After learning that Metal Gear REX was an offensive weapon instead of a theatre missile defense system, Hal Emmerich (Otacon) is overladen with guilt and tells the story of how his grandfather was involved in the Manhattan Project - and had to suffer with the subsequent guilt for the rest of his life. His father, meanwhile, was born on August 6, 1945 - the day the Hiroshima Bomb was dropped. Hal is determined not to step in his predecessors' shoes - and to prevent his own creation, Metal Gear REX, from unleashing destruction.

“I have a difficult time grasping what we have come to – modifying a person’s essential genetic structure for the sake of creating a better soldier.” – Nastasha Romanenko, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses : The Unofficial Truth, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

Several other insightful essays^[1] have been written about Metal Gear Solid – the third Metal Gear game and considered by many to be a ‘reboot’ of the series after its 16bit dormancy.

In this article, I will be retreading some trodden ground (particularly the Richard Dawkins/Neo-Darwinist leanings), but rest assured there is still a lot contained in this article that hasn’t been covered in-depth before.

It also happens that this article is somewhat timely given that Metal Gear Solid was recently re-released on PSN (PlayStation Network) and thus can now be played on both PlayStation3 and PSP. Luckily, the game has aged like fine wine – if you are willing to overlook the obvious downgrade in graphics and controls.

Table of contents

• Chronological timeline
• Recommended reading/viewing
  • Comparisons between Gattaca and Metal Gear Solid
• Themes
  • The Sons of Big Boss
    • Les Enfants Terribles
      • Genetic Limits To Growth
      • Gulf War Brothers And Sisters
      • Genetic diversity
    • Retroviruses and the Human Genome Project
  • The mission
    • Orchestration of the incident
      • Solidus’ mole in FOXHOUND
      • Liquid’s divergence from the plan
    • The Patriots’ Contingency Plan
  • Characters
    • Solid Snake
      • Coerced mission assignment
        • Pharmacological stimulants
        • Snake’s usefulness as a viral vector
      • Nanomachines and the biofeedback loop
      • Gene therapy and the weaponization of the viral vector
    • Liquid Snake
      • Motivation – The Selfish Gene
      • Liquid’s Achilles heel
      • Roy Batty and Liquid Snake
    • Naomi Hunter
      • Involvement in Pentagon bioweapons program
      • Motivation – Genetics As An Axiom For Human Potential
    • Psycho Mantis
      • Psychic powers
        • Extra-sensory perception
        • Psychokinesis and mind control
        • Telekinesis
    • Frank Jaeger/Gray Fox
      • Transhumanist soldier
    • Sniper Wolf
      • On The Origin Of Domestication
        • Social organizations and subsumation
        • Humans and self-domestication
    • Nastasha Romanenko
      • Motivation – Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
  • Government coverup
    • Plausible deniability
    • Nastasha Romanenko’s book
      • Psy-op piece
• Meaning behind words/names/terms
• Footnotes
• Links

Chronological timeline

Chronologically speaking, the events of Metal Gear Solid take place (in preceding order) after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Therefore, some exposition is needed before the player can properly understand the following section. Provided for your convenience here is a condensed timeline; the games are listed in chronological order.

Recommended reading/viewing

“We used to think that our fate was in our stars. Now we know, in large part, that our fate is in our genes.” – James D. Watson

(Top, Gattaca): From a gene-centrist perspective, Vincent, being a "borrowed ladder" (or "de-gene-erate" if you may), should, by the very nature of his genes, be unable to keep up with someone like Eugene Morrow in a swimming match. But not only can he keep up with his genetic superior, he actually outperforms him. This leads Eugene to doubt whether or not he is actually so inherently superior to common-bred people as he was led to believe. There is the parable of Adolf Hitler having his entire eugenic creed discredited right in front of everybody when his eugenically superior Aryan supermen lost to a black American athlete (below) in the 1936 Olympics.

This essay on the 1997 movie Gattaca, “The New Eugenics in Cinema: Genetic Determinism and Gene Therapy in GATTACA“, should be read alongside the one you’re reading right now – as both articles cover similar ground.

The essay concludes that Gattaca was “virtually alone among recent popular-culture narratives in its rejection of the genetic-determinist ideology”, and geneticists could not help but to engage in a love/hate relationship with the film. On the one hand the movie vindicated their plight – pointing towards a future where illnesses and diseases can be prevented at birth, but at the same time the film takes a decidedly ‘pro-humanist’ stance that is opposed to all forms of scientific totalitarianism, including the ones that seem to be built on good intentions (on the surface). Its main criticism is that it puts far too much stock in genes, putting unrealistic expectations on genetically superior alpha citizens that they cannot hope to live up to while intentionally discriminating the have-nots who cannot afford such expensive gene therapy or have their children’s genetic features pre-natally determined.

Comparisons between Gattaca and Metal Gear Solid

I would argue that Metal Gear Solid, released a year later, is/was in many ways its videogame contemporary.

There are other narrative similarities between the two. Like the unprivileged “de-gene-erate” character in the film, Solid Snake outdoes his brother Liquid in nearly every battle, despite Liquid having inherited all of his fathers’ dominant genes. Similarly, it is strongly implied that Solid Snake eventually ‘outlasts’ Liquid Snake because of his sheer willpower to survive and his desire to protect Meryl and keep her out of harm’s way. The ending strongly hints at the game’s story being a Gattaca-like renounciation of the gene-deterministic perspective on life that geneticists like to espouse.

Themes

The primary theme of Metal Gear Solid is genetics and a reinvigoration of eugenics due to the successful completion of the Human Genome Project. The game also takes a (somewhat) skeptical stance on Neo-Darwinian thinking as exemplified by Darwin, Spencer and Dawkins – perceiving the gene-centered view on evolution as a dead alley and a restraint on individual potential (see Motivation – Genetics As An Axiom For Human Potential).

The game can also be interpreted as an anti-nuclear screed (see Motivation – Abolition of Nuclear Weapons).

The Sons of Big Boss

“You two are an embarassment from the 1970’s. Our country’s dirty little secret…” – Secretary Of Defense Jim Houseman to Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

There was a third 'son' of Big Boss - Solidus Snake - which received both Big Boss' dominant and recessive genes and thus came as close to being a genetic copy of Big Boss as The Patriots could get. His accelerated aging was by far the most rapid out of the three - at 28 years of age he became the President of The United States (obviously given forged birth certificates by The Patriots) - while looking like a middle-aged man in his mid-'50s.

Big Boss made his bones working as a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) operative under the codename Naked Snake. His missions involved (among other things) infiltrating Soviet strongholds in the jungle. He goes on to be known as one of the greatest soldiers alive. But Big Boss eventually has a falling out with his former paymasters over a disagreement he has with the puppetmasters who were (unbeknownst to him up to this point) controlling and directing him all throughout his career.

This secret congregation of wealthy and powerful businessmen, called The Patriots, constituted a shadow government. Like any other oligarchy, they prefer secrecy and would rather some frontman take all the blame for decisions made on their behalf. After observing Big Boss’ rising stature as a soldier and military strategist, they immediately foresaw the benefits in having some powerful soldier like Big Boss be one of their frontmen – as a head of state as well as a soldier. But the problem was that such a person had to be controlled and ultimately not turn against the very system that had ‘created’ him so to speak. Given that (which was already a major complication – by the mid ’70s Big Boss was becoming more and more disillusioned with this shadowy cabal) and the inconvenient side-effect of Big Boss having been rendered sterile (this is explained in the ‘prequel’ games – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops – this will be covered in an upcoming article), The Patriots decide to try their hand at a human breeding experiment.

Les Enfants Terribles

“You and I were originally octuplets. The other six of our brothers were sacrificed to make us. We were accomplices in murder before we were even born” – Liquid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

This ’70s project (‘Les Enfants Terribles’) was developed with the specific intent to produce the ultimate supersoldier. It shares some similarities with the positive eugenics experiments of Nazi-Germany (Lebensborn – also see Resident Evil 5 – Wesker’s Eugenic Endgame) – but obviously utilizing far more advanced technology given the wealth of knowledge they had acquired (about DNA and genes, for instance) by the ’70s. The desire to breed a specific subset of human supersoldiers dates back to Plato’s writings in Plato’s Republic. Eva (Big Boss’ lover in the prequel games) participated willingly in this project – they used Big Boss’ DNA to create a fertilized egg cell (zygote) that was then divided into eight separate egg cells.

Six of the eight fetuses inside Eva’s uterus were then intentionally aborted to encourage strong prenatal development in the two remaining ones. Solid Snake got all the recessive genes, while Liquid Snake received all the dominant ones.

Genetic Limits To Growth

There were some safeguards in place to prevent the clones from wreaking havoc in the unlikely event they went rogue. First of all, their reproductive abilities were permanently subdued by implanting them with a ‘terminator gene’ – similar in intent to Monsanto’s Genetic use restriction technology (GURT) used in its pharmacological crops.

The next inherent genetic safeguard was more of a byproduct stemming from the somatic cloning techniques employed to create Solid and Liquid – but The Patriots exacerbated this inherent flaw so as to turn it into a feature. Since cloned organisms often end up with significantly shorter telomeres due to the fact that the DNA has already been divided countless times, the subject will age far more rapidly as opposed to an organism conceived through natural means. In a timespan of just 10 years, Solid Snake would change in appearance from an adult looking to be in his late-’20s to an elderly man rapidly approaching his mid-70s.

Gulf War Brothers And Sisters

“Publicly, the President has been very vocal in his opposition to eugenics experiments.” – Naomi Hunter, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

The game attributes the real cause of the Gulf War Syndrome (still termed Gulf War Syndrome in 1998, now Gulf War Illness) to secret gene therapy experiments whereby Gulf War soldiers were injected with the 'soldier genes' from Big Boss.

But according to Liquid, the eugenic experiments by the U.S. government did not just stop at ‘Les Enfants Terribles’.

Upon hearing from Liquid that the Gulf War soldiers were subjected to gene therapy experiments and injected with Big Boss’ soldier genes during the process, Solid Snake immediately balks at the very idea (the following dialogue excerpt is from the 2004 remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes):

“Solid Snake: Ha! Everyone knows that the Gulf War Syndrome was caused by exposure to pesticides and radiation from depleted uranium rounds.
Liquid Snake: [chuckling] That was just the cover story issued by the Pentagon. First they tried to say it was post-traumatic stress disorder, then chemical or biological weapons. The poison gas detection units and the anti-sarin injections, they were all just to cover up the secret genetic experiments…
Solid Snake: So then… the so-called Gulf War babies that have been reported by Gulf War veterans are…
Liquid Snake: Yes. They, too, are our brothers and sisters^[2].

Out of these initial experiments arose the Next-Generation Special Forces and the Genome Soldiers – both containing much of the same soldier genes as Big Boss as a result of gene therapy.

Genetic diversity

“Have you ever heard of the Asymmetry Theory? Nature tends to favor asymmetry. Those species which have gone extinct all show signs of symmetry.” – Liquid Snake to Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

The basic problem permeating the Les Enfants Terribles project is the same one that has haunted Charles Darwin and evolutionary thinking in the past – yet conveniently it also served its purpose as an insurance policy on The Patriots’ behalf. The basic problem is that of genetic diversity – what Liquid Snake refers to as the ‘Asymmetry Theory’.

Genetic diversity is defined by this Wikipedia article as follows:

“Genetic diversity is a level of biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species”.^[Wikipedia]

Apparently, genetic diversity plays a big part in determining whether an organism can adapt to its environment and survive. If an organism is not genetically diverse, if the common ancestor that it derives from is on a genetic level too similar, then that species is in danger of dying off due to a certain disease it can not adapt to. Given that, healthy reproduction can become increasingly difficult if a sudden illness causes a swift decline in the overall fitness of a given blood-related species.

Inbreeding and human cloning both lead to a reduction in genetic diversity, and it’s for precisely these reasons that inbreeding and incest has been shunned throughout history without much thought being given as to why^[3].

Because Solid Snake and Liquid Snake are essentially genetic copies of Big Boss, their immune system, too, is identical. What this means that if a virus comes along that their particular immune system cannot adapt to, they are in danger of simply dying off.

This, to Liquid’s mind, solidifies his notion that ‘they’ (meaning him and the other ‘Sons of Big Boss’) are on the verge of death at the genetic level.

Retroviruses and the Human Genome Project

“Science has always thrived on war.” – Hal Emmerich (Otacon), Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

As of 2007, the mapping of the human genome is considered 'finished'. With the mapping of the human genome came an increased understanding of RNA retroviruses and their effects on the human body. The development of race-specific bioweapons as a political tool is now a reality.

The development of RNA retroviruses is intrinsically tied to gene therapy and the Human Genome Project that much of the game’s backstory hinges upon. In previous articles (see Resident Evil 5, and The Impact Of Zombies On Society), we have already elaborated at length on the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and what came out of that.

Metal Gear Solid’s story, taking place in the year 2005, however, has no such need for dwelling on the past, and instead covers eugenics in its current 21st century inception, starting with the Human Genome Project.

The Human Genome Project was initiated by James Watson who directed it from 1988 to 1992. The scope of the project was to map out the entire ‘genomic’ code of humanity. Basically, what this entails is that all of the hereditary information inside a human organism was to be laid bare so scientists could get a better understanding of how humans operate.

Attempts at a better understanding of the inner workings of Man were tried before by the Eugenics Record Office (1910-1944) – information on specific human traits was compiled in a so-called Trait Book, which also tracked information on ‘pedigree’ (superior) families and their specific traits. Of course, by the time the Human Genome Project was initiated, the field of genetics and molecular biology had advanced to such a point that the ERO’s relative efforts were left in the dust – or at worst made a complete mockery out of it.

Now that the genomic code was entirely documented for the first time, scientists could gain a better understanding of the underlying causes of sickness, bacterias and viral strains in humans. With this increase in knowledge, however, came also the distinct possibility of an increase in biological warfare capabilities. For example, specific RNA (Ribonucleic acid) viruses could now be developed that could replicate itself inside a host cell of the target, produce its own DNA from the genomic code of the virus and then incorporate itself into the host’s DNA. Not only selective targeting of individuals was now a possibility, but also the targeting of specific genotypes (meaning people of a certain ethnic trait)^[4]

This, and several other related advancements in viral research, led the Pentagon towards developing military-grade retroviruses for use as biological weapons. The FOXDIE virus would be such a weapon.

The mission

"I hear the terrorist are calling themselves: 'The Sons of Big Boss'". This obvious reference to the Sons of Liberty - the secret society that was formed by the Founding Fathers of the United States - implicates Solidus Snake in the Shadow Moses Incident proceedings. In the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, he is trying to ignite the fire of the revolutionary spirit by pulling off a false-flag operation that will force The Patriots to come out of the shadows. In particular, he wants to wrest control of The Patriots' new weapon, Metal Gear Rex, away from them and use it as a battering ram against them so that he can put the country (and for that matter the world) back in the hands of parliamentary democratic control - or at least keep it outside The Patriots' control.

The whole truth behind the mission was never properly revealed to the player until the release of the second game, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In retrospect, it appears this so-called ‘terrorist hijacking’ of the base was a well-devised ruse by a man trying to exert himself as the leader of his own country by taking out the forces that were manipulating him behind the scenes.

Orchestration of the incident

As revealed in the previous chapter – there was a third ’son’ of Big Boss that happened to be a near-exact replica – Solidus Snake. While Solid Snake would come to experience the same ‘accelerated aging’ phenomenon (most likely a form of Werner syndrome), Solidus Snake in particular was engineered specifically to age markedly faster. This was presumably because The Patriots wanted to groom him for his role as a Presidential Nominee, a figure head of the United States bowing to The Patriots’ every whim. In public life he adopted the alias ‘George Sears’ (most likely a reference to the Civil War General) and became the 43rd President Of The United States.

