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Kojima's political views ?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 3:27 am
by Spike
Somebody asked it on the forums from the site in my signature, and that's also something that interests me, so I guess I could obtain some answers here.

Has Kojima been vocal about his political affiliation ? Has he got any ?

I noticed that, in his games, the protagonist is almost always betrayed by (someone in) the group he was/is part of, or even the State.

Is it because Kojima is more of an individualist / "right-wing" or because his games are inspired by American films which promote individualism ?

Re: Kojima's political views ?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:09 pm
by Henry Spencer
In practically all of his games, he gets betrayed by the highest ranking officer, too. Something Kojima doesn't like about his superiors, or something? :razz:

Kojima seems to be very, very paranoid too, practically everybody the protagonist meets in his games, are hiding something... :lol:

Re: Kojima's political views ?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 4:24 pm
by JimboKudo
I don't believe that he has ever stated his political views. It's hard to tell, but I think the fact that the government always betrays the protagonist in some way shows something. Maybe he doesn't trust the government?

Re: Kojima's political views ?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:15 pm
by whitetrashshayno
so he's a commie?

Re: Kojima's political views ?

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:47 pm
by Nitroadict
lol @ commie.


Kojima seems to operate from an historically exploratory viewpoint rather than any strict political viewpoint. I would actually venture that his approach is somewhat libertarian (although not in a blunt, espousing the basic premises & concepts of libertarianism type way), as he doesn't seem to glorify as any one position as being 'correct'.

This is more obvious in the first game, when Snake repeatedly refutes the idea that he is a hero of any type, as a killer is still a killer. The anti-war & pro-peace elements in the series could correlate along the lines of the ideas of non-coercion in libertarianism, but again, I haven't seen anything in the MGS series that would point Kojima in any direction on a political compass, other than beyond or above it.

I hope it stays that way, too; Kojima & Co. seem more concerned with telling a story rather than getting on a soap box (with the obvious exception of the anti-nuclear weapon theme in the series aside).

However, with MGS4, his storyline elements regarding the blurring line between civilian & citizen was an excellent reference to what is occurring now, albeit at a slower pace. FYI, such a blurring is often the effect of Fascism taking hold in a given State, where label 'citizen' more or less means solider, as in Fascist system, the State is top-prioirty ahead of everything else in the citizen's life.

I could probably write a whole book with a retrospective regarding the politics of the MGS series, honestly D: