Or: How I Kind Of Think John Milius Is A Twit.
 
Now, don't get me wrong, I believe that much of his work once removed from the oeuvre of hyper-nationalized war cinema is great. His influence upon such cultural touchstones as the USS Indianapolis monologue in Jaws is, well, important. However, I often feel as if the shadow of Red Dawn looms over what he does, particularly in the case of the coming-up Homefront. In a similar way to how the involvement of Orson Scott Card's wretched Empire work made Shadow Complex a very complicated purchase to decide upon or not, John Milius is complicating a decision on whether or not to observe and interact with Homefront.
 
It's a right-wing nightmare/wet dream, the opportunity for real God-fearing Americans, the salt of the earth, those lovely gentleman who wear "don't tread on me" t-shirts and wave placards about trees of liberty being watered with blood at political rallies to show those blasted government pinheads that they'll rescue America from the oncoming foreign hordes. How useful it must be to have picked the one foreign enemy America has which is as impotent and sad as North Korea as the main foil to the virtualized conflict.
 
Obviously, I know that it's a first-person shooter. The hyper-nationalized, hyper-masculine nature of the genre is one I'm well-accustomed to but still, something seems peculiarly off about Homefront's foray into the field. Like Red Dawn, or rather the fans of Red Dawn, it feels to be marketing towards that hypernationalism in earnest, rather than as the implied anti-war narratives of many of the successful war films or even war video games typically follow. To the point, Red Dawn was written in the 80s in support of the Afghani "freedom fighters" who were at the time in conflict with the invading Soviet war machine. Many of those same "freedom fighters" would go on to become the "Muslim insurgents" and Al-Qaeda operatives the American war machine is fighting even now.
 
I wonder if the irony of the Red Dawn narrative in 2011 will be properly explored in Homefront. Will this become the link of sympathy between the Afghanistan occupation's "insurgents" and how a Western public would react to our own lands being occupied? Or will it just be double-thought out of, as Red Dawn's drama was once it became inconvenient to consider? Just put away as another in a series of modern warfare first-person shooters which grasped at more than it could accomplish, except for that peculiar core of fans who seem kind of... sketchy, like they think the events depicted will really happen any day now.
 
Plus, call me paranoid, but I kind of feel like this is the game where all the 13-year-olds shouting racial slurs in the other multiplayer FPSs will converge like locusts. So there's that to concern myself with.

Or: How I Kind Of Think John Milius Is A Twit.
 
Now, don't get me wrong, I believe that much of his work once removed from the oeuvre of hyper-nationalized war cinema is great. His influence upon such cultural touchstones as the USS Indianapolis monologue in Jaws is, well, important. However, I often feel as if the shadow of Red Dawn looms over what he does, particularly in the case of the coming-up Homefront. In a similar way to how the involvement of Orson Scott Card's wretched Empire work made Shadow Complex a very complicated purchase to decide upon or not, John Milius is complicating a decision on whether or not to observe and interact with Homefront.
 
It's a right-wing nightmare/wet dream, the opportunity for real God-fearing Americans, the salt of the earth, those lovely gentleman who wear "don't tread on me" t-shirts and wave placards about trees of liberty being watered with blood at political rallies to show those blasted government pinheads that they'll rescue America from the oncoming foreign hordes. How useful it must be to have picked the one foreign enemy America has which is as impotent and sad as North Korea as the main foil to the virtualized conflict.
 
Obviously, I know that it's a first-person shooter. The hyper-nationalized, hyper-masculine nature of the genre is one I'm well-accustomed to but still, something seems peculiarly off about Homefront's foray into the field. Like Red Dawn, or rather the fans of Red Dawn, it feels to be marketing towards that hypernationalism in earnest, rather than as the implied anti-war narratives of many of the successful war films or even war video games typically follow. To the point, Red Dawn was written in the 80s in support of the Afghani "freedom fighters" who were at the time in conflict with the invading Soviet war machine. Many of those same "freedom fighters" would go on to become the "Muslim insurgents" and Al-Qaeda operatives the American war machine is fighting even now.
 
I wonder if the irony of the Red Dawn narrative in 2011 will be properly explored in Homefront. Will this become the link of sympathy between the Afghanistan occupation's "insurgents" and how a Western public would react to our own lands being occupied? Or will it just be double-thought out of, as Red Dawn's drama was once it became inconvenient to consider? Just put away as another in a series of modern warfare first-person shooters which grasped at more than it could accomplish, except for that peculiar core of fans who seem kind of... sketchy, like they think the events depicted will really happen any day now.
 
Plus, call me paranoid, but I kind of feel like this is the game where all the 13-year-olds shouting racial slurs in the other multiplayer FPSs will converge like locusts. So there's that to concern myself with.

That's deep, bro. I personally feel like we're all bodies in the same river. Some of us will experience different things, you know, even though that we're like, still in the same river. Some of us will wash up on shore, others will keep on flowing. It's like, how is that possible? We're all in the same water going the same way.
 
Deep man. Deep.

Sometimes I'm glad being stupid enough to not understand shit like this.

Wut? 
 
Dude i like videogames.

Thanks for writing this, and I have to say I feel somewhat similarly about the game. Now, I hadn't really been following this game much (simply been tired of all the FPSs which have been coming out lately, and this one didn't stand out) but as soon as I saw it was written by the author who penned Red Dawn and was going to be pretty similar, I'm making sure to stay far away from it. I just don't know which will be worse, the story in this, or that in the remake of Red Dawn which is in the works. Anyways, definitely enjoyed the read, very glad to see someone else who was kinda put off by that fact.

Just how serious was Red Dawn supposed to be taken in the first place? 
 
Also, Orson Scott Card is an excellent writer.

