The military-entertainment complex / Tim Lenoir, Luke Caldwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lenoir, Timothy, 1948- author.

Caldwell, Luke, author.

Series:

MetaLABprojects

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War video games.

War--Computer simulation--Social aspects--United States.

War.

War video games--Social aspects--United States.

Military art and science--Computer simulation.

Military art and science.

War on Terrorism, 2001-2009, in mass media.

War in mass media.

Video games industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, [2018]

Summary:

With the rise of drones and computer-controlled weapons, the line between war and video games continues to blur. In this book, the authors trace how the realities of war are deeply inflected by their representation in popular entertainment. War games and other media, in turn, feature an increasing number of weapons, tactics, and threat scenarios from the War on Terror. While past analyses have emphasized top-down circulation of pro-military ideologies through government public relations efforts and a cooperative media industry, The Military-Entertainment Complex argues for a nonlinear relationship, defined largely by market and institutional pressures. Tim Lenoir and Luke Caldwell explore the history of the early days of the video game industry, when personnel and expertise flowed from military contractors to game companies; to a middle period when the military drew on the booming game industry to train troops; to a present in which media corporations and the military influence one another cyclically to predict the future of warfare. In addition to obvious military-entertainment titles like America’s Army, Lenoir and Caldwell investigate the rise of best-selling franchise games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and Ghost Recon. The narratives and aesthetics of these video games permeate other media, including films and television programs. This commodification and marketing of the future of combat has shaped the public’s imagination of war in the post-9/11 era and naturalized the U.S. Pentagon’s vision of a new way of war.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Induction: The Military-Entertainment Complex and the Contemporary War Imaginary

1. From Battlezone to America’s Army: The Defense Department and the Game Industry

2. Creating Repeat Consumers: Epic Realism and the Birth of the Wargame Franchise

Windows

3. Coming to a Screen Near You: The RMA and Affective Entertainment

4. Press X to Hack: Cyberwar and Videogames

Window

Discharge: Counter-Wargaming in Spec Ops: The Line

Endnotes

Linkography

Acknowledgments

Credits

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780674274730

0674274733

OCLC:

1282596053