Tyler DeHaven and Chris Hendrickson
To call Comstock’s regime in BioShock Infinite oppressive, some people would argue, is an understatement. In fact, a modern interpretation of Karl Marx’s (1818–83) Manifesto of the Communist Party can help to explain how that regime uses religion, industrialization, and government soldiers to oppress and subvert the labor class. Comstock’s empire acts as an enforcer of the status quo, which the ruling elite benefits from. But oppression, it seems, is not limited to the ruling class. The story of the Vox Populi embodies conflict theory—one popular interpretation of Marx’s ideas—portraying a bloody revolution that loses sight of its ideals, turns anarchistic, and becomes the new oppressor.
At the core of Marxist thought is conflict or struggle. More specifically, Marx saw history as a constant struggle for power between classes of people over the material means of production, including transportation technology, weapons, and food. But non-material powers are also at play, including human rights, class privileges, and self-determination. The conflict itself occurs between the upper class, or the bourgeoisie, and the lower class, or the proletariat.
The bourgeoisie enjoys status and privilege as society’s elite, gaining this advantage through the effective use of trade and industry. In Columbia, Zachary Hale Comstock and Jeremiah Fink illustrate the way the bourgeoisie may come to create and control the means of production: these men respectively develop and enforce the system by which the rest of the city lives. Comstock’s “prophecy” creates a group of beliefs and moral codes that inform the lives of his citizens. For example, Comstock relays some of his “prophetic” vision by stating, “No animal is born free, except the white man. And it is our burden to care for the rest of creation.” The industrialist Fink echoes this sentiment in stating, “Well, I’ve a man in Georgia who’ll lease us as many Negro convicts as you can board! Why, you can say they’re simple souls, in penance for rising above their station.” Thus, Columbia adopts Comstock and Fink’s prejudices as legitimate social standards.
Further, the bourgeoisie enjoys a disproportionate amount of wealth that accumulates because of the entire society’s labor. As a matter of law, Comstock requires that the city donate 50 percent of its profits to him as a personal tithe. Due to its control over the labor and trade of society, the bourgeoisie contentedly profits from the current system, with no desire to change it.
However, members of the much larger and poorer class, the proletariat, certainly lack the advantages of the bourgeoisie. Shantytown, home to Columbia’s working-class people, exhibits the poverty of the lower class. Their squalid, rickety homes offer little protection from the elements, and some of the residents resort to washing their clothes in the rain gutter. While the proletariat’s labor produces a great deal of material wealth, the proletariat rarely sees the bulk of the profit—the bourgeoisie grabs it. Lacking other options, the proletariat must participate in the labor system that unfairly exploits its work, which steadily increases the workers’ resentment. Naturally, this tension cannot build indefinitely without release.
To perpetuate its currently advantageous system, the ruling class oppresses the labor class through control and the exercise of power. In BioShock Infinite, Comstock and Fink keep the working class enslaved through several institutions, including religion, government, and industry. Comstock established Columbia with a prophetic, Christian faith in which he reigns as the divinely favored leader with the gift of seeing the future. There is also a patriotic civil religion, an “opiate of the masses,” in which George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are worshiped as representations of law, morality, and science. Comstock encourages this blind patriotism and glorifies himself in historical exhibits at the Hall of Heroes and the creation of Soldier’s Field. In Lutece’s words, these attractions are “themed to acquaint children with national service,” perpetuating the class divisions into the next generation.
The bourgeoisie uses public institutions to subvert any radical actions by the proletariat and to protect its accumulation of power. Indeed, Columbia Security is Comstock’s means to eliminate any threat to the bourgeoisie, most notably the Vox Populi. The Word of the Prophet kinetoscopes, radio announcements, and the Annual Raffle and Fair serve as anti-Vox propaganda for the Columbian populace. Before the Vox ever show up they are gossiped about by fearful citizens in hushed whispers. When Booker is publicly identified by Fink as Comstock’s prophesied “False Shepherd,” Columbia Security is quick to step in as the enforcer of the status quo.
In order to stay in power, the bourgeoisie must control the means of production. The bourgeoisie creates pauperism among the proletariat, and Fink exploits the labor class with the terms of employment at his factory. Shantytown is the home of the lower class, and where Daisy Fitzroy began inciting the Vox Populi to revolt against the upper class. It resembles a Hooverville of the 1920s—tin-roofed shacks, old mattresses, and refuse abound. The Handyman is the literal example of the proletariat condition: any worker who is grievously injured on the job can be recreated as a mechanical work slave, thus able to continue serving Fink Industries.
