Half Life 2 - Symbolism, Reflections, Philosophy, etc

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DElta418

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I think this game has much more to offer than a normal fps. Look how many questions its raised. I mean, how long did it take anyone to figure out FarCry. Not long because it sucked.
But honestly, this game should be taken seriously. It puts you in the hotseat of a "1984" style world. Govt control, no rights, abuse, martial law. The Combine mine as well wear Swastikas as badges becasuse they're basically Nazis. Doctor Breen talks about a perfect race and becoming super humans if you listen to his speeches. He talks about destroying instinct, destroying selfthought and self existance.
I know its a game, but there is clearly more to it. City 17 may be an imaginary world, but it implies real concepts that demand to be seen and more thoughtfully considered.

Please post any thoughts you have on this game or any pieces that made you think outside the box. Stalkers, slavery, eviction, deciet, etc.
 
DElta418 said:
I think this game has much more to offer than a normal fps. Look how many questions its raised. I mean, how long did it take anyone to figure out FarCry. Not long because it sucked.
But honestly, this game should be taken seriously. It puts you in the hotseat of a "1984" style world. Govt control, no rights, abuse, martial law. The Combine mine as well wear Swastikas as badges becasuse they're basically Nazis. Doctor Breen talks about a perfect race and becoming super humans if you listen to his speeches. He talks about destroying instinct, destroying selfthought and self existance.
I know its a game, but there is clearly more to it. City 17 may be an imaginary world, but it implies real concepts that demand to be seen and more thoughtfully considered.

Please post any thoughts you have on this game or any pieces that made you think outside the box. Stalkers, slavery, eviction, deciet, etc.
Click to expand...

Remember, Breen is merely a puppet in the Combine Aliens conquest of Earth, he wants humanity to gain but in the same way he's merely a pawn. But yes, it has a whole lot more to offer than others do and offers a much more immersive world.
 
The whole game, as far as I could see, was about how there was no such thing as free choice. :eek:
 
I also loved the grafitti through out the game. Especially the soldier holding an infant and the evolution of a monkey to man to combine.
 
I think the message of HL2 is 'when everything seems to be against you, go berserk and kill lots of people'.

Seriously though, there were some awesome little elements and themes, like the exposition to propaganda and the chilling realisation you get when you hear Breen talking about the 'suppression field'. I think the game probably does have something basic to say about the human condition, but I dunno if it's meant to be a hopeful message or not. Is it saying something about the bravery of the human spirit in the fact that we eventually stood up to fight off the Combine, or our cowardice in that nothing happened until one man took the first steps? What about the fact that we're screwed no matter what happens, since our curiosity ended up with the planet being ruined...?

HL2 doesn't deliver any real concrete message to me, but I get this general mix of feelings, of bleakness and anger and determination, from the game's themes when I play.
 
People always compare halflife to 1984 but I think it shares more in common with Brave New World. This is a tale of super technology that dehumanizes.
Also, I disagree with you that the Breencasts sound like Nazism. The problem is that the combine do not provide the things promised in the Breencasts. The Breencasts describe a world in which humans peacefully decide expand their best qualities and to go posthuman. Whereas, the actual world is a place where humans are forced against their will to go posthuman in a manner which renders them slaves to an impersonal unfeeling monstrosity. Technology is neither good nor evil. Its simply power. It can be harnessed to do either. Dr. Breen is like a false prophet. He speaks of good but his works are evil.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their works.” Mathew 7, 15-16
Breen talks of a paradise but his works… well….
Stalkers.
 
Is This Tea said:
People always compare halflife to 1984 but I think it shares more in common with Brave New World. This is a tale of super technology that dehumanizes.
Also, I disagree with you that the Breencasts sound like Nazism. The problem is that the combine do not provide the things promised in the Breencasts. The Breencasts describe a world in which humans peacefully decide expand their best qualities and to go posthuman. Whereas, the actual world is a place where humans are forced against their will to go posthuman in a manner which renders them slaves to an impersonal unfeeling monstrosity. Technology is neither good nor evil. Its simply power. It can be harnessed to do either. Dr. Breen is like a false prophet. He speaks of good but his works are evil.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their works.” Mathew 7, 15-16
Breen talks of a paradise but his works… well….
Stalkers.
Click to expand...

Good summation, I forgot to mention the whole authoritarian technocracy thing in my post...
 
In Brave New World, citizens are conditioned from birth to enjoy their society and there are nearly no dissenters, not to mention that they were encouraged to have sex. Half-Life 2 features a much more violent, oppressive regime that prevents sexual intercourse and is hated by most of the people, making it much closer to 1984 than Brave New World.
 
