the kongs home that leads to kong attacking them, and the wakening of the large skull crawler so kong was the one that needed to bring balance by killing the skull crawler, also it shows how war affect people, j.c reilly losing the ability to see his son grow because he was stuck in a island after crashing. samuel l jackson going crazy from his experience in conflict, feeling that need to be in constant war. and dont get me started on king of the mosters. that movie is so far to the left in environmental issues that even the villain has an actual point why she does what she does and the way to fix the problems is by learning how to co exist with Godzilla. and Kong vs Godzilla made a multibillion dollar corporation that the CEO hubris is hurt because humans are not the dominant species of the planet, that he feels the need to create a weapon to kill Godzilla and the titans, who have not attack a human city since kotm. yeah almost all godzilla films are left wing in one way of another.
I heard a lot of people saying GVK had too much “SJW whokeness.”
Because deaf people exist, lmao.
@Chandler Burse
Apparently their main “SJWs ruin media because they weren’t politicized until about 8’years ago!” Kind of issues comes from the fact that the human villain built Mechagodzilla AND he’s a billionaire.
That’s right, rich villains is now part of the SJW propaganda. Rich people have been villains in media since time-immortal. I’d say they’re the second oldest villain archetype with only “monsters and gods” coming before them.
@Chandler Burse but they grew up on it, therefore, there are no politics involved.
Politics only entered media in the last 8 years, they claim.
I really don't think a big game developer could get away with putting Che in a game now
Yeah listening to that convo from a gmae sounds unreal
Cancelled!
@ the guy who was like people only started injecting their own political ideologies into main characters 8 years ago has clearly never read The Republic by Plato
Conservatives: Keep politics out of art and media
Also Conservatives: Puts politics in Art and Media all the time
I’m genuinely confused at how anyone can come to the conclusion that kojima hates che? Like out of all things you can misinterpreted from the MGS franchise that is the one your going with??? LMAOO
MGS 4 is basically where the military industrial complex is headed. the whole thing was highly anti-capitalism
Solid Snake isnt a hero either, there were reasons he had to be forced into going to shadow moses, the military made him do grim shit he wasnt proud of
Ever notice that the term Guns of the Patriots From MGS4 can be abbreviated as G.O.P. and it's in reference to the incidents involving the patriots' meddling in keeping the world in a state of fear and war all to serve an economy. Really makes you think.
MGS4 opens with a series of fictional tv shows from the dystopian militaristic fear-driven future, and any one of them could have been taken directly from NRA TV or any other right-wing US TV station right now.
@@videogamenostalgia Yep. That is true
Everytime i hear Gop i internally laugh cause where i'm from it's (a rarely used) slang for vagina
Dude, the series never had a consistent pro-socialist theme either. Yes it's definitely not right wing, but Kojima never portrayed consistent socialist ideals at all... Unless you want to just play Peace Walker and pretend that's the whole MGS series. _"In the 21st century, everyone will be able to see that we are all just inhabitants of a little celestial body called earth. A world without communism or capitalism... that is the world I wanted to see"._
I dunno how you can play this entire series and not come out viewing it as a critique on _all ideology._ Kojima was pointing out the folly of so many things - war, the war economy, leaders who oppress, and also the revolutionaries who stand up to those leaders. With Big Boss, It seems way more like Kojima is trying to portray “Beware that when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster". Through turning away from national regimes, BB ended up creating his own warmongering nation. He did it by kidnapping people on the battlefield and forcing them to align with him, also by raising child soldiers, and building a _literal war economy..._ Like how is that a 100% noble pursuit in your eyes? Kojima was portraying a misguided pursuit of liberty, because all BB achieved in the end was more conflict. The Link between BB and Che was the fact that they both formed a militias in the hopes of liberation, but it came at the expense of theirs and their comrades lives - more conflict doesn't equal progression. I really don't see how this can be viewed as something which fully embraces socialist ideals, at best it's something which recognises the merit while critiquing at the same time. Kojima never fully commits to one ideology, he explores all ideals of the 20th century and criticises them. So many times Chico and Amanda etc. are portrayed as being misguided in their pursuits, BB got swept up in their revolution because it benefitted his pursuits, and perhaps also because he saw it as a path to realising the Boss' dream... He never portrayed BB to be the ultimate hero of the series. He was the imperfect hero, Solid Snake/Otacon were the perfect heros. They both serve as the people who were able to recognise the mistakes of their fathers and make the necessary corrections.
