Man, Man Never Changes. The Cultural Logic and Narrative Limitations of the Post-apocalyptic Fiction of Fallout

Fiona S. Schönberg

doi:10.48341/5xk6-0x58

Man, Man Never Changes. The Cultural Logic and Narrative Limitations of the Post-apocalyptic Fiction of Fallout

Title (eng)

Man, Man Never Changes. The Cultural Logic and Narrative Limitations of the Post-apocalyptic Fiction of Fallout

Author

Fiona S. Schönberg

University of Regensburg

Description (eng)

From its inception, the Fallout franchise has featured a number of narrative elements that can easily be read as anti-capitalist. In recent years, between the prevalent themes of Fallout 76 and the storyline of Amazon Prime’s Fallout television show, the franchise has become rather a lot more overt in communicating this particular message. In spite of its anti-capitalist messages and themes, this chapter argues that the franchise’s foundational beliefs, as well as its procedural rhetoric, tell a very different story. Using the Fallout franchise as a case study, this chapter aims to highlight the foundational beliefs and the unquestioned ideological assumptions that inform many Western post-apocalyptic fictions in spite of, or perhaps even in conflict with, the creators’ intentions. Relying on Barthes’ concept of mythical speech, I aim to elucidate the sometimes incoherent messaging of the Fallout franchise.

Keywords (eng)

Falloutmythical speechcultural logichuman naturecapitalism

Type (eng)

book part

Language

[eng]

Persistent identifier

https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:5823

DOI

10.48341/5xk6-0x58

Is contained in

Title