The Big Picture: Combat Evolved?

[Dice Warwick]

I always thought that halo was about humanity last defense, which is normally not about being multicultural, but what works for the job. I can see the point that is being made here, but I don't see that the humans are as coming because of the Spartans, but it is a bit concerning that there are so few black people in OSDT, when it was Afferica that the group dropped down to.

Your main point can be made in Reach, Halo 1, and Halo Wars, but in Halo 2 and 3 this is not true. in 2 and 3 the human when from standing alown agents a multicultural slave army, to a two species alliance agents the multicultural slave army. (ignoring that their new big warriors are barbarians) And it should be remembered that in Reach they faild to save the planet, any planet at that, earth to was nearly lost until the Elite jumped in.

So ya, Halo has a bit of a fascism symbolism problem, but it also showed that in the end it didn't work, just gave humanity the time it needed for a new solution to be discovered.

 

[jaketaz]

Wow, I finally have something other than Zero Punctuation to watch on this site!

 

[Chunko]

I love reading too much into things.

Also...Movie Bob is the one to get a second show? No offence ment but...Movie Bob?! Da fuck?

Can't wait for that Hit with an Axe spin off...

Come to think of it how come Yahtzee never got a second show.

Also didn't the humans team up with the elites in halos 2 and 3. Not too mention earths forces are made up of people from all over the world. This is a case of multicultural group of people versus multicultural group of people. I have no clue what you're talking about.

Good way to start a flamewar though.

 

[Trillovinum]

I can see the point that is being made here, but I don't see that the humans are as coming because of the Spartans, but it is a bit concerning that there are so few black people in OSDT, when it was Afferica that the group dropped down to.

.

I think that's because of our own 'racism' issues. If you make a game where an african city gets destroyed and a lot of black people die. You get called a racist. So you add alot of whites, hispanics and asians in it to balance that. But you're right, especially in the police force. (marines come from all over so I get that but police is local.)
They also did that in CoD black ops; in vietnam there isn't a single african-american soldier to be seen (save for one party member.) while actually they were over-represented.

 

[Dice Warwick]

I can see the point that is being made here, but I don't see that the humans are as coming because of the Spartans, but it is a bit concerning that there are so few black people in OSDT, when it was Afferica that the group dropped down to.

.

I think that's because of our own 'racism' issues. If you make a game where an african city gets destroyed and a lot of black people die. You get called a racist. So you add alot of whites, hispanics and asians in it to balance that. But you're right, especially in the police force. (marines come from all over so I get that but police is local.)
They also did that in CoD black ops; in vietnam there isn't a single african-american soldier to be seen (save for one party member.) while actually they were over-represented.

it is a problem, one that sould be easily fixed with resurch, or mathematics. In wargames all one needs to do is look into the racial distribution that when on in the area, and then apply it to the game. For more future games it is more of a guess, but easily thought out. In the show "Firefly" the cast was mainly wight with two black people, but no matter were they went there was always Asian (Chinese decedent) people, with them randomly yelling at each other in chinese. Halo could have easily don something similar, were at least they spoke a fusion of English, and other languages, or some Solders would commonly speech in different language.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Since I just noticed this series' existence, I'll throw a comment out.


First of all: In reach, the Spartans are presented a lot more individually. I'd sort of chalk this up to limitations of the graphics in previous games as well as the fact that the "only" living Spartan is John-117. In his case, which fits with his character, it's substance over style. The Spartans in general, as you kindly pointed out, are a military outfit, which makes their armor less of a point of contention, given that all militaries in the world today are issued BDUs as well as standard kits.

Once the Spartan 3s started to roll off the line, numbers swelled and the price to outfit them plummeted. Members can and do add their own personal flair to their armor/equipment when they want to. Noble team in particular was a special group overseen by ONI, thus, their available range of equipment was more varied than, say, an "off the line" Spartan 3.

Second: You were doing fine at the start, to be honest... The Covenant IS a slave army. The UNSC (Humans) are as diverse as human beings can be with varying societal facets, flaws, failures, and struggles shown throughout the course of the series. They're forced into a "quasi-fascist" (Ugh) social structure in response to an overwhelming force attempting to wipe them off the face of the universe. The racial purity context is a bit out of left field, especially considering what you said not a minute prior to bringing it up.

Third: The blue eyes? They're blue! You only find this sort of thing if you're looking for it to begin with. His head is shaved because he's in the military. If he had suddenly sprouted a head of luxurious blonde hair, then I'd say you would have more a case for the Aryan argument.

