Post by The Mad Jackyl on Nov 24, 2006 17:14:15 GMT -5
Finally finished this today, so this is cross-posted from my forums. I used to have a similar essay, but I lost it when the database went kaput. This is the beefed up, more in-depth version also.
The themes prevalent in the Metal Gear Solid series often touch on love, friendship, responsibility and trust, to name a few. Each of the three games released thus far involves the selectivity that comes with deciding what values and important information should be passed on to future generations. Just as often, the themes touch on what should not be passed on to the future, namely the legacy of nuclear war while at the same time promoting the historical value that such a terrible thing has taught us. The themes pass on a mixed message that while war is the uglier side of man, paradoxically it can bring out the greatest in mankind; while war should be avoided and shunned, it should never be forgotten. What people fought for, what they believed in and who these people were, are perhaps more important than the number of dead listed in a statistical analysis of an event.
"GENE" - Metal Gear Solid
The beginning of serious underlying messages in the Metal Gear universe began with Metal Gear Solid. It introduced what would become an ongoing trend in all Metal Gear Solid releases to come, the naming of a game's theme using simple word to describe a complex idea. For Metal Gear Solid, that single word theme was "Gene". Famed author, evolutionist and ethologist Richard Dawkins popularized the gene-centric view of evolution with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. He described the gene as a 'survival machine', and that genes only existed to replicate themselves on and on and on and as much as possible to maintain the survival of the species. He was also the first person to bring the term "meme" into our modern lexicon, thereby helping to establish the field of memetics as a science. More will be spoken of memetics when we come to Metal Gear Solid 2's theme.
In the game Metal Gear Solid, there are two opposing ideas about genetics. The main villain, Liquid Snake, believes the gene to be the unit of information most neccessary to understanding one's path in life. He believes this to the utmost and in fact feels compelled to ultimately follow through with what he supposes is most important to his genes - ensuring the survival of his genotype, even if it means war. This is how the insurrection on Shadow Moses Island occurs. The weapons disposal facility on Alaska's Shadow Moses Island is taken over by so-called "Next Generation Special Forces" being led by members of Foxhound. At the head of it all is Fox Hound's squad leader, Liquid Snake. It is important to note that the Next Generation Special Forces have all undergone genetic enhancements to make them better soldiers. With the recent completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists were able to isolate dozens of "soldier genes" - that is, those genes most responsible for producing favorable advantages commonly found in great soldiers. The legendary military prowess of Big Boss made him the prime candidate for analysis, and his DNA was used as the template from which to draw out the best traits desirable of a soldier. Later, these genes were implanted into the Next Generation Special Forces to increase their abilities.
There is a flaw to this program, however. One which Liquid understood well. Since the soldiers had all undergone the same genetic implants, they had been placed in jeopardy because their genes were too similar, too symmetrical. They were prone to death on the genetic level. Think of it as strains of bacteria treated by penicillin in a petri dish. If all the bacteria are the same biologically and none happen to have any resistance to penicillin, when penicillin is finally introducted the bacteria die and thus, the end of the genetic line for that strain of bacteria. But if there are many kinds of diversified bacteria, some of which may have resistance to penicillin, the strains of bacteria who are resistant will live, while those that don't will naturally die. This only increases the strength of the genetic line, as the only bacteria left alive are the stronger kind. Liquid knew it was only a matter of time before something came along, a particular disease perhaps, and wiped them all out at once. He would end up being fairly close to this speculation as he would be later subject to the retrovirus FoxDie which targeted his specific genetics. His altruistic desire to save his 'family' of genetics then manifested itself when he threatened to use the doomsday weapon Metal Gear being developed on Shadow Moses to force the United States government to turn over the remains of his genetic forebearer, Big Boss. Using the DNA information extracted from Big Boss' remains, Liquid hoped to learn more about the defects and how to counteract them and thus eradicate the threat of having symmetrical genes.