I love a lot of John Milius' work, but I could never stand Red Dawn. I don't really have a problem with its politics, but I do have a huge problem with that fact that the scenario it presents is ridiculous and could not, feasibly, happen. I disliked Modern Warfare 2 for the same reason - the plot was ludicrous. 
 
I'm not saying the U.S. couldn't get into a major war, couldn't get invaded. But the kind of sudden, massive land invasion depicted in these works is totally impossible.

Well written, It would be cool if they could focus a bit of energy to how being occupied is a bit of an irony, but I doubt they will.

" Well written, It would be cool if they could focus a bit of energy to how being occupied is a bit of an irony, but I doubt they will. "

Am I the only person who liked the movie Red Dawn? 
 
@N7 said:

"   Deep man. Deep. "

" Am I the only person who liked the movie Red Dawn?  "

" Just how serious was Red Dawn supposed to be taken in the first place?  Also, Orson Scott Card is an excellent writer. "

i agree. there is no other single phenomenon that causes more problems in the world than the powerful's desire to be seen as victims. games like homefront make me feel way too conflicted to be able to enjoy them, no matter how good they might be otherwise.

Must be pretty shitty to not be able to enjoy things on its own merits. I feel for you guys. Same for the people who honestly boycotted Shadow Complex because of who helped write it. Who made it or how many virgins they sacrificed to their pagan gods to get it done shouldn't matter. What should matter is whether the end result was good or not.

Red Dawn will never happen.
 
I am sure the Roman people never thought at the height of  their power that the great empire would eventually fall.
 Yes, the concept of the game as fanciful, it is fiction.
Blood has always watered the trees of liberty (despite your sarcasm). I am glad people such as yourself were not around during the revolutionary war. Freedom must constantly be fought for, which we have seen down through history. That having been said, the complexity of human conflict cannot be accurately summed up in a thread on a video game forum.
 
Reading this post brings back horrible memories of some of the college courses I was forced to take.

" Red Dawn will never happen.  I am sure the Roman people never thought at the height of  their power that the great empire would eventually fall. Yes, the concept of the game as fanciful, it is fiction.

" Or: How I Kind Of Think John Milius Is A Twit.
 
Now, don't get me wrong, I believe that much of his work once removed from the oeuvre of hyper-nationalized war cinema is great. His influence upon such cultural touchstones as the USS Indianapolis monologue in Jaws is, well, important. However, I often feel as if the shadow of Red Dawn looms over what he does, particularly in the case of the coming-up Homefront. In a similar way to how the involvement of Orson Scott Card's wretched Empire work made Shadow Complex a very complicated purchase to decide upon or not, John Milius is complicating a decision on whether or not to observe and interact with Homefront.
 
It's a right-wing nightmare/wet dream, the opportunity for real God-fearing Americans, the salt of the earth, those lovely gentleman who wear "don't tread on me" t-shirts and wave placards about trees of liberty being watered with blood at political rallies to show those blasted government pinheads that they'll rescue America from the oncoming foreign hordes. How useful it must be to have picked the one foreign enemy America has which is as impotent and sad as North Korea as the main foil to the virtualized conflict.
 
Obviously, I know that it's a first-person shooter. The hyper-nationalized, hyper-masculine nature of the genre is one I'm well-accustomed to but still, something seems peculiarly off about Homefront's foray into the field. Like Red Dawn, or rather the fans of Red Dawn, it feels to be marketing towards that hypernationalism in earnest, rather than as the implied anti-war narratives of many of the successful war films or even war video games typically follow. To the point, Red Dawn was written in the 80s in support of the Afghani "freedom fighters" who were at the time in conflict with the invading Soviet war machine. Many of those same "freedom fighters" would go on to become the "Muslim insurgents" and Al-Qaeda operatives the American war machine is fighting even now.
 
I wonder if the irony of the Red Dawn narrative in 2011 will be properly explored in Homefront. Will this become the link of sympathy between the Afghanistan occupation's "insurgents" and how a Western public would react to our own lands being occupied? Or will it just be double-thought out of, as Red Dawn's drama was once it became inconvenient to consider? Just put away as another in a series of modern warfare first-person shooters which grasped at more than it could accomplish, except for that peculiar core of fans who seem kind of... sketchy, like they think the events depicted will really happen any day now.  Plus, call me paranoid, but I kind of feel like this is the game where all the 13-year-olds shouting racial slurs in the other multiplayer FPSs will converge like locusts. So there's that to concern myself with. "

" Just how serious was Red Dawn supposed to be taken in the first place?"

I think video games are much too early to be politically analyzed. The story telling isn't there. Even if you hated the Empire books, barely any of it is properly in Shadow Complex. Maybe the villains' motives give hints to the political content of the books, but once again, it's a video game. The story telling isn't there, it's just too simple. It's all brushed upon quickly somewhere between shooting that guy and blowing up that barrel. I think we'll see the exact same thing with Homefront. Same as with Freedom Fighters. Great game, but I didn't get any right wing vibes from being a plumber who picked up an AK and went to town, I just saw it as another shooter. 
 
I just don't think the storytelling is there, so to judge games by materials they might be based on or inspired by is a bit silly. Because it'll be completely different. Books have time to linger on politics and philosophy, games... just no. 

Dude, the communists have invaded your brains!!!!!!!!! 
 
This is what they want you to think. I've worked as a maid at the CIA and the North Koreans have infiltrated us deeper than you can ever think. These "video games" and "movies" are actually mass produced by the CIA to get us ready to fight back.  
 
The file I've stumbled across is shocking and the commis are coming so in true american fashion: if you ain't with us, you against hunt 

To misquote Vinny, "I'm a brit, and Red Dawn is fucking fantastic!"

" Wut?  Dude i like videogames. "