About why the Metro universe is exactly what it is
The post -apocalyptic, like any other fantastic genre, has its own recognizable features and characteristic cliches. Today, stories about radiation, mutants and stalkers do not surprise anyone. They were often used in their works by science fiction writers and anti -utopians, and now postgraduate attributes are firmly associated with tanks about the end of the world. The Metro universe inherited most of these genre stamps, Dmitry Glukhovsky only in places deviated from the usual formula. The world created by him traditionally survived a nuclear disaster, because of which people created a new society. In this case, underground, fenced off from external dangers with hermiles and tons of raw soil.
Sons of anarchy
Many post -apocalyptic works explore similar problems. What will become with society after the death of civilization? Will a person be able to adapt to new conditions? Will he lose his human appearance, he does?
Most of the time, the heroes of Glukhovsky spend below and only occasionally make sorties to the surface. The survivors settled at the stations, the metro was delimited to zones and territories. Many do not share the policies of other people's factions and are ready to gnaw a throat for almost everyone who meets due to differences in ideology. "Metro" and here follows the covenants of the classics of the second half of the twentieth century. It was then that the “new wave” began – the direction that marked the search for new solutions in art, with which the fashion for wastelands and bikers in leather jackets came.
[[Bullet]] typical cowboy of the Wild West.
Cinema became a flagship, a progress engine. The post -apocalyptic found its mature form on large screens. Significant paintings were the “day when the Earth came to the end” Roger Korman and “on the shore” of Stanley Kramer. The film Kramer, who narrated about the death of half the globe because of the nuclear war, was twisted in many countries on the day of the world. Cinema made a powerful impression on the United Nations Commission.
The New Wave continued its procession, and the techniques used quickly penetrated books, music and painting. For example, the famous "Valley of Curses" Roger Zhelyazes was written precisely during this period. This is almost a software point of post -apocalyptics – they were equal to this book, it was inspired by it. According to the plot, America survived a nuclear disaster, and then broke up into the States that declared itself autonomous states. Boston dies: the plague sighed almost the entire population. There is a medicine, but it is located at the other end of the country. Due to abnormal winds that bring any aircraft into unsuitability, the antidote cannot be delivered by air. Therefore, a dangerous mission is entrusted to the Deviner, motorcyclist Likhach with a dark past who agrees to a suicidal task for an amnesty.
The last crusade
There is a Metro and its holy Grail – a military bunker D6, the only safe shelter throughout the underground network. According to rumors, there will be enough food supplies in it for decades ahead. Therefore, D6 was the reason for the brewing civil war in Metro: Last Light. Grail – the essence of the semi -legendary, mythical object that promises universal salvation – a frequent guest in post -apocalyptic works. IN Fallout 2 The GECC – a generator of the Eden kushs compact. GACK was supposed to turn the drained, cracked land of wasteland into an oasis, where there would be plenty of drinking water, and the soil again became fertile.
IN S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of chernobyl The role of the sacred bowl was played by a monolith – a desire performer located in the heart of Chernobyl nibble. In the final of the game, the shooter could ask for himself a giant crystal anything, but a non-egoistic choice was taken into account with the disappearance of the zone for the sake of universal good (you probably saw the video in which the artifact hunter stands in the middle of the field covered with juicy bright green grass).
Hit the Road
The road is one of the leading images in the post -apocalyptic. This squeam of science fiction almost always implies a journey, the heroes never sit still. No wonder the "New Wave" popularized bikers, whose faithful friend is a motorcycle carrying its rider forward along the asphalt tape.
[[Bullet]] The famous generator of the Eden kushs compact.
Take a look: on all covers of the Mad Max trilogy with Mel Gibson, the main character is depicted against the background of a deserted road (and the second part is called Road Warrior). The same with the Ilai Book, and with "I am a legend". However, why go far? Cavers of the novels in the Metro universe are drawn according to the same principle: the character of the book is taken to the forefront, and behind it, a little at a distance, you can see the open mouth of the metro tunnel. Dark distillations are as if calling into the distance. Stone corridors – local roads, arteries piercing the body of the subway. Nowhere to go, but you need to go. It is vital.