The genetic legacy of Big Boss first starts to play out in 1972 when the United States tried to create the ultimate soldier with a program code named "Les Enfant Terrible" or "The Terrible Children." Solid Snake and Liquid Snake were both created by in vitro fertilization from this program using Big Boss' DNA. They were twins genetically, the only difference being that one was created using Big Boss' recessive genes while the other was created using his dominant genes. Both lived a soldier's life, however (possibly a long term test of the Les Enfant Terrible program), but grew up in different climates. From an early age, Liquid Snake was led to believe his phenotype was the expression of inferior, or recessive genes. He was resentful of this fact and it was a source of anger for him to know that he was essentially the leftovers of what was used to create his twin. He held a grudge against this unknown brother until they finally met some thirty years later when Solid Snake was dispatched to stop the revolution taking place on Shadow Moses Island.
Solid Snake had no idea about Les Enfant Terrible or Liquid Snake prior to the mission, knowing only that his father was the infamous mercenary world reknowned as Big Boss. He had no concept of a genetically inferior or superior brother and was unable to develop a complex either way because of his ignorance of his genetic legacy. Not so for Liquid. He knew the truth about their dark past and blamed circumstances beyond his control for making him the inferior twin. During several encounters on Shadow Moses, Liquid was constantly and frustratingly bested by Solid each time, perhaps further endearing to himself the notion that Solid was created as the better of the two. Liquid still believing this to be the source of his frustration continued to block Solid's attempts at neutralizing the situation, but to no avail. In the end, it was Solid Snake who was victorious over the other. Liquid died believing that genetics were the single most imporant factor in deciding a person's fate. But in the aftermath, we find out something that Liquid did not know. He had indeed been the receiver of Big Boss' dominant genes after all. This contradicts what Liquid believed altogether. What he failed to realize is that there are other determining factors which make a person. If people were only defined by their genetics, then what would be the difference between a human and a product on an assembly line?
"MEME" - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2's theme, dealing with the "Meme" (pronounced 'meem') picked up right where the theme of Metal Gear Solid's "Gene" left off. Metal Gear Solid approached the issue of genetic inheritance, and as was proved in that discussion, genetics alone do not make a person. Series creator Hideo Kojima felt there was more to compound upon in this issue, and branched out even further into the ideas of inheritance. Since genetics only pass along raw information about biological processes and their potentials, what is to account for those things not covered by genetics - ideas, thoughts, feelings, culture and the like? What about the history of humanity and the stories passed down through generations? Thus, we come to the world of memetics. Everything not passed along through genes is by nature, memetic. Go to any first world country and ask someone what the name "Mario" makes them think of. A guy in red with a hat and bushy moustache is most likely the answer. Ask someone to bark like a dog and they'll know what you're talking about immediately. These are the kinds of things not stored within a cell's genetics. These are learned associations and behaviors, in other words, behaviors that are not instinctual or pre-determined. But they're things everyone knows. They're ingrained in the cultures which we live in. While this is often a good thing so that there is uniformity in the information we grow up knowing, it is easily manipulatable and very inexact.
Take for instance a child that grows up in a troubled home. What that particular child experiences there are subjective only to him and his experiences will differ drastically from the experiences of a child who comes from a loving family and a loving environment. What one child grows up to think is normal will be abnormal to someone else. This is how society factors in, as the voice of the majority, telling us what is normal and abnormal. We are socialized by these memetic values that are taught to us, whether they are true or not. You can see how easily false memes are spread just by watching television. The ideal family as ascribed by The Cleavers on the late 1950's and early 1960's show "Leave It To Beaver" spread the notion of what a 'normal' middle class lifestyle should be like. Seen by thousands of families together (more than one television set per household during this time was nearly unheard of), the Cleavers set an unobtainable and false benchmark. Instead of basing their show on a real family, CBS homogenized family living to their liking, rectifying any harsh realities by imposing their own values. While this meme in and of itself may not have been that dangerous, it was still very untrue.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, a secretive group called the Patriots made their presence known as the true power brokers in Washington. The U.S. government and all its federal dealings were just a decoy, a "cleverly scripted play" put on by the Patriots to appease the U.S. citizenry. Unlike the representative government the people thought they controlled, the puppet strings were pulled by this other entity of like-minded individuals, headed by a group called "The Wiseman's Council". Supposedly consisting of twelve members, the Wisemen sought to consolidate power by manipulating and filtering out digital information to meet their needs. They intended to do this with an artificial intelligence program known only by the initials "G.W." G.W. was to filter out truths and suppress knowledge on the internet - the most powerful and accessible medium of information today. This included knowledge about the Patriots themselves; their identities, even their very existence. The Patriots hoped to create their own convenient truths using G.W. to distribute new memes, and pass them on in the years to come until reality became so obfuscated that no one would be able to discern the real truths buried beneath the false truths. In essence, their aim was to bombard the the American public with cleverly twisted false information to create a reality in which they were the sole authors of what a person is to believe in. Only then would they have full and complete control of America; only then could they flex their full metaphorical muscle. If TV could so easily influence what we believed about family values, why could G.W. not influence in the same way what we think about war and power?
