An Interesting Tidbit for You All (Patreon)

While doing research for the upcoming video (Why Do You Always Kill Gods in JRPGS?), I came across a very curious Reddit thread, of all things, written 7 years ago by a now unknown author.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/39dbqi/kirby_super_star_is_a_marxist_critique_of_the/

In this thread, the author posits that Kirby Super Star is a Trotskyist critique of the Soviet Union. While, uh, needless to say, I'm uncertain that this was Sakurai's intention, it is nonetheless interesting to look at history through the lens of video games, even if that look sometimes takes a dramatic leap or two into the absurd.

Comparing, for example, Super Star's "The Great Cave Offensive", a mini-game in which you navigate with Kirby to collect treasures and escape a maze-like cave, to the Soviet Union's exploitation and extraction of raw materials in Eastern Sibera is, frankly, pretty silly. 

But, although it is silly, it is nonetheless still somewhat informative: if one has a mind for such things, this post could easily act as a jumping off point, and inspire one to read more about, say, The Siberian Curse -- a theory proposed by the neoliberal Brookings Institution that seeks to explain some of the Soviet Union's (and modern Russia's) geopolitical decision making through state assumptions of resource wealth juxtaposed against the economic realities of extracting said wealth to use towards any practical purpose. 

It's also annoying, because I've wasted an hour of precious script editing time to this almost useless rabbit hole, reading and considering different perspectives on the Siberian Curse. Perhaps I can waste an hour of your precious time too, if you are interested: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8962935/

Please enjoy! And yes, this is really what I do for fun. 

Well, this and Stardew Valley. 

- Moony