In
the video game Bioshock, the silent
protagonist Jack's plane crashes into the ocean next to a mysterious lighthouse. After entering the lighthouse and boarding a
bathysphere, he is taken to the underwater dystopia of Rapture, which has been
destroyed due to civil war. From this
point, he must work with the freedom fighter Atlas against the tyrannical ruler
of the city, Andrew Ryan, in order to escape.
The game has sold over 4 million copies, and Gore Verbinski, director of
The Pirates of the Caribbean, was interested
in adapting the game into a film. However,
the proposed 200 million dollar budget was too high for the studios. Bioshock
also has one of the highest ratings for a first person shooter on the reviewing
site Metacritic, scoring an 96. The
principle reason that this game appeals to fans and critics is that it uses its
story, setting, and characters to analyze and criticize Ayn Rand's Objectivist
philosophy.
Ayn Rand was a writer who proposed
the idea of Objectivism, which states that the proper moral purpose of life is
the pursuit of one's own happiness.
Objectivism also states that laissez-faire capitalism is the only social system
that maintains full respect for an individual's rights. Simply put, it states that an individual
should do what is best for himself and that the government should not interfere
in any private or commercial matters. There
are many references to Ayn Rand and Objectivism throughout Bioshock. The main villain's
name, Andrew Ryan, is very similar to Ayn Rand.
Both of them are Russian immigrants who became disillusioned with Communism. Also, another major character is named Atlas,
a reference to Ayn Rand's objectivist novel Atlas
Shrugged. Andrew Ryan proclaims his
objectivist views right at the beginning of the game as the player descends by
bathysphere to the city of Rapture: "Is a man not entitled to the sweat of
his brow? No, says the man in
Washington, it belongs to the poor. No,
says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose Rapture: a city where the artist
would not fear the censor. Where the
scientist would not be bound by petty morality.
Where the great would not be constrained by the small."
With this statement, Andrew Ryan firmly
admits that the entire city of Rapture was built under Objectivist ideals.
The rest of the game's plot subverts
these ideals and demonstrates the fundamental flaws evident in Objectivist
philosophy. As Ryan states, a city built
on these ideals would seem perfect for an artist, entrepreneur, or
scientist. However, as the game shows,
this level of philosophical thinking created a class struggle between the
elitists and the working class in the city which eventually culminated in civil
war. The once beautiful city of Rapture
decayed into a skeleton of its former glory, which represents the hidden
ugliness that was present in the city's ideals all along. Even more importantly, the laissez-faire
ideals that Rapture greatly adored eventually led to its own destruction. Scientists in the city discovered a substance
called "Adam" that alters one's genetic code and grants superhuman
powers. Products made with this
substance were sold to the general public with no interference from the
government because Rapture was founded under the idea of free enterprise
without governmental control.
"Adam" proved to be incredibly powerful and addictive, and
soon the citizens of Rapture went mad in their desire to obtain more Adam, using
their powers to further throw the city into civil war. Ironically, the city's worship of Objectivist
ideals, such as laissez-faire capitalism and self-interest, eventually led the
city to its downfall.
The game's endings ultimately demonstrate
that Altruism, the polar opposite philosophy of Objectivism, is the superior
philosophy. There are two different
endings depending on how a player chooses to act during key moments in the
game. Throughout the game, the player
encounters "Little Sisters", young orphan girls who have been brainwashed
to gather Adam from corpses in the street.
After defeating one of their protectors, nicknamed "Big Daddies",
the player is given a choice of harvesting the Little Sister for her Adam or
sparing her life. Harvesting a Little
Sister gives the player much more Adam and allows him to level up more quickly,
but the Little Sister dies in the process. However, if the player spares the
Little Sister, he gains much less Adam, but eventually gains the trust of
Tenebaum, the German scientist who created the Little Sisters. She rewards the player with large gifts of
Adam, which allow the player to continue gaining new abilities. If a player chooses to save all of the Little
Sisters, he receives the "good" ending of the game: Jack rescues five
of the Little Sisters, takes them up to the surface, and raises them as his own
daughters. If he chooses to harvest
them, however, the game ends with Jack betraying the Little Sisters, stealing a
submarine and a large supply of Adam, and setting out to conquer the world with
nuclear weapons. The "good"
ending of the game is the only one where Jack demonstrates Altruism, acting in
order to benefit another. The
"bad" ending demonstrates the ideals of Objectivism, with Jack
thinking only of himself, stealing all of the power, and becoming just as evil
as Andrew Ryan was. Thus, the game
demonstrates Altruism's superiority over Objectivism.
There is a fundamental flaw with the
game's statement on Altruism, however. In order to stay alive during the game,
you need to loot every container, safe, and even corpses in order to find
health, money, and ammo. This mode of
gameplay contradicts the game's central message about Altruism by forcing
players to act selfishly in order to continue playing. However, despite this flaw in gaming
dynamics, the game still manages to tell a compelling story that not only
entertains, but provides a brilliant critique of Objectivism.
No comments:
Post a Comment