I think the only true resolve you can take from Kojima is the idea of "leaving the world as it was". Which roughly translates to not disrupting the flow of time and the progression of humanity through control and war (this is one of the big follies of socialist revolutionaries - trying to mold the economy into this perfect utopian vision. You can't _enforce_ an ideal on society, ideals have to be achieved through natural progression). Every single protagonist except for Otacon and Solid Snake who tried to change the world only ended up making it worse, thus halting the progression of humanity instead of allowing it to blossom (you know, like the flowers the Boss died in?). The moral of the story is _"This is what happens when you try to mold the world into your own image"._ You're only seeing one tiny bit of a huge tapestry cos you view everything through a pro socialist lense. This kind of dogma was the exact thing Kojima was warning against.
I also don't see how you can say Kojima wasn't Individualist in any way after Naomi's entire, clearly _nietzschean_ sequence at the end of MGS1. It really is like you only played Peace Walker and completely ignored the rest of the series, or you just watched Big Boss' arc and think he was the only protagonist in the series...
Big Boss was the imperfect hero, Solid Snake was the perfect hero who achieved the Boss' goal through correcting the mistakes of his predecessor. This means all of the patriots, all of the protagonists etc. had good ideas at one point but they got lost along the way trying to mold the world into their own image _instead_ of leaving it the way it was. They all Idolised the Boss, but they chose imperfect methods of pursuing her goal.
How bad do your brainworms have to be to watch the ending of MGS3 and conclude that Kojima is some kind of mega nationalist? Because they use the word "patriot"? How can someone play these games and have such little regard for context?
These people were born in an information bottleneck.
Most actual Japan nationalists are actual leftists due to the fact that they view that the only way for Japan to actually be free of US Imperialism is a socialist revolution. So yes, Hideo Kojima might actually be a Japan nationalist, simply because he isn't the reactionary compadors or their foolish follower, but actually believe in leftist anti-imperialism.
I've seen people unironically say that MGS doesn't shove politics down your throat but they're in the background. Make of that what you will
The chocolate orange tower rises!!!! also congrats on 30k. Your videos help me out a lot its very much appreciated.
I know MGS has alot of nuance to the characters, but i thought it was weird how Miller (an advocate for military privitisation) was a fan of Che Guevera
I think it's more that he believes that soldiers (which is really just a stand in for all people) shouldn't follow their orders blindly out of national pride, but they should have the freedom to follow and fight alongside those of a commonly shared ideology. He isn't an advocate for military privatization, he's an advocate for freedom from a forced national duty. Becoming mercenaries isn't an decision made out of a desire for personal wealth, but one made to provide a way for solders to escape becoming pawns in wars that target races, ethnicities, religions, languages, and capital.
Love this series. Any conservatives who claim its right wing simply haven’t played it. Or, they skipped all the cutscenes.
The only true villains in the series are Volgin and Skullface.
Hot Coldman?
@@Snacks256 Him too
Skullface isn't exactly evil, so I think it's hard to call him a villain. The scarce details you ever get about his backstory do hint that he has lived a lifetime of being used, having his identity stripped away bit by bit until all he has left is a burning desire for revenge. He might engage in torture and kidnapping, but so do the Diamond Dogs. He does work with groups that create child soldiers, but once the Diamond Dogs have them they basically say they are going to employ the kids and teach them to become soldiers, and while they just won't see the battlefield until they are old enough, they are still children being trained as soldiers. He does is partake in ruthless murder and manipulation, but his reasons for why he turns to those methods are disturbingly understandable. I dunno I just think Skullface is definitely more complex than a simple "villain" label.
Miller only trains Solid Snake as revenge from Big Boss kicking him out of the "real Outer Heaven". Big Boss stopped trusting Miller after the end of Peace Walker. Miller ended up being a spy for Zero and he confabulated with Skullface during the events of Ground Zeroes. He made Solid Snake a tool for his revenge and as a byproduct, a tool for the American Government.
Also, Miller pioneered the "war economy" that becomes one central theme Kojima opposes in Metal Gear Solid 4. (listen to the cassette tapes regarding what Diamond Dogs have been doing while "Big Boss' return", as well as the other PFs inspired by Big Boss)
By the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, we learn that Big Boss and Zero were never villains to begin with, they were dreamers. They were inspired by The Boss' word and they had both worked on ways to carry The Boss' will all over the world: Big Boss through Outer Heaven; Zero through the systems of the Patriots. Both wrongful, and also both inspired by the same feelings: idolization.