So with G.W. in place, the Patriots planned to synthesize life, or reality, using a digital approach. Controlled digital information would be the vine upon which a new brand of American minds would grow. In time, the U.S. public would know only what the Patriots deemed fit. As it was, the Patriots outlook on information currently available was that it caused more weaknesses in people than strengths. Their wish was to make all information uniform; they deemed that information in its current state was unfit for human consumption because it varied too much. There were conflicts and inconsistencies, different sides to the same story and sometimes just flat out lies. For the Patriots, this was no good. America, as they saw it, was awash in "junk data" and was lost in a sea of garbage information. Perhaps the Patriots truly saw themselves as patriots because they believed they were doing America a favor that would right this wrong. G.W. would resolve this for them since the general public had already shown their ineptness to properly pass along the truth. The Patriots deemed themselves fit to save America from itself and viewed their control of information as more a selfless favor than anything else. They would correct all the lies with their own convenient truths - thus providing a foothold for the "new" truth to stand on. This is what they called "creating context". Their selfish egocentricism justified these actions to them because they believed the U.S. and the world at large could not save themselves from drowning in the cesspool of the digital world. They alone would decide which parts of history to pass on and which inconvenient truths would be obscured or hidden.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, the character of Raiden was given a mission by his superiors to stop a terrorist takeover on The Big Shell, a facility in the New York harbor. He was helped along on his mission by advisors who kept in contact with him via Codec, one of which being the retired Col. Campbell, whom he'd never actually met face to face. Prior to The Big Shell, Raiden had been vigorously trained in the likes of Solid Snake over the course of 300 VR simulations, including full simulations of the Outer Heaven, Zanzibarland and Shadow Moses missions. He was a digital soldier of sorts, albeit a soldier with no real field experience. Being familiar with these missions, he was aware of Roy Campbell's role and how he interacted with Solid Snake during some of these missions. Basing his expectations of what he already knew about Roy Campbell, Raiden took Campbell's trust for granted during his time at Big Shell. In the events that took place, Raiden was transformed into a real soldier with real experience - able to draw context between truth and untruth on the battlefield. The truth is, people die and battle is real. It is nothing that can be simulated. There is no replacement for actual pain or watching bullets perforate real living flesh.
As the mission began coming to a close, Raiden's newly found truths were once again eroded as Campbell was revealed to be nothing more than a complex process included in G.W.'s artificial intelligence program. The Patriots had chosen to use the likeness of Roy Campbell to more easily manipulate Raiden based on his preconceived notions of what he knew Campbell to be like; a confident, quick and authoritative leader who always knew what was best. That's the Roy Campbell that Raiden had heard about. Memetics had once again worked in favor of the Patriots, and to great effect. Raiden had been forced through his mission with little second-guessing because of this type of trust and belief in what he thought was real. Another member of his Codec support came in the form of his wife, Rosemary. Yet another false identity culled by the G.W. program to manipulate Raiden into performing the mission. What better way get a soldier to finish a mission than by exploiting his love for a woman?
Raiden became distrustful and disillusioned afterwards, not knowing what to believe or who to trust. He had been goaded into undertaking a mission which he had been led to believe was honorable - to stop the terrorists aboard The Big Shell. In reality, he had been duped to perform a mission controlled by the Patriots for their own gain by using his memories, honor, and preconceived notions of war against him. He had been propagandized by the Patriots and used like a tool. His context for understanding the world had been subsequently turned on its head. In the end, he decided that he had to create his own context for reality now and from then on. We are taught through him that reality is really subjective, that people have to decide things for themselves to determine what values are worthy of being followed. Like Naomi Hunter said in the end of Metal Gear Solid, he could choose whatever kind of life he wanted to live. He realized he could create himself anew, that he didn't have to live with the guilt that he'd lived with before. He didn't have to follow orders to be honorable. Only by creating his own values and living by his own ideals would he ever find happiness. Then, once something is found that could be useful to a later generation, it's each individual's responsibility to pass it along.