But Solidus Snake proved to be not quite the willing puppet The Patriots had in mind. While The Patriots did manage to pass through the Metal Gear Rex project and the Genome Soldiers eugenics experiments on Solidus’ watch, he figured he had one last ace in the hole that could turn the tide.

He bided his time until all the chess pieces were into place – Metal Gear Rex being essentially completed and only needing the test data to prove its potential; a pre-arranged meeting between DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) chief Donald Anderson and Arms Tech CEO Kenneth Baker at the disposal facility. The aim was to conduct test experiments of Metal Gear REX’s nuclear launch capabilities in a virtual environment and retrieve the test data. This was to be Solidus Snake’s perfect moment of opportunity to stage a false-flag provocation that would put The Patriots off-guard.

Solidus’ mole in FOXHOUND

Solidus Snake would need some mole as part of the staged insurrection to ensure the central players in the revolt would not derail Solidus’ original plan for Metal Gear REX.

Revolver Ocelot would serve as George Sears/Solidus Snake’s eyes and ears – a double agent pretending to work under Liquid. He was the one that persuaded Liquid Snake to mount his insurrection at the base using the Genome Army and Next-Generation Special Forces to grab hold of Metal Gear Rex. Liquid would then issue his demands to the US Government:

• Hand over the remains of Big Boss
• [after learning Snake was brought in as the carrier of a virus vector] A vaccine for the FOXDIE virus – this was most likely not anticipated by Solidus beforehand, and a change of course on Liquid’s part

If the demands were not met, Liquid would threaten to use Metal Gear Rex as an ICBM launcher.

Liquid’s divergence from the plan

“That Liquid Snake is a smart one…he knows the political climate. His actions were obviously very well calculated…” – Nastasha Romanenko, Metal Gear Solid

It’s not known if Liquid was ever aware he, too, was being used as a pawn. Believing he had full control over the mission, he wanted instead to fulfill Big Boss’ vision of a militaristic nation that was outside the sphere of influence of The Patriots.

Due to his geopolitical savvy, Liquid was in favour of playing superpowers against each other rather than taking them head on (such as: launching a nuke against the United States itself), which would most likely result in mutual assured destruction. This was the reason why he went against Ocelot’s suggestion to set the target for the nuclear strike to be Chernoton, Russia – preferring instead Lipnor, China – the location of a nuclear test site. Firing a nuke on civilian territory would spell the end for any possible future negotiations – but an attack on a nuclear test site could still be concealed from the public by the Chinese government. This way, he could pit the Chinese faction of The Patriots against the American faction – and the latter would be forced to confess to some of its state secrets. At that point he figured the other superpowers in the world would be interested in buying the system from them (Metal Gear Rex and possibly improved Genome Soldiers) – at which point he would sell them to the highest bidder.

Liquid Snake believed in ‘directed guidance’ of conflict – in creating the preconditions of perpetual war between major geographical power blocs (not unlike Nineteen Eighty Four’s take on it) so soldiers such as him would never lose their place in the world. In a way, he’s applying the ‘Selfish Gene’ theory to socio-economical-political phenomena – ensuring he and his ilk would never have to switch careers. There’s a big question mark hanging over his motives – it’s doubtful whether he genuinely wanted to curb The Patriots’ stranglehold over the world to restore some mirage of a free and open society – or whether he was merely in it for the egotistical power trip.

The Patriots’ Contingency Plan

The incident (dubbed the FOXHOUND Rebellion) catches the Pentagon (and, by extension, The Patriots) off-guard: they did not want to let their joint research project Metal Gear REX go to waste, and more importantly, they needed its test data for BDA (bomb damage assessment) purposes. This was the reason why both the DARPA chief (himself an operative and founding member of The Patriots) and ArmsTech CEO Kenneth Baker were both present at the nuclear disposal facility housing Metal Gear – to observe the VR (Virtual reality) simulation and take the data back to the Pentagon on an optical storage medium.

As soon as the Pentagon learns of Liquid Snake’s demands – The Patriots get into play. Obviously they’re not going to give in to his demands, as the remains of Big Boss are the bedrock of all the eugenics experiments performed by the government. So, they develop a contingency plan instead: a lone agent infiltrates the base, takes out the terrorists, retrieves the test data, leaves Metal Gear REX unharmed and returns to base. To achieve full command and control (C2) over the mission, they placed several moles at highly strategic positions of mission command:

Characters

Nearly all of the characters have at least one character flaw. This could be some traumatic event in their past that shaped their character, or some particular doctrine/philosophical creed they adhere to that, in one way or another, leaves them vulnerable to attack.

Solid Snake

“Well, I don’t believe in coincidences. Something funny’s going on.” – Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid

Back in the good old days of the '80s, Japanese game artists resorted to plagiarizing the likenesses of famous actors in Hollywood films wholecloth with an audacious disregard for copyright infringement; (above-left) Solid Snake as shown on the Metal Gear (1987) MSX/NES boxart; (above right) Michael Biehn from The Terminator (1984); (bottom) Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots (2008).

Solid Snake is the twin brother of Liquid Snake. He is the one handpicked by The Patriots to infiltrate the Alaskan nuclear disposal facility at Shadow Moses Island.

Coerced mission assignment

“I should have known you were behind this, Colonel.” – Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

Committing patricide in the name of serving one’s country and restoring world peace was one step too many for Snake’s conscience; after the events of Zanzibarland (Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), he went into early retirement and started a new life as a dog musher somewhere in Alaska. He wanted nothing to do again with his former profession.

When news broke of Liquid Snake’s ultimatum to the White House, The Patriots set their contingency plan into motion: Roy Campbell was brought out from early retirement to become Snake’s CO (Commanding Officer) once more, while Snake himself was forcibly kidnapped from his home in Alaska and dragged into a holding cell. There he was briefed on the situation by Roy Campbell – and forcibly injected by Naomi Hunter without even having decided to accept the mission yet^[5].

Snake was to infiltrate Shadow Moses Island (a fictional archipelago situated in Alaska) under the auspices of a rescue and reconnaissance operation. Because of the extremely harsh climate, Snake would need some stimulants to keep him alive and alert. This is where Dr Naomi Hunter came in.

Pharmacological stimulants

“That was quite a cocktail.” – Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid

Solid Snake has received a variety of psychotropic stimulants and chemical injections as part of his mission detail.

Benzedrine: Marketed by the pharmaceutical establishment under the name Amphetamine. Keeps Snake awake and responsive for 12 straight hours.

Antifreeze protein: What Naomi Hunter refers to as an ‘anti-freezing peptide’. Prevents Snake’s blood and other bodily fluids from freezing even at sub-arctic temperatures. Antifreezing proteins are increasingly being used in the real world for a wide variety of purposes – one example being Unilever incorporating it into some of their products, including popsicles and ice creams.

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are merely a class of amino acids that certain plants, fungi and bacteria produce to survive in sub-zero temperatures. From the Wikipedia article:

“Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) or ice structuring proteins (ISPs) refer to a class of polypeptides produced by certain vertebrates, plants, fungi and bacteria that permit their survival in subzero environments.”^[Wikipedia]

Nootropics: Also referred to as smart drugs, or memory enhancers. Amphetamine and Ritalin both fall under this category. There are inherent hazards associated with these ’smart drugs’, however, such as serotonin syndrome or addiction to the drug.

Snake’s Usefulness as A Viral Vector

(Top): Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid being given an inoculation containing the virus; (bottom) Snake Plissken being injected with microscopic explosives that are set to be activated fifteen minutes before the deadline.

In gene therapy, retroviruses are the leading weapon employed in the fight against diseases. Retroviruses are injected into the given subject to attack only the dividing cells.

To give but one specific example: to treat brain cancer, the subject is injected with a retrovirus containing a “suicide gene”. These retroviruses then produce factories in the body churning out massive quantities of their kind in order to then conspire against the dividing cells (cancer cells) and destroy them. The other cells remain unaltered by the virus due to the existence of something termed the “bystander effect”.

It stands within reason that if a virus vector can be used in such a way to alleviate diseases – it could also be used to attack specific DNA sequences for warfare purposes. This is what the Pentagon sought to engineer under its ambitious bioweapons program – of which Dr. Naomi Hunter later became a part of.

The Patriots, with the Secretary Of Defense acting as the official go-between guy, desired to retrieve Metal Gear REX unharmed and dispose of anybody who knew about the project or the shenanigans involving the nuclear disposal site. To do that, a novel approach in dealing with the problem was needed. FOXDIE would fit the bill for a number of reasons:

1. It could be sold to lower-ranking military brass as ‘just a specific vaccine’ the guinea pig had to be injected with that would cause no additional side-effects – and they would think nothing more of it.
2. A lone wolf such as Snake could be sent in under the pretense of a ‘rescue operation’, encounter the ‘targets’ the FOXDIE virus would be specifically designed to target, and infect them in the process -causing immediate cardiac arrest in the target. In essence, they would use Solid Snake as a living and breathing retrovirus carrier – spreading the disease throughout the entire base and killing everyone in its path.
3. Specific high-profile members of The Patriots (such as Donald Anderson, and one would presume Revolver Ocelot) were left conveniently out of the crosshairs.

The Pentagon did not anticipate that the person responsible for much of the breakthrough research involving the FOXDIE virus would essentially yank in a last-minute feature of her own: next to the predefined targets the virus was supposed to eliminate, it would also target the host, Solid Snake, itself – but instead of causing instant death, it would remain dormant inside the body and be activated at some random date in time. The mere knowledge that he could die at any given minute was the added psychological torment Naomi wished to impose upon him for having killed her beloved brother – for the rest of his life, Snake would have to live with the specter of Death looming over his shoulder.

Thus, Solid Snake was unwittingly injected with the FOXDIE virus and remained none the wiser as to the mysterious deaths surrounding the (fake) DARPA chief (in reality Decoy Octopus, one of the FOXHOUND terorrists) and Kenneth Baker until Naomi finally revealed to him the real reason behind the inoculations. By ensuring anyone inside the base who had firsthand information on Metal Gear Rex would never leave the base alive, the Pentagon was in a position to contain the `leakage` of their secret black-ops program. In this respect, it paid off – to a degree. What they didn’t anticipate in all likelihood was that the President would throw a wrench in their plans at the last minute. (a wave of conspicuous assassinations and forced resignations would then ensue – George Sears had to do a Nixon and go into hiding while the Secretary Of Defense was placed under arrest and committed ’suicide’ a few months later)

Nanomachines And The Biofeedback Loop

(Top picture): Your interaction (as the player) with Solid Snake and Naomi Hunter constitutes a quasi-biofeedback loop. Unlike other videogame protagonists, Solid Snake's reactions to his environment remain to a certain degree outside the player's control. This is even more pronounced in the later sequels: in Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake will get sick if he spends too much time in the rain (Bottom picture). Being sick makes him liable to sneeze at certain inconvenient moments - to suppress this, the player can give him a psychotropic drug such as Diazepam. (Middle picture): NASA has patented a biofeedback videogame concept that trains people to change their brainwave activity or other physiological functions while playing popular off-the-shelf videogames.

Naomi Hunter has also been made in charge of administering and monitoring Solid Snake’s health through the various nanomachines she has injected him with.

By having Naomi be available to you at all times by codec to provide you with constant updates on your physical health status, one could argue this constitutes a biofeedback loop of some sort. But unlike Psycho Mantis reading the contents of your memory card and telling you what you already know and have no immediate effect on (ie. Mantis tells you that you like Castlevania based on the fact that a save game is contained on your Memory Card) , in this instance the player is actively participating in breaking the fourth wall.

Let’s have a look at the definition of biofeedback and then bring up the example of Snake smoking a cigarette:

“Biofeedback is a non-medical process that involves measuring a subject’s specific and quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient’s awareness and therefore the possibility of conscious control of those functions.”^[Wikipedia]

If you call Campbell while you are smoking a cigarette, Naomi will confront you with your ‘dirty deed’ and get into a long-winded monologue explaining which exact gene is being triggered by smoking that will eventually result in the person contracting lung cancer. You can also see the health meter slowly deteriorating while ingesting nicotine. Thus, by observing a detrimental effect to Snake’s health without no obvious benefit to be gleaned from him smoking a cigarette, you (the player) can perhaps be persuaded into adjusting Snake’s behaviour pattern and ditching the cigarette entirely. On the other hand, when Snake needs to pass through a room laden with infrared sensors, he can use the cigarettes to his advantage as the smoke reveals the infrared beams. Alternatively, he could also opt for the thermal goggles – but this is a luxury that you will eventually acquire during the mission – while Snake’s cigarettes are available to you right from the start.

A second example involves another nanomachine Naomi injected you with that protects you against phosphorus-based nerve gas for a short time duration. This is due to the nanomachine containing protopam chloride (PAM), a nerve gas neutralizing agent. A second meter will pop up if you’re in a room with nerve gas seeping in. This meter indicates the amount of time you have left before the PAM supply inside the nanomachine runs out, after which you will have to reach for a Gas Mask or escape the room in some other way.

Another example involves the accuracy of Snake’s hand-eye coordination. This is nearly outside the player’s control – the PSG-1 sniper rifle he gets to equip is a bit on the wobbly side, and to beat Sniper Wolf the player will have to find some way to get Snake to steady his aim so your crosshair in first-person mode won’t float all over the place. There are two ways to achieve this – one, you could opt for the diazepam drug – but these come in short supply, and what’s more, they’re highly addictive. On the other hand, having Snake smoke cigarettes tends to calm him down and have the added side effect of making him a more accurate sharpshooter – but obviously there’s a tradeoff involved here between the amount of health that is depleted by you smoking the cigarettes versus the added accuracy this lends to your sniping abilities. It’s up to the player to weigh the pros against the cons based on the constant influx of health information that gets relayed to him through the User Interface (UI).

The player thus acts as an intermediary between Naomi Hunter and Solid Snake – he doesn’t have complete control over Snake (in the sense that no amount of analog stick manoeuvring will really compensate for Snake’s shoddy aim at times without the player regulating his body in one way or another), he doesn’t have the wealth of knowledge that Naomi has either about prescription drugs and its effects on the body, but he isn’t a complete spectator either and can use the information passed down from Naomi to the player in order to improve Snake’s performance. This is made even more pronounced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – if Snake has been made to stand outside in the rain for too long, he catches a cold and will sneeze from time to time. Needless to say, this will cause a lot of complications once inside the tanker and trying to sneak your way past guards.

Liquid Snake

Liquid Snake is the twin brother of Solid Snake. He is a highly gifted soldier; well-versed in history, calculating, and a great geopolitical strategist. He is the leader of the now-turned-rogue black-ops unit FOXHOUND.

As a testament to his social engineering skills, he manages to fool Snake throughout the entirety of his mission by adopting the identity of his former mentor, Master Miller. This serves a variety of purposes: first, to keep tabs on his progress (see how far along he is) by providing him with help over a codec line; second, use him as an unwitting cog in their plan to activate the nuke on Metal Gear; third, to eventually build confidence between himself and Snake by ratting out Naomi Hunter.

Motivation – The Selfish Gene

“In nature, family members don’t mate with each other. And yet they help each other to survive. Do you know why? It increases the chance that their genes will be passed on to a new generation. Altruism among blood relatives is a response to natural selection. It’s called the Selfish Gene Theory.” – Liquid Snake to Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

According to Dawkins' book, The Selfish Gene, humans are basic survival machine automatons that - like robot vehicles - are blindly programmed to selfishly preserve their own molecules known as genes. Liquid Snake acts accordingly - he's trying to stave off decay by figuring out a solution for the clones' genetic symmetry. In a sense, he performs the act of altruism not as part of his own conscious decision - but rather by initiative of his genes. Since, according to Dawkins, genes only engage in altruism in concert with their kin and natural selection tends to favor group selection, Liquid figures that the only way to stay alive is by preserving his blood brothers, hence the 'Sons of Big Boss' revolution.

Liquid Snake’s prowess as a strategical thinker and exemplary soldier are a direct result of his inheriting all of Big Boss’ soldier genes. But his awareness of the genetic landscape and his ongoing inferiority complex with regards to Solid Snake also tends to narrow his potential.

The main conundrum Liquid Snake finds himself in is that he is ultimately a victim of his own slavish convictions regarding evolutionary Darwinism. Liquid Snake is under the (misguided) perception that he received the brunt of all the recessive genes while Solid Snake was awarded with all the dominant ones. According to Neo-Darwinian orthodoxy, this would mean that Solid Snake would be the superior of the two siblings. Even though he feels cheated and seems to blame Solid Snake for not being the true inheritor of Big Boss’ genetic heritage, he still harbors an intense desire to preserve his gene pool by finding a cure to the ‘genetic symmetry’ problem so that his lifespan and that of the Sons of Big Boss may be extended. He states time and time again to his brother (Solid Snake) that he is intent on carrying out his genetic fate – ie. his genes tell him to put up a fight against ‘natural selection’ so that his genes will be carried to the next generation by way of ‘natural selection’. In essence, he’s trying to beat Lady Luck at her own game.

In his existentialist rantings, Liquid can be repeatedly heard referring to Richard Dawkins‘ ‘Selfish gene’ theory. This theory espouses that genes are inherently selfish – and that the only true act of altruism on the part of a gene is to be found among blood relatives. When a relative of the gene is in danger, its genes will command the individual to protect them, even if it ends up sacrificing the host organism. Dawkins postulates that genes have the capacity to recognize if their kin are in danger – and to make the organism perform a decidedly unselfish act on the part of its genes so that the gene itself will eventually pass on (in some form or another) to another generation. Hence Liquid’s statement that “altruism among blood relatives is a response to natural selection”. When viewed from this perspective, this would make humans and animals alike the mere servants of their constituent parts – ’selfish genes’ that play the role of the proverbial ‘puppetmaster’.

This serves as Liquid’s rationale for saving the Genome Soldiers from the brink of extinction. And to do that, he would need to obtain the remains of Big Boss so that he can research his DNA more thoroughly – hence why it’s among his list of demands from the US government.

Roy Batty and Liquid Snake

The likely source of his inspiration is a similar character from the movie Blade Runner^[6] – Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer in the movie.

(Top-left): Roy Batty - Rutger Hauer - in Blade Runner; besides the narrative similarities established in the accompanying paragraph, there are other similarities between Liquid Snake and the Rutger Hauer character. Both character and actor sport the blue eyes and blond hair that is the characteristic of the supposed Aryan ideal that race scientists strove after. Both are the product of genetic-engineering expirements; both wear essentially a long trenchcoat over their bare torso; both take off their top clothes in the final ensuing battle; both display an understanding of genetics. Both are filled with hate for their creator.

Roy Batty is the latest iteration (NEXUS Series 6) in a long assembly line of cybernetic organisms produced by a major genetic-engineering corporation – Tyrell Corporation. As a practical failsafe (because of the NEXUS-6 line’s capacity to have memories and emotional responses), the company gives each cyborg a fixed lifespan of roughly six years.

The cyborgs are mostly used as off-world colony slave workers – if one of them escapes from the off-world colonies and decides to travel to Earth, they are to be hunted down by special police squads known as “Blade Runners”, whose sole duty is to put them into “retirement” – a friendly-sounding euphemism for killing them.

Roy Batty, the leader of a renegade group of NEXUS-6 cyborgs that have travelled to Earth, instigates a rebellion of his own against the very company that created him. Unlike Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, they have no doomsday device to grab hold of that will force the Tyrell Corporation into giving in to their demands. Instead, they opt for a more subtle approach by going through the chain of command. The eye geneticist Cho is approached first, but he offers no solutions other than referring them to JF Sebastian. After they have extracted all useful information out of him, he is subsequently disposed of. JF Sebastian is next on the chopping block – apparently the main designer of the NEXUS cyborgs. He leads them to the pivotal head – Eldon Tyrell, CEO of Tyrell Corporation. The vain hope in all this is that, by threat and intimidation tactics, Tyrell would be able to extend their lifespan.

But alas, the Tyrell boss offers no such respite. The ensuing dialogue between the two sheds some light on Liquid’s conundrum as well:

Eldon Tyrell: The facts of life. To make an alteration in the evolvement of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it’s been established.
Roy Batty: Why not?
ET: Because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies, like rats leaving a sinking ship. Then the ship sinks.
RB: What about EMS recombination?
ET: We’ve already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate is an alkylating agent and a potent mutagen. It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table.
RB: Then a repressive protein – that blocks the operating cells.
ET: It wouldn’t obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication, so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation and you’ve got a virus again. But, uh, this – all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.^{[Blade Runner: The Script][Youtube]}

Liquid’s Achilles heel

“That’s right! I’m just the leftovers of what they used to make you. Can you understand what it’s like to know that you’re garbage since the day you were born!?” – Liquid Snake to Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

What Liquid doesn’t realize is that by buying wholesale into this notion of being the lesser of two cellular organisms and believing that his genes will ultimately restrict him from ever surpassing his genetically-imposed limits, he restrains himself unnecessarily both in physical and mental terms. After all, at the end of the game Revolver Ocelot informs his boss (Solidus Snake) that the ‘inferior one’ won out after all – inferring that he knew all along that Liquid was the superior one after all, and that he had got it all backwards. It is likely that Liquid was deliberately fed this misinformation to see if it had any detrimental effect on his performance. In the end, it did.

Naomi Hunter

“It’s your genes… they make you predisposed towards violence!” – Naomi Hunter to Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

As a geneticist, Naomi is very useful for providing Snake with information about all sorts of psychotropic drugs that might temporarily improve Snake`s performance, such as diazepam (better known as Valium).

Naomi Hunter is part of Solid Snake’s support team. She has a background in genetic engineering and previously served as the head of FOXHOUND’s medical department prior to the uprising.

Involvement in Pentagon bioweapons program

Naomi conceals an ulterior motive for assisting Solid Snake in the mission. Unbeknownst to Snake until the latter stages of the mission, Naomi happens to bear intense resentment against Snake for killing her surrogate brother in Zanzibar. This seems to be understandable for a number of reasons – Naomi suffers from severe psychological problems due to what she experienced in her homecountry and because of the lack of maternal/parental love. Thus she has no real identity of her own – hence why she turned to genetics in the first place.

After she learns her ‘big brother’ has died, she turns her hatred for Snake into a motivating stimulus that perfectly complements her identity struggle. She takes on the identity of someone else – a real doctor called Naomi Hunter (apparently only ‘Naomi’ is part of her real name and she has no real surname). Through impersonating this person, she succeeds in getting to work for a major private pharmaceutical corporation that is jointly working for the Pentagon on a project to provide medical treatment to the genetically altered soldiers known as the Next-Generation Special Forces.

It is not known whether or not she knew about this before being recruited by the company, but during her stay at the company, she learns Frank Jaeger may not be dead after all. Feeling pity for what little was left of her ‘big brother’ – essentially kept under harsh and overly excessive pharmacological control that disrupted his senses and cognitive functions – she helped him escape from the laboratory and implicated herself in aiding and abetting the murder of Dr. Clark – FOXHOUND’s chief medical scientist.

With Clark gone, Naomi assumes the position of head geneticist of the FOXHOUND medical lab. She eventually becomes involved in the Pentagon’s secret biological weapons program, FOXDIE.

Motivation – Genetics As An Axiom For Human Potential

“You mustn’t allow yourself to be chained to fate, to be ruled by your genes” – Naomi Hunter, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

Is genes all there is to a life organism? A resounding 'no', gene-centric Naomi is forced to conclude. She would be part of a growing number of evolutionary biologists and scientist swho have to come to view the DNA and gene-centric view of evolution with extreme skepticism, suspecting a deterministic ideology is afoot here*.

After being exposed as a spy and placed under house arrest by Colonel Campbell, Naomi Hunter has en epiphany on her career choice at the end of the game.

Born a ‘dirty little orphan’ in Rhodesia (what would be modern-day Zimbabwe today), Naomi lacks a sense of self-identity as she never got to knew her real parents. When her surrogate brother (Frank Jaeger) decides to take her to America, suddenly all sorts of career opportunities open up to her that she wouldn’t have enjoyed at home. Of these, she seeks refuge and salvation in science – genetic engineering, to be precise.

Naomi’s hope was that by analysing her genes and cracking the underlying code of specific genetic sequences, she would be able to deduce who she really is and what she is meant to be doing, and ultimately be able to track down her family lineage and find out who her real parents were.

But at the end of Solid Snake’s mission she feels disillusioned with her ‘faith’ in genetic engineering. She is forced to conclude that for all her accomplishments in the field of genetics, it never gave her any fulfilling answers to the questions she sought in the first place. Moreover, she is now beginning to ponder whether it is extremely backwards (instead of ‘progressive’) to put everything down to one’s “genes”. In this regard, she takes the opposite direction from the Dawkinian school of biological determinism.

In her revised opinion, genetics merely determines the kind of path and capabilities that a person can take – but it does not in any way imply one particular path predetermined by one’s genes. Seen from that perspective, it is possible for Solid Snake to redeem himself – not to merely continue going down the path of a hired killer, but to travel down an alternative path – towards a future entirely unrelated to war and destruction.

What led to her reconsidering her previously unshakeable conviction? Perhaps it came about as a result of what she observed during the Shadow Moses mission; before the mission, she thought of Solid Snake as little more than a ruthless killer without any regard for human empathy. Halfway through the mission, she is forced to revise her assessment – there is still a human aspect to Snake despite his past transgressions (for instance, he cares about Meryl, and depending on whether or not you survived the torture session without giving in, he is even willing to muster up the energy to endure a particularly gruelling torture session to keep Meryl alive).

But perhaps most worrying to her conscience would be the pathological nature of Liquid Snake, Snake’s brother and in many ways his twin shadow. If anything, it served as an example of where her overly fixated perspective on genetics might lead to.

Psycho Mantis

“Humans weren’t designed to bring each other happiness. From the moment we’re thrown into this world, we’re fated to bring each other nothing but pain and misery.” – Psycho Mantis, Metal Gear Solid^[YouTube]

Among his many skills, Psycho Mantis can use extra-sensory perception to peer into people's minds and read his/her future. In the movie The Shining (a Stanley Kubrick film), the family of a prolific writer decide to be the caretakers of a hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere to get his mind back on track after experiencing writer's block. His young son, Danny, continually catches glimpses of the hotel's ugly past and scary premonitions of future events involving ghost-like figures and mass slaughter. His father eventually becomes subsumed by some malevolent spirit and starts playing with the psychotic fantasy of slaughtering his family. According to an interview with Kubrick, both Danny and the cook of the hotel, Halloran, can telepathically communicate with each other and be able to perceive these visions due to both of them having an innate gift known as extra-sensory perception - which Kubrick wholeheartedly thought to be real**.

Psycho Mantis is one of the members of FOXHOUND now under Liquid’s command. He represents a particular stratagem of military intelligence that the Russians tend to invest more heavily in than their American counterparts.

Psychic powers

As a matter of principle, Psycho Mantis has no need for his fists or guns of any sort. From an early age, Mantis has learned to utilize techniques such as extra-sensory perception, clairvoyance and psychokinesis to confuse his adversaries and thus wage a more sophisticated form of warfare against them.

Some brief explanation of the terms alluded to above is in order.

Extra-sensory perception (ESP)

“ESP research: determining the properties and condition of objects without ever making contact with them and “reading” peoples’ thoughts.” – Timothy L. Thomas, The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters (Q1 1998), US Army War College Quarterly

Psycho Mantis flaunts these abilities at several points throughout the game. As part of Liquid Snake’s plan to retrieve the nuclear detonation codes so Metal Gear Rex is ready to launch a nuclear weapon, Mantis is instructed to peer into DARPA chief Donald Anderson’s mind and obtain the code. This attempt was a failure on his part – Donald Anderson had surgical implants attached to his brain that acted as a firewall for the mind – preventing his thoughts from being read. (ArmsTech CEO Donald Baker later informs Snake that this is more or less the rule rather than the exception among top brass in the defense industry – this is the first sign that Snake has been fed misinformation by the (purported) DARPA chief who died of a ’stroke’).

Because Meryl Silverburgh has no such mental safeguards, she was easy pickings for Psycho Mantis’ psycho-tronic warfare. He takes complete possession of Meryl at several instances to create a sizeable distance between Snake and her – this way he can control her without Snake catching on. The first time this happens, Snake experiences a mental feedback loop of some sort – Meryl heads for the elevator without waiting for Snake to catch up, then she fires an entire round of ammo at Snake for no real reason – merely to get him off her back – then the elevator finally goes up. After this, we get to see an image of Psycho Mantis inexplicably popping up out of nowhere.

When inquiring on what he thought he just saw, Naomi says it’s most likely ‘psychometric interference’ by Psycho Mantis. Again, this seems to be mostly grounded in real parapsychological research if we go by the following excerpt of the aforementioned US Army War College article, “The Mind Has No Firewall“:

“Solntsev also examined the problem of “information noise”, which creates a dense shield between a person and external reality. This noise may manifest itself in the form of signals, messages, images, or other items of information. The main target of this noise would be the consciousness of a person or a group of people. Behavior modification could be one objective of information noise; another could be to upset an individual’s mental capacity to such an extent as to prevent reaction to any stimulus. Solntsev concludes that all levels of a person’s psyche (subconscious, conscious, and “superconscious”) are potential targets for destabilization.” – Timothy L. Thomas, The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters (Q1 1998), US Army War College Quarterly

Indeed, the “noise”/”interference” does seem to put up a shield between Meryl and her actual surroundings. Behavior modification seems to be most definitely at play here – in the scene described above, Meryl is not herself and seems to be in control by Mantis himself – but notice also that her mental capacity is so destabilized that she will also not respond to Snake’s pleas to ’snap out of it’. This will segue nicely into the following section of this paragraph, which concerns mind control – and the way in which Mantis actually achieves this hypnotic spell he casts on people’s minds.

Psychokinesis and mind control

“Psychokinesis research: interfering with the thoughts of individuals, on either the strategic or tactical level.” – Timothy L. Thomas, The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters (Q1 1998), US Army War College Quarterly

The insurrection would have been impossible to pull off without loyal infantrymen safeguarding all the possible points of entry to the base – and, of course, they would prove indispensible for basic patrol, pursuit and reconaisssance work.

Located at the disposal facility were Next-Generation Special Forces units and Genome Soldiers – both having been subjected to gene therapy and being digital copies of Big Boss in their own right. Though some of them joined the FOXHOUND revolution on their own accord, the vast majority of them had to be conditioned in some way to go along with FOXHOUND’s takeover of the base.

This is where Psycho Mantis’ brainwashing techniques came into play. He managed to successfully brainwash the vast majority of the soldiers through a method of psychokinesis that puts the subject into a suggestible state with some form of psychic driving (a process whereby the victim is subjected to a continuously repeating audio message on tape – in this case, it’s a hymn that is looped over and over again). The end result is highly advantageous from a strategic standpoint: highly motivated obedient soldiers with the same ’soldier’ genes that distinguish Liquid and Solid from the rest of the pack.