I don't think Kojima is using Metal Gear simply as a platform to spread his admiration to el Che. I think having his characters admire el Che serve a whole different purpose in the context of the entire series' anti-war message. Specially considering Peace Walker was released after MGS4.
Plot points aside, we can definitely agree that Kojima is definitely left leaning. Although i don't get why you think he's possibly a socialist if you can elaborate a little more on that idea?
At least he didnt die before at least believing he’s got his revenge on Big Boss. (even tho he didn’t)
My man you should invite Jorin Lee from Futurasound Production for a Chat over,
he has the most interesting also politically grounded Video Essays I have ever seen on the Metal Gear Solid Series.
Have you played the Persona games? I'd be interested in seeing you do a video on the politics of Persona 5
Persona is good, but I think SMT has more overt political themes.
@@DigitalDiscDreamer I haven't played SMT but I'm aware that Persona originated as a spinoff of it, I'm keen to try SMT V and the Nocturne remaster when they come out.
I didn't think the series would have more political themes than Persona though, I thought P5 would have had the most political themes of any Atlus game with it's theme of reforming society and how you go after a politician running for PM. Though it looks like SMT IV Apocalypse's logo has an anarchy symbol on it so maybe you're right...
@@RJH755 I’m glad that you are interested in the mainline games. I agree that P5 does have political undertones about society and the justice system. However, the mainline games are more broad making us ask questions of whether free will is necessary for a society or the question of collectivism vs individualism.
@@DigitalDiscDreamer Interesting, I'll be sure to put my political analysis cap on when I try the series.
I love comments like this 15:33
They don't understand anything about politics or ideology, not even their own, so they feel they must be above all of that (and you cannot be more ideological), that they posses some sort of wisdom, gamer wisdom, that "both sides" don't have, and feel the need to lecture us all about that as they show us that, in fact, they know nothing about politics.
This is the first video of yours to pop up in my feed, likely because I am going through a replay of the Metal Gear series right now and thus have been getting a lot of that content as a result. Excellent video, I have absolutely never understood right wingers who look at MGS and think its some how a love ballad to Nationalism, Imperialism and white-centric masculinity. I think it just means that they have to ability to realize analyze games but only consume at a really base level. Either way, excellent video! Will be subbing and watching more of your content!
To be meta... watching this while drinking mate.
It's honestly always amazed me how many of MGS's biggest fans are too stupid to get it's points and themes that fly right over their heads.
What the heck, I keep subscribing to you and then I find a week later or so that somehow you're not in my subscriptions. Is anyone else having this problem?
I’ve heard a few people have it sadly
@@TheKavernacle good to know it isn't just me. I better keep a more watchful eye
i swear to god i have had missing subscriptions before. i can't confirm it, because youtube is an awful website that doesn't organize subscriptions in anyway, but i've looked at my subs and just felt like something was missing many times in the past.
@@TheKavernacle FUCK! It happened again!
It happens to left wing channels a lot
Aquí se queda la clara,
La entrañable transparencia
De tu querida presencia,
Comandante Che Guevara.
The story of Big Boss is one in which soldiers are tools of their countries that are used and discarded, and the government whips up narratives of “heroes” and “villains” around what happens. The first time we step into that particular Snake’s shoes, the majority of the game’s boss fights are against people who were hailed as heroes of WW2 and are now the villains simply because that’s the narrative they’re supposed to play into. The series overall goes on to have heavy themes about how controlling information and therefore being able to control the narrative matters, and throughout the series we see how whether Big Boss is a villain or a hero depends on who you’re asking. You have to miss literally everything about Big Boss’ story (and arguably MGS overall) except “eventually Big Boss becomes a warmonger” to try arguing “Big Boss is a villain, therefore any of his viewpoints must be bad.”
The main misunderstanding is that they seem to believe that communism = big authoritarian government under a supreme sadistic leader. Hideo does not like Stalin's Soviet Union? He must be anti-socialist and he was only making fun of Che Guevara then.
It doesn't even make sense to call Big Boss a "villain" anymore after MGS4
nope, wrong! Kojima wasn't into Che at all! He just had two characters participate in a lengthy dialogue over Che's previous occupation, the events that led him on his revolutionary path, and all the actions taken against the Batista regime in what can *only* be described as a rather approving tone. That's it; nothing to look into at all!
I love how the game sends you to steal a stinger missile system that was given to the Mujahadeen by the CIA. Kojima is Based.
Someone ping me when the only-went-to-basic-training-and-joined-reserves crowd gets here 🍿
Hey, it took a Hearts of Iron mod to realize how being a conservative opened me up to being strung along by fascists.
I actually learned A LOT about Che before this game
Became a historian as a large part of these games, though
In general, Kojima seems most concerned with how humanity is burdened by politics.
@Chandler Burse Politics IS morality lol
Nice centrist deflection
@Chandler Burse Political views are actions. We judge people by actions instead of their immutable characteristics, that's the extent of empathy
@Chandler Burse Nah
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 What am I deflecting, and in what way is what I said centrist? (I'm assuming you mean centrist from the perspective of US partisan politics?)
Even if we go off of a view that the meaning of art is interpretive, there remain base, stupid, and neurotic interpretations. For instance, doing a shallow reading to project conservatism onto a thing's characters and themes because you're desperate to justify your worldview by clinging to the idea that a property agrees with you.
I was actually about to play Peace Walker a few days ago, but PPSSPP refuses to work on my phone.
I think you can buy a version on PS3 , xbox 360 anf maybe steam (I ain't 100 % sure for the PC version).
@@somik-i3x Nope, there isn't a steam version but PPSSPP works great on PC. It's also available on Xbox One/Series X as part of XB360 back compat
comrade kojima based as usual
So hey you Kavernacle the algorythm brought you a new subscriber here...me!
I'm shocked you didn't talk about Hot Coldman at all in terms of the way he represents the kinds of people perpetuating American imperialism. He's probably the only villain in the series who's completely irredeemable (other than Volgin who I'd argue is a similar expression of the USSRs blood thirsty colonialism) and funny that he's a CIA planner who is trying to subvert and colonize Argentina, before he decides to bathe the world in fire if he's removed from power. Hmm, subtle storytelling.
What "blood thirsty colonialism" did the USSR enact?
You will definitely regret the orange pyramid around 800k. Framing is gonna be a herculean feat.
YESS BOYYY, I have no idea where this chocolate orange thing came from but I'm excited whenever you mention them now. Also great music choice.
Buen video, Kojima siempre se ha preocupado por hablar de todos los lados del espectro. Al final de todo, diría que es un pacifista. No niega la revolución cuando su objetivo es la paz, la libertad y la igualdad. En ese sentido, quizá sueña con un país donde nadie tiene que ser obligado a aplastar a alguien más por dinero y que se mantenga bajo los ideales de buscar una mejora en la sociedad (aventurandome un poco, podría decir que es más coomie que cualquier otra cosa)
I can easily see Laura Ingraham of Fox News interview Coldman (One of the villains of Peace Walker who's a CIA official) about the need for military intervention in South America...
Its actually really hard to say there isn’t political themes in mgs. Like you would have to be blind to say theres zero politics in mgs.
If he wanted to put El che on a bad light, he just should have told the hate that he had against LGBT and racist ideas that he had. (afaik those claims are true, if I am mistaken please, feel free to correct me)
He stoped beeing racist when he became a marxist
He had some pretty yikesy things to say about the congolese guerrila fighters he worked with, and I do think he also said some stuff about gay people that also wasn’t great, but he still supported the former and was pretty mortified by the post-revolutionary Cuban state’s treatment of gay people.
Basically, he wasn’t exactly the MOST progressive guy around, but like...his views were still pretty progressive by the standards of the 1960s.
Anarchist chiming in here about the whole leftism existing alongside nationalism in japan.
There was a literal anarchist federation in japan from 1906 to 1996. I don't know if Kojima was a part of said federation, but it wouldn't surprise me if he sympathized (and maybe even took some inspiration) with said federation. The conservatives spinning this nationalist/centrist narrative are doing so with face value impressions of the franchise. It wouldn't surprise me if these people tried to use Metal Gear as a military recruitment game.
I'm confused as to why this is such an important point for so many people. Even if you disagree with Kojima's views or apparent views since we are interpreting, as long as you like the game and the characters why does it matter? If you're against his personal beliefs but like his work does that automatically make you a believer? I grew up loving the books written by Orson Scott Card and had assumed that for someone to write characters the way he does that he must be really open minded only to find out later just how untrue it turned out and how extreme some of his views actually are. Sure it would be nice if our political leaning were even somewhat similar but it doesn't take away from how reading his books made me feel as I read them growing up. If anything it was a good lesson about making assumption about people and to be careful about putting people you don't actually know on idealist pedestals.