How can any one person or organization be left to decide what to pass on, what should be remembered, what is important, what is correct, what is needed or not needed anymore? What one person may not find helpful may help someone else. How can one aspect of human life be pigeonholed in favor of something deemed more relevant? When that happens, aren't we missing the full picture? To designate the cultural significance of humanity to an automaton - a machine - would be to lose part of our humanity. To be able to choose what values to pass on to later generations is a gift we are meant to have. It's what we are outside of our genetics, that's how we define the human experience.
"SCENE" - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3 took the Metal Gear universe away from it's futuristic settings of the high-tech digital world and rolled the clock back over fifty years to establish the third theme presented so far: "Scene". Scene refers both to the political climate as well as to the times that shaped the decisions in a particular era. Generational gap is an all too frequent occurence in society. Different generations often contrast and contradict when it comes to values. During your parent's generation, neccessary decisions may have been made so that the current generation would see a brighter future. Much like how intelligence agencies the world over work, the times or "scene" in which your parents grew up in relied upon currently existing information. Entire wars that were seen as worthwhile endeavors back then are often today viewed as unneccessary. For example, America's involvement in Vietnam was seen as a way to prevent the spread of communism from China and the U.S.S.R. They believed that if such a key nation as Vietnam fell to communism, an unstoppable domino effect was likely to occur in surrounding nations, eventually engulfing most or all of eastern and central Asia. This was viewed as a strong rivalry to capitalism and therefore America's future if it got out of hand. As years went by and with the coming and going of several presidents, the American political climate began to steadily shift. In a period not longer than seven years, the U.S. transitioned from a nation that entrusted its government to serve the best interests of its citizens to a nation that resented its authority and the senseless war they had involved them in. The times had changed and with them, values shifted to better suit this change. The scene was now different.
In Metal Gear Solid 3, The Boss explained to Naked Snake that they were a product of the times. Taking place in 1964, they were enveloped by the charged atmosphere of The Cold War between the last two remaining superpowers - the U.S.S.R. and the United States. Perhaps in other circumstances, in a different era, The Boss and Naked Snake would not have been enemies. They had mutual love and respect for one another, but this did not factor into the equation. Like Gray Fox and Solid Snake who battled each other for similar reasons, they were merely professionals on opposite sides. Given a different scene, different circumstances, they would not have been forced to kill one another. But this is what the Cold War demanded of them.
The Boss' point about 'the times' was made clearly in how she presented the relationship between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. She posed rather rhetorically whether anyone thought the two would be bitter enemies twenty, thirty, or even fifty years from now. The answer, in her great wisdom and foresight, is clearly no. In just twenty years, a lot changes with the inevitable shifting of values; new rivals come up on the scene, focuses on other previously unexamined problems occur. Twenty years before, during World War II, the nations were allies in a war to protect the free world from Nazi Germany. What had happened afterwards to make the two nations such bitter rivals? With the elimination of Germany after the war, there were only two superpowers left, and with the focus off of Germany, the two only had each other to contend with. The scenario had drastically changed and the ensuing race to see which of the two was the dominant superpower was on.
With the flow of time, people's minds change; The Boss explains that there is no one constant enemy, it is all relative to time. Therefore no such thing can exist as true good and true evil since these are dynamically changing elements. As it has been famously stated in many ways, today's good may be tommorow's evil. What was once seen as beneficial can be easily swept away as it becomes outdated and new intelligence arises, new information to shape the times. And this is what shapes people's opinions - the times.
Taken on their own, the themes represented in the series are grand. However, it is only when you combine the themes that you get the essence of what Hideo Kojima is trying to get across about the nature of humanity. Only when all the themes are put together do you see his parable. What makes a man? Is it his genes? Sure, a man is defined by his DNA and the potential it gives him. But then he's nothing more than a survival machine. What makes his existence different from anything else with DNA? Is it his memes? His experiences, cultural heritage, and capacity to store memory? Sure, but computers can store much of the same, outside of experiences. Is it the scene, or the times in which a person lives that defines his existence? None of these answers alone culminates the whole totality of the human experience, but rather, all of these elements when associated with one another is what makes us distinctly human.