Ageless Stranger said:
In Brave New World, citizens are conditioned from birth to enjoy their society and there are nearly no dissenters, not to mention that they were encouraged to have sex. Half-Life 2 features a much more violent, oppressive regime that prevents sexual intercourse and is hated by most of the people, making it much closer to 1984 than Brave New World.
Click to expand...
My point is that 1984 is novel about what kind of horrible social system is possible now whereas Brave New World is about what possible future technologies could dehumanize us. You are correct in pointing out that the characters of 1984 have more in common with the characters of Half Life. However, I was approaching this from the point of view of the reader. The reader of Brave New World should be as horrified at society’s status as the reader of 1984 is.
The reason I feel like Half Life is closer to Brave New World then 1984 is that in my mind…
1984:
Dystopian novel about the horrors of communism
Brave New World:
Dystopian novel about horrors of posthumanism
Half Life 2:
Dystopian game about the horrors of posthumanism
Again this is from the perspective of the Reader/Player and dealing with the most overarching themes rather then dealing with character and setting.
At the level of Setting and Characters, you’re right. Half life does have more in common with 1984.
 
the film "Brazil" also follows such themes. great movie btw
 
Holy damn, if you're looking for symbolism and thematics, HL2 is the last place to look. Apart from "itz teh dystopias!" analysis, there's nothing worthwhile there, buddy. If you want real analysis, take a few AP english courses in highschool, or analysis of classical literature in uni. HL2 is for shooting combine.
 
I fail to see point of this thread, valve's job is to entertain people with their games (and make some serious cash, silly me :rolleyes: ) deeper the game gets - more people it attracts!!!
Its like trying to see symbolism of hamburger, philosophying why its made, whats its goal in life!! Pointless, save ur brain!!! :farmer:
 
That's like saying Half-life is just a souped up version of Tetris...

Games today are no longer just interactive button pushing/timing; they're interactive media. In order for a single-player game to flourish, it has to have a good story- which, half-life does, and quite a deep one too. Failure to see the elements of philioshopy in the game undermines the true experience intended when it was created.

You can read a fiction book, turn the pages, and not wonder one thing about it, but that would defeat the purpose of reading the book- it's supposed to be an enjoyment, and many books have themes that coincide with, or imply ideals about the actual world around us.

Video games are the new 'book', the new 'tv', if you catch my drift. Interactive media. PC Age technologized living.

However, there are still some games made merely for a quick thrill of suspense, but many veteran gamers choose not to even bother.
 
Saying Half-Life is just for the fun of shooting things just shows how completely narrow minded you are. Half-Life's story goes in deeper than A LOT of stories I have read about in books and seen on tv and film. The beauty of Half-Life is that as well as having superb graphics and superb action, its has an immense, in-depth and very detailed and interesting story. One of Valve's aims with the episodic concept they are using I believe apart from gaining more time, using less money and getting feedback, is for a chance for big fans of the game to discuss the story and really try and lay out all of what has been seen. You get the full experiance that way and you become more involved when you play the next game. Half-Life would be miles away from what it is today without its storyline ;)
 
Somebody a while back posted a really dark interpretation of the Half-Life series. Can't remember who or in what topic, but the summation was essentially that Gordon, as a result of his actions incurring the wrath of the Combine, would have the Resistance turn against him. After all, he's a tool of rampant destruction. Breeen pegged him pretty accurately. When he asked me to name one thing I'd created, I felt like I'd been had. I walked into the citadel all gung-ho and full of righteousness, but then I ended up feeling like an unwitting tool that may bring about a sorry end for a lack of foresight.

Real anti-climatic, and I gotta say I was intrigued by it.
 
There was always this looming feeling of "Wait, I am doing the right thing...aren't I?" throughout.
 
Haha, I actually tried to do a search for the posts and I came across DarkSide's case against Gordon Freeman.

A good read. :) I hope that when they say Episode 2 will be darker, they mean they'll be exploring some of these things. Hopefully Episode 1's flashback to Breen's lecture in the beginning was hinting at some of the deeper and more destructive implications and consequences of the player's actions that will be faced later.
 
You also start to see the consequences of what you've done in previous episodes: Gordon isn't necessarily an allied force for good and the fall of the citadel has had pluses and minuses. He's now coming to the attention of other parts of the Combine, who so far have had their way with the Earth. Now they're surprised that a single person can have such a disruptive effect on their plans.
Click to expand...

So that should be good. Lombardi also talked about it being the Empire strikes back of the trilogy, in terms of tension and the darker tone.
 
