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I think the reason why Mirror's Edge resonates even to this day is because it's a relic of the world just before 2008-2009. You know, before the Great Recession and the proliferation of social media.

Mirror's Edge has that unique combination of anti-corporate rebelliousness and the "Frutiger Aero" aesthetics that distills that cultural moment. But the reason why that moment is uniquely nostalgic is that it's the last time in western history when Things Were Okay.

There's been a lot written about the long decline of western economies since the postwar boom and its impact on culture. Mark Fisher has made an entire career out of being a sour "back in my day..." loser. But it's all true! The 2009 recession, then, represents the completion of a process that began sometime around the 1970s. It's the final moment when the Window of Opportunity was finally shut, when the Future was finally killed, and the Eternal Present set in.

Mirror's Edge doesn't represent an Alternative in and of itself, but a cultural moment when imagining an Alternative was still possible. Its message of rebellion against the System and its Corrupt Officials is painfully vague, but it's more than can be said about the lethargic schizophrenia that's gripped collective consciousness since the 2010s.

And like so many cultural artifacts of that era of dwindling hope and resistance (including "old 4chan"!), it's become part of lost mythology – a Lost Future, if you will – one of cyber-freedom, hacktivism, and of the liberatory potential of a brave few individuals, the (only) ones who can see the Truth, the ones who are above (in ME's case, physically ABOVE) the mindless and subservient sheeple, working against overwhelming odds to spread said Truth to the masses.

We saw that in films like Matrix or Fight Club, too, and in games like Half-Life 2 and other cyberpunk-adjacent titles from the time. It's all a reaction against the extravagance of the 1990s.

And it's gone now. There is no Truth anymore.

https://arch.b4k.co/v/thread/681948406/#681948406

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