Metal Gear Solid Series: Gene - Meme - Scene Explanation
The themes prevalent in the Metal Gear Solid series often touch on love, friendship, responsibility and trust, to name a few. Each of the three games released thus far involves the selectivity that comes with deciding what values and important information should be passed on to future generations. Just as often, the themes touch on what should not be passed on to the future, namely the legacy of nuclear war while at the same time promoting the historical value that such a terrible thing has taught us. The themes pass on a mixed message that while war is the uglier side of man, paradoxically it can bring out the greatest in mankind; while war should be avoided and shunned, it should never be forgotten. What people fought for, what they believed in and who these people were, are perhaps more important than the number of dead listed in a statistical analysis of an event.
"GENE" - Metal Gear Solid
The beginning of serious underlying messages in the Metal Gear universe began with Metal Gear Solid. It introduced what would become an ongoing trend in all Metal Gear Solid releases to come, the naming of a game's theme using simple word to describe a complex idea. For Metal Gear Solid, that single word theme was "Gene". Famed author, evolutionist and ethologist Richard Dawkins popularized the gene-centric view of evolution with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. He described the gene as a 'survival machine', and that genes only existed to replicate themselves on and on and on and as much as possible to maintain the survival of the species. He was also the first person to bring the term "meme" into our modern lexicon, thereby helping to establish the field of memetics as a science. More will be spoken of memetics when we come to Metal Gear Solid 2's theme.
In the game Metal Gear Solid, there are two opposing ideas about genetics. The main villain, Liquid Snake, believes the gene to be the unit of information most neccessary to understanding one's path in life. He believes this to the utmost and in fact feels compelled to ultimately follow through with what he supposes is most important to his genes - ensuring the survival of his genotype, even if it means war. This is how the insurrection on Shadow Moses Island occurs. The weapons disposal facility on Alaska's Shadow Moses Island is taken over by so-called "Next Generation Special Forces" being led by members of Foxhound. At the head of it all is Fox Hound's squad leader, Liquid Snake. It is important to note that the Next Generation Special Forces have all undergone genetic enhancements to make them better soldiers. With the recent completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists were able to isolate dozens of "soldier genes" - that is, those genes most responsible for producing favorable advantages commonly found in great soldiers. The legendary military prowess of Big Boss made him the prime candidate for analysis, and his DNA was used as the template from which to draw out the best traits desirable of a soldier. Later, these genes were implanted into the Next Generation Special Forces to increase their abilities.
There is a flaw to this program, however. One which Liquid understood well. Since the soldiers had all undergone the same genetic implants, they had been placed in jeopardy because their genes were too similar, too symmetrical. They were prone to death on the genetic level. Think of it as strains of bacteria treated by penicillin in a petri dish. If all the bacteria are the same biologically and none happen to have any resistance to penicillin, when penicillin is finally introducted the bacteria die and thus, the end of the genetic line for that strain of bacteria. But if there are many kinds of diversified bacteria, some of which may have resistance to penicillin, the strains of bacteria who are resistant will live, while those that don't will naturally die. This only increases the strength of the genetic line, as the only bacteria left alive are the stronger kind. Liquid knew it was only a matter of time before something came along, a particular disease perhaps, and wiped them all out at once. He would end up being fairly close to this speculation as he would be later subject to the retrovirus FoxDie which targeted his specific genetics. His altruistic desire to save his 'family' of genetics then manifested itself when he threatened to use the doomsday weapon Metal Gear being developed on Shadow Moses to force the United States government to turn over the remains of his genetic forebearer, Big Boss. Using the DNA information extracted from Big Boss' remains, Liquid hoped to learn more about the defects and how to counteract them and thus eradicate the threat of having symmetrical genes.
The genetic legacy of Big Boss first starts to play out in 1972 when the United States tried to create the ultimate soldier with a program code named "Les Enfant Terrible" or "The Terrible Children." Solid Snake and Liquid Snake were both created by in vitro fertilization from this program using Big Boss' DNA. They were twins genetically, the only difference being that one was created using Big Boss' recessive genes while the other was created using his dominant genes. Both lived a soldier's life, however (possibly a long term test of the Les Enfant Terrible program), but grew up in different climates. From an early age, Liquid Snake was led to believe his phenotype was the expression of inferior, or recessive genes. He was resentful of this fact and it was a source of anger for him to know that he was essentially the leftovers of what was used to create his twin. He held a grudge against this unknown brother until they finally met some thirty years later when Solid Snake was dispatched to stop the revolution taking place on Shadow Moses Island.