Telekinesis

“Telekinesis research: actions involving the manipulation of physical objects using thought power, causing them to move or break apart – used against command and control (C2) systems, or to disrupt the functioning of weapons of mass destruction.” – Timothy L. Thomas, The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters (Q1 1998), US Army War College Quarterly

Psycho Mantis is able to move physical objects by sheer willpower alone. He amply demonstrates this skill to the player by levitating statues, chairs, portraits inside the room and throwing them at Snake. It is ironic that this skill will ultimately redeem himself in the end. After having defeated him, he opens a hidden door for Snake that will lead him to Metal Gear Rex’s underground base. The last sentence he utters is a poignant reminder that had Psycho Mantis not given in to his anger and bitterness felt early on in his childhood, he could have used his extraordinary skills for noble ventures:

“This is the first time I’ve ever used my power to help someone. It’s strange… it feels… kind of… nice.” - Psycho Mantis, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

Another parting gift by Mantis – because Mantis possesses clairvoyance abilities (giving him the ability to observe objects that are not visible to the naked eye), he implants thoughts into Meryl’s mind that enable her to correctly traverse a path littered with unseen Claymore mines -all without incurring harm to herself or Snake.

Frank Jaeger/Gray Fox

“Technological and scientific innovation need not have direct bearing on nuclear or virological research to contribute to the making of weapons of mass destruction.

After all, the Ninja was born of genetic engineering and cybernetic research, which could easily have healed a civilian rather than improved upon a soldier. A scientist cannot plead naivete to the practical products of their own research. The consequences must be anticipated, and the ethical burden of a newly developed technology must ultimately rest with the individual researcher.” – Nastasha Romanenko, In The Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

Just like the game foreshadowed (above), the military applications of exoskeletons have not been lost on the likes of Raytheon (Raytheon Sarcos exoskeleton) and Lockheed Martin (Human Universal Load Carrier).

Solid Snake last came face to face with his former friend in Zanzibarland – on opposite sides of the fence. Both felt it their duty to fulfill their part as proverbial pieces on a grand chessboard – an obligation ranking above friendship or family values. After Snake’s mission in Zanzibarland, Gray Fox was presumed to have died at the hands of his lifelong friend, Solid Snake. This caused Naomi some considerable grief given that Frank Jaeger was her only connection to the past (Jaeger never had the stomach to inform Naomi about the truth behind his decision to raise Naomi – he killed her parents only to show reluctance at having to kill her too – as he later tells Snake: “I was young then, and couldn’t bring myself to kill her too”)

Transhumanist soldier

“We’re not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing, the only thing I was good at, but… At least I always fought for what I believed in. – Frank Jaeger/Gray Fox, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

In truth, Frank survived the fight – albeit horribly wounded and left hanging by a mere thread of his life (most of his body and limbs had been lost due to the impact of several landmines). FOXHOUND’s chief medic, Dr. Clark (nickname ‘Para-Medic’), relished the opportunity to use him as a guinea pig for a new type of project that would combine the field of gene-therapy with cybernetics.

Using the remains of his body as the base for a new type of exoskeleton suit with metallic prosthetics, he was metamorphosed into a ‘cyborg’ ninja. To keep him properly sedated and to alleviate some of the pain, he was fed a heavy dosage of psychotropic drugs. This went on for the better part of four years until Naomi Hunter joined FOXHOUND’s medical staff as an assistant to Dr Clark.

Upon learning this cybernetic ‘Ninja’ was in actuality Gray Fox, she came up with a plan to help him assist in his escape, and take out Dr Clark in the process. (the latter was an act not out of revenge, but by orders of Eva – Dr Clark also happened to be one of the founding members of The Patriots – and therefore ranked high on the hit-list of the anti-Patriots faction that Eva represented).

Sniper Wolf

Sniper Wolf is most likely modelled after famous World War II Soviet Union female sharpshooters (unlike the militaries of other nations such as the US, in the Marxist state both men and women were trained to become snipers). Pictured below is Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya, Russian sharpshooter in WWII, managing an impressive 308 kills.

Sniper Wolf is an Iraqi-Kurdish female sniper of Unit FOXHOUND.

Given the environment in which she was raised in and the harsh living standards that came par for the course (as a Kurd she would be hunted down like dogs and a friend or relative would wind up dead on a daily occasion), she became to identify with the wolf as a personification of herself. Hence it is of no surprise that she objected when the terrorists were planning to put the dogs out of commission when they took over the facility – hence that is why they have given her the nickname. She regularly tends to the wolves as if they are her own family.

On the Origin Of Domestication

“In the Middle East, we don’t hunt foxes, we hunt jackals. Instead of foxhounds, we use royal harriers.” – Liquid Snake, Metal Gear Solid^[Youtube]

Dogs all seem to share one common ancestor: the wolf. There is some debate as to whether wolves ‘evolved’ into dogs by ‘artificial selection’ or ‘natural selection’ (Dawkins would argue the latter in this article from the Times Online, “The Truth Dogs Reveal About Evolution” – but what he really seems to imply is that it’s a mixture of both) – but let’s focus on ‘artificial selection’.

Obviously, a wolf would be a rather dangerous animal to have around as a pet – and too unreliable and self-deterministic to be used as a hunting dog. So a ‘domestication’ and ‘breeding process’ had to be enacted by humans to instill certain traits into the offspring of these animals. Through trial and error, naturalists discovered that by interbreeding less ferocious samples of the species, the outcome would be an even more docile pup. Gradually, by selective breeding, these ‘wolves’ would lose their survival instinct and ‘flight distance’ and instead come to view humans in the same way as they would their mother or father.

This was where the original idea for eugenics came into being – naturalists were convinced that if specific traits could be inculcated into animals by selective breeding programs, the same could naturally be applied to humans. But without digressing too much, at a specific point in time, Dawkins and Coppinger would wager that the wolf lowered its self defense – what they like to term its ‘flight distance’ – the amount of distance between the wolf and a human before the wolf senses danger and makes off or (if aggravated) attack. They would argue this lowering of the flight distance was due to the wolf needing to adapt to its environment and having to find a new food source.

So, if this phenomena – what Dawkins likes to term ’self-domestication’ – came about naturally and explains how wolfs eventually became to be domesticated dogs, could the same be applied to humans or social organizations? Do they, too, lower their flight distance over time and eventually become the prey and the mere cattle of a more able predator? Or do they fight back and try to retain their innate survival instinct? And, if the latter, do they fail as a consequence? That would be as nice a metaphor as any and in keeping with the ’survival of the fittest’ mantra of Herbert Spencer and Darwin alike.

Social organizations and subsumation

the wolves that sniper wolf looks after are known as wolf dogs - a cross between huskies and alaskan wolves. originally intended for use as sled race dogs, eventually it turned out they didn't have the stamina and power desired. on top of that, the 'gentleness' trait of a dog wasn't achieved - instead they ended up more like wolves. according to snake, they were of no suitable use for dog sled races.

During the Cold War, the CIA-led special operations unit FOX featured such notable names as Naked Snake (AKA Big Boss) and The Boss (Big Boss’ mentor). It wasn’t until after Snake had left the unit and a decade had passed that FOX eventually became rogue and was dead set on attacking the Soviet Union. Obviously fearing the repercussions of such a bold move, Naked Snake and Roy Campbell were sent in to subsume the threat. They formed a special outfit called ‘FOXHOUND’ (the ‘foxhound’ hunts the ‘fox’ – get it?) that had as its specific mission statement to fight against the rebelling members of FOX, and clear the names of the remaining FOX members who were not made complicit in FOX having gone rogue.

After the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (during which this rebellion takes place), FOX is put to pastures and FOXHOUND takes its place. This takes us to the series of events surrounding the first Metal Gear installment, Metal Gear (for the MSX/NES). Gray Fox^[7] is being held captive in rogue state Outer Heaven and Solid Snake (still a rookie at this point) joins FOXHOUND and is sent in to get him out. It eventually turns out that Big Boss himself had not only chosen Solid Snake specifically to head the rescue operation (he could count on him being relatively inexperienced and being the recessive one out of the two ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ designer sons), but that he was behind Outer Heaven itself – thus, FOXHOUND was compromised from the top down.

After Big Boss was defeated in battle by Solid Snake, Roy Campbell assumed command of FOXHOUND. He retired somewhere between 1999 and 2005, with Liquid Snake taking his place. Under Liquid’s leadership, FOXHOUND became rogue like its predecessor FOX before it – and it took a retired Colonel Campbell being coerced into donning his CO cap again and a similarly blackmailed Solid Snake (who had given up on the job after Zanzibar) to take them out of commission.

Fittingly, instead of the ‘fox hound’ subsuming the ‘fox’ like before, this time a venomous snake was sent in that would infect the ‘fox hound’ and let it die a slow death – but at the snake’s own expense eventually. We see here a recurring pattern of one particular social organisation becoming too foolhardy – too risky – and losing that ‘optimal flight distance’ it once had – that convenient middle ground between too bold and too flighty. It is then domesticated in rapid succession by a follow-up and eventually subsumed – but the successor will repeat the same mistake over again and the cycle repeats itself.

Humans and self-domestication

“I finally understand. I wasn’t waiting to kill people… I was waiting for someone to kill me… A man like you… You’re a hero. Please… set me free…”^[8] – Sniper Wolf, Metal Gear Solid[Youtube]

But there’s another parallel. Psycho Mantis made it known to Solid Snake that this “selfish, atavistic desire to pass on one’s seed” inherent in each and every living thing on this planet was enough to make him physically ill. In a similar vein, Sniper Wolf has no real wish to pass something on to the next generation – whether it be an idea/concept or a child.

Time and time again, it is established that nearly every FOXHOUND member Snake takes out has given up the sheer willpower to pass something on because of what they experienced in their traumatic childhood that shaped them to become the way they are now. You could make the case that Sniper Wolf was shortening her “flight distance” partly out of some “self-domesticating” process – but the only domestication process available in her line of work is to either become a stooge for your paymasters (in which case you become the proverbial ‘dog of war’), or stick to your pride and hope that someone on the battlefield will eventually put you out of ‘retirement’.

Nastasha Romanenko

“According to the military doctrine which is the basis for NATO expansion, a preemptive nuclear strike may be undertaken if there is a sufficient threat of a regional conflict spreading to a large-scale war.”^[9] – Nastasha Romanenko, Metal Gear Solid

This Ukrainan woman holds very strong views on the issue of nuclear technology - partly as a result of losing her parents and being rendered insterile by the radiation in the Chernobyl Disaster. The number of people she portends to have died as a result of the disaster has been proven to be the result of wideranging misinformation on the part of the media***.

Nastasha Romanenko is a freelance Ukrainian weapons analyst. She provides Snake with information on nuclear weapons and general weapon systems through codec.

DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) officer Richard Ames (coincidentally her ex-husband) forced her into accepting the mission assignment. As a member of NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team), she would prove to be an essential asset to Snake’s support team given her immense wealth of knowledge on nuclear matters.

As she became privy to all the shenanigans of the mission and Ames’ somewhat coy demeanor, she started to suspect more sinister motives were afoot here. Eventually she learns that a cabal led in part by Ames and Secretary of Defense Jim Houseman are really running the show – and were using Snake not as part of a rescue operation, but as part of a contingency plan that would leave Metal Gear Rex intact at the expense of every single living thing inside the base.

The information that Snake was to retrieve from Kenneth Baker (CEO of ArmsTech) – the data disc – was the only item of importance, but seeing as Ocelot (a double agent working in secret for George Sears, the 43rd President of the United States) made off with the data and Metal Gear Rex was already destroyed by Snake, there was no further reason for The Patriots to muck about. It’s at this point that Jim Houseman exerts complete control over the operation and starts removing key personnel from Snake’s support team, eventually removing Snake’s CO entirely – rendering him a sitting duck. Being an asset of The Patriots, Houseman then orders a nuclear strike on the facility – in an effort to cover up the whole event.

More and more Nastasha begins to realize that, given her security detail, she is not safe, either. To protect herself, she attempts to transmit important data from her cell phone to a remote server whenever Ames isn’t around (hint: the toilet). But Ames later reveals to her it was all fruitless anyway – the military equipment they installed at her home in order to communicate with Snake intercepted the ‘data’ before it ever got to its destination.

Motivation – Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

There is a heavy-handed nuclear weapons abolitionist bend to the Metal Gear Solid series – but nowhere is this more pronounced than in Nastasha’s character.

The McGuffin of the game is a large bipedal tank capable of launching a nuclear warhead without the need for a rocket propulsion system. This makes it undetectable by radar. Conveniently, Metal Gear REX falls outside the scope of any currently existing nuclear non-proliferation treaties – and can ostensibly be sold as a theater missile defense system with the client remaining none of the wiser of its capacity to carry and fire ICBMs.

Whoever gets hold of Metal Gear REX would cause an immediate rift in the global power structure and potentially upset the future signing of any START-type treaties. For those unfamiliar with the Cold War, these were treaties signed between the Soviet Union and the United States aimed at reducing the stockpile of nuclear weapons. At worst, a weapon like Metal Gear REX could be the prime instigator for World War III – as it gives any country in the world a first-strike capability that other nationstates will find hard to counter.

Obviously the recurring anti-nuclear message is an issue Hideo went to great lengths to include all throughout the games – he laments that the current generation was born into a world where nuclear deterrence capacities are regarded as the norm. Hideo has said in an interview with a videogame website, that by including these messages into his videogames, he hopes he can get people to think about the need for ‘wars’, ‘armies’ or ‘nuclear weapons’.

Government coverup

The Shadow Moses Incident, if ever brought to light, would bring so many illegitimate black-ops activities by the federal government into the spotlight that it would put a massive dent in the US government’s credibility.

Plausible deniability

Instead of outright denying the story, then, the US government instead opts for a more subtle approach to information warfare – namely, muddy the waters. It presents to the public what it purports to be a factual account of the incident (while in reality being merely a tissue of lies and omissions), and through the fourth branch of the government, the media, it attempts to ridicule any alternative viewpoint that might go against the official story.

Nastasha Romanenko’s book

In an effort to reveal the truth on what happened that day, Nastasha Romanenko pens a hefty book detailing her involvement in the events leading up to the Shadow Moses Incident. Mainstream media coverage veers from semi-serious op-eds to complete disbelief.

In the second game (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty), it is established that The Patriots see themselves as the arbiter of all information trafficking – they want to control all flows of information and the ability to gauge the ‘accuracy’ or ‘context’ of such information before allowing it to be released in the wider world. From a Darwinian perspective, they act as the process of ‘natural selection’ – only certain ‘genes’ (in this case memes – units of information) are allowed to pass themselves on to the next generation (or, within the context of this example: the written word; the Internet; music; movies; documentaries; videogames). But even with The Patriots’ vast monopoly of the media and its sway on public opinion, they are still not able to exert their control each and every book that gets printed by a small publishing house.

Psy-op piece

“But even if you had managed to get this data out into the world, that wouldn’t have guaranteed your safety. No one would have believed yet another conspiracy theory, least of all the press.” – Richard Ames to Nastasha Romanenko, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses : The Unofficial Truth, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

So in the case of Nastasha Romanenko’s book, The Patriots decide to engage in another operation – that of a counter-psychological operation (psy-op in short). They get another author, a ‘purported’ beat reporter who appears to be nothing of the sort, to write a totally fictitious and off-the-wall backstory around Nastasha Romanenko’s book – and release it as an unofficial abridged version of Nastasha’s book.

This book, called ‘The Shocking Conspiracy Behind Shadow Moses‘, by Gary McGolden, reveals its mock-satirical intent early on in the story. It begins with the author revealing to the reader that he was abducted by aliens in his early childhood – and that ever since then he has a small hole behind his ears. After this mundane excursion into UFO/Area 51-territory, he starts weaving in Nastasha Romanenko’s Shadow Moses book into the largely fictional backstory that is the whole premise behind his book^[10].

