I would also imagine that on several worlds, the idea of the Arbites arriving to investigate a title shortfall and discovering a planet in a labor revot would have bad consequences for the entirety of the planet. While this might be used as an argument to keep the workers in line, it's also a motivation for the businesses to maintain a mandatory level of morale somewhere above, "We've got nothing to lose".

First rule of human resources - Always make sure your workforce has something to lose.

That's assuming that the company cares about the individual worker. On planets where the population numbers in the tens or hundreds of trillions, everyone is expendable, and everyone is replaceable.

But to get back on topic, I still think that movies would just be very expensive for your average factory worker, slightly pricey for the typical Administratum clerk, and completely affordable for anybody above that level.

I'm basing all this on the late 1890s and early 1900s when workers are poorly paid, badly taken care of, easily replaced, and usually able to afford little more than food, clothing and a place to sleep.

Dren Kre''lar said:

This is the Imperium we're talking about. Everyone - and I mean everyone, from the most vaunted Inquisitor to the lowliest underhive scum - is expendable.

But that doesn't mean that it's a good idea; afterall, everyone is expendable, and the owners of a manufacturing concern are no exception to that. If they fail to produce the goods... then the consequences are unpleasant. And the ones producing the goods are the workers. Afterall, though not even the greatest of Lord-Generals Militant will be missed should he die... Thou Shalt Not Waste What The Emperor Provides.

That aside, on my part it's a deliberate attempt to de-capitalise the cultures of the Imperium. The Imperium gets first pick of everything the member worlds produce, and those member worlds exist to produce for the Imperium (the short story "Mortal Fuel" in the compilation "Planetkill" describes a world being abandoned and ritually freed from the Imperium because it's natural resources have been utterly exhausted and the world is now entirely useless), so profit margins and money-making is a secondary concern to not getting a bullet through your skull for failing to contribute.

I see, in a lot of cases (particularly hive worlds and similarly high-production environments) indentured labour being a common, if not predominant way of going about things... and that brings with it lodging and food because at that point, the person ceases to be a free individual and becomes instead company property.

It's similar with the Imperial Guard - Generals don't expend thousands of soldiers per day in a warzone without good reason, because they'd be executed by a nearby Commissar for presuming to waste the Emperor's soldiers so frivolously. But at the same time, if a warzone requires a calculated "expected losses" figure of a quarter of a million guardsmen a year in order to break a siege, then that's acceptable. There's a fine line between "expendable and replaceable" and "wasteful".

I agree with Pneumonica here. A very good way of accomplishing this is bread and circuses. As long as people are not actually starving to death, and have something to take their mind off how sh*tty their lives are then they will tolerate ALOT.

As to movies/holos being affordable I would say they are. The imperium/local government would want to keep the the masses entertained and it never hurts to have yet another vehicle for propaganda.

Bread and circuses indeed.

The hive world I've been running my current game in has accomidation, power water and basic food (gruel) provided to all hab workers. Beer is cheap and cinema is affordable. I even wrote a section of an Adam West Batman style superhero movie that the Acolytes watch.

Agmar_Strick said:

So there's an Adam West style superhero that's popular in your hive city? Why Adam West's Batman?

Come to think of it, would there be superheroes in the Imperium?

Dren Kre''lar said:

Sure.. propagandized versions of space marines come to mind. The way various "Heroes of the Imperium" would be betrayed in movies would approach superhero status. I would also imagine story lines with children of the emperor and living saints filling the super hero role. Come to think of it since living saints are pretty much super hero powered anyway the propagandized versions of them would probably be the equivilent of superman. Complete with Faith, Duty, and the Imperium Way.

Dren Kre''lar said:

That I can see, but as far as the costumed adventurer style of superhero, I don't think those would be too common.

I could see slightly exagerated Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Inquisitors, etc. being elevated to superhero status, but I don't think there would be anything equivalent of Superman, Spider-Man, Green Lantern, etc.

Dren Kre''lar said:

Nah the more I think about it the living saints are perfect. They are perfect propaganda fodder. They exist and you would only have to exagerate their abilities (and even then not overly much). The best lies/propaganda are mostly truth. Like I said Faith, Duty, and the Imperium Way... think of the merchandising... You could sell action figures of actual living saints with cards with thier picture and description on it.... Gotta collect them all...

Dear Emperor I just think I thought of a way to make our group filthy rich.. the echlesiarchy will go for it with all the extra positive propaganda (and a cut of the profits of course).

Of course the GM is likely to say it has already been done... though this may also may be a good way to explain how our toons make the jump to Rogue Trader when it comes out.. Buying your way into a charter and ship would require vast sums..

I see some parallels with the Soviet era, in so much that its just had a dead Lenin replaced with Emperor and people are discouraged from aiming too high, learning too much and provided they don't screw around making trouble, won't get burnt by political elements like the church as well as the state.

