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Post-apocalyptic Games, Heroism and the Great Recession

First author: Pérez-Latorre
Year: 2019


Abstract

How do dystopian videogames resonate with the social imaginary ofthe Great Recession? How do they represent heroism and hope? Thediscursive struggle to define key aspects of the Great Recession, suchas austerity, the virtuous ethos for facing precariousness, andrebelliousness, not only occurs in the political arena or information TVprograms but also in the narratives of popular culture andvideogames. This article analyses post-apocalyptic videogamebestsellers released between 2009 and 2017. Three “utopianenclaves” are identified, understood as discursive frames or referentsassociated with heroism and hope within these dystopian worlds: (a)“Post-apocalyptic cowboys,” (b) “Back to nature and do-it-yourself,”and (c) “Community leaders, empathy and rebelliousness.” The articleconcludes that it is important to analyse the representation of these“utopian enclaves” from a critical sociocultural approach.


Details

Language: English
Country of affiliation: Spain


Published in: The international journal of computer game research
Publication type: Journal article


Source: https://gamestudies.org/1903/articles/perezlatorre


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