By mixing in the ridiculous with the factual information provided by Romanenko, they (The Patriots) succeed in discrediting the whole story in the court of public opinion. Eventually, Shadow Moses joins the pantheon of ‘conspiracy theories’ that are so often the focus of ridicule by the mainstream press. Just like in the real world, the kneejerk attitude to label everything and anything a ‘conspiracy theory’ betrays a certain self-governing mindset – an analogy can perhaps be found in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four/1984. In that book (and the very good 1984 movie), basic trains of thought are divided into roughly two categories: ‘doublethink‘ and ‘thoughtcrime‘. The language itself has been butchered so immensely that almost all semblance of meaning has been lost, and the public has been rendered illiterate to the point that they can no longer argue or debate something based on the relative merits of a given theory – nor do they feel any need to pontificate or elaborate on a given subject unless told by the established media to talk about it. What’s more, the language does not allow for any of those subtleties.

‘Thoughtcrime‘ encompasses all negative things that could ever be attributed to a given subject – whether it be ‘plagiarism’, ‘fraud’, ‘anti-government sentiments’, ‘conspiracy theory-mongering’, ‘heresy’, and so on. In a similar way, the word ‘conspiracy theory’ is used today as an all-encompassing term to swipe any subject under the rug and provoke an instant knee-jerk reaction amongst one’s peer group – to get them to regard the individual engaging in ‘conspiratorial thinking’ as a ‘nut’ or a ‘crazy person’. The relative merits and the arguments which he presents to support this theory does not even so much matter – what matters is that he has been attached with this stigma that automatically excludes him from his peer group who regard themselves to be relatively sane.

Meaning behind words/names/terms

For more trivia, visit IMDB’s Trivia page for Metal Gear Solid.

Footnotes

1. ^{[^]}The following articles all approach the series’ storyline from a somewhat different perspective, and they all make for highly interesting reading. None of them are specifically about ‘Metal Gear Solid 1′, though, which gave me an opportunity to add something to the equation here.

Link: – http://junkerhq.net/MGS2/ (JunkerHQ: An analysis on genetics, evolution and information regarding Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty)
Link: – http://www.adilegian.com/patriotslegacy.htm (The Patriots’ Legacy – by James Clinton Howell)
Link: – http://www.metalgearsolid.org/Articles/Features/a-comparison-between-orwells-q1984q-and-kojimas-qmetal-gear-solidq-series.html (MGS TUS: A Comparison Between Orwell’s “1984″ and Kojima’s “Metal Gear Solid” Series)

2. ^{[^]}Since Metal Gear Solid’s release in 1998, Gulf War veterans have made some progress in their fight for recognition and treatment of various diseases incurred in the Gulf War. For starters, the misnomer ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ has been jettisoned by psychiatrists in favour of ‘Gulf War Illness’ – previously Gulf War veterans were being told it was ‘all in the head’ – now real substantial evidence has emerged that the exposure to sarin gas has had some detrimental health effects. The experimental Anthrax vaccinations using squalene as an additive were also found to be highly unsafe and unreliable – but they are not seen as the prime cause of the Gulf War Illness.

Link: – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_Illness (Wikipedia: Gulf War Illness)
Link: – http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/spring09/gulf-war/ (Bostonia: Gulf War Syndrome Gets real – BU experts evaluate the science for landmark federal report – Spring 2009)
Link: – http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/24/gulf-war-syndrome-may-stem-from-chemical-exposure.html (US News: Gulf War Syndrome May Stem From Chemical Exposure – 3/24/2009)
Link: – http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/18/gulf-war-syndrome-is-a-real-illness-federal-study-finds/ (Discover Magazine: Gulf War Syndrome Is a Real Illness, Federal Study Finds – 18/11/2008)
Link: – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090901150944.htm (Science Daily: Researches To Discuss New Study On Gulf War Illness Treatment At Military Health Research Forum – 1/9/2009)

3. ^{[^]}Inbreeding has always been endemic in the upper higher classes – owing to the human-directed breeding experiments that had taught them the art of breeding in certain traits and characteristics into cattle. They figured the same could be applied to humans, and that if an elite family with ’superior’ genes interbred with each other, the result would be even more prodigious offspring.

This turned out not to be the case, however, and the Darwin family is a prime example of this. Charles Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood, and produced 10 children with her – all suffering from one particular health affliction or another. What worried Darwin most of all was that nearly all of his children had inherited his own health ailments. For instance, Charles Darwin had this propensity for stress-induced vomiting – which his daughter Henrietta inherited. At least two of his children died – one while still an infant (Charles the younger), the other dying at the age of 10 (Annie). Darwin suspected Major Leonard Darwin of being “rather slow and backward”; his second daughter, Elizabeth, “shivers & makes as many extraordinary grimaces as ever”.

Several of his sons and daughters did manage to land their way into prestigious institutions where they carried the baton for ‘eugenics’ – Major Leonard Darwin in particular was made President of the International Congress On Eugenics (an incredible honor bestowed on Darwin’s son given that Francis Galton was the preceding President and had been for all intents and purposes the grandfather of the entire movement)

This article from the University of Alberta, Canada suggests that the Darwin family, fearing that their inbred and dysgenic traits prevented them from having a normal lifestyle, applied their own insecurities and dysgenic nature to society at large – a genetic case of ‘passing the buck’ in the name of a feigned ‘deep concern with the proliferation of sub-normal working class children in town” – all of which perhaps were of more healthy breeding stock than the Darwins intent on passing through all sorts of enforced eugenic laws.

Link: – http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jan/19/charles-darwin (Guardian.co.uk: Steve Jones Explores The Obscure Chapters of Charles Darwin’s Life – 01/19/2009)
Link: – http://www.folio.ualberta.ca/36/08/05.html (University of Alberta: Eugenics began as a family affair, says historian – Evolutionary theorist feared inbreeding in his own clan – 11/12/1998)
Link: – http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_9_114/ai_n15855369/ (Natural History: Good breeding: Darwin doubted his own family’s “fitness.”)

4. ^{[^]}A document published by the Project For The New American Century (a neoconservative thinktank) in 2000, written exactly a year before 9/11, alluded to this and other potential avenues for American military dominance throughout the 21st century. The document was entitled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” and can be read in full on their homepage.

It also insinuated that this ‘process of transformation’ (as in: the transformation from a more restrained military doctrine to a more active and ambitious one) would be slow, unless some precipitating event were to occur that would be on the scale of Pearl Harbor. Read into that what you will.

Link: – http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf (New American Century: Defense and National Security – Rebuilding America’s Defenses – September 2000 [PDF])

5. ^{[^]}Numerous parallels exist between Snake’s mission briefing and the one Snake Plissken receives in Escape From New York (obviously, it has long since been established that Solid Snake/Big Boss are modelled after the Snake Plissken character – right down to Naked Snake/Snake Plissken’s eyepatch and voice actor David Hayter’s gruff imitation of Kurt Russell)

• Blackmail
  • In Metal Gear Solid: Solid Snake has retired from FOXHOUND and is forcibly dragged into a mission briefing room. Solid Snake and Snake Plissken both show indifference to serving their nation or any loyalty to the Flag.
  • In Escape From New York: Snake Plissken is a convicted criminal and bank robber that is being forced by the US Government to go it alone in a top-secret mission to rescue the President – who has been taken hostage somewhere in the maximum-state security prison known as New York. Like Snake in MGS, he tells his Commander he doesn’t give a damn about his country or the President.
• Injections/Virus
  • In Metal Gear Solid: Solid Snake is given various injections – ranging from an anti-freezing peptide to nootropics. What Snake isn’t told, however, is that as part of the injection he contracted an RNA retrovirus that has the ability to target specific gene sequences in specifically designated people and cause immediate cardiac arrests. Worse, Naomi later reveals to Snake that she included him as part of the ‘dead list’ – but set the incubation rate to a random number. Like the NEXUS-6 replicant Leon relays to Blade Runner Deckard: “Nothing is worse than having an itch you can never scratch.”
    When Snake shows reluctance at being inoculated by Naomi, she soothingly alleviates his fear by responding in a thick British accent: “What’s wrong? [giggle] You don’t like shots?^[Youtube]“
  • In Escape From New York: Snake Plissken is injected with microscopic explosives that will blow open his arteries in 24 hours. This is to dissuade Snake from abandoning the mission and trying to run off. He is promised that, in the likelihood he completes the mission successfully, they will defuse the explosives. Unlike Solid Snake, Snake Plissken is told this beforehand almost immediately after the inoculation.
    Snake Plissken comments at one point: “I don’t like needles”.
• Radar
  • In Metal Gear Solid: Snake is told that one of the hostages he needs to rescue, DARPA chief Donald Anderson, has been injected with a location device that gives off a signal. This can be picked up by his Soliton radar system.
  • In Escape From New York: The President wears a vital signs bracelet on his arm – Snake is given a radar device that can pick up the signal.
• Geopolitical summit/meeting within given deadline
  • In Metal Gear Solid: Snake is told that the President Of The United States and the President of the Russian Federation are scheduled within the given time limit (24 hours) to host a summit where the START III treaty will be signed.
  • In Escape From New York: The leaders of the United States, China and the Soviet Union are set to host a meeting within the given time limit (24 hours) where an important issue will be discussed – nuclear fusion.
    PS: obviously, the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1990, and Escape From New York takes place in 1997; at the time of the film’s release (1981), it seemed highly unlikely that the Soviet Union would be gone by 1997

This article by N’Gai Croal in Newsweek points to even more similarities between the ‘Escape From’ franchise and Metal Gear Solid. The cancelled screenplay for the 1995 prequel to Escape From New York, Escape From LA, features a villain that has succeeded in creating numerous clone copies of Snake Plissken. He intends to turn a sizeable profit by selling them to mercenaries and guerrilla fighters (and this is key: since this is the prequel to Escape From New York and Snake Plissken somehow succeeds in blowing himself up along with the entire factory plant containing the clones, this would entail that the Snake Plissken we get to see in Escape From New York is one of the few surviving clones – just like Solid Snake is a clone of Big Boss).

Link: – Escape From New York (1981): (1 | 2)
Link: – http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2007/10/01/more-parallels-between-metal-gear-solid-and-escape-from-new-york.aspx (Newsweek: The Twin Snakes – Examining More Curious Parallels Between The Franchises Metal Gear Solid and “Escape From New York” – 1/10/2007)

6. ^{[^]}Even the music sounds similar at places – for instance, compare the game’s ‘Escape’ theme from the soundtrack to the end credits theme Vangelis did for Blade Runner. When listening to the ‘Escape’ theme music track, go to 0:53 to hear the sound effects reminiscent of the ones Vangelis used in the Blade Runner soundtrack. There are doubtless other tracks in the Metal Gear Solid soundtrack that have a similar Vangelis vibe to them.

7. ^{[^]}Gray Fox (the character) is most likely a reference to Darwin’s Fox. This was a peculiar wolf found on San Pedro Island that was mistaken by Charles Darwin for being a fox – hence the title Darwin’s Fox. He took a specimen with him during his infamous HMS Beagle voyage. According to Wikipedia, it was long held that Darwin’s Fox was a subspecies of the South American Gray Fox.

Link: – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Fox (Wikipedia: Darwin’s Fox)
Link: – http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/darwins-wolf/ (Wired: Darwin’s Wolf Mystery Solved – 3/11/2009) [other wolves that caught Darwin's interest whose origins remained a mystery - until now]

8. ^{[^]}Several of Sniper Wolf’s cutscenes evoke memories of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Just like in the movie, a female sniper shoots a soldier (Meryl Silverburgh in this case) in the field with the intention of drawing in more comrades that will come rushing in to his/her aid. Snake is left with no option but to retreat, find himself a sniper rifle and return back to the position where Meryl was shot so he can try to take her out. Unlike the North-Vietnamese sniper in Full Metal Jacket, Sniper Wolf does not seem intent on killing Meryl – when Snake returns, Meryl is gone and has been taken into captivity. It’s up to the player to decide later on whether Meryl will live or die (the canonical ending is the one where she lives. Before Metal Gear Solid 4: The Guns Of The Patriots was announced, it was erroneously assumed that Meryl had died.)

Another sequence highly reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket is the one where Sniper Wolf (as a final request to Snake before she dies) asks him to hand her the gun she has been using up until this point.

“My gun… give it to me. She’s a part of me…” – Sniper Wolf, Metal Gear Solid

This is part of the military indoctrination process – what’s known as the Rifleman’s Creed. The intent is to create a symbiotic bond between the soldier’s mere existence as a human being and his military artillery, such as a rifle. It states in no uncertain terms that a soldier is useless without his rifle, and that he should protect it as if it were his best friend. After having to recite this ‘creed’ day in day out, it becomes so ingrained in the person’s mind that he or she really starts to identify with this ‘piece’ of wood and iron as a surrogate spouse. As can be seen in Sniper Wolf, it has certainly had its desired effect on her.

Link: – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifleman%27s_Creed (Wikipedia: Rifleman’s Creed)
Link: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G551KpNnA0 (Full Metal Jacket: Rifleman’s Creed)

9. ^{[^]}What Nastasha is referring to here is what is known as the NUTS (Nuclear Utilization Target Selection) doctrine – which has been formally adopted by NATO. In essence it is the exact opposite of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), which was the agreed-upon doctrine between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

MAD is a doctrine that acts on the presupposition that both competing countries have such a massive stockpile of nuclear weapons that it would be foolhardy for any of the two nations to strike each other – since it would result in the annihilation of both. Several science fiction novels and movies entertain such a scenario actually unfolding – but by the involvement of an unknown third party – a sentient supercomputer that provokes Russia into attacking the US with a full nuclear payload by attacking it [Russia] first with nuclear weapons – resulting in the annihilation of both countries and much of the worldwide human population – but leaving the sentient supercomputer (which is largely situated underground) mostly intact to inherit the Earth along with its progeny. Examples such as Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream comes to mind, as well as the movie franchise which plagiarized its central plot premise – The Terminator.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, MAD largely fell out of favour due to hubrism on the part of the western allies. Lately there has been much heated controversy surrounding the missile shield being built in Poland and Ukraine – which Russia regards as an imminent threat to its nuclear deterrence strategy.

President Obama has not been forthright on this issue – in this misleadingly titled article, ‘Obama scraps Bush-era Europe missile shield‘, it says that the previous missile shield program has been ’scrapped’ in favor of a more cost-effective and proven equivalent. It thus by no means lauds the end of this provocative gamble in nuclear standoffs – and the rhetoric about it being intended for a hypothetical Iranian ‘missile threat’ reeks of regurgitated Bush-era war propaganda.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates – an accomplice in the Iran-Contra scandal, friend of foreign policy hawk Zbigniew Brzezinski, and most likely the founder of the CIA’s Arab Legion – seems as determined as ever to get a missile shield into place.

Link: – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_utilization_target_selection (Wikipedia: Nuclear utilization target selection)
Link: – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction (Wikipedia: Mutual Assured Destruction)
Link: – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32889934/ (Obama scraps Bush-era Europe missile shield – 17/9/2009)
Link: – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091700639.html?hpid=topnews (MSNBC: Obama Shifts Focus Of Missile Shield – 18/9/2009)
Link: – http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-10-20/al-qaeda-cia-arab.html (Russia Today: ‘Al-Qaeda is CIA Arab Legion’ – 10/20/2009)

10. ^{[^]}An obvious sign (as if it needs any telling) that Gary McGolden has concocted a satirical piece can be found in the name given to his partner-in-chief, John-Dee (‘a hardcore Alaskan and a tuna fisherman’, apparently). He approaches this man for advice on how to get into the offshore nuclear disposal facility (Shadow Moses), which is off-limits to the general public. Besides the fact that the solution he comes up with is patently absurd, the name is the biggest give-away that the author is having some fun with its readership – ‘John Dee’ (1527-1608) was by all accounts the first international secret agent in world history, and the inspiration behind Ian Fleming’s character James Bond.

