M
marcelohl
Guest
Hey everyone. I'm starting this thread, as the title says, to discuss all the literary and cultural influences present in the world of HL2 (and HL1 too, though that was a less fleshed-out world). You may discuss anything that's already known to be in the game as well as elements you judge will probably will appear in some way or another.
I'll start with the clear influence some dystopian novels appear to have had on the creation of HL2's environment, in particular 1984 by George Orwell. I've just read through some pages of the book, and to those of you who haven't read it yet, do yourselves a favor and go read it!
In the world of 1984 there are (apparently) three main nations that dispute control of the planet, which are Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. There is always some kind of struggle going on between at least two of these powers, as they're always establishing shifty alliances that may turn to full scale war the next day. To try and keep the citizens always hating the enemy, no matter which one it is at any given moment, the controllers of Oceania resort to the figure of Goldstein, the arch-nemesis of the beloved Big Brother. So, if Oceania decides to declare war on Eastasia, Oceania's government will just put images of Eastasian soldiers along with Goldstein delivering an anti-Big Brother speech. This attracts immediate hate, as all denizens are brainwashed into praising the Big Brother above all else.
Now, we know that in HL2 the "Big Brother" role belongs to Dr. Breen, and the Combine might as well be the " Thought Police" . I wonder if they'll control the emotions of the city 17's citizens in a similar manner... maybe there'll be different alien factions fighting outside the city's perimeter, and they need to direct their hate towards them. Maybe one of the factions already has secretly gained control of all the human outposts left, and is just playing the role of 'protectors' to avoid rebellion, at least until they can reduce the human population to a number that won't represent any kind of threat anymore.
Another aspect of George Orwell's novel that I think is interesting is the description of Oceania's Ministries, in particular of the Ministry of Love (which is nothing like what the name would indicate). To quote the book:
"It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla faced guards in black uniforms..."
To me this sounds a lot like the big-black combine building on City 17. In the book the Ministry of Love is the place where they take all the thought criminals for interrogation, torture and executions.
There are a lot of other aspects from this book and from others that I'd like to discuss, as I can see some similarities to HL2, but I'm too lazy to continue typing for now... first I'd like to have some of your inputs and ideas... I just began reading this forum a week ago, and I can see a lot of you have great insights on the HL universe as well as a diverse and solid cultural background. One more thing, try to keep spoilers to a minimum, so no talking about things seen in the stolen version or heard from that playtester buddy everybody seems to have nowadays. :upstare:
cheers everybody, and sorry for any grammar mistakes, as english is not my native language! :cheers:
I'll start with the clear influence some dystopian novels appear to have had on the creation of HL2's environment, in particular 1984 by George Orwell. I've just read through some pages of the book, and to those of you who haven't read it yet, do yourselves a favor and go read it!
In the world of 1984 there are (apparently) three main nations that dispute control of the planet, which are Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. There is always some kind of struggle going on between at least two of these powers, as they're always establishing shifty alliances that may turn to full scale war the next day. To try and keep the citizens always hating the enemy, no matter which one it is at any given moment, the controllers of Oceania resort to the figure of Goldstein, the arch-nemesis of the beloved Big Brother. So, if Oceania decides to declare war on Eastasia, Oceania's government will just put images of Eastasian soldiers along with Goldstein delivering an anti-Big Brother speech. This attracts immediate hate, as all denizens are brainwashed into praising the Big Brother above all else.
Now, we know that in HL2 the "Big Brother" role belongs to Dr. Breen, and the Combine might as well be the " Thought Police" . I wonder if they'll control the emotions of the city 17's citizens in a similar manner... maybe there'll be different alien factions fighting outside the city's perimeter, and they need to direct their hate towards them. Maybe one of the factions already has secretly gained control of all the human outposts left, and is just playing the role of 'protectors' to avoid rebellion, at least until they can reduce the human population to a number that won't represent any kind of threat anymore.
Another aspect of George Orwell's novel that I think is interesting is the description of Oceania's Ministries, in particular of the Ministry of Love (which is nothing like what the name would indicate). To quote the book:
"It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla faced guards in black uniforms..."
To me this sounds a lot like the big-black combine building on City 17. In the book the Ministry of Love is the place where they take all the thought criminals for interrogation, torture and executions.
There are a lot of other aspects from this book and from others that I'd like to discuss, as I can see some similarities to HL2, but I'm too lazy to continue typing for now... first I'd like to have some of your inputs and ideas... I just began reading this forum a week ago, and I can see a lot of you have great insights on the HL universe as well as a diverse and solid cultural background. One more thing, try to keep spoilers to a minimum, so no talking about things seen in the stolen version or heard from that playtester buddy everybody seems to have nowadays. :upstare:
cheers everybody, and sorry for any grammar mistakes, as english is not my native language! :cheers:
