The Four Color Media Monitor: What's wrong with video game producer Hideo Kojima

Here's some info on a Japanese video game producer who, as noted in this old 2009 Businessweek article, got some of his influence from comics as much as manga, Hideo Kojima, who was a guiding hand for the Metal Gear Solid series over the years. Kojima later wrote an article for Rolling Stone, quite a bastion of leftism themselves, about 4 years ago, where he emphasizes, most disturbingly, defeatism and retreat, using Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk as his example:

The film is a sober depiction of the Battle of Dunkirk, which was a large-scale evacuation of the British and French army during the Second World War. It's an unconventional war movie in that sense too. You won't find the excitement of defeating the German army (in fact, you won't see the face of a single German soldier), instead, the focus is on escaping from the enemy.

If that were what WW2 was literally about, we'd never have won it. But this is starting to make me reevaluate Nolan's resume as a filmmaker, even if Kojima's misinterpreting the setup, as he certainly seems to do when he brings up Nolan's 2nd Batman movie from 2008:

I wanted players to experience what it is like to be called evil, just as Christopher Nolan did shortly after in Dark Knight (2008), in which Batman, the symbol of justice, takes upon the mantle of villain for the sake of Gotham City.

While most industrialists in Japan may not be ideologically driven, there's obviously still some like Kojima who're doing it win favor with the US leftists, and here, we certainly see it taking form in a most bizarre way. If I'm reading this correctly, why does Kojima see Batman as a villain? Does he view the Joker and Bane as heroes by contrast? His interpretation makes no sense. But maybe this shouldn't be too shocking since he's descended from a generation that was born during the 2nd world war:

"Anti-war" and "Anti-nuclear weapons" were the consistent messages through the series. My parents' generation was born during WWII. My generation grew up listening to their firsthand accounts of war, and we also learned of the wretchedness and absurdity of war and nuclear weapons from the movies and books around us. Video games are a natural fit for "fighting" and "competition," but even so I felt that they should be able to promote an anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons message, and more so, that it was necessary. I also wanted to change the idea that games could only be about fighting.

It's one thing if games are about more than just fighting. I like to play games like Tetris and Puyo Puyo, which are about puzzle solving strategies. But you shouldn't minimize the seriousness of evil, or confuse the meaning, as Kojima's doing. In some ways, it makes him not all that different from animator Hayao Miyazaki, who's also got quite a far-left viewpoint. Is Kojima unaware his country collaborated with Germany during WW2, and attacked Pearl Harbor at the time? His jumbled viewpoint seems to grow out of a poor understanding of the reality during that time.

I think what's really sad, if we were to include a legend from comicdom itself in this subject, is that Stan Lee once cosplayed as Revolver Ocelot in 2004 while presenting an award to Kojima, who decidedly didn't deserve it, at a convention. It may have been a decade before Kojima wrote that piece for RS, but it's still a shame (update: although, in fairness to Lee, he likely wasn't aware of Kojima's exact politics and ideologies at the time). Kojima's absurd world view, simply put, is hideous.

Update: Kojima, unsurprisingly, is also an anti-Trumper and was opposed to Brexit, which he used as his "inspiration" for the Death Stranding videogame.

Labels: Batman, Europe and Asia, msm propaganda, technology

"If I'm reading this correctly, why does Kojima see Batman as a villain? Does he view the Joker and Bane as heroes by contrast?"

Well, he certainly views the Joker (and more specifically the Heath Ledger version) as a hero if this tweet from his secretary is of any indication (he's wearing a rebel T-shirt with Joker's glasgow scar-laden mug on it):

https://twitter.com/Kaizerkunkun/status/900937994143649792

And speaking of infamous villains' likeness on clothing, he's also shown wearing a tote bag with Che Guevara's mug on it in the same image, which alongside a similar image of him blatantly posing with some sort of energy bottle near a portrait of Che Guevara (see here: https://twitter.com/Kaizerkunkun/status/1190763430497542144) speaks volumes of just why he infamously ended up turning Peace Walker into a Che Guevara shill fest in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, as you can see here: https://youtu.be/usYtK3d2ydk What's even MORE disturbing than the fact that the game's heroes (or at least main protagonists) singing praises for Che Guevara (not to mention it made them look extremely out of character especially given their main motivation for conducting their events was specifically to prevent a potential CMC redo from occurring at a bare minimum), one of whom included Solid Snake's future mentor, is that the guy they're lionizing came very close to launching nukes at the United States, actually disturbing even Nikita Khrushchev enough for him to concede to JFK partly for this reason and removing the nukes from Cuba. Had Che succeeded, it would have led to all-out nuclear war, which essentially meant Japan by extension would have been nuked yet again, and this time, by the Soviet Union, per mutually assured destruction, which was even indirectly mentioned by Miller in another of those tapes, as you can see here: https://youtu.be/c335zmfJUuM What's even MORE shameful is that this was the same guy who earlier referenced in a prior game the Katyn Forest Massacre and rightfully had it condemned, and that was even LESS well-known than Che's bragging to the London Daily Worker about intending to launch nukes into America and causing a nuclear war for "atomic liberation". I actually plan on doing a Tumblr post on that subject going into full detail just how having almost the entire cast lionize Che Guevara, especially Big Boss and Miller, was a horrible decision and should not have happened. That did teach me a valuable lesson though... Never EVER assume the heroes of the story are actually good just because the story treats them as such. My nearly being tricked into liking Che Guevara by Kojima made me learn that lesson the hard way. It's also indirectly what caused my eventual... "defection" for lack of a better term to the Galactic Empire after rooting for the Rebels in Star Wars (since George Lucas pulled similar crap with Star Wars by modeling the Ewoks and, if the 1973 draft is of any indication, even the Rebel Alliance itself after the Vietcong. And I want to make clear that that's a one-time exception to my rule of never, EVER rooting for the villains in a work. I don't root for villains, as they're never meant to be rooted for. Even if I don't like the hero, I avoid rooting for the villains at all costs. It needs to be something especially egregious for me to even consider rooting for a villain over the hero.). Did I mention that Peace Walker unlike prior Metal Gear games was geared specifically towards kids?

