Fallout why is it in the 50s

This opening speech is much more revealing. The playable character is a former soldier. He speaks of his grandfather, of his wife, his child, of the shattering of the American dream. About the fear he feels. On a sunny autumnal morning, somewhere in the suburbs surrounding Boston, the player is finally witness to the world before the bombs fell. The house we find ourselves inhabiting, in both its exterior design and its interior decoration, resembles a brand new home of the suburban s; shiny new cars lay dormant outside each bright new house.

The opening film has made it clear that the male playable character loves his family very much; it would make sense if this was shown and explored in this scene. It would make sense too for the wife to be given some characterization, for their relationship to be given some depth. The sequence gives the player no opportunity to engage in any meaningful way with either spouse or son.

Instead, the game seems to utilize s imagery as a visual shorthand; by presenting the traditional nuclear family in their comfortable suburban home, the game is telling the player to assume that they are happy and loving, rather than this being illustrated through in-game actions. This upends the stance previous games in the series took, in which the cultural mores of the s, including the idea of the happy, suburban nuclear family, were plundered for satire.

In the United States, the rise of nuclear energy came to a slowdown in the s, and halted drastically after the Three Mile Island accident in , when a nuclear meltdown took place in one of the two nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. After this, public support for nuclear power in the U. With atomic cars, robot helpers, and ray guns. People in the s never thought of transistors which is why there's no advanced electronics in this version of the future.

Originally posted by Bobs :. Last edited by Brownstone ; 20 Nov, am. The 50s is also when people thought atomic power would be the wave of the future - they even envisioned each house having its own little reactor - unlimited free energy. That's why things like cars and radios in Fallout are nuclear-powered. I guess the generators are, too.

Originally posted by isengrim :. Amigo View Profile View Posts. Probably because it's a fiction. You can make whatever you want. No real life weapons, cars, brands, etc. Originally posted by Mr. Bumblefoot :. Geoff View Profile View Posts. Fallout is an alternate univserse to our own.

They did not invent the transistor in Fallout univserse until We invented it in in our universe, which has led to the computing technology we have today.

Reason why Fallout's computing is big and bulky. Or, the most drastic idea, were all of these singers born much later around in Fallout and thus had their peaks and primes around ?

But my overarching question is: how 50's-esque were the original Fallouts trying to be? And did New Vegas and 3 take that theme too far? Indianajoneszilla , Feb 8, Pretty sure it was never meaned to be as retro as Fallout 3 made it. Me personally, before Fo3 was released, I did never thought of it like that, with all the 50s music around and such.

It had all these style elements, but in the same time it also had some 80s stuff, like metal armor with spikes on the shoulder plates. Lexx , Feb 8, The fifties music in Fallout New Vegas gave the game a certain "vibe" for me. Definately a different vibe than Fallouts 1 and 2, but I very much liked the New Vegas soundtrack. To me, I guess those songs are an important part of the game - even though others mute the radio as soon as they start the game.

I never gave it much thought beyond that though. Last edited: Feb 9, Censor , Feb 9, A very good question indeed. Like you said, the first two games gave us little information on what the world was like before the great war, leaving us to make our interpretations, and personally I rather liked that.

It seemed to fit the theme more, the 'Old World' being sort of the 'lost civilization' in Fallout, with only scraps and remnants here and there. Even the Enclave had a rather warped idea of what it was like, partly because of their own limited view. And yes, Fallout 3, and in part Fallout New Vegas took the theme to far though I don't blame Obsidian, they simply went along the route Bethesda had set out , with this obsession about the Great War, the Anchorage Reclamation, some people acting like they are in the 50s well at least the idealized version of it , Ghoulified Chinese soldiers, as if it only happened years ago.

I found it rather annoying sometimes as Fallout 1 and 2 had given me the idea that the world had moved on since, people remembered there was a nuclear war that had a severe impact on the world but for the rest they did not care much about it or what it was fought for as they had other priorities.

The Dutch Ghost , Feb 9, Atomkilla , Feb 9, Though, if you ask me, yes, FO3 took it too far. I always considered the Pre-War era to be a mixed world.

From all years. But oh no! Apparently, the World was stuck in a loop. Mohamed , Feb 10, I always tough that the old world were heavilyx2 influenced by the 50s culture but it didn't stuck in a loop. FO3 took it too far, but well