Do not forget that the post-apocalyptic loves to reinter the biblical parables (look at least at the same “Book of Eli”, where all the cheese-brow occurred due to the only surviving copy of the Bible), and the road itself is already a Christian symbol. Often, residents of radioactive wasteland have to drive in wild lands alone (sometimes with a dog). The meaning is simple: everyone lures his cross himself, and the adventures of the heroes of many fantastic books are differently as a test, or even torture, you cannot call. Kormak McCarthy, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, wrote in his novel “Road”: “When we die, there will be no one left, except for death, and its days will be considered. She will go along the road, and there is no one around, nobody. What should she do then? So she will ask: “Where is everything?"So it will be …"
[[Bullet]] “Mad Max”, although it talks about life after the Apocalypse, belongs to the genre of Dieselpank.
The post -apocalyptic genre is borrined by the "road novels", where everything is built so as to push the characters in their path with the largest number of memorable personalities. It is more important than small, local stories than a common plot. In both parts of Metro you are almost driven by the pen at the stations. At the whim of scriptwriters, you jump from a branch to a branch, get from the stage into the stage, observe life around. No wonder Artem has so many fellow travelers, he is an eternal led. In Metro 2033 he is alternately accompanied by Melnik, Hunter, Bourbon and Khan. In Last Light 4a Games, they did not change their approach. With the main character, the side of the side is the Sniper Anna, then the Communist Pavel, then the khan again.
All this is done for the only purpose – to make you look around and let you feel the decadent atmosphere of the subway from all sides. Please note that you don’t shoot most of the time at Metro (although it would seem), but you observe the game of children, behind dancing girls, behind the internal structure of stations, behind the reborn “Theater”, whose residents support the status of the cultural capital of the subway.
Cowboys against mutants
More than others, Western affected the post -apocalyptic genre. We will not delve into the “Frontier theory” and talk about attempts to educate in Americans obedients of undeveloped lands. If you are interested in this topic, we advise you to turn to “Alas, Babylon” by Frank Pat and “Earth without people” George Stuart. It is enough to mention that in films about post -serving life, the directors really tried to recreate the atmosphere of colonial America for some time.
[Bullet]] The cover of the original book promised light at the end of the tunnel, but judging by the information leaked to the network, the life of the inhabitants of the subway will not become easier in the Metro 2035.
But not only this is related to western and post -apocalyptic. The Wild West is a corner of lawlessness, the forerunner of the fact that, in the end, according to predictions, the world will turn. Yes, sheriffs were attached to the cities, but the criminals were not stopped by either a drew icon or eager for money. That is why the developers love the wasteland so much – they seem to refer us to the landscapes of the Wild West.
IN The Last of Us Nature conquered its own. Where skyscrapers previously rose, high grass is now swaying and depressing desolation reigns. The world from now on not only reminds the jungle externally, but also lives according to their rules: one who is not able to show his teeth will be torn to shreds. In New America, people are led only by the survival instinct, which makes you forget about civilized methods for solving problems. Shoot first, then – think. What is not a guide for cowboys of the XIX century? What are the times, such and morals.
[[Bullet]] Despite the general superficiality, I am Alive painted a very convincing picture of the future. This is where the really wild West is.
In the books of Glukhovsky, people did not degrade so much, but are already close to this. In the monetary circulation, the subway does not spin the lids from under Nuka-Cola, as in Fallout, but the cartridges, which already says a lot. In the novel Metro 2033, the mother handed over her son to pedophiles for money, and in one of the most memorable episodes Last Light – the scene of the escape from the Nazis camp – we are first demonstrated how Fritz kill the captive for the slightest inconsistency of the arianits (they literally measure the skull Mr Vegas Casino of the poor a ruler, checking with a gold standard – than not phrenology?), and then shock with an abundance of corpses in the gas chamber. What can I say – decadence!
“Metro 2033” hardly claims to be originality-nevertheless, the usual structure and archetypes are based on the work-but this is not necessary for neither the book nor the game universe. The main thing is that Glukhovsky managed to create a world, whose life is interesting to observe, and 4a Games managed to worthy to capture it in an interactive format.