Like Bond, John Dee was a secret agent travelling all across the world at Her Majesty’s behest (at the time Queen Elizabeth I of England). He used ‘007′ as his personal alias to the Queen – the double ‘O’s were supposed to represent her Majesty’s eyes (as in: John Dee served as her majesty’s eyes and ears while abroad). John Dee’s main business while travelling the world was in promoting ‘free trade’ – in essence, what this meant was getting foreign countries to adopt and work with Britain’s financial system with as minimal amount of fuss as possible. This could be a likely explanation for why Ian Fleming’s character has as his last name ‘Bond’ – as a reference to the stock-in-trade (pun not intended) of his real-life inspiration.

Link: – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2503023.stm (BBC: Will the real James Bond stand up? – 22/11/2002)
Link: – http://cosmiccipher.blogspot.com/2006/11/james-bond-007-john-dee-royale-tale.html (The Cosmic Cipher: James Bond 007 & John Dee – A Royal Tale – 13/11/2006))

*. The gene-centered view on evolution has received a lot of criticism from evolutionary biologists and scientists alike. The most well-spoken of these is Richard C. Lewontin. As a geneticist himself, he has been a leading critic of scientific doctrine and ideology – in particular Neo-Darwinism. This interview conducted by the University of California comes as highly recommended.

Link: – http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Lewontin/lewontin-con0.html (Science and Politics: Conversation with Richard C. Lewontin)
Link: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBZJWyGh1EI (YouTube: Conversations with History – Richard C. Lewontin)

**. From an interview with Michel Ciment:

“Stanley Kubrick: Since I have always been interested in the topic, I think I was as well informed as I needed to be. I hope that ESP and related psychic phenomena will eventually find general scientific proof of their existence. There are certainly a fair number of scientists who are sufficiently impressed with the evidence to spend their time working in the field.”

Kubrick wasn’t alone in this – he was most likely swayed by Arthur Koestler’s ‘The Roots Of Coincidence‘ – one of the first books published in the West that came out in defense of parapsychology and suggested a possible scientific basis for it by connecting the dots between concepts such as extra-sensory perception and elements of quantum mechanics. In a letter Kubrick wrote in defense of A Clockwork Orange, he lashed out at someone who suggested a ‘fascist’ subtext to the film by challenging him whether or not he had read Arthur Koestler’s book The Ghost In The Machine – a book by an ‘anti-fascist’ which Kubrick felt perfectly represented some of his views and influences while making the film.

Link: – http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.ts.html (Stanley Kubrick On The Shining: An Interview with Michel Ciment)
Link: – http://books.google.com/books?id=apbst3-ZYNoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false (Google Books – Kubrick: The Definitive Edition – by Michel Ciment)
Link: – http://books.google.com/books?id=hU05AAAAIAAJ&q=the+roots+of+coincidence&dq=the+roots+of+coincidence (Google Books – The Roots Of Coincidence – by Arthur Koestler – 1972)
Link: – http://books.google.com/books?id=GobyYUN_Jl8C&q=the+ghost+in+the+machine&dq=the+ghost+in+the+machine (Google Books – The Ghost In The Machine – by Arthur Koestler – 1967)

***. Michael Crichton points out in this article that the number of deaths and injured by radiation due to the Chernobyl Disaster are massively exaggerated.

“The initial reports in 1986 claimed 2,000 dead, and an unknown number of future deaths and deformities occurring in a wide swath extending from Sweden to the Black Sea. As the years passed, the size of the disaster increased; by 2000, the BBC and New York Times estimated 15,000-30,000 dead, and so on…

Now, to report that 15,000-30,000 people have died, when the actual number is 56, represents a big error. Let’s try to get some idea of how big. Suppose we line up all the victims in a row. If 56 people are each represented by one foot of space, then 56 feet is roughly the distance from me to the fourth row of the auditorium. Fifteen thousand people is three miles away. It seems difficult to make a mistake of that scale.”^{[Michaelcrichton.com]}

According to an United Nations report in 2005, the “largest public health problem created by the accident” was the “damaging psychological impact [due] to a lack of accurate information… [manifesting] as negative self-assessments of health, belief in a shortened life expectancy, lack of initiative, and dependency on assistance from the state.”.

In other words, the mere information and massively overinflated impact it would have on life expectancy, miscarriages and genetic defects – the mere psychological shock factor led to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This, in itself, could be regarded as a psychological operation, or, more pertinently, a quasi-biofeedback loop (quasi in the sense that there’s no measuring of a person’s bodily functions involved, such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, muscle tension, and so on). The vast majority of people who experienced some type of defect from the Chernobyl disaster – it is stated here – rendered themselves sick on their own accord based on the information they were fed.

Contrast this to what Nastasha says during the game (keep in mind that the game was released in 1998 – and a subsequent remake in 2004 – so it’s highly likely Kojima based this on the commonly accepted data sources at the time):

“600,000-700,000 people were evacuated. Over 650,000 children suffered the effects of radiation poisoning. Between 1986 and 1993, 12,000 children died…” – Nastasha Romanenko, Metal Gear Solid

Link: – http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-complexity.html (MichaelCrichton.com: Complexity Theory and Environmental Management – 6/11/2005)

Links

Link: – The New Eugenics in Cinema: Genetic Determinism and Gene Therapy in GATTACA
Link: – World of Longplays – Metal Gear Solid
Link: – GameFAQs: Metal Gear Solid Game Script
Link: – New York Times: The Shootout Over Hidden Meanings in a Video game – 6/22/2008)
Link: – Google Books – Popular Mechanics (May 1994) – Gene Wars

Chancellor A. Keesling, 25 anni, soldato americano suicida in Iraq (Google)

WASHINGTON – Joker: «Quelle sono cartucce cariche?!» Palla di lardo:«Sette e 62, blindatissime…Full Metal Jacket!» Joker: «Se Hartman viene e ci trova qui dentro, finiamo tutti e due in un mare di merda» Palla di lardo: «Io ci sono già nella merda…».

Il seguito della scena del film di Kubrick è nota a tutti: Palla di lardo uccide il Sergente Hartman con un colpo di fucile per poi suicidarsi con lo stesso M14. Il racconto di un dramma che nel 1897, dodici anni dopo la fine della guerra del Vietnam, sconvolse intere generazioni. Eppure sembra che ci sia ancora qualcuno indifferente ai problemi psicologici dei soldati in guerra. O, quantomeno, fa una netta distinzione fra i soldati uccisi da armi nemiche e quelli che decidono di levarsi la vita poiché non reggono l’ansia di vivere in un contesto di guerra. A sorprendere sarà il nome dell’uomo in questione: la “sentinella” del mondo, il Presidente degli Stati Uniti, Barack Obama. La Casa Bianca non invierà alcuna lettera di conforto alle famiglie dei 140 militari che, tra gennaio e ottobre 2009, dall’Iraq fino all’Afghanistan, hanno deciso di suicidarsi mentre si trovavano al fronte indossando una mimetica a stelle e strisce. È dai tempi della guerra di secessione che i Presidenti americani, partendo da Abramo Lincoln, scrivono di proprio pugno le missive per confortare i familiari dei deceduti in guerra. In questo modo mandano un segnale forte della presenza della Nazione , che onora e ricorda degnamente i suoi “fratelli d’arme”. Che adesso tanto fratelli non sembrano più se non meritano neanche una lettera di cordoglio.

Stress – La storia del soldato Chancellor Arsenio Keesling rispecchia in pieno l’argomento. Il riservista fu chiamato per la prima volta in Iraq sei anni fa, ma fu rispedito a casa dopo  che gli era stato diagnosticato il DPTS, un disturbo post traumatico da stress. Per il soldato Chancellor vivere quotidianamente a stretto contatto con gli orrori della guerra era psicologicamente insostenibile. Torna allora a casa in Indianapolis, ma nel 2006 anni l’esercito “a corto di militari” decide di richiamarlo. Inizialmente il riservista rifiuta l’incarico, ma «si convince presto che la sua presenza sul fronte è importante», racconta il padre di Chancellor. «Ripeteva che il suo dovere era quello di difendere il Paese», spiega con orgoglio il genitore prima di vedere il proprio figlio partire per sempre per l’Iraq, dove verrà rimpiegato il 27 maggio 2009. Qui si suiciderà con la sua carabina M4 meno di un mese dopo (19 giugno 2009). Diciassette ore prima del folle gesto aveva informato i genitori delle sue intenzioni. La famiglia provò ad allertare la base americana di Baghdad del pericolo, ma non riuscirono a comunicare con nessuno. Qualcuno adesso accusa gli apparati militari americani di negligenza e ignoranza, soprattutto in seguito alla dichiarazione di Obama che annuncia rinforzi in Afghanistan (30mila militari statunitensi, più 10mila soldati alleati). In ogni caso, una cosa è certa: il caso Chancellor era una tragedia annunciata.

Madre – «Nostro figlio, come tanti altri, ha sacrificato la sua giovane vita per gli Stati Uniti d’America ed è giusto che gli venga riconosciuto» spiega la signora Keesling, madre del soldato Chancellor, in un’intervista rilasciata all’organizzazione Democracy Now. «Chiediamo al Presidente Obama di rivedere questa terribile prassi, poche parole ci aiuterebbero ad andare avanti». Ma al momento la Casa Bianca rimane ferma sulla sua decisione: «L’Amministrazione sta prendendo in considerazione il problema delle lettere di condoglianza alle famiglie dei ragazzi che si sono tolti la vita», ha dichiarato il portavoce Tom Vietor. «Il Presidente è vicino con pensieri e preghiere a tutti coloro che hanno perso i loro cari in guerra». A poche settimane dalla sparatoria del Maggiore Malik Hasan a Fort Hood in Texas (13 persone persero la vita), l’America di Obama si risveglia con un’altra angosciante storia militare da affrontare.

Nel 1862 Abramo Lincoln scriveva ai familiari dei soldati americani caduti sul fronte: «Con queste righe vorrei portarvi un po’ di sollievo, anche se il conforto totale non è possibile perché solo il tempo potrà aiutarvi». Oggi nel 2009 discutiamo ancora se un ragazzo suicida sia o no un morto meritevole di una lettera con l’autografo di Obama.

Ivano Pasqualino

Super candid blue-streak thrashing on behalf of Pincers. Even included this air punch/swim thing in his freak out. After the F-word there was something about “three straight” and it kind of trailed off from there. (The audio guy in the truck either spit up coffee on his monitors or the director slapped him upside the head.) “Three straight” of course referred to the three false starts committed by his big fellas up front before slinking off the field for a Matt Prater field goal. The second in as many red zone trips. When it first happened, the NFL Network aired it, showed the kickoff, then went to commercial. And we were thinking: “Wow, that’s actually pretty cool. The NFLN is kinda pushing a progressive production here. Like the FX Network or something.” Then they come back with profuse apologies and it was clear it was just another production blunder. Did you see the shot of a cameraman’s foot next to some cable? How about those glitching bumps in and out of commercials? These combined with Matt Millen’s nonsensical ramblings and Madden-posing, whatever that goober’s name is who rolls with Millen in the booth, and the production wasn’t exactly on its game Thursday night. As for Pincers’ spaz? Rad. Pure radness. Love it when these Napoleon types hit Rage Factor. Especially when it’s finally associated with the until-this-year Orange Ponies. Love these signals of aggressive football that continue to percolate from the entire Broncos 09 presentation, win or lose. Pincers is decidedly New School with his emotions in the pro game. But above all there is still plenty of Old School in there. And he might even be a tough lil bastard himself. He led his streaking squad off the schnide on Turkey Day with a 20-point blowout of Big Blue.

Machine Shop Ear-Bender: So we were doin’ paramedical work in affiliation with the state highway system. Not actual practice, you understand. And me & Bill were patrolling down Nine Miles.H.I.: Bill Roberts? Machine Shop Ear-Bender: No, not that mother-scratcher. Bill Parker. Anyway, we’re approaching the wreck, and there’s this spherical object a restin’ in the highway. And it’s not a piece of the car.

(Too bandwagony? Sure, we called them a team of slappies two weeks ago. Which is true. Name us an All-World front seven player on D. Kay. We said watching them play last was like having the swine flu. It was. We are still pissed about that San Diego game. Still confused how you can play at home for first place in the division and deliver such a stinky wad of cheese. But c’mon! Doesn’t mean the love isn’t there. We bleed it, bitches. Two words: born, raised. Nuff said ball in.)

After the game, when asked about the MFer, Pincers sorta shrugged, said “doesn’t surprise me, it’s the NFL network,” then annoyingly turned away from the questioner. A shot at the Network? We’re not sure. We think he was most likely confused by the question since he wasn’t sure what had happened at that point (and he explained as much in other moments of the presser). His mind was processing the question, expecting a game Q, then when he realized it was a trivial matter, he simply brushed it off … Or … Maybe he does hold a bit of a grudge because of the way the Network portrayed him during the Cutler Fiasco, then his draft, then Brandon Marshall, then the parade of Bronco hate Jamie Dukes and crew marched onto the set on a daily basis preceding the season. So much so that national media random Rod Smith was put on-set to defend his franchise during the same timeframe. (Whereupon he of course had to rebuke a deluge of Duke’s exasperation when suggesting the Broncos were an inept franchise and Pincers was to blame.) Pincers has all but admitted he reads the writers and watches the coverage. He snapped about a couple things during OTA’s and camp. Have you ever heard him on Rome? He knows. And in those early days of spring and through the preseason, the Network had him on a spit with the flame turned to HIGH.

Pincers’ national unleashing was fitting during a week in which Brian Dawkins called a Three Mile Island. A Three Mile Island is the requisite “players only meeting” amidst a complete meltdown. Post Sand Diego definitely qualified. In fact, we even wondered about it. After the Redskins slap we figured it would be any day now. It always happens, every sport, and it always makes headlines. That’s right, Bob, I am standing outside the very auditorium where Brian Dawkins, today, called a Three Mile Island. Players would not comment on what exactly was said, however. Saying only: It was a meeting, it was for players, we spoke to and amongst one another for an extended period of time. If the outcome of the game is any kind of metric, it worked this week for Denver.

Three Mile Island accident: On March 29, 1979, there was a cooling system malfunction that caused a partial meltdown of the reactor core. This loss of coolant accident resulted in the release of a significant amount of radioactivity. The nuclear power industry claims that there were no deaths, injuries or adverse health effects from the accident, but a peer-reviewed study by Steven Wing of the University of North Carolina found that lung cancer and leukemia rates were 2 to 10 times higher downwind of TMI than upwind, and also showed that there was plant and animal chromosomal damage, but without considering the effects of stress or improved screening. In addition, the Radiation and Public Health Project reported a spike in infant mortality in the downwind communities two years after the accident.

To anyone with eyes and ears, Denver’s Pig Warfare was obviously back in form. Both lines were outstanding. Denver rushed 40 times, New York 16. Nuff said. But was it Denver’s dominance or the Giants’ indifference that defined the outcome? The Giants finished playing last Sunday afternoon (early game) at home with an overtime win against Atlanta. They traveled on Wednesday. It’s a lengthy flight, it was a holiday, they were paved over from the first snap. It was abuse. Generally speaking, they don’t suck that bad. Generally speaking, the Broncos aren’t that good. Transit and turkey aren’t worth the entire 20 points, but they’re worth a chunk of it. The Giants weren’t all there. They checked out when they checked their bags.

The Denver run game was fairly explanatory: pound the edge so as to avoid the teeth of the Giant D, the front-four. They ran zone block for the most part but were pulling the guard on a lot of inside runs. Lots of fullback in there, too, and the backs seemed very patient in following Spencer Larson to the hole. Whatever the method, they were moving at will. (The obligatory penalties of course disrupted their share of drives. Were we the only ones a bit frustrated with the one-sidedness and outright jobs with which the refs officiated? Came off a bit intrusive at times. Like an NBA game. After a decade-plus of Shanny’s cut-blocking zone schemes, seems like Denver’s offensive line is still a target.)

