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To my friend Joseph
Metal Gear Solid: Intro to Cold War Themes
Metal Gear Solid is an internationally acclaimed video game
created by a Japanese visionary named Hideo Kojima
over 25 years ago.
As a lifelong admirer of western cinema,
Kojima has borrowed elements from many films
dealing with WW2, the Cold War, and near dystopian future.
On the subject of the Cold War
one of Kojima's biggest influences
was the iconic 007 film series
based on the novels of Ian Fleming.
Fleming at one point worked as a Naval Intelligence Officer
and British Secret Intel Operative Conrad O’Brien-ffrench.
Another Cold War film Kojima has cited as an influence
Is Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 'North By Northwest'.
Just as the 007 film 'Dr No'
is the first film to have acknowledged the British MI6
'North By Northwest' was the first Hollywood film
to make direct reference to the American CIA.
Apart from these and other film influences
Kojima is well versed in the historical topics in his games.
Several real life aspects of the Cold War
are discussed at length in the MGS series:
the nuclear arms race
the space race
the CIA/KGB espionnage,
the Cuban missile crisis,
the theory of nuclear deterrence,
and so on...
While these themes are primarily exploited in the series prequels
(MGS3, Portable Ops and Peace Walker)
they are also commented on to a lesser extent
in the other games in the series.
Hideo Kojima understands the importance of the Cold War
and the effects that it continues to have on our world today:
many political ideologies,
military and civilian technologies,
space exploration,
a prototype of the internet,
and other modern communications were born during this era.
During the conflict between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan in the late 1970s
the US commenced the infamous 'Operation Cyclone'
in which the CIA formed and trained a group of islamic militants.
After the Soviets began to withdraw in the 1980s from Afghanistan,
the US ceased all funding and support to the region.
Some historians suspect that it may have led to
many conflicts in the Middle-East.
In the MGS world
Revolver Ocelot was involved in these events.
Unfortunately,
a lot of the information presented in the MGS series
as well as the game's fictional backstory,
goes unnoticed by many players
because a lot of it it featured in the optional CODEC calls
that players can access throughout the game
and especially in MG2 and MGS3.
You can spend hours calling different characters in the CODEC
and they will give you different responses most of the time.
That has been just a little bit of information
about Metal Gear's Cold War backdrop.
Play the games! You'll find a lot more!
This episode has been written by Matt Martin (or Decoy Octopus),
you can check out his channel, and his Twitter.
If you want you can subscribe to our channel
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Subtitles: Bastien Zara