Be humble, be loyal and behave.

Your milage may vary depending just on 'where' it is exactly you are, but the church and state are fairly omnipresent and its in the best interests that people by and large are kept ignorant, in fear of anything/anyone that isn't them and the great unknown beyond anything they've ever experienced outside a very siloed existance. If they're ignorant to know any better the flock won't wander too far and provided there's the odd beating, incarceration or burning thrown in for good measure, they won't want to wander anywhere!

That's not to say there isn't culture, arts and adventure, it just has to be sanctioned interesting things.

Obviously 40K isn't exactly a great working example of anything but the most dystopian extremes of society, its extremely violent, religious, ignorant and oppressive so its hard to really have any one-fundamental reason for everything, but mostly its because the threats facing humanity are also in their own right quite extreme.

movies about imperials soldiers fighting ( in style of most american ww2 movies), and movies about common man encountering heretic/xeno/demon influence who at first seemed slightly nice soon to be replaced with the truth of the evil brutally slaugthtering they do, and the main persons seeming unable to escape but often saved by either spacemarines/ inquistor/ IG / arbitrator/ or a person raising with unshakeable faith inspired by the emperor himself to win the day
my guess

Having seen some Soviet propoganda reels and Soviet era movies, I have to reccomend you see some of them. They're exemplary.

Pneumonica said:

Depends on your local libraries. University libraries might have a number of them for historical reference, that's where I saw most of the ones I've seen (not that many, granted). More modern stuff is harder to find by those means, but if you get some of the old Soviet children's shows from twenty or thirty years ago you'll find some gems. Indeed, some of the Soviet political media machines figured out propoganda really well by the end of it - the best propoganda is subtle.

It's been a while since I saw it (and then only once) so I'll probably get some elements one, but there was this one kid's sci-fi show (I forget the name) in which a girl in the future discovers some wicked (capitalist) men are planning to steal a forbidden device called the "myeliphone", that allows you to overhear the thoughts of others. They then plan to go to the past and use it for great personal profit (obviously very horrible to the communist public, not to mention the fact that one of the villains looks like George Wendt). The girl duplicates the villain's plan and goes back into the past, where she meets a boy. They then have great adventure using the device to do good things for the people, trying to keep it from the evil men. Eventually, the device (and the criminals) get returned to the future, and the end is quite bittersweet as the boy can't be allowed into the future (despite having gone there once) and the girl can't be allowed to stay in the past.

As a propoganda device, it works really well because it doesn't slam its audience with its message, despite repeating it rather regularly. The two heroes are basically common people who have been forced into unusual circumstances (granted, one is from the future). The device that makes them exceptional is itself quite evil (it spies on the only private thing a person has in the Communist world - one's own thoughts), and the profit-mongers are "mere criminals" (albeit technically advanced). The importance of individual contributions to society is stressed, but so is the absolute authority of law. The need for the boy and the girl to remain separated by time, despite obviously being very fond of each other, is a rather sharp endpoint to a children's show, and underscores the fact that in the perfect society, people will make sacrifices for the greater good, and that in the end the people making the sacrifices are happier for having done the right thing, despite the tragedy of their loss (and the show makes no effort to cloak the separation of the two as a "nice thing in disguise").

The TV heroes of a hive world would have similar qualities, though probably much more rough. The hiver's hero will probably be either outlaw or "law ambivalent", instead working for a basic social justice (that skirts the boundaries but rarely ever actually crosses them). She'll hate arbitors despite working with them a lot, and will only respect one or two who've really shown they know what's really going on. Her greatest enemies will somehow epitomize the overthrow of societal norms while at the same time representing something utterly aberrant (a chaos cultist who causes unnatural decay of food stocks to force a food riot, a xenos shapeshifter who takes the form of a labor leader and causes laborers to protest and riot, etc.). In this way, all of the things that might bring about serious upheaval in social norms are innately associated with Chaos, Xenos influence, etc. Also, it'd almost have to be a woman, the reason being that the society is chauvanist. Nobody wants somebody believing they could be a social hero - those kinds of people are erratic and dangerous. The chauvanism of the 40K universe makes it less likely for a woman to be empowered enough to become such a hero, and a man is less likely to follow a woman's example (espeically in a chauvanistic society).

There are Soviet films and reels all over youtube. Search for "Nu pogodi" to get the classic cartoons.

Contrary to Western myth, however, 95% of Soviet entertainment was not propaganda, but was variety shows, music concerts, and children's cartoons with no discernable ideological bent. I don't think 95% of Imperial entertainment would be either. Propaganda doesn't pervade everything, no matter how ideological the society.