As the friction builds between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, historical processes contribute to the inevitable collapse of capitalism. The collapse is not the “realization of a moral ideal,” but rather the result of processes that set in motion dramatic societal changes. In BioShock Infinite, the simmering friction between the upper and lower classes boils over into the rise of the Vox Populi. Though the Vox are incited to action through Daisy Fitzroy’s call to arms, Columbia’s societal shift is a result of the Vox’s historic revolution, with little thought given to any morality besides self-preservation and revenge.
Conflict theory, a modern sociological interpretation of Marxist theory, views class power struggles as a necessary condition of history. Conflict theorists note that unequal bourgeoisie and proletariat groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, which compete against each other. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever-changing nature of society.
Early in the game, Booker passes through a home that is actually the secret headquarters for the Columbia Friends of the Negro Society. Flyers plastered around the room read: “Until the Negro Is Equal None of Us Are Equal.” Later on, Booker discovers an exclusive secret society, known as the Fraternal Order of the Raven. Its projectors display “Comstock Phrenological Study” slides with images of Native Americans and the human brain divided up into areas for character traits. The pseudo-science of phrenology involves the use of cranial measurements to determine personality traits—often confirming the “native brutality” or “criminal urges” of minorities while emphasizing the superiority of Caucasians. Thus we see the racism that Columbia’s elite embraces. These two contrasting groups within Columbia illustrate competing class ideologies with regard to racial equality. While conflict theory emphasizes the competitive nature of factions within society, another perspective explains how social institutions coexist and thereby achieve societal stability.
Multiple social groups emerge throughout the story of BioShock Infinite with competing ideologies: their own interpretations of what is “best” for all. The lens of structural functionalism, pioneered by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Sociology, views the answer as a complex system, where society’s parts evolve and work together to grow more stable. Social structures and elements such as norms, customs, traditions, and institutions have specific functions that work together cohesively, promoting the overall good of society. As one observes the people of Columbia, several classes and members of society are revealed, each playing a role in keeping the whole society together.
Though the city’s separate institutions and classes operate with independent goals, the sum of their actions stabilizes Columbia as a system. A working class under Fink grants Columbia an infrastructure, Comstock’s enthusiastic vision and religion rally everyone behind a unified cause, and Lutece supplies the technological breakthroughs necessary to create such innovations as prophecy, inter-dimensional travel, and a flying city. Columbia Security’s unquestioning service under Comstock provides a classic example of a military dictatorship, while Fink’s working class is ultimately the supporting backbone of Columbia. The upper-class citizens benefit from the working class’s labors, and the reminders to stay wary of the Vox Populi function as a means to motivate and reinforce the upper class’s inherent mistrust of the working class, and also to affirm its status as the privileged class. Racial classism is also demonstrated by the Columbia Friends of the Negro Society, the Order of the Raven, Slate’s revolution, and Daisy Fitzroy’s Vox Populi. Each of these institutions functions to promote its radical views within Columbia.
Fink takes a functionalist perspective on society, in which he and Comstock are lions who rule and keep order among the lesser creatures. Members of the working class are viewed as cattle who labor for the rest of Columbia. The Vox Populi are hyenas who steal from the lions and profit from the work of the cattle. Casting himself as a protective lion, Fink provides food, clothing, shelter, and medicine for the working class. His comment that “only an anarchist would want workers’ comp, paid vacations, and 8-hour workdays” illustrates the functionalist perspective of stability—that it perpetuates the status quo, a system of exploitation that works to serve the city. Under this theory, each institution and class provides the structure needed for society to continue existing and evolving. Religion provides such a supporting structure as the shepherd’s staff that herds the sheep and cattle of Columbia.
Comstock uses various religious notions to justify the foundation and structure of Columbian society. For example, when describing his “divine inspiration” for the floating city, Comstock states, “And when the Angel Columbia gave unto the Founders the tools to build the new Eden, they did so without hesitation. For 85 years, they prepared the way of the Lord…” This “vision” introduces Columbia’s state religion, which deifies the American Founding Fathers. Immediately on his arrival in the city, Booker discovers three large statues built in the likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Worshipers mill around the “Welcome Center” while offering prayers to Washington for strength, to Jefferson for wisdom, and to Franklin for justice. They end their prayers with the invocation: “In the name of the sword, the scroll, and the key: amen.” Such invocations directly relate to the Founders and the civil religion of Columbia: the sword for Washington, the scroll for Jefferson, and the key for Franklin. And, as part of this state religion, stories abound of the Founders’ noble exploits. In Columbia, Washington is depicted as crossing the Delaware with an angel’s flaming sword in hand. History itself, then, proves malleable for the sake of emphasizing Columbia’s superiority. Surely, if God commands that the city’s structure and foundation should occur as Comstock relates, then the populace must accept it. Religion in Columbia necessarily functions to reassure its citizens that they should not complain about their roles or question the roles of others.
