
A fictional propaganda poster from the game “Bioshock Infinite.”
Video games may seem like odd vehicles for showcasing racist and ultranationalist attitudes of the US at the turn of the century. But the 1912 setting of the game “Bioshock Infinite” and its floating city of Columbia draws direct inspiration from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893—a huge historical event that contrasted powerful displays of U.S. technological prowess with living ethnological exhibits of indigenous peoples from around the world, such as the Arabian circus and “cannibals” that separately marched about. READ MORE HERE