Post AT6LQIRcfyz1FGS1Sq by stevenbodzin@thepit.social
(DIR) More posts by stevenbodzin@thepit.social
(DIR) Post #AT6KczviixdtdM1OSW by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T09:53:04Z
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two assumptions in speculative world of "The Last of Us" that bother me: 1) society will immediately collapse and turn to ultra-violence in the absence of a top-down capitalist structure telling everyone what to do, but also 2) capitalist products like bullets, fossil fuels, roads, and men standing around with guns are a natural part of the world that can be expected to exist in the absence of capitalism.
(DIR) Post #AT6KtDIUnC0vj1PGzI by stevenbodzin@thepit.social
2023-02-27T09:56:00Z
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@peter i rewatched Mad Max recently and was all like, ok so mohawk dudes will kill you for a single tanker of fuel but you have enough refinery engineers, valve repair experts, catalyst suppliers and safety inspectors to run an oil refinery, sure dad
(DIR) Post #AT6L6nIcFWPb9DwG4e by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T09:58:26Z
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this stuff is important because speculative fiction is the stories we tell ourselves about what is possible. we are sitting around a virtual campfire discussing who we are and what we can do as a society, and the ideological assumptions in the background of a show like "The Last of Us" will either open up new possibilities or trap us in existing modes of thought.
(DIR) Post #AT6LQIRcfyz1FGS1Sq by stevenbodzin@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:01:59Z
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@peter it's why people see self aware AI and ecocide as foregone conclusions, rather than demanding that such things end. And why they still see utopian technology like ebikes as weird. ChatGPT is seen as fulfilling a prophecy while hoverboards are seen as novelties. Totally backwards.
(DIR) Post #AT6LSs6D5GvMPBfBIm by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:02:28Z
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when you really interrogate the show's (and the video game's) assumptions, it's actually very limited and dark in its view of who we are and who we can be. it assumes the capitalist products that control our lives are simply human realities that have always existed, and that we humans are not capable of organizing ourselves into productive, loving, supportive groups and are safer and better off in isolation, in ones and twos, nuclear groups, hording rather than sharing.
(DIR) Post #AT6LkNgusXyRJEBJeS by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:05:36Z
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this is a fundamentally reactionary worldview and it runs contrary to all the actual evidence we have about how people act during disasters and crisis. humans in isolation are weak, stupid, frightened, vulnerable. it is only in groups, in cooperation, working together and helping each other, that humans are strong. the lie of capitalism is that we are nothing in the absence of a profit motive, and that our selfishness makes us strong.
(DIR) Post #AT6M04jN8n4t8boW48 by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:08:26Z
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this is what i mean when i say that we've been lying to ourselves that Hollywood is liberal or progressive. it's not. while superficially, the sci-fi, comic book, and speculative fiction appears to wave a progressive flag in the culture war, the bones of most shows like "The Last of Us" are profoundly reactionary, libertarian, conservative.
(DIR) Post #AT6MKrTfbxQ27BNg36 by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:12:12Z
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@stevenbodzin "what happens after all your rubber rots" is a thing i'm always thinking about with these shows.
(DIR) Post #AT6Nfvq4gtNdg1THyC by CyclingJourno@toot.bike
2023-02-27T10:27:03Z
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@peter Nicely articulated! I had similar feelings about Children Of Men – it just seemed deeply unlikely that society would collapse so completely (oh, and like so many recent highly-regarded SF movies, it's self-important, ponderous bollocks)
(DIR) Post #AT6OTOGJno8W1HKXXk by stevenbodzin@thepit.social
2023-02-27T10:36:11Z
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@peter no, the Australian sun and 100mph driving are notoriously kind to car tires
(DIR) Post #AT6YeJzB2dejU2AClU by Pappy@thepit.social
2023-02-27T12:30:09Z
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@peter I've had these exact thoughts. Also, read 'The Masque of the Red Death' by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic It is the first piece of fiction I've read that takes this perspective. It's part of a book of short stories called 'Radicalized.' All great stuff. Personally I think #TheLastofUs is a soooo bad. It is ponderous, derivative and shallow.
(DIR) Post #AT6Z3SUEZYEd5Wg0Tg by peter@thepit.social
2023-02-27T12:34:43Z
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@Pappy haha hot take!! i'm enjoying it for the performances and cinematics, but yeah, it doesn't feel like essential TV or anything.
(DIR) Post #AT6ZwbZ4WQcBAcEeC8 by Pappy@thepit.social
2023-02-27T12:44:40Z
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@peter I've only watched the first episode. It's well made, just disappointing, to me.