Yep, I felt the same way when playing through it, you know you are doing good. Breen's face came up on one of the screens in the Citadel, and just before I ripped it off the wall, he said that. I actually thought about it and knew he has a very good point, I think Freeman would have been thinking the same way. So I think Valve will most definately build on this, but to what this 'darker' aspect will lead to, it seems VERY exiting +D
 
I can enumerate a large number of motifs, symbols and allegories used within Half-Life 2. But, due to my lack of time, I'll only name one.

(I beg your pardon for randomness)

One of the most interesting themes, is the birth of oppresion - most enemies you combat are humans or former humans, hidden behind cold, polished faceplates and uniforms obscuring all human features. The uniformisation, making one indistinguishable from the others, allows for anonymity, which in turn spawns moral degradation. Just look, how the SA, SS, SS-Waffen, NKVD and similiar organisation throughout the ages of human history uniformed their members in order to make them commit acts they wouldn't as individuals.

Now, compare this with the Civil Protection. Voluntarily conscripted humans (remember what the citizen at the station said?) are given clothes and armor that obstruct all their features. Not only does it serve to terrify victims, it also detaches the officer from others. They stare at the world through a thick visor, with their eyes concealed from the world. This illustrates how far you can degenerate a human being without resorting to more sophisticated techniques.

As an endnote, I'd like to criticize people who dismiss games as shallow medium with no deeper meaning. Well, suffice to say, the same was said about the film industry, when it was developing.

To support my thesis, I'll name a few games which can be compared in terms of depth with books: Beyond Good & Evil, Fallout 1, Deus Ex, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, Blade Runner, System Shock 1&2...

Still a shallow medium?
 
However, wearing a uniform in not a prerequisite for cruelty. Look at all of the horrors committed in more ancient history by non-uniformed armies. The following armies all put entire cities to death without wearing uniforms, pretty brutal if you ask me; Britons in Britain, Israelites in Canaan, Mongols everywhere, Vikings in Europe, Macedonians in Egypt...
 
Maybe it's just me, but I did not get the graffiti of the Combine soldier holding the baby.
 
imagod284 said:
However, wearing a uniform in not a prerequisite for cruelty. Look at all of the horrors committed in more ancient history by non-uniformed armies. The following armies all put entire cities to death without wearing uniforms, pretty brutal if you ask me; Britons in Britain, Israelites in Canaan, Mongols everywhere, Vikings in Europe, Macedonians in Egypt...
Click to expand...
Ah, true, but most of those people did not commit acts of violence towards their own people, but when a police force or some sort of orginization intends to attack their own neighbours and friend, anonimity helps.
 
One big symbol in the HL series is trains. Trains are everywhere, the BM transit system, On a Rail and in HL2 the razor trains make constant appearences. There are even a few in EP1. The trains are on a set track, they have no freedom of movement. Just like Gordon. You have to do this, do that. There is no choice whatsoever. The g-man even mocks this the HL2 ending speech.
 
Aye, not to mention the tram ride at the end of the first HL. And although there is no visible appearance of one, the ending of HL2 elicits the same thing.
 
Absinthe said:
Somebody a while back posted a really dark interpretation of the Half-Life series. Can't remember who or in what topic, but the summation was essentially that Gordon, as a result of his actions incurring the wrath of the Combine, would have the Resistance turn against him. After all, he's a tool of rampant destruction. Breeen pegged him pretty accurately. When he asked me to name one thing I'd created, I felt like I'd been had. I walked into the citadel all gung-ho and full of righteousness, but then I ended up feeling like an unwitting tool that may bring about a sorry end for a lack of foresight.

Real anti-climatic, and I gotta say I was intrigued by it.
Click to expand...

This thread?
 
'Twas actually a different thread, but I did come across that one, which pretty much comes to similar conclusions.
 
DElta418 said:
I also loved the grafitti through out the game. Especially the soldier holding an infant and the evolution of a monkey to man to combine.
Click to expand...

IF I remember correctly, it was a crouched woman holding an infant... and that seems to impliment the resistance with the fact that they are fighting for their future.
 
Mikael Grizzly said:
I can enumerate a large number of motifs, symbols and allegories used within Half-Life 2. But, due to my lack of time, I'll only name one.

(I beg your pardon for randomness)

One of the most interesting themes, is the birth of oppresion - most enemies you combat are humans or former humans, hidden behind cold, polished faceplates and uniforms obscuring all human features. The uniformisation, making one indistinguishable from the others, allows for anonymity, which in turn spawns moral degradation. Just look, how the SA, SS, SS-Waffen, NKVD and similiar organisation throughout the ages of human history uniformed their members in order to make them commit acts they wouldn't as individuals.