Fourth: "Pure" mono-culture vs. "dirty" multi-culture would have some logical basis had the Sangheili (Elites) not joined the Humans shortly after Halo 2. And what's more threatening? An army of grunts or elites? Or an army of enemies ranging in size and combat ability, thus making preparation for their coming that much more difficult? It's a narrative construct most likely meant to lend reason and credibility to enemy variation. Not to mention it's a chance to create alien races and, honestly, what sci-fi game/movie/comic doesn't thoroughly love the chance to do that?

On another note about the fourth point, the Covenant are technologically superior in every conceivable way. Humans, the "pure" mono-culture, are the ones who are inferior, at least in that aspect.



It really does seem like you would have had to already been looking for things like these in order to find them. On top of that, you haven't really found anything. Each instance can be readily explained or understood with a little bit more digging or, oddly enough, not attempting to divine some sort of ultimate symbolic meaning behind plot devices.

Just because others don't see it doesn't mean that it's there and you're just that much more perceptive. I like your movie reviews. They're entertaining in their own right, but have their own obvious bias, which is perfectly fine and unavoidable given the medium and context. This, however, is just trolling. :/

I'd read about this in another thread and it was being used as ammunition against the Halo series and a reason not to buy it. Now that I've seen it, I'm kind of disappointed.

 

[DVS Storm]

This new show is great. Although I don't really understand all the rant about Halo. They are good games even though the newer ones have really ruined the plot. If you read the novels you understand what I mean. The whole universe is really interesting and there is so much going on but the games don't really give a good picture of it and it is really, really sad imo.

 

[Zap Happy]

So basically, even though you know you're taking Halo completely out of context, you're still okay with making the points you made? You said it yourself, the Covenant is a slave army. The Profits and Elites treat the other races like dirt and use them in their armies. How is that racially sensitive? Oh, and speaking of the Elites, they joined the humans in game two. Why didn't you mention that?

I'm sorry, I just think you have a bone to pick with Halo and are digging up subtexts that don't exist.

 

[GracieMay]

Great video, but just to let you know (and i may not be the first person to point this out) the blue eye thing was most likely implying that the machine was taking away the pigment in his eyes. See, human eyes have a default color of blue unless one has pigment inserted in the womb. So it's most likely unintentional symbolism.

 

[TiefBlau]

I think it's interesting to compare this kind of Sci-fi "Humans vs the Universe" mindset with the typical fantasy "The rest of the world is threatened by asshole bigot humans" mindset. Take for example Warcraft III and Dragon Age, where the humans see all the other races as lesser beings. What this might say about society's fiction in general I don't really know, but it's a bit ironic that the future fiction is less progressive than those set in the past.

 

[NotYahtzee]

Also... MASTER CHIEF... Just let that name sink in for a minute...

 

[NotYahtzee]

Also... MASTER CHIEF... Just let that name sink in for a minute...

 

[Akisa]

I also felt that elite are suppose to be the Japanese or the honorary humans in this case . I mean they have swords and their culture did resemble Japanese from what I gathered from anime shorts.

 

[Danpascooch]

Much like you can hate a person who happens to be black without it being racist, a diverse group can still be bad, if we taboo the idea that even a single group can coincidentally be diverse and bad, we are being as bigoted as if it was the other way around.

Funny about the blue eye change thing though, lol

 

[beddo]

I love reading too much into things.

Also...Movie Bob is the one to get a second show? No offence ment but...Movie Bob?! Da fuck?

Can't wait for that Hit with an Axe spin off...

Wait, you think that Hit it with my Axe, the purile nonsense that degrades gaming culture into geekdom obsessed with the idea that porn stars doing anything is 'hot' is better than Movie Bob's, Escape to the Movies!?

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually not a big fan of Movie Bob, I often disagree and find that he over analyses things which comes off a bit snobbish at times. However, he knows his stuff and he's more than apt at conveying his knowledge into a generally concise and consistent viewpoint. However, at least he's doing something positive, critiquing cinema and now gaming, general culture and so on.

If anyone would be likely to get a spin-off I would expect it to be Yahtzee given his popularity. In any case, I would love to hear your argument for why 'I Hit it With my Pathetic Underdeveloped Grasp of Sexuality' is more deserving of another show than Movie Bob.

 

[Chavendi]

That's all fine and dandy you politely disagree with the guy blabla... BUT(!), like MovieBob said, what the fudge was your point with the mario franchise??
Was it a poor attempt at a hurtful poke? Is it because Mario = Mussolini just because he's Italian? Or did you just throw a random videogame in there, your point being that you can basically over-analyse any game and make it into something it's not?

