BioShock, Symbolism and Mind-Control

Posted on August 18, 2007
Filed Under Symbolism, Movies, TV and Media |

BioShock is a new game for the XBox 360 and PC. It’s one of the most highly anticipated games of recent years, and takes the depths of interactivity and gaming to whole new levels. However, there may well be much more to this game than is first apparent. The many clues and hints in the form of various symbolism and mind-control techniques suggest the game may have a far darker under-pinning.

Much like movies from recent years - games are starting to contain “trigger imagery” and dialogue. Those that follow these ideas will remember the CIA experiments from the 1950’s involving the study of mind-control techniques upon unwitting citizens. Some of what came out of those experiments (and many others) can be found in modern movies such as Fight Club, V for Vendetta to name but two. A lot more on this subject can be found at In2Worlds.

As the power of computers (and thus home entertainment consoles) has grown almost exponentially, games are now at the point where they too can contain such mind-control phenomenon. BioShock contains very dark themes, it has a somewhat “anti-establishment” theme, along with a lot of quite disturbed violence. All hallmarks of trigger movies.

**Minor plot spoilers ahead**

Be aware that the video clips in this post contain violence.

Nearly drowning after surviving a plane crash, you find yourself in the massive undersea city called “Rapture”, constructed during the 1940’s. The city suffered a catastrophe at the end of the ’50’s and the game is set during 1960. This gives the game a Gothic ’40’s architecture, with ’50’s styling and music. It is both at once a familiar world, yet an alien world, one with notions that are totally opposite to our own.

Alice in Wonderland is a commonly used mind-control theme, it depicts a dream-world (alternative reality), upside down ideals (reversal of accepted beliefs), among much other symbolism. One of the main aspects of BioShock is the “Little Sisters”; young girls that very much have an Alice-like appearance. At one point near the start of the game a character speaks of these girls; “They are innocent girls turned into monsters. Whatever you thought of as right or wrong on the surface, counts for nothing down here.” The girls move around the city mutilating dead bodies in order to harvest a substance termed as “Adam”.

Already by this point, certain accepted ideals have clearly been turned upside down. Interestingly the name of the development studio that made the previous game “SystemShock” were called “Looking Glass Studios” (Through the Looking Glass?)

Around the city, the player comes into contact with mutated people known as “splicers”. These splicers are hostile towards the player and attack in a variety of ways. They look pretty much like everyday people, except subtly deformed. The splicers carry a strong theme of domestic violence, this is readily apparent in their aggressive shouting at each other as well as the player. The splicers are also suffering from deep anxiety; “I didn’t mean to do it!”, “Open the damn door!”, “My poor baby, momma’s gone and daddy too.” It goes on, and anxiety such as this is contagious - it leaves the player feeling more than subtly disturbed.

Each of the splicers wears a porcelain mask; these masks are another form of symbolism often used in mind control. For the most part these masks are of animals - and on some occasions are of a “white rabbit”, linking back to the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme. Throughout the game there are many posters on the walls, one in particular is of a man in a white rabbit mask - Donnie Darko style.

Now, one of the major elements in BioShock - which has been pushed as a relative innovation - is the games handling of water. The under sea city of Rapture, suffering from calamity has water pouring in abundance. This, along with the splicers, darkness and blood splattered rooms keeps a constant pressure on the player. The water at times floods rooms, slowly filling them, on occasion the water nears dangling electric cables. Glass windows crack under pressure and water starts seeping. In many places hypnotic and beautifully lit waterfalls cascade from walls and ceilings. This theme for water has been used under hypnosis in mind control experiments to provide for healing. The game then, uses water as both a source of anxiety and as a source of soothing.

Throughout the game the player is portrayed as both a victim and a saviour. They are placed in constant moral conundrums and forced to make decisions that go against conditioned belief systems. The developers have actually said this to be one of the main points of the game.

BioShock contains a lot of other well known and not so well known symbolism, sometimes in the open and other times subtly hidden. All in all BioShock marks a massive change in direction for video games, and follows the trend of many popular movies. The media of video games presents a unique take on the experience, and unlike movies, the viewer / player is required to directly participate. Sitting alone in a dark room, staring at the screen - it can really give you pause for thought.

The introduction to the game - and the final clip just below this paragraph - couldn’t make it any clearer. The traumatic experience of a plane crash, followed by near drowning. Finding yourself unexpectedly safe in a strange location. Containment in a small room whilst a video is played, destroying visions of your old reality…before finally the screen drops to reveal the New World.

Comments

5 Responses to “BioShock, Symbolism and Mind-Control”

JoJo on August 24th, 2007 10:58 am

I think you may be takeing the symbolism a little too far, my inpression was more of borrowing or ispiration from the past, films and actual people.Ryan looked a lot like Orson Welles to me, the bunny masks a lot from the movie the shinning, which the developer even admitted getting inspriration from, art decco which is from the 20’s and 30’s been in this game dated to 1960, doesn’t matter great game.
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Marcus on August 24th, 2007 3:01 pm

If anything, I think I may have given the impression that I was drawing conclusions, when in fact I wasn’t.

Regarding the symbolism in the game; I am not convinced that the developers had negative purposes for using said symbolism. However the fact remains that the exact symbolism as used in the game (rabbits, porcelain masks, running water etc) are all symbolism as used in mind programming. It’s worth looking up if you are at all interested.

In terms of the game…I suspect the symbolism is merely being used to make the game feel more intense at a primal / subconscious level. And it *is* undeniably intense.

At the end of the day, this article, like all my others…isn’t intended to draw conclusions - but instead make observations. Maybe it makes the reader aware of things they weren’t previously aware of. But in either case, I encourage the reader to make their own conclusions.

But yes, I agree. Great game. I am playing the full version myself.
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Meaning in Movies and Media : The Thoughts on September 2nd, 2007 3:05 pm

[…] BioShock: Symbolism and Mind-Control? Fake News in the Media Battlestar Galactica: Symbolism and Mythology […]
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Gina on September 7th, 2007 1:44 am

This Comment contains major spoilers

Well, considering by the middle of the game it becomes clear that a main plot point of the game is that your character was being “mind controlled” by Fontaine all along I think Marcus has a point here…
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Will on January 20th, 2008 1:25 am

No one that plays games reads or else they would realize that Bioshock is a satire of Ann Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. Her novel vigorously promoted capitalism over any social responsibility or religion which is the main theme of Bioshock. Also Atlas was a characters name in Bioshock, Fountaine was another characters’ name (another of her books was called Fountainhead) and Andrew Ryan sounds eerily similar to Ayn Rand. Also wikipedia says that the lead designer was influenced by Ayn Rand.
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