this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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this silly little post managed to make the redditors over at the disco elysium sub drop bangers like

''Orwell is cursed to be misunderstood by both left and right cri cri''

''How dare the Union do [CRIME] to fund their militant activities?? Don't they know [CRIME] is BAD!??''

This ain't even a media literacy issue, this is a literacy skill issue.

stop-posting-amogus

Look at my communists dawg! We're never getting anywhere! agony-acid

link, because I am not a liberal

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 8 months ago (12 children)

It’s entirely intentional that Joyce is one of the more affable people you come across juxtaposed to Evrart who is an unscrupulous sleazeball; yet one is knowingly an agent of Capital perpetuating misery (and eventually death) in Revachol while the other represents a net good for Martinaise and potentially a force for positive change, however messy and flawed. The game isn't even subtle about it.

People hung up on his amoral actions in that thread are apparently missing the wider context about how bleak things are in a city where Corpos feel comfortable enough to hire bloodthirsty, racist mercenaries to break strikes. Or how every little bit of organized struggle on the ground is what revolutions (“The Return”) are made of.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 8 months ago (8 children)

i think a lot of liberals completely miss that most people talk to the main character like a cop, because that's what he is. Joyce is warm and welcoming to HDB because he's a cop. Evrart is smarmy and sends HDB on wild goose chases because he's a cop who collaborates with the board of directors of the very company who Evrart is striking against. The entire game takes place from the perspective of a dumbass alcoholic amnesiac cop and that colors every encounter you have with people. Like I've heard liberals try to say the game actually mocks all political ideologies, including communism, because the communist characters are rude to you, or they waste your time, or they're mistrustful of you. Yeah no shit, because every one of them looks at you and sees a pig.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's as if you don't believe a cop could be a socialist revolutionary

[–] [email protected] 46 points 8 months ago (2 children)

spoilers

well it's not just me. The only person who takes Harry seriously by the end of the communist vision quest is Kim. That's either because Kim's got a good read on people, or he trusts Harry, or maybe it's because Kim's spent the most time with Harry so he realizes all the socialist stuff isn't an act. He'll describe you a "Mazovian socio-economist" to your colleagues at the end of the game, adding something like "He wants to liquidate the capitalist class, which is highly unusual for a police officer."

No one else believes Harry is an actual socialist. Mañana humors Harry briefly, but that guy has a very chill attitude and I could never get a good idea on what he's actually thinking.

Someone here once said something to me like "the deserter and Harry are both bad communists for opposite reasons." The deserter because he's lost all connection with the public, and Harry because he's a goofy amnesiac cop who's never read a single sentence of theory and lives off vibes. Harry's got his heart in the right place though by the end of the game, which is shown as being way more important

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago

I think that was a reference to when you ask Elizabeth when they’re moving on to armed revolution and she laughs it off

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

The two student communists seem convinced of Harry’s genuineness by the end of the quest, even if they still acknowledge him as “gendarme”. Helps when you’ve accrued enough commie points and read through some theory to get the better ending.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah, you're right. I didn't mention those two because I interpreted the students as representing very young, western armchair leftists. Or ultras. Who knows what they'll find genuine next week

Or they represent the very common experience of wanting to connect with leftists in your area, you hype yourself up to get a revolution started, then discover the local party is two guys who hang out in an attic and argue over three sentences of theory. This game is too real.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Lol they call you a gendarme? Thats kind of amusing and also slightly confusing because the gendarmes are basically military police and completely distinct from regular police. Although the RNCP is supposed to be a militia so that could fit, im just really surprised how many french cultural and linguistic pointers the game uses, i remember it really weirded me out when i first played it lol, like “why the hell does everyone have a french accent”

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The RCM is literally a remnant of the former ICM, the "Black and White Army" of the Communards, so the line is blurry.

And yeah, Revachol and some other parts of the Insulinde were colonized by Sur-la-Clef/Suresne, a not-so-subtle French analogue and the name itself is inspired by a famous French anarchist. I assume Robert Kurvitz just took inspiration from the Paris Commune and let worldbuilding take it from there.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

huh huh, I had forgotten about all that. I just think its hilarious that Harry likely speak french then, considering what the website (rightfully may I add) thinks of the french michael-laugh

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