No seriously, I wanna know what you were thinking.

Oh, and give the guy some slack, it's not like he insulted your mother or something (I'm actually surprised he didn't make an explicit master race - master chief connection).

I suppose the point was: Would MovieBob bring Mario up to the same critique? In other words: Would he notice this sort of issue in a game he liked? If he had pointed out a similar trend in another game - which he liked - it would have empowered his argument. As it stands it looks like someone who doesn't like a game, and can't give any interesting reasons as to why not, made up some controversy accompanied with a crude psychological portrait of the typical Halo player.

I think the case could made that Mario's Mushroom kingdom is a monoculture, lots of diverse races etc. but one ruler, and a stomp on the head to all dissenters. Just because that case could be made, doesn't mean it isn't ridiculous, however, I think that Bob's case against Halo is equally absurd, and grounded in nothingness.

As for the master race - master chief connection, what connection? Both have the word master in, that's all I can see. The Spartans are not a certain race, they are just strong individuals who were put through harsh and immoral experiments.

Hey guy, you obviously didn't pay much attention to the video. Towards the beginning he said that he realized this whole subliminal racism while playing halo. However the whole point of the halo set up was to give us the "Big Picture" which wasn't the Halo universe, but that we tend not to notice when we are subliminal racist. I'm sure it would be a lil harder to bring that point across if he used Mario as a set up because 1) All the stuff kill in there isn't really considered that intelligent. Its easy to think of it as just a turtle or something VS a Sentient being with technology more advanced than you. 2) In Halo its the HUMAN RACE vs the covenant not 2 plumbers vs whatever. Its easier go like wow... the best the human race has to offer are Aryans?

 

[Oskamunda]

Kind of long post; general gist: This episode sucks.

No, Bob, that's not the big picture. That's your picture. And it's very little.

I just today went back and watched the first episode of this series, which has been basically entertaining for me so far, and holy shit. This is bad, folks. I really hate it when people say, in reference to themselves, that "they have no idea the force of evil they have unleashed upon the world." Nothing says that you're an egotist and you shouldn't be listened to like painting a picture for your somewhat small community of less than avid followers of your own less than potent self as a horror only witnessed in the annals of Cthulu.

Have you actually read Starship Troopers, Bob? If you had, you would know that the Troopers themselves are not faceless; that rather, Heinlein takes great pains to name, describe, and dramatize almost every soldier you meet in the book, cap trooper or not. Also, almost one third of the novella is a lecture on--wiat, wait, what could it be?--military fascism and why it is good and the preferred method of government...and he makes a pretty damn good argument, too. Now granted, there's no one in the work that opposes this point of view, and it's concealed in the format of the-character-is-a-student-and-you-are-going-to-learn-his-mentor's-philosophy-with-him-as-we-sit-in-on-one-or-two-or-a-dozen-of-his-lessons, but it's still a pretty good argument. But, you know, TANSTAAFL. (Hehehe, oh, me. See, now did that sound egotist, or not? Don't do that.)

It's also not like the entirety of humanity is the Spartans. It's not even like the whole of the military is the Spartans...this is one group amongst an entire race's diverse military force, say, like the Navy Seals. And speaking of diversity...you obviously don't pay much attention when you play a game, Bob, seeing as, since the very first Halo, we get many, many, many opportunities to see just how diverse this military culture is. Your first C.O. is a black dude, several of the guys on the ground have hispanic accents, there are a couple of chicks--I mean, babes--I mean, ladies--in there; and let's not forget that your main partner is crime isn't even human! If A.I. partnership ain't diversity, then I don't know what is.

Then there's the blue eyes...master race? SRSLY? Just because the Fremen's eyes turn a blue-within-blue when they become addicted to melange doesn't mean that Frank Herbert was a supremacist. Perhaps they could have explained it a little better, yeah, but it doesn't mean that everybody at Bungie is giving out invitations to the rally.

Now here's the kicker, I hate the Halo games. Despise them; "combat evolved," my ass. I was always pretty good at Halo, which pissed off my friends who played it, but these games suck. HOWEVER, just because the games suffer from bad characterization, poor writing, lame graphics, a tired future sci-fi plot loosely based on quasi-religious undertones, prophecies, and aesops, and a general proclivity to shit all over itself, that doesn't mean you're allowed to say the things you say about it...or even abuse the references you have in this episode. In fact, I'd venture to say that this pilot episode is almost as poorly written as the games that they rail upon.

Suddenly, I find myself agreeing with you, Bob. The guys at Escapist have no idea what they've unleashed. But not for any of the reasons that you think.