Posted by eotness | 4:20 AM

Split up the post due to length:

Heck, even by Metal Gear standards, Peace Walker was VERY left wing, and got away with a surprising amount of crap, as aside from the Che Guevara references, it promoted May 1968 and Sartre a few times, implicitly promoted Mao Zedong, you literally aid FSLN members with them being portrayed sympathetically, even having its leader Amanda being depicted as a Christian at one point despite being a Marxist group, one of the main characters, Strangelove, is strongly implied to either be a lesbian or at the very least bisexual (and the latter's only because of her oddly taking a liking to Huey in the ending), and having some relationship to The Boss, Snake's old mentor, and REALLY amps up on the anti-American messaging compared to past games (heck, most of their statements could have been lifted from A People's History of the United States), including your having to take out a CIA paramilitary group that's led by a madman. Might as well post a link to all the briefing files and scenes from the game so you have a full education of what's going on there:

Main game cutscenes: https://youtu.be/9Cy7E76mBL0

All the briefing files: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mldK_m-w_jo&list=PLpaRxBWYEPiJqR12iVfcH1ELSz7nN7by6 (starting with Miller, but is a playlist for all of them).

Better pack a lunch, because it's a whole lot of ground to cover.

Posted by eotness | 4:21 AM

"Is Kojima unaware his country collaborated with Germany during WW2, and attacked Pearl Harbor at the time? His jumbled viewpoint seems to grow out of a poor understanding of the reality during that time."

He probably is aware to some degree about at least Pearl Harbor, since the timeline included in Snake Eater's manual specifically references Pearl Harbor and Japan's role in that event.

"I think what's really sad, if we were to include a legend from comicdom itself in this subject, is that Stan Lee once cosplayed as Revolver Ocelot in 2004 while presenting an award to Kojima, who decidedly didn't deserve it, at a convention. It may have been a decade before Kojima wrote that piece for RS, but it's still a shame. Kojima's absurd world view, simply put, is hideous."

Oh, believe me, his worldview predated even that convention. In 1999, for example, he pretty much had a guest panel with the Wachowski Brothers (yes, the same guys who ruined V for Vendetta and also were responsible for the Matrix Trilogy), and implied that his then-in-development game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty would cover similar themes to the Matrix (this was before Reloaded was released, BTW). You can read it up here: https://web.archive.org/web/20130328062143/http://www.gamespot.com/news/hideo-kojima-speaks-about-the-matrix-2448486

And as far as Metal Gear Solid 2 itself, Kojima had a Grand Game Plan basically communicating what his views for that game were and it really goes to show just how far-left he was even back then, since he tried to make Solid Snake into a Communist spy for China while retaining his "good guy" status especially when he was the Patriots' opposition, it was crassly anti-American (he outright says he deemed America to be "the biggest evil", and I'm doubtful he's referring to abortion on demand regarding that bit), and may have toyed with the idea of pushing the type of woke feminism that's plaguing the industry right now if his "women will be the protector of men" comment is of any indication. It was included in the Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, and a fan-translation made in 2006 can be read here: https://web.archive.org/web/20060813191032/http://www.metalgearsolid.org/show_downloads.php?id=635 (the original was in Japanese). The game we did get was pretty much toned down to some extent thanks largely to the events of 9/11, including making Solidus into a proto-MAGA person when such wasn't necessarily the case in the grand game plan (Solidus was apparently meant to be depicted somewhat sympathetically, especially compared to the main villains, the Patriots), though it wasn't quite averting of the anti-American messaging, as the script did include references to the president of the united states collaborating with terrorists and overall hints at a truther element with the Patriots manipulating Dead Cell and the others despite the game itself barely being released before 9/11 occurred. Oh, and it also promotes the idea that absolute reality doesn't exist via Solid Snake nearing the ending, as you can see with this speech here to Raiden: https://youtu.be/azHIWZxUgPY

And the Dunkirk review isn't even the last time he does something like that. He also infamously gave a positive review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi praising it for its woke leftist messaging: https://web.archive.org/web/20171228195211/https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/kojima-star-wars-in-the-era-of-disney-w514793 Oh, and he also expressed fear of a right-wing rise around the time Donald Trump was elected, and had also made Death Stranding as a response to both Trump and Brexit, as you can see in the following sources:

