All fandoms have the people who REALLY don’t get the message. Chief amongst them is basically any time chuds listen to Rage Against The Machine. Others are the people who key in that Vegeta is awesome but don’t understand why so much of that is centered around the Buu saga and him rejecting who he used to be.
As for 40k? Yeah. I do have a problem with the people who very unironically worship the imperium.
But it is also worth remembering how many of the beloved (imperium) stories are about actively defying that. Eisenhorn and Ravenor are both poster children for radicals who regularly fall afoul of the more puritan of their orders. Gaunt is regularly set up to die by other Imperial Guard. Hell, we somehow got a sequel to frigging Space Marine (game) and both of those are very much about the fundamental flaw in how the imperium fights Chaos.
Hell, the Ciaphas Cain series is literally space Blackadder with so many plots basically being about Ciaphas actively trying to prevent the imperium from killing both him and itself (to the point Inquisitors cover for him… and only one of them is after his Cain).
And of the lesser known books and games? So many of them are fundamentally tragedies that highlight the futility of war with PLENTY of characters dying for the stupidest of reasons.
Is 40k anti-fascist? At one point, maybe. But it very much hasn’t been for the past 30 or so years and there are a LOT of stories about GW actively interfering when a writer gets too close to the actual point.
But it is also important to remember the power that these long running cultural touchstones have. Star Wars has very much flirted with politics for its entire almost 50 year run. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But, as a result, Andor was immensely powerful for having 40 years worth of build-up to an episode that centered around a speech in which a politician condemned fascism and genocide. And… a lot of people were kinda forced to listen to that “against their will” because they like the laser swords.
Do I at all think Total Warhammer 40k is going to be that? No. But it will continue to do what 40k has done for decades: Chuds will cheer because chuddiness. And the rest of the fanbase will increasingly realize “so… the super fascist armies are bad?”
erin@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 days ago
There are a lot of 40k fans, me included, who are very antifascist. The game has a large queer audience and many fans who enjoy the grimdark aspects of the setting as a cautionary tale. Anyone that knows anything about 40k knows that there are no “good” guys, and that everything sucks for everyone but a few in power. That’s the appeal. It’s a universe where everything is awful all the time and trillions of lives are wasted, and yet stories of compassion and hope can still arise in the middle of it (even though they’re ultimately fruitless). I personally refuse to monetarily support GW but enjoy the setting in other ways. There will always be those that don’t get it and glorify the evil unironically. We just make fun of them and move on.
hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Yeah, I know 40k fans who are certainly anti-fascist, but I’m also acquainted with 40k fans who seem to be generally pro-authoritarian and sometimes it seems like their enthusiasm is the mask slipping. These are usually the ones who are obsessed with 40k and will routinely spend entire days talking about it if no one changes the subject.
The thing is that there aren’t a ton of franchises that lean so heavily into fascism. 40k and Helldivers are about it, and while we’re in a period where real life fascism is on the rise, it’s maybe not a great thing that these franchises are as popular as they are. If there were some sort of rebels to identify with in the setting that might at least improve the situation a bit, but there don’t really seem to be and I don’t really see any sign of 40k having any sort of actual criticism of the outlook they’re spending a lot of time and money presenting to the public. It’s just uncritical glorification at this point, and that’s really the last thing we should want people internalizing.
tankplanker@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You can say that about a lot of authoritarian settings, most obvious example is a hardcore of Homelander fans, despite Homelander being a figure of fun and scorn in the Boys. There will always be people who either lack the critical thinking skills or willfully ignore ample evidence.