Now, compare this with the Civil Protection. Voluntarily conscripted humans (remember what the citizen at the station said?) are given clothes and armor that obstruct all their features. Not only does it serve to terrify victims, it also detaches the officer from others. They stare at the world through a thick visor, with their eyes concealed from the world. This illustrates how far you can degenerate a human being without resorting to more sophisticated techniques.

As an endnote, I'd like to criticize people who dismiss games as shallow medium with no deeper meaning. Well, suffice to say, the same was said about the film industry, when it was developing.

To support my thesis, I'll name a few games which can be compared in terms of depth with books: Beyond Good & Evil, Fallout 1, Deus Ex, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, Blade Runner, System Shock 1&2...

Still a shallow medium?
Click to expand...

You make a good point, Games are meant to (or should) have a depth, a very deep depth, because it gets the player REALLY immersed, and you're right, CP officers are obscured, I think that's so that they don't look back ad think 'i'm a human', there's also intimidation, Human vs. another human isn't so intimidating, but a human (citizen) going against a darksuited wickedly awesome soldier, well, let's just say, If I had no crwbar, i'd probably run!
 
Ophiguris said:
IF I remember correctly, it was a crouched woman holding an infant... and that seems to impliment the resistance with the fact that they are fighting for their future.
Click to expand...
It's a person with a gasmask on holding a baby with the word 'caste' next to it. And stop double posting.
 
imagod284 said:
However, wearing a uniform in not a prerequisite for cruelty. Look at all of the horrors committed in more ancient history by non-uniformed armies. The following armies all put entire cities to death without wearing uniforms, pretty brutal if you ask me; Britons in Britain, Israelites in Canaan, Mongols everywhere, Vikings in Europe, Macedonians in Egypt...
Click to expand...

It isn't, but it certainly makes cruelty more likely. Particularly if the person wearing the uniform cannot be identified. Combine that (hahah) with a higher authority figure telling you what to do and you might be surprised what people are capable of. Many studies have been done on the subject.
 
Langolier said:
It isn't, but it certainly makes cruelty more likely. Particularly if the person wearing the uniform cannot be identified. Combine that (hahah) with a higher authority figure telling you what to do and you might be surprised what people are capable of. Many studies have been done on the subject.
Click to expand...

I still maintain that there is a big psychological difference in exercising violence on outsiders than your friends and neighbours. A soldier fighting a war doesn't need a masking uniform because to him, the enemy is anonymous but to a policing force that exercises violence against their own, they feel more secure if they are masked.
 
Uniformisation in armies IS present, and it serves to detach the wearer from what's happening around him. It is one of the elements of mental conditioning, which turns a human into a killer. Just look how much training you have to give a soldier to have him kill a person willingly, and even then, he is more than likely to experience the so-called "First Kill Syndrome".

Uniformisation kills individuality as well as morality.

[part one completed]
 
DElta418 said:
I also loved the grafitti through out the game. Especially the soldier holding an infant and the evolution of a monkey to man to combine.
Click to expand...

Kind of OT, but yeah I liked the "Evolution" graffiti so much I got a t-shirt printed with the it on the back and the combine logo on the front.
 
Half Life goes farther than any other due to nature of unanswered questions, Shakespearean works are great due to the fact of ambiguity, double meaning and no concrete answers, always open to interpretation. Half Life will always be good, but enjoy this state now, since when questions are answered you will remember the time to when things were "obscure" and open to several explanations.

And I would sure hate to see the world in the state it is in Half Life. I would personally punch Breen in the face if I could.
 
d00d said:
Half Life will always be good, but enjoy this state now, since when questions are answered you will remember the time to when things were "obscure" and open to several explanations.
Click to expand...
I doubt we will know every detail about the Half-Life universe when it finishes.
Marc Laidlaw said:
It's a classic science-fiction technique to build your world with details, any one of which could be made into a story or a book in its own right. There's something skimpy and cheap about trying to extract full-scale entertainment from every single little detail, rather than just liberally scattering them about. Some writers will take one idea and spread it very, very thin; others will take that one and five others like it and stuff them ten to a page for hundreds of pages. Guess which kind I prefer? We're trying not to be stingy, but to strike sparks and suggest more stories than can possibly be told.
Click to expand...


The Breencasts at the start of Half-Life 2 I always thought brought up some interesting philosophical points about immortality and the instinct to procreate.
 
I am sure every aspect of the Half-Life gaming series could imply some sort of metaphor to real-life. The eye colors, just to name one off.

Every game has some type of depth, leading something towards life. It might not seem that way, or even mean't to be, but there is. (I am sure.) :eek:
 
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