Militarization of Popular Culture in the United States: A Case Study of the America’s Army Video Game
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/HiP.2025.022Keywords
militarization, video games, America’s Army, military-industrial-media-entertainment complex, popular cultureAbstract
The article focuses on the process of militarization of popular culture using the example of the video game industry. As a result of the technological revolution in the United States in the 20th century, games are in their own way “marked” by the military – if only because of the technology on which the first productions were based. Nowadays one can see titles on the game market that favor the promotion of military discourse. A game by the US Army is a crowning example of this, especially since this one was designed by the army at every stage of its development. The case study of America’s Army, first of all, allows us to see the mechanisms of the military-industrial-media-entertainment complex. This article seeks to present the militaristic rhetoric of the game, especially taking into account the propagation of the vision of the US Army presented in it.
References
Altheide, D. L., Grimes, J. N. (2005). War Programming: The Propaganda Project and the Iraq War. The Sociological Quarterly, 46(4), 617–643. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2005.00029.x.
“America’s Army” Recruitment Video Game Cost Taxpayers $33M. (2009). CBS News. Pobrane z: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americas-army-recruitment-video-game-cost-taxpayers-33m/.
Anderson, R., Kurti, M. (2009). From America’s Army to Call of Duty: Doing Battle with the Military Entertainment Complex. Democratic Communiqué 23(1), 45–65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/DEMOCRATIC-COMMUNIQUE.313.
Bacevich, A. J. (2013). The new American militarism: How Americans are seduced by war. Oxford: University Press.
Boggs, C., Pollard, T. (2011). Machina wojenna Hollywood. Rozbrat. Pobrane z: https://www.rozbrat.org/kultura/film/1872-machina-wojenna-hollywood.
Bogost, I. (2010). Persuasive games. Massachusetts: MIT Press Ltd.
Buddin, R. J. (2005). Success of First-Term Soldiers; The Effects of Recruiting Practices and Recruit Characteristics. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation.
Czapnik, S. (2017). Amerykański Światowid. Cztery oblicza kompleksu militarno-przemysłowo-medialnego. Nowa Krytyka, 38, 115–138.
Der Derian, J. (1990). The Simulation Syndrome: From War Games to Game Wars. Social Text, 24, 187–192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/827835.
Der Derian, J. (2009). Virtuous war: Mapping the military-industrial-media-entertainment network (2nd ed). Routledge.
Derby, J. (2014). Violent Video Games and the Military: Recruitment, Training, and Treating Mental Disability. Art Education, 67(3), 19–25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2014.11519269.
Enloe, C. H. (2000). Maneuvers: The international politics of militarizing women’s lives. University of California Press.
Essential Facts About the U.S. Video Game Industry. (2023). Entertainment Software Association. Pobrane z: https://www.theesa.com/2023-essential-facts/.
FAQ. (2008). America’s Army official website. Pobrane z: https://web.archive.org/web/20081227031802/http://www.americasarmy.com/support/faqs.php?t=3&z=12#12.
Hussey, D. R. (2013). Reading into the Cold War in Video Games. Play the Past. Pobrane z: https://www.playthepast.org/?p=4101.
Jenkins, H. (2003). War Games. Computer games enter the debates about the U.S. military response to Osama and Saddam. But is the country ready to play out this conflict? MIT Technology Review.
Kindred, C. (2022). Military marketing reveals America’s failure to support our generation. The Emory Wheel. Pobrane z: https://emorywheel.com/military-marketing-reveals-americas-failure-to-support-our-generation/.
Knoop, J. (2022). America’s Army is Shutting Down After 20 Years. IGN. Pobrane z: https://www.ign.com/articles/americas-army-shut-down.
Kowalczuk, K. (2020). Edukacyjne cechy gamingu. Homo Ludens, 1(13), 89–102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/HL.2020.13.5.
Mantoan, L. (2018). War as performance: Conflicts in Iraq and political theatricality (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Mańkowski, P. (2010). Cyfrowe marzenia. Historia gier komputerowych i wideo. Wydawnictwo Trio, Collegium Civitas.
Martino, J. (2012). Video Games and the Militarisation of Society: Towards a Theoretical and Conceptual Framework. W: M. D. Hercheui, D. Whitehouse, W. McIver, J. Phahlamohlaka (red.). ICT Critical Infrastructures and Society, t. 386 (ss. 264–273). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Pobrane z: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33332-3_24.
McLeroy, C. (2008). History of Military Gaming. Soldiers Magazine, 63(9).
McSweeney, T. (2014). The „war on terror” and American film: 9/11 frames per second. Edinburgh University Press.
Morris, C. (2022). After 20 years, the U.S. Army is shutting down its recruitment video game, America’s Army. Fast Company. Pobrane z: https://www.fastcompany.com/91069648/ai-ethical-review-should-empower-innovation-not-prevent-it.
Nieborg, D. (2010). Training recruits and conditioning youth: The soft power of military games. W: N. Huntemann, M. T. Payne (red.). Joystick soldiers: The politics of play in military video games. Routledge.
O’Hagan, S. (2004). Recruitment hard drive. The Guardian. Pobrane z: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2004/jun/19/games.theguide.
Olszewski, P. (2011). Polityzacja gier wideo. Ewolucja od niezobowiązującej rozrywki do zideologizowanego medium. Homo Ludens, 3(1).
Payne, M. T. (2016). Playing war: Military video games after 9/11. New York University Press.
Szymański, M. (2019). Amerykańska filozofia w grach komputerowych. Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies, 2, 148–160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.1396.
U.S. Military Spending Defense Budget 1960–2024. (2024). macotrends. Pobrane z: https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/USA/united-states/military-spending-defense-budget#google_vignette.
Vego, M. (2012). German War Gaming. Naval War College Review, 65(4).
Wilczyński, P. L. (2012). Innowacje w zbrojeniach i obronności jako katalizator przemian technologicznych. Prace Komisji Geografii Przemysłu Polskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego, 20, 124–133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.20.8.
Zyda, M., Hiles, J., Mayberry, A., Wardynski, C., Capps, M., Osborn, B., Shilling, R., Robaszewski, M., Davis, M. (2003). Entertainment R&D for defense. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 23(1), 28–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2003.1159611.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Michał Osiński-Szymański
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Nicolaus Copernicus University fully respects the right to privacy and protection of personal data of all authors. The authors’ personal data is not used for commercial and/or marketing purposes.Stats
Number of views and downloads: 155
Number of citations: 0