Solid Snake had no idea about Les Enfant Terrible or Liquid Snake prior to the mission, knowing only that his father was the infamous mercenary world reknowned as Big Boss. He had no concept of a genetically inferior or superior brother and was unable to develop a complex either way because of his ignorance of his genetic legacy. Not so for Liquid. He knew the truth about their dark past and blamed circumstances beyond his control for making him the inferior twin. During several encounters on Shadow Moses, Liquid was constantly and frustratingly bested by Solid each time, perhaps further endearing to himself the notion that Solid was created as the better of the two. Liquid still believing this to be the source of his frustration continued to block Solid's attempts at neutralizing the situation, but to no avail. In the end, it was Solid Snake who was victorious over the other. Liquid died believing that genetics were the single most imporant factor in deciding a person's fate. But in the aftermath, we find out something that Liquid did not know. He had indeed been the receiver of Big Boss' dominant genes after all. This contradicts what Liquid believed altogether. What he failed to realize is that there are other determining factors which make a person. If people were only defined by their genetics, then what would be the difference between a human and a product on an assembly line?
"MEME" - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2's theme, dealing with the "Meme" (pronounced 'meem') picked up right where the theme of Metal Gear Solid's "Gene" left off. Metal Gear Solid approached the issue of genetic inheritance, and as was proved in that discussion, genetics alone do not make a person. Series creator Hideo Kojima felt there was more to compound upon in this issue, and branched out even further into the ideas of inheritance. Since genetics only pass along raw information about biological processes and their potentials, what is to account for those things not covered by genetics - ideas, thoughts, feelings, culture and the like? What about the history of humanity and the stories passed down through generations? Thus, we come to the world of memetics. Everything not passed along through genes is by nature, memetic. Go to any first world country and ask someone what the name "Mario" makes them think of. A guy in red with a hat and bushy moustache is most likely the answer. Ask someone to bark like a dog and they'll know what you're talking about immediately. These are the kinds of things not stored within a cell's genetics. These are learned associations and behaviors, in other words, behaviors that are not instinctual or pre-determined. But they're things everyone knows. They're ingrained in the cultures which we live in. While this is often a good thing so that there is uniformity in the information we grow up knowing, it is easily manipulatable and very inexact.
Take for instance a child that grows up in a troubled home. What that particular child experiences there are subjective only to him and his experiences will differ drastically from the experiences of a child who comes from a loving family and a loving environment. What one child grows up to think is normal will be abnormal to someone else. This is how society factors in, as the voice of the majority, telling us what is normal and abnormal. We are socialized by these memetic values that are taught to us, whether they are true or not. You can see how easily false memes are spread just by watching television. The ideal family as ascribed by The Cleavers on the late 1950's and early 1960's show "Leave It To Beaver" spread the notion of what a 'normal' middle class lifestyle should be like. Seen by thousands of families together (more than one television set per household during this time was nearly unheard of), the Cleavers set an unobtainable and false benchmark. Instead of basing their show on a real family, CBS homogenized family living to their liking, rectifying any harsh realities by imposing their own values. While this meme in and of itself may not have been that dangerous, it was still very untrue.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, a secretive group called the Patriots made their presence known as the true power brokers in Washington. The U.S. government and all its federal dealings were just a decoy, a "cleverly scripted play" put on by the Patriots to appease the U.S. citizenry. Unlike the representative government the people thought they controlled, the puppet strings were pulled by this other entity of like-minded individuals, headed by a group called "The Wiseman's Council". Supposedly consisting of twelve members, the Wisemen sought to consolidate power by manipulating and filtering out digital information to meet their needs. They intended to do this with an artificial intelligence program known only by the initials "G.W." G.W. was to filter out truths and suppress knowledge on the internet - the most powerful and accessible medium of information today. This included knowledge about the Patriots themselves; their identities, even their very existence. The Patriots hoped to create their own convenient truths using G.W. to distribute new memes, and pass them on in the years to come until reality became so obfuscated that no one would be able to discern the real truths buried beneath the false truths. In essence, their aim was to bombard the the American public with cleverly twisted false information to create a reality in which they were the sole authors of what a person is to believe in. Only then would they have full and complete control of America; only then could they flex their full metaphorical muscle. If TV could so easily influence what we believed about family values, why could G.W. not influence in the same way what we think about war and power?