Comstock uses religious references to delude his followers and legitimize his authority. He relates that the angel named Columbia granted him a vision of the city’s foundation precisely because he was formerly sinful and that made him all the more worthy of grace. However, Comstock never actually spoke to an angel. Rather, Lutece describes in a Voxophone how Comstock looked into her machine and saw “a window not into prophecy, but probability.” Clearly, no angels revealed the proper future to him: he embellished his story in order to become a prophet, and thus Columbia’s uncontested leader. Lutece’s contraption figuratively became the angel Columbia. Despite all of his fervent bandstanding, Comstock is nothing more than a fraud.
Ironically, Comstock uses his contrived “prophecy” to demonize his ultimate enemy as the False Shepherd. Rather quickly after his arrival in Columbia, Booker finds that he is in fact this prophesied enemy. Unlike Comstock, though, Booker makes no religious claims whatsoever. In further contrast to Comstock, he abandons any attempts to deceive Elizabeth, whom Comstock calls “the Lamb.” Though initially deceptive, Booker eventually chooses to follow Elizabeth and to protect her as she independently acts on her desires. The “Prophet Comstock,” on the other hand, seeks to control and to use her abilities to incinerate New York City, which he colorfully characterizes as the “Sodom Below.” In these many ways, Comstock uses religion to establish and maintain a system that he and the others in the elite benefit from. The agnostic Booker’s arrival and subsequent journey set in motion escalating events, causing that religiously motivated deception to fall apart and the entire system to transform.
The functionalist perspective often casts religion as a social structure that keeps society together despite any negative costs it may have for any particular group. The Rawlsian Difference Principle, on the other hand—which is spelled out in philosopher John Rawls’ (1921–2002) seminal book A Theory of Justice—is a counter-utilitarian argument that says that any differences in wealth must ultimately be to the benefit of the least well advantaged. A Rawlsian would argue that the Founders had no right to subject the lower class to such squalid working and living conditions just so that the privileged Columbian citizens could profit. Everyone must profit from the inequality in some way, or else equality must prevail as the fairest approach to justice.
A functionalist could consider the Rawlsian viewpoint as selfish, and regard the Vox Populi as egotistical, ignorant, and self-interested. The rise of the Vox could be viewed as undermining their responsibility to their city, to the detriment of Columbia’s economic and social stability. One must consider what the society as a whole would be like if the working class or the Vox get their way, versus the stability of the current social infrastructure. Would Columbia ultimately profit or suffer under Vox Populi majority rule? As Booker faces off in a final showdown against the full strength of the Vox Populi, the reality of Columbia burning, filled with so many dead, and dominated by the savage Vox is a chaotic nightmare. Does this cast the goals of the oppressed working class and the Vox Populi revolution as ultimately selfish? Columbia is arguably worse off at the game’s end than when ruled by Comstock’s comparatively peaceful regime.
By observing the symbols in BioShock Infinite, we can start to interpret and understand the motivations of institutions and individuals. Comstock’s religion, Columbian media, and Fink Industries are the critical institutions whose influences on the people of Columbia inform the power struggles between classes.
BioShock Infinite exemplifies the manner in which societies often poach Christian imagery to promote an agenda or to deceive the masses. The game’s primary villain, Comstock, uses religious symbolism to endow his prejudices with a kind of divine approval. As he states:
And when I came to Washington, there were few in Congress who saw my vision for Columbia. But it is the burden of the Prophet to bring the wicked to righteousness. For what am I, if not a mirror to reflect the face of God?
Confident in his plan for the city, Comstock takes up the role of “prophet” and uses his uncanny foresight to establish a city whose moral codes and social rules reflect his biases. In speaking of great American leaders, the prophet decries Lincoln, saying, “when the Great Apostate came, he brought war with him, and the fields of Eden [America] were soaked with the blood of brothers. The only emancipation he brought was death.” The prophet again invokes religion to promote his personal beliefs, going so far as to cast Lincoln out of Christian society because of his support of African Americans’ freedom. Comstock’s racist manipulation of Christian belief systems is further reflected in his rule of the city when he states:
To tax the black more than the white, is that not cruel? To forbid the mixing of the races, is that not cruel? To give the vote to the white man, and deny it to the yellow, the black, the red—is that not cruel? Hm. But is it not cruel to banish your children from a perfect garden? Or drown your flock under an ocean of water? Cruelty can be instructive, and what is Columbia, if not the schoolhouse of the Lord?