Knowshon Moreno had a good game but we could feel 70,000-plus people shudder whenever he wrapped his unaccountable arms around the ball. 2.4% of the time, he fumbles every time. Four fumbles on 161 carries. Dude has a way to go before he earns our trust (or a belief in his open field running ability). Ran over a safety, though. Exploded through Michael Johnson for a first down in the first quarter. Seems to have a better sense of the marker these days, too. Nonetheless, still pure rookie. (Fine, he’s rad. It’s clear he’s rad. He might even be really good some day. As our friend JJ explains about gambling: “Winning is like a chocolate mousse. But then it’s gone. Losing burns a hole deep inside you. And it stays.” Those four fumbles, especially the goal line fail … still burns.)

Epic dunce

And of course the D shelved the about-to-explode look if only for a week. Just as it’s painful to watch bad defense, it’s so much fun to watch good defense. Three-and-outs, fumbles, interceptions, sacks, 27 yards on the ground for big boy back Brandon Jacobs. That was fun. Millen was beside himself explaining Denver’s tight coverage. Eli was 100% confused cracker all night. Elvis Dumervil’s monster strip sack—steps into it, both arms cocked back like a bear, ball comes rifling out—was an impressive moment. Secondary was 1/3 on pick-opps and Dawkins made those young receivers think twice about coming into his world. (Still can’t believe how he clubs his opponent after initial contact on the way to the ground. We love it. A lot! But … yikes, dog.)

Who knows why Denver’s D was able to do this at home against the New York Football Giants and not against the Bolts and Steelers, or on the road against those crappy Maryland teams. It cannot simply lie in the balance of talent. If that were the case Baltimore and Washington would have fallen easily. The intangible matrix counts for so much and it’s tenuous. It can disappear for 4/5ths of an entire month. Perhaps the Three Mile Island has them hooked back in for the final five weeks.

All things being equal, it should be a cakewalk in Kansas City next week. A good ole fashioned Midwest contest set to music with a cake as a prize for executing the most elaborate or amusing walking steps. Should be. But we Broncos aficionados are all too familiar with the Bermuda Triangle wasteland of lameness that is western Missouri in December. Really dislike that town. Really think Chiefs fans are dorks with good BBQ recipes. There’s no reason to view last week’s game as a precedent. Pittsburgh had that game locked up in so many ways yet lost due to injuries and a bit of bad luck at the end … wait, that’s not the precedent, is it?

Kansas City is like the sniper at the end of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. A passionate threatened peasant, possessing homefield advantage, outmatched in every other facet. In other strategic circumstances she’d be harmless, yet she continues to pick off victims.

Private Cowboy: I’ve seen this before, that sniper is just trying to suck us in one at a time!

After getting sucked into her trap and sustaining losses, Private Cowboy’s platoon eventually overcomes her with sheer firepower. Yet even in the end, almost dead, she continues to take victims and was booby-trapped when they found her. Moments from death, looking up at her enemy, she pleads for mercy: Shoot… me, sh-oooot… me… Private Joker, the inwardly conflicted man of duality, obliges.

Private Rafterman: Hey Joker, we ought to put you up for the congressional medal of… ugly! Haha!
Donlon: Hard core, man. Hard core.

Kansas City is that wounded cornered sniper in her last moments. Sh-oooot… me… At 3-7 her primary objective is drawing in the enemy by showing her mortality then taking them with her as she goes. Denver has the firepower to overcome and there is no way the mere fact they are playing on a frozen llano in the middle of nowhere in December should make any difference whatsoever. Yet it almost always does. Pincers would be advised not to let his men rush in like Cowboy did, and he will need to do his best Private Joker and put her out of her misery when he has the chance. Otherwise he could take on more losses. With Indy and Philly still to go, and with 10 wins most likely needed for the fabled berth, that can’t happen.

Private Joker: Graduation is only a few days away, and the recruits of Platoon 3092 are salty. They are ready to eat their own guts and ask for seconds. The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear.

]]> http://letitblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/high-times/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:57:36 +0000 Cadu http://letitblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/high-times/

isto é um vídeo do exército britânico testando lsd como forma de aumentar a resistência dos soldados no campo de batalha. a parte em que o soldado abandona o posto e sobe numa árvore para “alimentar os passarinhos” é hilária.

vale lembrar que medidas proibitivas em relação às drogas, em grande medida, ganharam força apenas depois que perceberam que a maioria delas não poderia ser usada como instrumento bélico. no vietnã, por exemplo, os soldados americanos consumiam maconha, heroína (nessa parte do globo a oferta era vasta) e lsd para entrar em combate.

mas em plena efervecência dos anos 60 isso apenas causava mais tensões entre os soldados que questionavam a guerra sem propósitos sendo que muitos acabaram “enlouquecendo” e até praticando o chamado fogo-amigo. ou seja, soldados americanos atirando em colegas em pleno campo de batalha. sem falar em casos de estupro de civis inocentes, desobediência, abandono de funções e deserções. alguém aí lembrou de “apocalipse now”, “full metal jacket”, “platoon”, etc?

este conjunto de fatores resultou na famosa “guerra contra as drogas” instituída pelo presidente nixon. que nada mais era do que uma cruzada hipócrita (e racista) visando interesses particulares. aproveito para abrir um parêntese para uma citação ao livro “contracultura através dos tempos” de dan joy e ken goffman. livro este que já estou para comentar há muito tempo por aqui mas que a (falta de) memória e/ou a preguiça me impediram. fica para uma outra hora.
mas recomendo com força.

“com a posse de nixon, no início de 1969, aumentaram as condições para a guerra cultural e o conflito político, assim como cresceu a guerra no vietnã. o novo presidente anunciou a “guerra às drogas” (uma herança que permanece até hoje), aprovando a lei “sem bater”, que permitia que a polícia invadisse as casas de suspeitos de posse de drogas sem aviso. (hoje nós consideramos isso normal, mas antigamente era comum que os agentes da lei batessem e anunciassem que tinham um mandado de busca).

(…) embora grande parte da repressão fosse, sem dúvida, uma reação natural de agentes da lei machistas às provocações de esquisitões negros, também estava em ação um grande programa secreto do governo dos estados unidos para espionar, enquadrar e, em pelo menos uma ocasião, assassinar radicais e/ou hippies. revelado mais tarde como resultado de uma investigação relacionada ao caso watergate, o programa era chamado de COINTELPRO e, com o governo nixon assumindo o poder, aproximadamente 250 mil novos esquerdistas, líderes hippies e até mesmo democratas liberais, além de astros do rock e outras personalidades, foram sujeitadas a um programa de estrita vigilância pelo FBI, que incluía infiltrações. além disso, nixon tinha uma “lista de inimigos” particular, composta principalmente de liberais e quase todos os seus críticos nos grandes meios de comunicação. a lista seria repassada para o IRS que, sem dúvida, sabia o que fazer.

(…) como foi revelado nas audiências do church committee em 1975 e por documentos posteriormente liberados com base na lei de liberdade de informação, a grande opressão de j. edgar hoover nos anos 1960 era impedir o crescimento da liderança política negra, e ele se concentrou em acabar com os panteras negras, que tinham se tornado heróis populares dos negros nos guetos. a maior parte do esforço do programa COINTELPRO do FBI era dirigido contra aquele partido. todos os diretórios tinham sido fortemente infiltrados com agentes que tentavam (com algum sucesso) levá-los a participar de atos de violência ilegais. cartas falsas eram enviadas de um membro do partido para outro, de modo a (com sucesso) provocar lutas internas. dezenas de membros do partido foram enquadrados, e pelo menos dois, fred hampton e mark clark, foram mortos a sangue-frio pela polícia de chicago enquanto dormiam.”

daí para começar a acreditar nas suspeitas de que elvis presley (logo quem) fosse um agente infiltrado do FBI no combate às drogas (inclusive delatando, primeiro os beatles - de modo a tentar reaver, de forma suja, seu reinado nas paradas de sucesso -  e posteriormente john lennon e sua ligação com líderes revolucionários, pacifistas e “gurus das drogas” tais como abbie hoffman e timothy leary) não custa, né?

hoje em dia é sabido que, por debaixo do pano, o exército americano (pelo menos durante a gestão de bush filho) testou drogas  em seus soldados no iraque e afeganistão de modo a aumentar o rendimento no deserto. sem falar nos soldados que se viciam em anfetaminas e outras substâncias depois que voltam da guerra, seja por causa do trauma ou para evitar a “cold turkey”.

This week my class started Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried which looks into the Vietnam War. In about two weeks my class will be splitting up into groups and discussing a film; my group has picked Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, which is also about Vietnam. I mention this because O’Brien writes a lot about the idea of soldiers being actors, men playing a part, or a man performing his gendered duty.

O’Brien’s own tale in the chapter “On the Rainy River” admits that he does not support the war, in one of my favorite quotes he states

“Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons (p. 40).”

Yet he goes to Vietnam.

Through the chapter “On the Rainy River” he battles within himself to decide to flee to Canada or go to war. In this chapter I found it really powerful and revealing on why some men feel they need to go to war. O’Brien does not want to be dishonorable, a pussy, a sissy, a bitch, a coward, or any other word that is given to a man with a very natural fear of dying in a war he doesn’t believe in. This idea that society will emasculate a man because he does not wish to fight is motivating to those that do not wish to be emasculated to prove their masculinity. Masculinity’s most defining trait would be violence and a military is the largest entity of violence in a society.

O’Brien doesn’t just talk about his own performance in the military but others as well. In the next few passages he really makes a connection between the performance of masculinity and how men really feel/think.

“They afraid of dying but they were even more afraid of to show it (p. 20)”

The men had a very natural and human fear of dying but to show this fear meant they were less than a “real” man. A sissy, a coward, a pussy.

“They were actors. When someone died, it wasn’t quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself (p. 20)”

O’Brien describes the soldiers as actors. Actors have the ability to model themselves into what the audience wants. Actors in gender model themselves into what society demands.

As discussed in most of my blog masculinity is socially constructed and taught to men at a young age. So masculinity being a learned behavior could be comparable to learning to lie or to be polite; the important thing is to unlearn (not teach) this behavior. Most of the my posts deal with some learned behavior—men are unable to express their feelings, men use sexual violence as a form of control, men fear emasculation, etc, (Full Metal Jacket remarkably covers racism, homophobia, sexism, rape, and violence all in the first seven minutes). If society would change its perceptions of masculinity (and in turn femininity) then people would be people not confined to a little box of qualities that one should have and should perform.

Great Star Wars and Full Metal Jacket mash up poster by artist and “graphic satirist” KENYONB.

- L’ Uomo che fissa le capre – 2009 – ♥♥♥ -

di

Grant Heslov

La serietà che può esserci dietro ad una commedia dall’ aspetto puramente demenziale è qualcosa che riguarda l’ ultimo film di Grant Heslov, sceneggiatore di Good Night, and Good Luck. L’ uomo che fissa le capre parla della società americana e della sua storia di un cinquantennio. Una nazione combattuta continuamente tra la paura della guerra e il senso patriottico che spinge alla vendetta. Nonostante vanti un cast decisamente stellare (Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges), è George Clooney il vero dominatore del film. Riesce a farlo suo con la spontanea irriverenza e a renderlo il terzo capitolo del suo personale percorso atto a portare alla luce (deridendole) alcune delle più importanti istituzioni americane. Critiche iniziate con Confessioni di una mente pericolosa prima e proseguite con Good Night and Good Luck. Questa volta sono i servizi militari a essere presi di mira e i suoi cosiddetti segreti militari che qui finiscono per dar luce ad un’ armata di uomini dotati in qualche modo di superpoteri psichici. Le citazioni si consumano come fossero pane: si va dal monito militaresco alla Full Metal Jacket a Star Wars e Il Grande Lebowsky (gli amanti dei due celebri film  capiranno anche come mai sono stati scelti proprio Ewan McGregor e Jeff Bridges in quei ruoli). Si ride nel film di Heslov, ma forse un pò troppo da non lasciar tantissimo spazio alla riflessione, puntando forse più ad attirare il pubblico per la sicura verve comica di Clooney che a spingere seriamente il suo pubblico a meditare sul perchè ciclicamente l’ esercito a stelle e striscie si tuffi ciecamente in guerre omicide (e suicide). Ma il film di Heslov è anche una commedia che ironizza sulle convinzioni dell’ essere umano e il suo senso new age e moderno di “volere è potere” (in questo caso talmente enfatizzati da arrivare addirittura a convincersi di poter fermare il cuore di una capra semplicemente fissandola).  Una scena fra tutte è forse quella che maggiormente è spunto di riflessione: quella in cui Clooney dopo aver aperto una cella d’ isolamento  dove un prigioniero viene bombardato da luci e canzoni di un cartone animato americano definisce quanto appena visto: ” Il lato oscuro”. E sarebbe proprio splendido se si potesse solo ridere su tutto questo. Ma purtroppo sappiamo tutti che non è così.

( L' esercito degli hippie)

( Tutto si può con i poteri psichici: anche fermare il cuore di una capra)

Not one of the better films to watch on veterans day.

Marine recruits (including Matthew Modine and Vincent D’Onofrio) endure the grueling ordeal of basic training and later face the unrelenting Viet Cong during the 1968 Tet Offensive in this grim Stanley Kubrick drama, based on a novel by Gustav Hasford.

Personally, I love Stanley Kubrick films. I think his way of film-making is so rich and grand that when he died not many knew what a legacy he left behind. Kubrick right here doesn’t stop to impress me.

One thing to point out about this film is that it isn’t your average normal war film. There are many scenes of combat, but most of it is what goes on before being shipped out to the war, and what goes on when you are shipped out in the war. Some will find it boring, I found it refreshing to finally see what these soldiers we’re like before the war, and in between it.

The fantastic element of the movie is its portrayal of the moral ambiguity of that war, the soldiers’ awareness of this issue, and their commitment to fight on, not for country or cause, but for one another, as well as an undefined inertia.

The way Kubrick has this movie filmed is also very extraordinary. He films these takes while war is happening and the camera moves up and down as if you were watching the view of a soldier in combat with them. I felt like I was right there with them and felt very much more compelled to the story. Also, there are plenty of other just beautiful shots that really do make this film look even more spectacullar.

The screenplay is what really plays out well in this film. The dialogue here feels so realistic and so genuine that I thought I was watching a real film about real people. There is also some little blends of black comedy that really do make this film great and a lot more enjoyable than some would think.

Though I liked Kubrick’s direction I just don’t think it was meant for this type of movie. Kubrick is known for making these sc-fi thriller films about the unexplainable. With this film he gets a little too dynamic and doesn’t hit the right cord with this film as he has done with his plenty of others. I think that his directing is good just not made for this film, and what takes it away from being great.

The little supporting acts in this film really do shine. R. Lee Ermy does the best job in this whole film and fully does capture this essence of a hard as nails drill sergeant, who with his orders and yells, makes this film amazing. The only problem I had with the acting was that the film is centered around Matthew Modine, and he doesn’t really do a great job in this film and I didn’t find him very believable until the very end.

I also thought that the ending could’ve been so much better. Kubrick is known for his great endings to any film, and he plays the ending with a cheesy and corny not so anti-war message ending.

Consensus: Though it is good not great, Full Metal Jacket has great direction from Kubrick, realistic screenplay, and some great visuals, but suffers from Kubrick becoming his own worst enemy early on in the film.

8/10=Matinee!!!

Maybe its my peaceful nature or my dislike for emotional manipulation, but for some reason, I’m not a big fan of war movies and never really have been. Nevertheless, in recognition of Veteran’s Day, here is a list of five great war movies.