So with G.W. in place, the Patriots planned to synthesize life, or reality, using a digital approach. Controlled digital information would be the vine upon which a new brand of American minds would grow. In time, the U.S. public would know only what the Patriots deemed fit. As it was, the Patriots outlook on information currently available was that it caused more weaknesses in people than strengths. Their wish was to make all information uniform; they deemed that information in its current state was unfit for human consumption because it varied too much. There were conflicts and inconsistencies, different sides to the same story and sometimes just flat out lies. For the Patriots, this was no good. America, as they saw it, was awash in "junk data" and was lost in a sea of garbage information. Perhaps the Patriots truly saw themselves as patriots because they believed they were doing America a favor that would right this wrong. G.W. would resolve this for them since the general public had already shown their ineptness to properly pass along the truth. The Patriots deemed themselves fit to save America from itself and viewed their control of information as more a selfless favor than anything else. They would correct all the lies with their own convenient truths - thus providing a foothold for the "new" truth to stand on. This is what they called "creating context". Their selfish egocentricism justified these actions to them because they believed the U.S. and the world at large could not save themselves from drowning in the cesspool of the digital world. They alone would decide which parts of history to pass on and which inconvenient truths would be obscured or hidden.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, the character of Raiden was given a mission by his superiors to stop a terrorist takeover on The Big Shell, a facility in the New York harbor. He was helped along on his mission by advisors who kept in contact with him via Codec, one of which being the retired Col. Campbell, whom he'd never actually met face to face. Prior to The Big Shell, Raiden had been vigorously trained in the likes of Solid Snake over the course of 300 VR simulations, including full simulations of the Outer Heaven, Zanzibarland and Shadow Moses missions. He was a digital soldier of sorts, albeit a soldier with no real field experience. Being familiar with these missions, he was aware of Roy Campbell's role and how he interacted with Solid Snake during some of these missions. Basing his expectations of what he already knew about Roy Campbell, Raiden took Campbell's trust for granted during his time at Big Shell. In the events that took place, Raiden was transformed into a real soldier with real experience - able to draw context between truth and untruth on the battlefield. The truth is, people die and battle is real. It is nothing that can be simulated. There is no replacement for actual pain or watching bullets perforate real living flesh.
As the mission began coming to a close, Raiden's newly found truths were once again eroded as Campbell was revealed to be nothing more than a complex process included in G.W.'s artificial intelligence program. The Patriots had chosen to use the likeness of Roy Campbell to more easily manipulate Raiden based on his preconceived notions of what he knew Campbell to be like; a confident, quick and authoritative leader who always knew what was best. That's the Roy Campbell that Raiden had heard about. Memetics had once again worked in favor of the Patriots, and to great effect. Raiden had been forced through his mission with little second-guessing because of this type of trust and belief in what he thought was real. Another member of his Codec support came in the form of his wife, Rosemary. Yet another false identity culled by the G.W. program to manipulate Raiden into performing the mission. What better way get a soldier to finish a mission than by exploiting his love for a woman?
Raiden became distrustful and disillusioned afterwards, not knowing what to believe or who to trust. He had been goaded into undertaking a mission which he had been led to believe was honorable - to stop the terrorists aboard The Big Shell. In reality, he had been duped to perform a mission controlled by the Patriots for their own gain by using his memories, honor, and preconceived notions of war against him. He had been propagandized by the Patriots and used like a tool. His context for understanding the world had been subsequently turned on its head. In the end, he decided that he had to create his own context for reality now and from then on. We are taught through him that reality is really subjective, that people have to decide things for themselves to determine what values are worthy of being followed. Like Naomi Hunter said in the end of Metal Gear Solid, he could choose whatever kind of life he wanted to live. He realized he could create himself anew, that he didn't have to live with the guilt that he'd lived with before. He didn't have to follow orders to be honorable. Only by creating his own values and living by his own ideals would he ever find happiness. Then, once something is found that could be useful to a later generation, it's each individual's responsibility to pass it along.