As prophet and ruler, Comstock presumably speaks with a divine imperative, and so the people follow him on the basis of their religious faith.
However, as the other original Founders of Columbia understand, Comstock is no true prophet. His religious fervor merely serves as a convenient tool for the deception of his “flock.” Fink, the head of Columbia’s industrial sector, reflects that “belief . . . is just a commodity. And old Comstock, well he does produce. But, like any tradesman, he’s obliged to barter his product for the earthly one.” Comstock’s religion proves no more holy than snake oil and Columbia’s people buy it without question. Since the source of the Prophet’s visions is a machine created by the Luteces, there is no divinity involved; Comstock’s prophecies are entirely man-made. Nearly all of the Christian symbolism in Columbia extends from Comstock’s schemes, which promote his version of the Truth. In this way, the state religion that Comstock establishes maintains a class division based on bourgeois prejudices and his personal agenda.
Years before Columbia was raised to the skies, Comstock had burnt some Native Americans alive to prove that he felt no kinship with them despite sharing their skin color. He could not tolerate his captain’s goading: “Your family tree shelters a teepee or two, doesn’t it, son?” The prophet’s awful, desperate measure attests to both horribly racist attitudes and an utter lack of remorse or ownership—such deeds belonged to another man now washed away by the waters of baptism. He describes baptism as a process in which “One man goes in the waters of baptism. A different man comes out, born again…” After baptism, then, Comstock need not account for the atrocious deeds he committed in the past, nor even remember them. With his past drowned in the baptismal waters, the “redeemed prophet” is now freed to commit similar atrocities in the future.
Immediately on entering Columbia, Booker DeWitt discovers his identity as the False Shepherd. According to Comstock, “the False Shepherd is coming to lead my Lamb astray.” The Lamb is Elizabeth, the very girl Booker seeks to rescue because of an unknown benefactor’s promise to “wipe away his debt.” Elizabeth’s prophesied destiny is to destroy the “Sodom Below” and thus fulfill Comstock’s grand designs. Due to Booker’s interference, though, she escapes the confines of the prophet’s plans and eventually pursues her own path. In this way, Booker proves a striking foil to Comstock in that he eventually enables Elizabeth to gain freedom.
Strikingly, Booker rejects the very interpretation of baptism that Comstock finds most appealing: he doesn’t believe that his notorious past can be washed away. In fact, one of the game’s first scenes depicts Booker scoffing at the idea of “washing away sin,” and he later tells Elizabeth that one can at best learn to live with the past. Unlike the Prophet, who uses baptism to “wipe away his sin,” the False Shepherd ultimately comes to terms with his past and makes a choice to “square his debt.” Booker ironically accepts a life-ending baptism by Elizabeth’s hand after he understands that the only way to destroy Comstock in all realities is to sacrifice himself.
In a larger sense, Booker’s arrival proves the catalyst for the destruction of Comstock’s regime. He saves Elizabeth from Comstock’s manipulation, arms the Vox Populi, and ultimately kills Comstock with his bare hands. Therefore, Booker destroys the very fabrications that enabled Comstock’s manipulations of Columbia. In the sociological sense, Booker’s defiance of Comstock enables the Vox Revolution to evolve from a grassroots movement into an influential institution that stands for social change in the face of the bourgeoisie’s religious oppression.
Columbian media reinforces class division by casting anyone sympathetic to a potentially rebellious proletariat as suspicious. It even goes so far as to demonize the Vox Populi by making obviously contrived associations between them and ruin. For example:
Shortly after 1 o’clock this afternoon, the scoundrel—believed by many to be Vox Populi—began his terrible rampage . . . Trouble began almost instantly. Full of wrath, and bent on harm, the Anarchist maliciously wounded several Columbian Peacemakers—before then arming himself and firing into an assemblage of virtuous fair-goers.
Though Booker never had any connection to the Vox, the media eagerly attributes his violence to them. Further, the media impresses such a strong fear of the Vox into the populace that it cautions them to look for murderous rebels at all times. The media even provides methods for exposing such agents, like:
Is your housekeeper acting suspicious? Try asking the girl a few questions, such as “Don’t you think those Vox Populi folk have a valid complaint against the Prophet?” And “I’m sure some of your friends have attended meetings… I’d sure like to see what they’re all about.” Now, back to the music…
The Word of the Prophet kinetoscopes are another example of propaganda and indoctrination. The kinetoscope entitled “Solving the Irish Problem!” casts this social group as drunks, brood mares, and future recruits of the Vox Populi: “Send them to Finkton . . . They’ll work, or by God, die trying!” Clearly, then, Columbia’s media seeks to convert the disenfranchised lower class into cogs for the machine that is Columbia’s means of production, further empowering the Founders.
