The military-entertainment complex / Tim Lenoir, Luke Caldwell

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Object Details

author
Lenoir, Timothy 1948-
Caldwell, Luke
Contents
Induction : the military-entertainment complex and the contemporary war imaginary -- From Battlezone to America's Army : the Defense Department and the game industry -- Creating repeat consumers : epic realism and the birth of the wargame franchise -- Coming to a screen near you : the RMA and affective entertainment -- Press X to hack : cyberwar and videogames -- Discharge : counter-wargaming in Spec Ops: the Line
Summary
"With the rise of drones and computer-controlled weapons of war, comparisons between war and video games have multiplied. The authors trace how the realities of war are represented in popular entertainment. In the early days of the video game industry personnel and expertise flowed from contractors building military simulations to game companies; in a middle period the military drew significantly on the booming game industry to train troops; now in our cultural present media corporations and the military draw upon one another cyclically to predict the future of warfare. The book argues that commercial video wargame franchises commodified and marketed the weapons, tactics, and threat scenarios of the Pentagon's War on Terror. Many of the best-selling video games (and television and films) of the last five years depict small special forces units that can deploy at a moment's notice anywhere in the world against non-traditional enemies. This intermediation of media forms within the military-entertainment complex has shaped the popular imaginary of war in the post 9/11 era and has naturalized the Pentagon's vision of a new American way of warfare."-- Provided by publisher.
2018
Type
Books
Physical description
265 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Place
United States
Smithsonian Libraries
Topic
Computer war games
Computer war games--Social aspects
War--Computer simulation--Social aspects
Military art and science--Computer simulation
War in mass media
War on Terrorism, 2001-2009, in mass media
Video games industry
Record ID
siris_sil_1090784
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0