How can any one person or organization be left to decide what to pass on, what should be remembered, what is important, what is correct, what is needed or not needed anymore? What one person may not find helpful may help someone else. How can one aspect of human life be pigeonholed in favor of something deemed more relevant? When that happens, aren't we missing the full picture? To designate the cultural significance of humanity to an automaton - a machine - would be to lose part of our humanity. To be able to choose what values to pass on to later generations is a gift we are meant to have. It's what we are outside of our genetics, that's how we define the human experience.
"SCENE" - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3 took the Metal Gear universe away from it's futuristic settings of the high-tech digital world and rolled the clock back over fifty years to establish the third theme presented so far: "Scene". Scene refers both to the political climate as well as to the times that shaped the decisions in a particular era. Generational gap is an all too frequent occurence in society. Different generations often contrast and contradict when it comes to values. During your parent's generation, neccessary decisions may have been made so that the current generation would see a brighter future. Much like how intelligence agencies the world over work, the times or "scene" in which your parents grew up in relied upon currently existing information. Entire wars that were seen as worthwhile endeavors back then are often today viewed as unneccessary. For example, America's involvement in Vietnam was seen as a way to prevent the spread of communism from China and the U.S.S.R. They believed that if such a key nation as Vietnam fell to communism, an unstoppable domino effect was likely to occur in surrounding nations, eventually engulfing most or all of eastern and central Asia. This was viewed as a strong rivalry to capitalism and therefore America's future if it got out of hand. As years went by and with the coming and going of several presidents, the American political climate began to steadily shift. In a period not longer than seven years, the U.S. transitioned from a nation that entrusted its government to serve the best interests of its citizens to a nation that resented its authority and the senseless war they had involved them in. The times had changed and with them, values shifted to better suit this change. The scene was now different.
In Metal Gear Solid 3, The Boss explained to Naked Snake that they were a product of the times. Taking place in 1964, they were enveloped by the charged atmosphere of The Cold War between the last two remaining superpowers - the U.S.S.R. and the United States. Perhaps in other circumstances, in a different era, The Boss and Naked Snake would not have been enemies. They had mutual love and respect for one another, but this did not factor into the equation. Like Gray Fox and Solid Snake who battled each other for similar reasons, they were merely professionals on opposite sides. Given a different scene, different circumstances, they would not have been forced to kill one another. But this is what the Cold War demanded of them.
The Boss' point about 'the times' was made clearly in how she presented the relationship between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. She posed rather rhetorically whether anyone thought the two would be bitter enemies twenty, thirty, or even fifty years from now. The answer, in her great wisdom and foresight, is clearly no. In just twenty years, a lot changes with the inevitable shifting of values; new rivals come up on the scene, focuses on other previously unexamined problems occur. Twenty years before, during World War II, the nations were allies in a war to protect the free world from Nazi Germany. What had happened afterwards to make the two nations such bitter rivals? With the elimination of Germany after the war, there were only two superpowers left, and with the focus off of Germany, the two only had each other to contend with. The scenario had drastically changed and the ensuing race to see which of the two was the dominant superpower was on.
With the flow of time, people's minds change; The Boss explains that there is no one constant enemy, it is all relative to time. Therefore no such thing can exist as true good and true evil since these are dynamically changing elements. As it has been famously stated in many ways, today's good may be tommorow's evil. What was once seen as beneficial can be easily swept away as it becomes outdated and new intelligence arises, new information to shape the times. And this is what shapes people's opinions - the times.
Taken on their own, the themes represented in the series are grand. However, it is only when you combine the themes that you get the essence of what Hideo Kojima is trying to get across about the nature of humanity. Only when all the themes are put together do you see his parable. What makes a man? Is it his genes? Sure, a man is defined by his DNA and the potential it gives him. But then he's nothing more than a survival machine. What makes his existence different from anything else with DNA? Is it his memes? His experiences, cultural heritage, and capacity to store memory? Sure, but computers can store much of the same, outside of experiences. Is it the scene, or the times in which a person lives that defines his existence? None of these answers alone culminates the whole totality of the human experience, but rather, all of these elements when associated with one another is what makes us distinctly human.