Columbia’s industrialization is represented by Fink’s production empire, which is responsible for nearly every piece of mechanical infrastructure in the city. Floating buildings, blimps, airships, skylines, weaponry, vending machines, and Vigors are all mass-produced at Fink Industries. Fink and the Founders know that owning the means of production is critical to the success and stability of Columbia, and thus they are encouraged to protect the status quo and their own prosperity. Comstock utilizes Finkton to create his own personal army for simultaneously protecting and assuring his control of his city. Daisy Fitzroy, advocating for the proletariat, sees Fink Industries as an institution of degradation and enslavement. The Vox Populi fight to repurpose this institution for their own advantage in the war against the Founders. Industrialization in Columbia is responsible for Comstock’s army, Fitzroy’s bitter enemies, and Booker’s main obstacles: Columbia security, the Handyman, and Songbird.
When Booker explores Columbia Security, the player can observe signage around the station that reads: “Protecting our Faith, Wealth, and Racial Purity.” This meme demonstrates the upper class’s values, and the rationale behind keeping the working class impoverished. Outfitted with Fink-made weaponry and loyal to Comstock, the player views this institution as a formidable obstacle to be overcome. The Handyman, introduced as a marvel of Fink Industries, represents to the citizenry a new feat of uniquely Columbian ingenuity. To the player, the Handyman presents an escalated challenge and makes tactical gameplay necessary. Songbird is Comstock’s pet and security measure, while to Elizabeth it is a protector, jailer, and her only friend. The player sees this boss character as a nearly insurmountable “Game Over” whose changing eye color serves as an instructional cue, letting the player know if Songbird is friendly, aware but indifferent, or openly hostile.
In order for the bourgeoisie to own the means of production and keep the working class oppressed, it uses propaganda and indoctrination as powerful agents of control. Fink Industries uses visual and audio indoctrination to design and instill a culture of servitude into the lower class. This enables the continuation of both Columbia’s industry and the luxuries the Founders enjoy.
The signage, background music, and Fink’s recorded audio loop within Finkton exemplify how the Founders create the conditions necessary for workforce enslavement and owning the means of production. As with many areas of the game, the signage in Finkton elaborates on the values impressed on the workforce by the institution. The signs and posters on the walls read:
The player can also see a statue of a man and his family, with a plaque that reads “Fink is your Future” at the factory’s Welcome Center. The music constantly playing to the metronome of a hammer knocking against wood subconsciously instills an unceasing, driving rhythm into the workers. Fink’s propaganda audio loop uses animals as a metaphor to sell Fink’s functionalist perspective. In metaphorically relating each group of Columbian society to animals as part of an overall ecology, Fink cajoles the workforce to willingly accept their lot in life:
The most common complaint I hear from the working man is that they are . . . unhappy . . . with their lot. “Why torment yourself?” I ask. The ox cannot become a lion. And why would you want to? Who wants all those responsibilities and worry? You do your job, you eat your food, you go to sleep. Simplicity is beauty.
Further animal analogies from Fink portray the Vox as hyenas who offer nothing substantial, whereas Fink offers work that improves everyone’s lives. Yet, Fink only provides survival-level needs to some of the lower class, and what should be paid to the workers as fair wages is reaped as pure profit for the upper-class citizenry. To the lower class of Columbia, following Fink’s rules is the only way to survive. However, Fitzroy convinces the lower class that these conditions set by the Founders are oppressive and unacceptable:
The Founders’ belief is that we ain’t no better than oxen. Think on that. Think on a man looking at you—your children—and seeing a beast meant to be ruled over. Not someone capable of rational thought. Not someone with their own dreams and aspirations. Not someone trying to make sure their kids have it better than they did. The Founders see you as something to be controlled. To be told when to eat. When to sleep. When to stand and sit down. To say, “Yes sir,” “No sir,” “May I go to the bathroom, sir?” You ain’t a person to them. You’re a tool!
BioShock Infinite offers a compelling model of class struggle and how it affects the populace. On entering Columbia, the player may gaze around in awe at the majesty of a city in the clouds. However, as the story progresses, the harsh realities of Columbia are seen: it is built on a network of inequality and exploitation. Columbia’s proletariat, the Vox Populi, enact a brutal revolution that leaves devastation in its wake. As Marx predicted, systems of prolonged inequality cannot last. The Vox Populi won their rights by destroying Columbia’s former government and re-appropriating the means of production. BioShock Infinite depicts an oppressed class that, in its uprising, loses sight of its ideals, turns anarchistic, and becomes the new oppressor.