the older i get the more i find myself deeply annoyed at Political Media Analysis that eschews the aesthetic experience of a work in favor of using it as a barely-relevant springboard for didactic (excuse me, Educational) words on the political ideas. i dont wanna say its a worthless approach but it doesnt interest me anymore, and i find it very reductive: in how surface level the ideas are often presented, in how the aesthetic experience is so often held as an entirely separate entity rather then the conducting force, how the material impact of a specific work is often over-emphasized to the point where the impression is that art Creates culture rather then reality where art merely Reflects culture (granted its culture in conversation with itself, but no piece or genre or movement is more important then the ingrown results of how power is structured in our world)
this is a game that promises that u can start a revolution on its store page, and is generally a v obvious product of a cultural shade (familiar to numerous indie games, particularly post-undertale) that mixes Progressiveism and Tweeness (associated greatly with millennials, who are now making most of our art, and also rapidly deteriorating in coolness). i can see the breadtube takes in my head immediately, that its either a Stellar Amazing Communist Psyop or Deceptive Capitalist Opiate That Doesn't Match Up To XYZ Marx Writing And Will Undermine The Revolution, u get it DHJKSDH. i will admit to being a bit shallow here, my high rating reflects the fact that i found the game sweet and playful and memorable in its aesthetic experience rather then me thinking its an airtight political text. but i found it a lil stirring all the same even if its too Comfy and Silly to be motivating in a Fiery Way
what rly makes it work is just how far it leans into abstraction, visually narratively and tonally. its not theory and its not a dense novel and its not a modernist boundary-breaker, its a comic strip. the light veneer of revolutionary politics then becomes more Fableistic then anything, which is the kind of nuance that i dont think ppl allow often enough in these types of works.
and it must be said there is specificity to the veneer beyond just the instinctively appealing age-old Beat The Authoritarian Corporate Bad Guy story. the Bad Guy, for one, does steal the work and individuality and livelihood of the world in exchange for Currency which is acknowledged as completely arbitrary and meaningless aside from the very silly value ascribed to it by those who want a lot of it (the FREE MONEY chant is a genuinely affecting takedown of those capitalist myths that are So Fucking Stupid that u would never believe them if u werent born into a world where yr survival depended on u internalizing them). what impresses me a lot more tho is the differentiation of levels of exploitation even tho they all lead to death. the village in the fields gladly gives up its food because its basking in the coins. they will eventually run into trouble, but not before the village in the forest who will lose the trees they live in, and CERTAINLY not before the worms who have lost their water and arent even GETTING the coins. most of these kinds of somewhat surface level twee works only get as far as working class solidarity among those we would consider peers, but tho we are all doomed we must acknowledge that we are the most luxurious cogs in the machine. that this is all presented with simplicity a child could understand, and never feels overly labored in its metaphors, and that its so in-tune with the welcoming texture, is something of an achievement in and of itself!
plenty of things could be nitpicked, esp if u wanted to run w/ the metaphors i just established. i myself would prob point to the Secret Mission Of Revolutionaries climax as not being as populist as i would like (tho perhaps theres metaphor here too about our ticking clock for our ravaged planet). but ultimately the art will not save the world, nor is there airtightness to many of the works that tap into our slowly dawning collective realization that things are Fucked and we need to make a better world pronto. but the fact that these works exist at all, even imperfect, or outright mutilated, or ultimately, going to fill the pockets of a capitalist, i think is hope that would be foolish to turn down. i'd like to think even the all-contorting force that is capital can only sell our fantasies of escape from it back to us so many times before we realize whats happening!
this is a game that promises that u can start a revolution on its store page, and is generally a v obvious product of a cultural shade (familiar to numerous indie games, particularly post-undertale) that mixes Progressiveism and Tweeness (associated greatly with millennials, who are now making most of our art, and also rapidly deteriorating in coolness). i can see the breadtube takes in my head immediately, that its either a Stellar Amazing Communist Psyop or Deceptive Capitalist Opiate That Doesn't Match Up To XYZ Marx Writing And Will Undermine The Revolution, u get it DHJKSDH. i will admit to being a bit shallow here, my high rating reflects the fact that i found the game sweet and playful and memorable in its aesthetic experience rather then me thinking its an airtight political text. but i found it a lil stirring all the same even if its too Comfy and Silly to be motivating in a Fiery Way
what rly makes it work is just how far it leans into abstraction, visually narratively and tonally. its not theory and its not a dense novel and its not a modernist boundary-breaker, its a comic strip. the light veneer of revolutionary politics then becomes more Fableistic then anything, which is the kind of nuance that i dont think ppl allow often enough in these types of works.
and it must be said there is specificity to the veneer beyond just the instinctively appealing age-old Beat The Authoritarian Corporate Bad Guy story. the Bad Guy, for one, does steal the work and individuality and livelihood of the world in exchange for Currency which is acknowledged as completely arbitrary and meaningless aside from the very silly value ascribed to it by those who want a lot of it (the FREE MONEY chant is a genuinely affecting takedown of those capitalist myths that are So Fucking Stupid that u would never believe them if u werent born into a world where yr survival depended on u internalizing them). what impresses me a lot more tho is the differentiation of levels of exploitation even tho they all lead to death. the village in the fields gladly gives up its food because its basking in the coins. they will eventually run into trouble, but not before the village in the forest who will lose the trees they live in, and CERTAINLY not before the worms who have lost their water and arent even GETTING the coins. most of these kinds of somewhat surface level twee works only get as far as working class solidarity among those we would consider peers, but tho we are all doomed we must acknowledge that we are the most luxurious cogs in the machine. that this is all presented with simplicity a child could understand, and never feels overly labored in its metaphors, and that its so in-tune with the welcoming texture, is something of an achievement in and of itself!
plenty of things could be nitpicked, esp if u wanted to run w/ the metaphors i just established. i myself would prob point to the Secret Mission Of Revolutionaries climax as not being as populist as i would like (tho perhaps theres metaphor here too about our ticking clock for our ravaged planet). but ultimately the art will not save the world, nor is there airtightness to many of the works that tap into our slowly dawning collective realization that things are Fucked and we need to make a better world pronto. but the fact that these works exist at all, even imperfect, or outright mutilated, or ultimately, going to fill the pockets of a capitalist, i think is hope that would be foolish to turn down. i'd like to think even the all-contorting force that is capital can only sell our fantasies of escape from it back to us so many times before we realize whats happening!