Gaming Fascism: The Fallout Video Game Franchise and Historical Conciousness

Historians have long spent time utilizing more traditional forms of media –music, literature, film- to understand how enjoyers analyze historical moments. This thesis intends to pursue that same train of thought using video games. Key to this thesis is Fallout, which will be used to analyze how developers and players understand fascistic moments throughout the history of the United States by using a pseudo-governmental organization from the Fallout universe. This group is the Enclave, a fascistic group of political and business leaders. This thesis will analyze the representation of capitalism and authoritarianism as they present themselves in the United States through the lens of the Fallout series. While using the alternate history of Fallout may seem contradictory to traditional historicity, this thesis will show how video games can and should be used to better understand and explore how people develop historical conciousness through popular media.