To clarify, I think the great majority of entertainment would be the kind of things that have been popular throughout history -- love stories, tragedies about how so-and-so orphan had to go a-wanderin', Punch and Judy shows, fols songs a la The Long Black Veil, things like that. Various equivalents of soap operas at the low end, and the Canterbury Tales on the high end. The Emperor and so forth would show up in the background, like Jesus shows up in the Canterbury Tales, but they wouldn't be at the center of everything.

bogi_khaosa said:

Well, one could argue with the "no discernable ideological bent" (I would do the same with a lot of Western media, mind you), but I will agree that most (like the show I described) weren't of the explicit intent to act as propoganda, but they did reinforce the social norm. Propoganda, as an active medium, amounts to very little of the actual media, but as a passive medium is in about half to two thirds of it (our media as well as theirs).

Soviet active propoganda was especially well-made, and the Soviet passive propoganda was (astonishingly, based on Western expectation) especially "light-handed".

Well, "ideological" is a somewhat vague term. They did try to inculcate values with some childrens' cartoons, but that was usually a general "obey your parents, be nice to people, share your toys, don't lie" sort of thing, not "unite around the glorious leadership of the Party!" That was what Pioneer Camps were for.

They were like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0sPp1pdjEw&feature=related

Anyway, my larger point was that in any society that has a strong official ideology, like the fictitious Imperium or the real USSR (or medieval Europe, or whatever), the great majority of the content of the average person's life is not directly concerned with the ideology (unless they are a real fanatic). So while you will probably have some entertainment that is edification about the Great Deeds of the Saints, most of it is probably going to be about more lowly, universally human concerns -- stories of tragic love, slapstick comedy, nonsense songs, fairy tales, things like that.

I love propaganda, glad I asked the question!

Alongside state-provided media which is likley to contain some propaganda elements, there will always be folk tales songs, underground literature and other forms of entertainment that grow organically within a society. If the propaganda machines have been doing their job then the ideals they espouse will be absorbed into mainstream culture and manifest in said folk tales.

In the west, the cult of the individual is strong. How many films revolve around the hero going against society (the renegade cop, the scientist no one beleives, etc) usually on his own (maybe with a girl in tow), to protect said society against The Other (terrorists, russians, gangsters,aliens,volcanos). In addition to this, He often ends up rich beyond his wildest dreams, due to his clever manipulation of eithe rthe bad guys or society. They (probably) aren't propaganda peices, but they certain espouse the ideals of Western Rational Self-Interest, Fee markets,etc.

Pneumonica, did you do politics or something at uni?

Not specifically - I browsed around. I've had (IIRC) five official majors, including at least one double major. I don't think any of them were polisci or anything similar. However, I took a lot of extraneous classes, and at any rate I have a high rate of data retention (mostly regarding trivia). In essence, I've got a "Renaissance education" (I even spelled it right... I think). Soviet propoganda is just a standout for me because it really is well crafted, and they did a good job of inducing the rest of society to repackage the active propoganda into the passive forms that you and other posters have mentioned (and frequently to do so without asking).

from france

i think what you describe is a "complete education" the renaissance learned one wanted to be able to be educationned in all matters.

i was wondering why none of you have talk about the shady side of the every day life. no no i' am not tlaking about cleanning the dishes. granted it s a shady side of the every day life. i understand that because of cultural difference some elements are never talk about in american or english book. i'am not condescending here but you seems to accept violence more easely than evrything about sex whyle it 's rather the opposites for us the latines. look at the the book of dan abnet, especialy ravenor one and you will find some references. i'am think there about the sister of the caracter zael it look like she embrace a kind of profession.... or the profession of the intouchable of einsenhorn in the firts book of the trilogie.

and don't tell me that this kind of stuff is for adult, i'am not advocating here details descripton of pratices like there is no detail practice of drugs in the game. do you really think that a game that clearly show tools of torture is for childs?

well it 's late in france so...

the 8 spider said:

Because quite honestly we know prostitution exists in 40k its probably not so much "everyday life" per say as much as just another profession, folded into scum. It think drugs would be a more interesting topic because we know many drugs are proscribed, but since prostitution isn't proscribed its just another job, like factory worker or adept. Sure it may be illegial on some worlds due to cultural taboos, but it seems to be just another job.

from france

yes tou are probably right but don' t forget that a prostitute rarely kill his/her client a cigahlo, will sooner or later. a prostitute can be a wonderful information broker. during the world war two german officer who visite the ladies were conted by the ladies. they ask where they go and like this troops movement were estimated. the beds confindences are useful because nobody think of it especially those who talk. a ladies can describe you the weaknes strengths habits taste of her clients with a precision unmatched by anyone sometimes they know there client better than the client know them selves.

still in the shaddy part of life think of beggar. the know a lot ogf think watch a lot of think and no one notice. why? because everyone look a the other side when they ask a litlle charity and litlle attention. now even the most secrete of vilain will pass before the eyes of a beggar and if it repeat a pattern like going homme a beggar will notice it. how many beggar in a hive ? a lot i think . if you can create a web of silent wtacher with them i think that few people can escape you.