*http://www.glixel.com/interviews/hideo-kojima-i-want-to-create-games-until-i-die-w464689

*https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kojima-says-death-stranding-was-inspired-by-trump-/1100-6471138/

Oh, and when IGN gave a slightly negative review of the game due to it being merely a walking simulator, Hideo Kojima responded by essentially bashing American gamers by implying they were meatheads who only care about FPS shooters (and what's even more sad is that the most negative review wasn't even from an American, it was from an Aussie): https://www.rt.com/op-ed/473447-hideo-kojima-death-stranding/

Forgot to mention this in the Che thing I stated earlier, what Kazuhira Miller did by blatantly singing praises to Che Guevara despite witnessing first hand how Japan reacted during the Cuban Missile Crisis was just tasteless. It would be the exact same thing, at the risk of violating Godwin's Law, as a Jew or Slav or Gypsy or what have you who was imprisoned and condemned to death at Auschwitz or Dachau during World War II started shilling for Adolf Hitler despite being nearly killed by him and his policies during the Holocaust afterwards.

Posted by eotness | 4:31 AM

Oh, and here's the scripts for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, as given in the Document of Metal Gear Solid 2:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/914506-the-document-of-metal-gear-solid-2/faqs/27630

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/914506-the-document-of-metal-gear-solid-2/faqs/28220

And in Stan Lee's defense, there's definitely no way he would have known about Kojima's radical left-wing views since the information from the Grand Game Plan, to say little about the actual game scripts, were not readily available (it was a minimally released standalone interactive disc), not to mention in the case of the Grand Game Plan didn't even get a translation until two years after that convention, meaning even less people were likely to know what was in it by that time. I'm also doubtful Stan Lee and the Wachowskis had any direct interactions with each other AFAIK, outside maybe passing each other on the streets, so it's unclear whether he was aware of Kojima pushing similar messages. And this is speaking as someone who, while respectful of the fact that he made Marvel what it was, nevertheless has to criticize him for his role in Hillary Clinton's illegal fundraiser.

Posted by eotness | 4:38 AM

Don't know if you intend to update the post with the references I supplied. If you wish to do so, great. More exposure needed. If not, oh well, at least I gave my say. There's quite a bit more out there, such as MGS4's TGS site having blatant leftist revolution stuff on there (I'd give an archived link, but for some reason Flash Player doesn't actually work on Internet Archive), but that should give enough details to show how much of a scumbag Kojima is, arguably ruined games for the worse like Bendis and the other guys at DC and Marvel regarding comics, heck, maybe even George Lucas with films (since he apparently bragged around the time of either Empire Strikes Back or Raiders of the Lost Ark was released that the new Hollywood System would be Marxist, or to quote him from Skywalking, "The studio system is dead. It died fifteen years ago when the corporations took over and the studio heads suddenly became agents and lawyers and accountants. The power is with the people now. The workers have the means of production.")

Posted by eotness | 4:42 AM

Oh yeah, one more thing, Kojima's handling of Peace Walker's kids game status and making it light hearted yet forcing in left-wing messages is pretty much the main reason why I'm reluctant to have Superman take over Batman's current popularity before making sure DC's cleaned out of leftists. And after seeing those videos, I think you'll understand why. The only thing worse than needless darkness is having a wholesome hero espousing left-wing rhetoric and indoctrinating kids into embracing far-left views in a "wholesome" manner. We've already got enough of that crap with Supergirl, which compared to the other Berlanti productions in the Arrowverse IS wholesome.

Posted by eotness | 4:50 AM

Oh, and a correction, Dark Knight is actually Nolan's second Batman movie. The first one was Batman Begins.

Posted by eotness | 5:22 AM

Thanks for the extra information, I'll try to update the post with some of the links later.

Posted by Avi Green | 9:50 AM

As far as the Dunkirk comment goes, it was not an unreasonable thing for him to say. Dunkirk was a retreat. It was a noble retreat because of the way so many ordinary British people used their frail boats to volunteer and help evacuate British forces from France. It was heroic, definitely, but not a military victory. Those came later.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:05 PM

What, no comments on Konami?

Posted by Anonymous | 8:31 PM

Alright so you don't like Metal Gear games made by Kojima, what about those not made by him?

Posted by Anonymous | 3:02 PM

"Alright so you don't like Metal Gear games made by Kojima, what about those not made by him?"

Well, I never said I don't like Metal Gear games made by him. There were two games made by him that I actually DID like, those being Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

As far as the other games, Lords of Shadow was a crapping on the Castlevania games that may have played a role in them nearly being destroyed as an IP (including his implying that God was essentially like the Patriots, even IF he did depict Satan as a full-on villain, fortunately). I'm not entirely sure if Boktai was by him or not, so not going to comment on that. I guess Penguin Adventure might have been pretty good from what I've seen of it. And Death Stranding... let's just say Konami was ultimately right to fire him after that game.

Posted by eotness | 3:08 PM