5. Saving Private Ryan – Utilizing the vision of one of Hollywood’s most beloved directors (Spielberg) and starring 1990’s everyman Tom Hanks, this look at WWII is probably the quintessential war film of the past 20 years.

4. Full Metal Jacket – The Vietnam War has long proven itself ripe for film, but there are few who do it as well as director Stanley Kubrick.

3. Apocalypse Now – A seriously twisted look at Vietnam with some of the most iconic scenes ever captured on film.

2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – Stanley Kubrick proves that even when this was released in 1964, the Cold War was meant for satire.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front – This story of the horrors of war, of disillusionment and loss of youth, is still as (and maybe more) poignant today, almost 80 years after its release.

What would you put on the list?

This one goes out to the greatest branch in the world, from the greatest military in the world, located in the greatest country in the world.

Happy 234th Birthday Marine Corps!

OOOOOO RAHHHH!!!!!!

With that, I leave you this:

Prodotto da George Clooney e diretto da uno dei suoi sceneggiatori di Good night and good luck (Grant Heslov, tra l’altro sulle locandine italiane completamente ignorato), L’uomo che fissa le capre è una commedia che offre parecchi spunti interessanti, dalla guerra e suoi aspetti di addestramento (un Full Metal Jacket fricchettone), fino a toccare gli ideali che ruotano intorno a un credo e qui il collegamento con la crescita del protagonista (Ewan McGregor nei panni di un giornalista mollato dalla moglie opportunista).

Un film divertente (a tratti mi sono scompisciato dalle risate), i militari hippie sono una trovata geniale, Jeff Bridges grandioso, che però alterna momenti troppo altalenanti, tra il malinconico e la battuta (la situazione) divertente. Nel complesso si sente che manca un pò di cinismo in più, soprattutto nella parte finale (piuttosto consolatoria), anche il personaggio di Kevin Spacey potrebbe essere più infame, invece rimane un ibrido poco efficace. Bravi, ma nella media sia Clooney che McGregor, qui si presta anche a un gioco con i Jedi, azzeccato.

The deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle. It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. You will become dead marines and then you will be in a world of shit because marines are not allowed to die without permission. Do you maggots understand?

– Gunnery Sargent Hartman

Full Metal Jacket is my favorite of Stanley Kubrick’s films. Granted I have not seen all of his films, but this #88 movie of All Time on IMDb I have seen a couple of times over the years. I know almost all of the dialogue. That should tell that I still love it.

Based on the novel “The Short-Timers” by Gustav Hasford, the story mostly centers on smart-alecky Pvt. Joker (Matthew Modine) when he was at Marine Corps boot camp in South Carolina called Parris Island. He gets a dose of reality when Gunnery Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Emery) tries to reel his attitude in.

The next two months are grueling for the grunts that are in training for going out to Vietnam. Joker is promoted to squad leader and has to help a portly fellow affectionately nicknamed Gomer Pyle (Vincent D’Onofrio). Pyle is a constant target for Hartman who thinks that he is a worthless piece of shit.

Joker wants to help Pyle with the daily grind of learning how to dress himself, making up his bunk, conquer the obstacle course, disassemble and reassemble his rifle. Pyle tries to do his best, but he has minor fuck ups that cause Hartman to punish the platoon for not making him better.

The 3092 platoon has been punished one time too many for Pyle’s mistakes that cause the platoon to turns against him. In one single brutal act, Pyle snaps. He seems like he became the perfect soldier like Hartman wanted, but slowly unravels from within.

On the last night of boot camp, Pyle reached his breaking point when Joker patrols the barracks and finds him in the bathroom with his rifle.

Fast forward to Joker is deployed to Vietnam as a writer for Stars and Stripes. He travels with a photographer, Rafterman (Kevyn Major-Howard). He reconnects with Cowboy (Arliss Howard), a fellow grunt that survived. Cowboy’s a part of The Lust Hawk Squad with trigger happy, Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin), Eightball (Dorian Harewood), and Doc Jay (John Stafford).

When the team is lost going to their designated checkpoint, the team have to navigate some dangerous waters.

The last sequence of the movie makes me laugh; you would never expect it for this movie. I love the haunting score by Abigail Mead. It still gets to me. I wonder, what happened to Matthew Modine? He was so good in the movie. He has been in a few movies in the past couple of years. Nothing major. It makes you wonder.

Judgment: The ultimate lesson is that war will fuck you up physically and mentally.

Rating: *****

Voto: 7 (su 10)

Pensate a una scena di Full Metal Jacket in cui al posto del sergente Hartman di R. Lee Ermey a impartire gli ordini ai marines ci sia Drugo de Il grande Lebowsky. Avrete un’idea di quello che è L’uomo che fissa le capre, presentato a Venezia fuori concorso. Jeff Bridges qui non è Drugo, ma gli somiglia molto. Il suo Bill Django ha la stessa filosofia: è un ex soldato del Vietnam che, dopo aver frequentato i movimenti hippy ha creato il manuale dell’esercito del nuovo mondo. Per cambiare il mondo bisogna cambiare gli eserciti. E l’esercito del nuovo mondo non combatte con le armi, ma con la mente. Come i cavalieri Jedi. Nel film di Grant Heslov l’esperimento risale agli anni Ottanta. Ma il migliore dei soldati, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) è ancora in giro, e incontra il giornalista Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, che è stato proprio uno Jedi sullo schermo…)

È lo strampalato mondo creato da Grant Heslov, lo sceneggiatore di Good Night, And Good Luck, la seconda prova alla regia di Gerorge Clooney. Heslov confeziona ancora un film con protagonista un giornalista, e ancora un film politico, anche se completamente diverso nei toni. Se nel film ambientato durante il maccartismo la chiave era la libertà di stampa e di espressione, in quest’opera, ambientata durante la guerra in Iraq, è interessato alla libertà dagli eserciti e dalla guerra. Heslov non sceglie lo stile della satira pungente, quanto una sorta di farsa sfrenata e liberatoria, vicina al M.A.S.H. di Altman, ai Fratelli Coen e a Three Kings, in cui sempre Clooney si trovava nella prima guerra all’Iraq. Heslov si conferma però sempre attento alla realtà. Lo dimostrano i personaggi torturati, nelle ormai tragicamente celebri tute arancio di Guantanamo, e i servizi di intelligence e guerra appaltati a società private.

È uno a cui piace spiazzare, Heslov. Riesce a farlo con dei giochi di regia molto semplici, come quando parte da un’inquadratura molto stretta e la allarga per mostrare lo sguardo d’insieme e svelare l’ambiente in cui si svolge l’azione. Fa ridere con accostamenti assurdi, come nel campo/controcampo in cui un concentrato Clooney è alternato a un’altrettanto espressiva capra, mentre cerca di ucciderla guardandola (da qui il titolo). L’uomo che fissa le capre diverte con una comicità nonsense e stralunata, ma avvince come una spy-story.

Come Good Night, And Good Luck era un film simbolo di un’epoca (il maccartismo come l’era Bush), L’uomo che fissa le capre è un’opera che la chiude. L’esercito non violento rappresenta la spallata definitiva all’era Bush e alla sua politica guerrafondaia. Mettere l’LSD nelle uova della colazione dei soldati (per liberare tutti dalla base in Iraq) è come mettere i fiori nei cannoni. L’ultimo sberleffo a Bush e alla guerra in Iraq. La guerra è finita. Ma ora più che mai abbiamo bisogno dei Jedi.

Da vedere perché: Diverte con una comicità stralunata, avvince come una spy-story. E’ l’ultimo sberleffo a Bush

(Pubblicato su Movie Sushi)

In a scene reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket (the Fort Hood shooter looks eerily like Gomer Pyle) a member of the US military went on a massive killing spree at a military base in Texas. The details remain predictably hazy, but early reports indicate:

The media is completely full of shit. These assholes will repeat whatever military officials tell them – no exceptions. First, the shooter was dead.  He’s alive now, but according to one official “his death is not imminent” (huh?).

Military officials could say that Nicolas Cage parachuted in on a motorcycle with an uzi, and CNN would run with it. Give them five minutes and they’d have a 10-person panel discussing Cage’s bizarre internet postings and watching security footage of him buying Vitamin Water at Cumberland Farms the day before.

Military officials are notoriously unreliable sources of information. So is the media. Go fuck yourself, San Diego.

Guilty

*Conspiracy theorists will have a field day. They never buy the crazed lone gunman song-and-dance. And so with unconfirmed reports – and tons of speculation – regarding a possible second shooter, it’s only a matter of time before someone claims to have proven that Nicholas Cage couldn’t possibly have killed that many people from such an altitude (on a motorcycle, nonetheless!). There had to be a second shooter. If you conclude that, you must conclude there was a conspiracy.

*Being Muslim won’t be as cool as it used to be. These poor bastards can’t catch a break. After 9/11, people were even beating up people Indian guys (you know, just to be sure). I expect more of the same.

“He just had to be a Muslim,” said millions of Muslims.

*The anti-gun crowd will be very confused. Only the government should be armed…but guns are still pretty bad…but he’s in the army so he should be armed…but if he didn’t have a gun, then he wouldn’t have been able to…but then?….

Their instincts will tell them to capitalize while the blood’s still hot (that’s their time to shine) but all of their bullshit propaganda will need a slight re-write first. They’ll figure it out eventually, don’t you worry.

*No one will care about this story in two weeks. Nothing to see here, move along now.

I went and asked on Twitter and Facebook about what movies from peoples childhood that they remembered most and always will. Here’s the list:

Pretty in Pink
The Never Ending Story
Ghostbusters
Die Hard
Commando
The Warriors
Flight of the Navigator
Short Circuit
Dark Crystal
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Cool World
Lost Boys
Trading Places
Return to Oz
Full Metal Jacket
Princess Bride
Labyrinth
Batteries Not Included
Hook
Tron
This Is Spinal Tap
The Goonies
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Big
Back to the Future
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
WarGames
Poltergeist
Blues Brothers
Ruthless People
Throw Momma From The Train
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Baby Boom
D.A.R.Y.L.
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Explorers
Field of Dreams
Gremlins
The Burbs
Innerspace
Legend
Splash
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
Cocoon
Roxanne
Weird Science
Breakfast Club
Twilight Zone – The Movie
Stakeout
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Critters
Money Pit

From a few of the movies on the list I can gather that some people have a somewhat scary childhood. Also I know that some of the films are from the 90s but sure people were children then as well.

So our drummer left, we thought Apocalypse  was happening Now

We searched everywhere, from the sticks to Chinatown

In fact we were Raging like a  Bull in the Heat of the Night

felt surreal like Blue Velvet caught ourselves a fright

But we kept on til we found one, then down to business

connected thru our Network now we’re all pistons

we move together like Clockwork, Orange

We move Back to the Future cuz looking back is too boring

We went from Men in Tight spots like Robin Hood

To trying to find our way out of The Wood

We were Hunter’s of Deer  Crouching like Tiger

Keeping our Dragon Hidden til our eyes got wider

Now we Terminator the show

Full Metal Jacket the flow, Tap Spinals

Bring Heat whether on record or Vinyl

We came from an Animal House to become Godfather’s

Worry bout ex band members why bother?

We don’t let it slide, we just know the Dude Abides

This life wasn’t mean to be an Easy Ride

So as we pass the piece, we say, “Peace, until next time”

WORK!
stop looking  at this crap and get back to it!

(R. Lee Ermey)

Picture by: dunno source Caption by: devlin1 via Poster Builder

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Spesso di un film ci colpisce il finale ma se l’inizio è debole a volte è difficile proseguire nella visione. Certo se l’inizio è promettente allora rischiamo di non alzarci più dalla poltrona. Il sito Kontraband stila una curiosa classifica degli incipit più belli del cinema (degli ultimi anni, e prendendo in considerazione solo Blockbusters, diciamo noi), classifica ovviamente riarrangiata e commentata per voi da Alt(R)a Fedeltà.

5) Halloween

Una zucca ci suggerisce subito l’atmosfera e l’ambientazione del capolavoro di Carpenter; Con questa scena il buon John getta le basi per quello che sarebbe diventato uno dei filoni più prolifici per il Cinema Horror degli ultimi anni: lo Slasher, non c’è alcuna motivazione dietro il gesto folle di M. Myers, la pazzia sanguinaria ha invaso la provincia americana.

4) Pulp Fiction

Comincia con un pasto durante il quale Honey Bunny e Pumpkin discutono di una imminente rapina: una banca o un negozio di liquori? Silenzio, poi la decisione di rapinare un ristorante (non ci sono interessi in gioco, è dannatamente più facile…), a seguire un limpido esempio di battuta “Memorabile” (modificata in seguito dallo stesso Tarantino): “ANY OF YOU F#CKING PRICKS MOVE! AND I’LL EXECUTE EVERY MUTHAF#CKING LAST ONE OF YOU!”, freeze-frame. Strepitosa, sfido chiunque ad abbandonare la visione dopo un inizio del genere….

3) Full Metal Jacket

Come si può dimenticare il folgorante inizio di Full Metal Jacket? Chi può scrollarsi dalla memoria la figura arcigna e terrificante del Sergente Hartman e del suo passare in rassegna i futuri marines al corso di addestramento? Nessuno, ovvio.

2) Star Wars

Inizia con “La” citazione che non vogliamo ripetere, titoli che scorrono sullo schermo, nero, un pianeta compare in primo piano, un’astronave passa sule nostre teste… MEMORABILE.

Così comincia quella che probabilmente è l’OPENING SCENE più famosa della storia del Cinema, ripresa (e parodizzata) innumerevoli volte.

1) Touch of Evil – L’infernale Quinlan

Il piano sequenza con cui si apre il capolavoro di Orson Welles, lungo quattro minuti e trenta, è fra i più imitati della storia del cinema, citato e onorato anche da Robert Altman ne I Protagonisti. Per stile, fluidità e impatto si guadagna senza dubbio la palma di miglior “Opening Scene” della storia del Cinema.

Earlier this week, I traveled up to Camp Taji to prepare for a media visit, which occurred today. What I didn’t expect was that I would be put up in the Iraqi version of the Bates Motel.

If you’ve ever been on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tour, you’ve seen the Bates Motel made famous in the movie “Psycho.”

Calling this place the “Bates Motel” was giving it a LOT of credit. In fact, it was a generous characterization. My room was about 10×8 feet, and there were FOUR beds within. Fortunately, I had no roommate for this visit.

One of the more interesting parts of the complex was not the dirty floors or the bathrooms where you were required to use bottled water to brush your teeth. It was this Iraqi boat that was prominently displayed in the courtyard of the Tomahawk Village lodging (the actual name of the Bates Motel).

The gun itself was Russian-made, which was evident given the Russian writing all over it. Coincidentally, old Iraqi jets were also Russian MiGs… covered in Russian writing on the wiring, etc.

It turns out Taji used to be an old Iraqi Army base. Right next to the lodging facility we stayed in, which I presume received one fake sapphire on the AAA Five-Diamond rating system, were these old destroyed buildings.

Looking at the structure and design of the buildings, I gather that they were most likely barracks used by the Iraqi Army. If you think about the bay-style barracks you’ve seen in films like “Full Metal Jacket,” this would fit the bill.

All that’s left there now is a fairly damp mud pit filled with broken bricks and old beer bottles left there by others passing through. This ground is probably the most fertile land in Iraq, and it’s a blown-up building.

Finally, the most impressive thing that causes Camp Taji to stand out is its tank graveyard.

There are hundreds of these old Iraqi tanks left for dead at Camp Taji. All of them are destroyed or in various states of non-function.

Most of them have some form of graffiti on them left by Coalition Forces. Some of the graffiti is inappropriate for this site, but generally has to do with the size of the cannon on the tanks.

I leave that to your imagination, but I did see a phrase made famous in “Full Metal Jacket” painted on the barrel of one of the tanks.