Pro military? THAT I can see, though it's certainly pushing it a bit even there. But he's never been a fan of ultra conservatism. As impossible as it is to make heads or tails of the franchise's story "yay conservatives" is not a takeaway.
When you hit 100k could you do muckbang with the Orange's.
Excellent video! Makes me want to actually play the series. (I own 1-2-3 but haven't played them yet, they're in my backlog.)
Your mission is to infiltrate the room that contains these games, retrieve them, and start playing them immediately. Don't expect any official support.
What bothers me about this fake appeal to relativism is half of these bullshitters wouldn't shut up about Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi
This is easily the smartest comment section on RUclips
4:00 Good music choice!
It's truly incredible how media illiterate and politically unaware some people are and how much it's just wishful thinking that everyone thinks like them
In the Phantom Pain he literally has a villain who is a fucked up perverted version of a Anti-Imperialist in SkullFace who literally want's to end the VERY IDEA of global superpowers by giving everyone nukes and plans on wiping English from the face of the earth cause English is a imperial language spread thru not only the British Empire but also US. Of course his plan is nuts that's the point but his reasoning actually makes sense even if he is a massive hypocrite ( He uses people of Angola to use his experiments on his language parasites) guess who creates the language parasites? A Native American Codetalker who is forced to create this weapon. Venom Snake kills Skullface and stops his plan but in the game even Big Boss kinda understands where he was coming from with his anti-imperialism with his goal of ending the very idea of geopolitics itself and ending the concept of hegemony even though skullface is a hypocrite and a monster.
Major Zero and the Patriots we understand what his goal was, it was essentially globalization and neoliberalism on a cultural scale but ironically the AI system in the MGS universe instead looked to the War Economy ( Not only MIC but also global capitalism in relation to the global economy) what Zero seems to have wanted a true Liberal utopia. MGS4 is literally about destroying the " System" with Liquid trying to take it over or escape it and Snake at the end really destroying the War Economy and Zero and Big Boss dying and allowing a new world to be possible. MGS series to me has a very hopeful message that no matter how horrible the world is under these political systems they can change and that was in my opinion what The Bosses message was, let the world change and let things and systems die.
Mate just tastes like tea it’s been over 20 years since I drank it though
The idea that MGS presents nukes as being a necessary evil has to be one of the most unintentionally funny things I've seen all year.
Phantom pain multiplayer is about disposing of nukes, but I think it's more relevant to highlight that the main theme of peace walker is also kojima questioning the validity of mutually assured destruction and nuclear deterrence explicitly.
"How little attention can you be paying, how stupid can you be, Big Boss is the villain"- people who never played MGS3 or 4
The la li lu le lo and other shadow groups like them are the villain, not someone like bb who got twisted into his path by the way he was used and abused.
@@thejason755 I'm not sure their minds can handle the fact that by the end Big Boss is arguably as much or more of a hero than Solid Snake and the series is as much or more about him than it is about Solid Snake
@@johnburnscrystaljack indisputably so. They just see “but it positively shows the might of the us military industrial complex, so it must be pro-military”, and they sincerely expect me to believe that the same government who manipulated bb into murdering the boss are the good guys and he’s the villain? I feel the same way about john walker Isaiah bradley in “falcon and the winter soldier” these were two men who were trained to do a brutal job only to be cast aside by the very same government who trained them to do that job, and you mean to tell me i shouldn’t consider the us govt in that show as being the true villain in the show? Blows my mind man.
@@johnburnscrystaljack people go “that show had a villain problem”, and its just like did they see what they did to john and isaiah? Did they see how that same government treated sharon carter forcing her to become the power broker? It genuinely amazes me how blind they can be at times.
The Chocolate Oranges, they’re... they’re beautiful 😭
Plato never wrote a single story as a way to push his politics according to that one guy
So... they're all huffing copium and in denial.
Hey man if you ever get the chance to drink some mate and also get to choose where it's from, I'd highly recommend drinking some mate from Uruguay.
Ocelot is an anti-hero
Great content once again!
Hey, have you found any patterns linking politics and MMA (not only UFC, but the sport in general)?
I'm thinking of Joe Rogan and a few of his guests who talked about the sport. I feel they share a lot of political views. Any thoughts?
