Jon Bailes's guest appearances

Jon Bailes

Utopian Horizons

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

It's Not Just In Your Head

Wendy Liu

Bill Gates

Steven Pinker

John Potash

Mike Cernovich

Joseph Matheny

Donald Trump

Ron Paul

John Sayles

Elisa Lam

Greta Thunberg

Thomas Frank

Peter Thiel

Bernie Sanders

Howard Stern

OwlTail

On this edition of Parallax Views, video games are a popular pastime at this point. From Halo to Super Mario Bros., video games have become become a juggernaut within the entertainment industry and remain hugely popular with people from various generations. As with other forms of entertainment it is possible to look at such video games as a reflecting pool for the culture from which they were produced. In Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power Fantasies, and Neoliberalism (Zero Books; 2019), Jon Bailes uses popular games to examine and interrogate the culture of neoliberalism. Specifically, Jon seeks to understand, through the lens of games like Saints Row IV, Grand Theft Auto V, No More Heroes, and Persona 5, the demands placed upon the neoliberal subject to be constantly productive, the burnout this produces in said subjects, and the ways in which neoliberal subjects imagine the possibility of escape from neoliberal hegemony. Synopsis of Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power Fantasies, and Neoliberalism from Zero Books: Ideology and the Virtual City is an exploration of modern society and the critical value of popular culture. It combines a prescient social theory that describes how ‘neoliberal’ ideology in today’s societies dominates our economic, political and cultural ideals, with an entertaining exploration of narratives, characters and play structures in some of today’s most interesting videogames. The book takes readers into a range of simulated urban environments that symbolise the hidden antagonisms of social life and create outlandish resolutions through their power fantasies. Interactive entertainment can help us understand the ways in which people relate to a modern ‘common sense’ neoliberal background, in terms of absorbing assumptions, and questioning them. A short review of Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power, and Neoliberalism by philosopher Slavoj Zizek: Videogames are gradually recognized as a new cultural form which reaches far beyond mere entertainment: they enact new forms of subjectivity and temporality. However, this fascination with the new form should not render us blind for the fact that, in their content, even at its most magic, videogames are firmly rooted in our neoliberal capitalism and faithfully mirror its antinomies. This is where Bailess book enters. Through a detailed analysis of selected games, from Grand Theft Auto to Persona, he demonstrates how they reproduce the key dimensions of a modern megalopolis: the City as Playground, as Battleground, as Wasteland, as Prison Ideology and the Virtual City is not only insanely readable; in its combination of vivid descriptions with theoretical stringency, it provides an unsurpassable introduction into the deadlocks of our real life. In short, an instant classic for everyone who wants to understand not just games but our reality itself.

On this edition of Parallax Views, video games are a popular pastime at this point. From Halo to Super Mario Bros., video games have become become a juggernaut within the entertainment industry and remain hugely popular with people from various generations. As with other forms of entertainment it is possible to look at such video games as a reflecting pool for the culture from which they were produced. In Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power Fantasies, and Neoliberalism (Zero Books; 2019), Jon Bailes uses popular games to examine and interrogate the culture of neoliberalism. Specifically, Jon seeks to understand, through the lens of games like Saints Row IV, Grand Theft Auto V, No More Heroes, and Persona 5, the demands placed upon the neoliberal subject to be constantly productive, the burnout this produces in said subjects, and the ways in which neoliberal subjects imagine the possibility of escape from neoliberal hegemony. Synopsis of Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power Fantasies, and Neoliberalism from Zero Books: Ideology and the Virtual City is an exploration of modern society and the critical value of popular culture. It combines a prescient social theory that describes how ‘neoliberal’ ideology in today’s societies dominates our economic, political and cultural ideals, with an entertaining exploration of narratives, characters and play structures in some of today’s most interesting videogames. The book takes readers into a range of simulated urban environments that symbolise the hidden antagonisms of social life and create outlandish resolutions through their power fantasies. Interactive entertainment can help us understand the ways in which people relate to a modern ‘common sense’ neoliberal background, in terms of absorbing assumptions, and questioning them. A short review of Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power, and Neoliberalism by philosopher Slavoj Zizek: Videogames are gradually recognized as a new cultural form which reaches far beyond mere entertainment: they enact new forms of subjectivity and temporality. However, this fascination with the new form should not render us blind for the fact that, in their content, even at its most magic, videogames are firmly rooted in our neoliberal capitalism and faithfully mirror its antinomies. This is where Bailess book enters. Through a detailed analysis of selected games, from Grand Theft Auto to Persona, he demonstrates how they reproduce the key dimensions of a modern megalopolis: the City as Playground, as Battleground, as Wasteland, as Prison Ideology and the Virtual City is not only insanely readable; in its combination of vivid descriptions with theoretical stringency, it provides an unsurpassable introduction into the deadlocks of our real life. In short, an instant classic for everyone who wants to understand not just games but our reality itself.

Ideology and the Virtual City: Videogames, Power Fantasies, and Neoliberalism w/ Jon Bailes

Jon Bailes, author of the book Ideology and the Virtual City, joins the podcast to talk about the pop-cultural phenomenon that is GTA 5. We discuss whether GTA thinks of its representation of neoliberal capitalism as dystopian, the vital role cynicism plays in the game, and the significance of GTA's position as a consumer product to its cowardly satire.Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.Twitter: @utopianhorizonsEmail: utopianhorizonspod [at] gmail dot comSupport: patreon.com/utopianhorizonsMusic: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Jon Bailes, author of the book Ideology and the Virtual City, joins the podcast to talk about the pop-cultural phenomenon that is GTA 5. We discuss whether GTA thinks of its representation of neoliberal capitalism as dystopian, the vital role cynicism plays in the game, and the significance of GTA's position as a consumer product to its cowardly satire. Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future. Twitter: @utopianhorizons Email: utopianhorizonspod [at] gmail dot com Support: <a href="http://patreon.com/utopianhorizons" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">patreon.com/utopianhorizons</a> Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Grand Theft Auto V w/ Jon Bailes