Binge on This - Fallout: Current Issues in a Postapocalyptic Future

There is a new series out that seems to be all the rage these days. At least, the notorious way it is being advertised promises that it will get huge, if it isn't already. Of course I'm talking about Fallout, a post-apocalyptic TV-show based on a number of video games that created enough background lore to spin into a series. As I never actually played any of the games, I gave the show a tentative attempt, but simply the first season was enough to convince me: This series could easily become the next Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad.

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After the Nuclear War

It is not easy to piece together the world the viewers find themselves in, especially for those not familiar with the games. Fact is, there had been a some kind of nuclear devastation on the earth's surface, which is why (a presumably small fraction of) society has survived in underground bunkers, called vaults. Fortunately, there are plenty of flashbacks to the time just before the bombs dropped. From these it should also become apparent that the pre-war world had already deviated from our historical past, so the entire background the series relies on is an alternate universe.

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Hi-Tech in a Perpetual 1950's

Interestingly, the fifties seem to define the entire show. This doesn't only apply to before the atomic war (which itself is set in the 2070's) but even the world of the main story line, over two hundred years later. Everything from billboards, to cars, to media productions is steeped in the very distinct 1950's style. Even the music of the show is a careful selection from those years, ranging from Bing Crosby to Buddy Holly. I thought this was kinda strange at first, but after a while it started growing on me. Also, it's important to keep in mind that the world we see is not the 50's of our reality, as there are more high-tech gadgets all around, and interestingly racism is also taken out of the equation, without any sign of racial discrimination toward anyone.

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Order and Chaos Side-by-Side

The huge juxtaposition presented by Fallout is the division between vault dwellers and people from the surface. With their limited resources and carefully designed living space, vaults created their own type of societies. The people who grew up in them had to be structural, responsible, collectivistic, highly dependent on cooperation, and with a strong moral compass instilled on them. Individual needs had to be always secondary to the needs of the community as a whole. Rules were everywhere, and everyone was happy to follow them.

The exact opposite was true for the lawlessness on the surface, where you could be killed (or exploited in various ways) any minute, and the only way to prevent it was to be even more ruthless than the others. This individualism was taken to a level where it posed a complete disregard to society, if a trace of this concept even remained in existence. This reminded me a little bit of H.G. Wells' Time Machine, except for the Morlocks and the Eloy reversed their places.

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Naiveness or Sociopathy

As you can probably expect, these two extreme ways of thinking and acting causes interesting interactions once members of the two sides meet each other, which is the basic story of the series. A young lady from the vault goes up to the surface looking for her father. The various people she encounters see her as completely crazy, while she in turn has a hard time accepting the general heartlessness around her.

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As it turns out, this was the first aspect of this show that I really started enjoying. I couldn't help but be reminded of the truly naive things people from the US or Germany said or asked, which only shed light on the things they actually believed. The topic of question was of course Mexico, and how unbelievably disorganized, or even outright dangerous this place is. Just the notion, that you should not bother calling the police after you got robbed, because all they do is probably rob you too, was seen as impossibly insane. Scary, right?! Still, once you stop worrying about these kind of things, you'll see Mexico for the wonderfully chilled place it actually is.

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Big Business Behind the War

The other huge parallel to our world I noticed in the series has to do with the causes and reasons for the nuclear war. Even though the show pinpoints the singular person responsible for it, in one of the last episodes of the first season, the signs are there from the beginning. Sure, the 50's style propaganda suggests an extended cold war and communist witch hunts, suggesting some type of stand-off with the Soviet Union, still the material interests are highlighted from the get go: You need a nuclear threat in order to sell nuclear fallout shelters. Go figure!

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This of course hits a familiar string, considering ... actually every single armed conflict the US has been involved in since World War II, including the current proxi-wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The huge difference is that neither Iraq, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, or any of the other countries on the receiving end had any nuclear capabilities, which can't be said about Russia, Israel, Iran, or China (if we want to include their ongoing tensions with the US). I don't intend to get anyone worried about this, I just want to point out the relevance of this weird TV-series to our present world.

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Questionable Realism

While I found the Fallout series generally entertaining, I should point out some questions on how realistic it actually is. I've already mentioned that the 50's seem to have survived over the centuries, in spite of nuclear devastation, which is already hard to imagine. Also, the premises of evolving a parallel society underground that clashes with the culture of the surface should raise some sociological concerns regarding the sustainability of either side. Finally, the nuclear destruction itself is a matter worth examining, including the likelihood of surviving them, or even maintaining some resemblance of human existence in its aftermath.

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But even together with all these concerns, Fallout is interesting enough, even in its first and so far only season. Together with its rich background and huge following, thanks to the games, and its captivating scenario, I believe there will be numerous seasons to follow. All we need to do is be patient, and hope that reality does not overtake this fictive story before those future episodes are produced. For now, here is the trailer to the first season:

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