Loading...
Homegrown heroes and new war warriors : Post-9/11 depictions of warfare in call of duty
Maloney, Marcus Doidge, Scott
Maloney, Marcus
Doidge, Scott
Author
Abstract
More than twenty years following 9/11, America and the West are still coming to terms with its impact. In order to further comprehend the political/military ramifications of the event, in particular the impression of 9/11 and the ensuing ‘War on Terror’ on popular cultural texts, this chapter examines the military ‘first person shooter’ (FPS) video game franchise, Call of Duty. As the most profitable military FPS franchise of all time, Call of Duty is often examined as an example of the ‘military-entertainment complex’. In contrast, the chapter examines the various Call of Duty games as mythmaking, a reflection of ‘elemental drives and anxieties’ (Heins 2013: 3) that lie beneath even the ideological substructure. We chart Call of Duty games as they project a vast temporal span of past, present and future visions of war. We pay particular attention to interpreting the most recent entries in the franchise and their odd amalgamation of antagonists that suggests America is no longer even sure who it is fighting against, let alone why.
Keywords
Date
2021
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Militarization and the global rise of paramilitary culture : Post-heroic reimaginings of the warrior
Volume
Issue
Page Range
57-74
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.