"Wolfenstein II" and MAGA as fandom

Authors

  • Lucy Miller Texas A&M University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2020.1717

Keywords:

Partisanship, Donald Trump, Political engagement, Ideology

Abstract

The current political discourse in the United States is generally understood through the framework of partisanship, but this framework alone is insufficient to encompass all forms of political engagement. An analysis of the discourse around the Bethesda Softworks video game Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) reveals that the outraged discourse around the references to the current political climate in America by right-wing groups is best understood through a framework of fandom. From this perspective, the discourse around the game is understood as an expression of fandom for President Donald Trump as an individual rather than of a persistent political identity or ideology. As fans, Trump supporters are guided in the political engagement by Trump's pledge to make America great again (MAGA).

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Published

2020-03-15

Issue

Vol. 32 (2020): Fandom and Politics

Section

Praxis

License

TWC Nos. 25 onward are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC by 4.0). For an explanation of the journal's reasoning, see the TWC editorial Copyright and Open Access. TWC Nos. 1 through 24 are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, with TWC, not the author, retaining copyright.

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