Is there an official backstory for the Fallout world?

[robhartman9]

War...war never changes. War does change society though. The modern cultural revolution was driven by hippies of the Vietnam war protest era. I could see society continuing in the oppressive anti communist police state mentality of the 50's if there was no Vietnam war and the commie hunters were allowed to suppress the hippies.

[cossayos]

I guess the Vietnam war was one big factor to drive things forward. On an international level, for that matter. Probably most strongly in the USA because young men could be drafted at any second. But also in Europe. The so called '68 movement fueled itself by running on this ticket.

 

But it wasn't the only one. The whole culture was changing. Most of all the youth culture. It already started in the 50ies, but it really kicked into gear in the mid 60ies. People were fed up with doing as their parents did. Women were fed up to be confined to their homes and shopping malls and being dependent on their husbands. And there was literature and music to go with that new feeling.

 

What the Fallout series presents as lore is a perpetuated Eisenhower stage. But even as a European you can relate, since Adenauer or De Gaulle promoted the same values, for lack of a better word.

[TrickyVein]

@ cossayos: Good post. Well said.

[EveningTide]

Evil Vault-Tec not actually saving people. Using them for own gain. Sometimes killing them off for some end desired result. The end.

[Relativelybest]

The overall theme is based around what science fiction writers of that era thought the future would be like, they didn't envision anything like the micro manufacturing revolution that would shrink electronics and expected that commercial styling would remain more or less the same. Think along the lines of Disney Land's "Tomorrow Land" theme if you've even been.

 

If I'm not mistaken one of reasons they went for this theme was to set their game apart from the original Wasteland.

 

There's a word for this: It's called "zeerust", referring to the particular irony of things that were meant to seem futuristic becoming very dated, not just because of actual technological advancement but also changing cultural context.

[bmt12]

 

The overall theme is based around what science fiction writers of that era thought the future would be like, they didn't envision anything like the micro manufacturing revolution that would shrink electronics and expected that commercial styling would remain more or less the same. Think along the lines of Disney Land's "Tomorrow Land" theme if you've even been.

 

If I'm not mistaken one of reasons they went for this theme was to set their game apart from the original Wasteland.

 

There's a word for this: It's called "zeerust", referring to the particular irony of things that were meant to seem futuristic becoming very dated, not just because of actual technological advancement but also changing cultural context.

 

A South African town? First I've ever heard the term.

[DoctorKaizeld]

yeah the term that means an advanced future with old tech is Retrofuturism... which is what Fallout is supposed to be. zeerust (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zeerust) is the "Datedness of something originally intended to seem futuristic" which would be early Star Trek and Back to the Future.

Edited September 14, 2016 by qwertyzeldar

[bmt12]

Well the more you know...now that I think about I want to say that I've actually heard that somewhere, it just didn't click.

[DoctorKaizeld]

eh they arent often used as in the case of a story line you will never hear a Retro-futuristic world refer to itself as one nor would you hear a zeerust one do the same. also most zeerust worlds were never intended to be a zeerust one. most scifi is destined to become zeerust in time.

[Relativelybest]

yeah the term that means an advanced future with old tech is Retrofuturism... which is what Fallout is supposed to be. zeerust (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zeerust) is the "Datedness of something originally intended to seem futuristic" which would be early Star Trek and Back to the Future.

 

Can I just say, "retrofuturism" is an oxymoron if I ever saw one.

 

Oh well, different words for basically the same thing. *shrug*

 

eh they arent often used as in the case of a story line you will never hear a Retro-futuristic world refer to itself as one nor would you hear a zeerust one do the same. also most zeerust worlds were never intended to be a zeerust one. most scifi is destined to become zeerust in time.

 

I would argue that zeerust is an aesthetic (though only in retrospect) and retrofuturism is the artistic choice to invoke it. I don't think there is any practical difference in the actual results.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Relativelybest