I made a video about Conservatives loving sport when the athletes have right wing political views - one was an MMA fighter who loved trump - in terms of sport in general I was thinking of football/soccer teams and their political affiliations - eg Lazio = Facist, Liverpool = Socialist
@@TheKavernacle Thank you for the reply. Gonna check that one.
And also, if and/or when you get to the football team political affiliations, could you cover your research methodology a little bit? I'm from Colombia and there has got to be some of that here.
Again, thank for the reply and all your content! 👍🏿
You'd have to be in denial to listen to Amanda, Big Boss, and Kaz all gushing about what an amazing guy Guevara was and not see that as Kojima's own opinions. The codec calls, especially in the Big Boss games, have been a way for Kojima to talk about his own ideas and interests through the characters. Unless you're going to tell me we shouldn't watch all of the movies Para Medic talks about in MGS3, since MGS4 made her into a villain therefore only a mad scientist would like those films.
Che Guevara beyond myth the voice of liberation of the oppressed and revolutionary ideas. Every word ★ EL CHE ★ is a true gold mine, an authentic man with immense charisma, concrete cojones with a morale of steel, hard in himself, audacious in his integrity, who ignores the fear of a superhuman courage crossed against winds and tides, swimming rivers, in the jungle, eating roots, sleeping in the mud, fighting against an army and defending the massacred peoples of the death squads of a society of eugenic and criminal danger. The most feared epic revolutionary of the planet from dictators and banksters to the globalist elite, an exceptional being "of such stature", of such prowess, of an extralucid intelligence superior to other rulers and detractor to the queen of the whorehouse "putting them all in panties" of fear, submission, cowardice but exemplary, ethical, dignified and modest towards the idle peoples under the influence of imperialism. A fraternal protective companion of the peoples the revolutionary humanist dimension to the internationalist reach of its political action for the general interest of the peoples of egalitarian justice and their rights. The best way of the revolutionary process to say "to act is to do" is to reach out to the peoples to lift them out of the misery of dictatorship, always remaining faithful to its fight against the corruption of the neoliberal mafia and the hold of the globalist empire of countries on the peoples subjected to the clutches of imperialism, forces respect and admiration in the world in the image of the heroic guerrilla and the impact of his myth on all the Latin American continent in Cuba his legend is still alive nobody can criticize him, he is incriticizable. The path to freedom that Commander Che Guevara showed to the generation is not a dream, it is the right to human civilization. We must be honest in our actions. Che Guevara's dedication and sacrifice must never be demoralized not at all. No revolutionary sacrifice can be reduced to dust at the end of the day, only sleep for a while like a dormant volcano and no revolution is put to the test, but it happens when it is necessary. Many politicians and leaders come and go. They were with the wind of change, but a true leader always takes his own land for granted for the good of humanity. A man would rather die standing than live an eternity on his knees. Long live the man comandante Che Guevara. Who are the morons, those who drop their pants and submit or the real men who fight for freedom". I would say those who have a big mouth but don't do anything even a child is more valuable that these submissive and whining .
Hideo Kojima is based!
10:45 Chud thinks Japanese people are nationalist. Has never heard of the abolition of State Shinto or met a Japanese person.
Wait, that guy is suggesting that only Big Boss sees Che as a revolutionary rather than, you know.... the entire world on account of, his being famous for like..... fighting in revolutions?
The difference between Che and Big Boss is Che fought for ideals, and for the people. Big Boss is more an anti-ideologue. He just fights to fight.
Red dead music aw.... Smh that game makes my soul heart
I'm in a mind numbing argument with a Facist MG fan and its insane.
Anyone who ever thought Kojima is a conservative should play mgs2, its message during the ending with snake chisels that into you if you hadn’t realised that by the end he doesn’t take a side.
Message from the future They try to take that one too and MGRR
that comment at like 7:35, i couldn't help hearing that in Peter Coffin's (aka Falcon's) voice.
Is this a re-upload?
Got Deja Vu watching the intro
No
good video, but a couple things you can be both an anarchist and a s0c1@list it's not either or and if i'm correct che was actually a c0mmun1st not a s0c1@l1st though i may be wrong.
@@elinamp3 they are not.
@@elinamp3
It depends on your adhesion to Classical Marxism, or to another offshoot from the original framework. There certainly *are* true socialists who either believe that Communism is impossible/impractical to achieve, or who view another definition of Socialism as a better political goal.
I play the Metal Gear games for the gay sex, not the politics.
I don’t care if Kojima is a commie, Senator Armstrong is the best character in his entire franchise.
I love METAL GEAR!