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   the sixth golden ticket (sadidas@shitposter.world)'s status on Monday, 08-Jul-2024 03:37:49 JST the sixth golden ticket
   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
   • triodug likes this.
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     triodug (triodug@fedi.triodug.com)'s status on Monday, 08-Jul-2024 03:44:57 JST triodug

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     @SADIDAS it was also a good game.
     Fish of Rage likes this.
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     frogzone@wizard.casa's status on Monday, 08-Jul-2024 05:01:45 JST frogzone

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     • triodug

     @triodug @SADIDAS i think that western culture is locked in that 90s and early 00s era, for a number of reasons, i think they are more scared than ever to show people present day reality. it could be just the big social media platforms are trying to shield ppl from the new realities. i don't think that if a movie like the matrix came out today, that it would work because we have become a lot less able to see dissident content and things that undermine the controlling forces. there are undercurrents but they are never allowed to grow, and ppl are scared to be seen to do something different.

     everyone knows the leaders are terrible, but they just don't know that everyone else knows, and they sure as heck don't know how to do what they feel they need to do.

     its a sorry time.... year of the :butterfedyA: fedi cant come soon enuf.

     triodug likes this.