MGSGnosis

“but in the current digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible."

David Bowie in MGS

As some fans may know by now, “Diamond Dogs" was a concept album by David Bowie inspired by the George Orwell novel 1984

Bowie was known for having different onstage personas for each album,for Diamond Dogs the persona was called “Halloween Jack".

song by song breakdown of Diamond Dogs

The E3 2015 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V shows a cassette tape with “The Man Who Sold The World,a song by David Bowie,written on it.

It is also believed that Bowie's inspiration for the song came from a family member diagonsed with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia plays a role in the novel VALIS by Philip K. Dick,in which a work of fiction within the novel is inspired by the 1975 film “The Man Who Fell To Earth" starring David Bowie.

MGS3 has a minor reference to Bowie's 1969 hit Space Oddity (which doubles as a reference to the film “The Great Escape")

The title of the song obviously reminds us of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film that Hideo Kojima is a big fan of.

bowie2001.com

Then there's the Ziggy Stardust character. The lightning bolt and androgynous appearance makes me think of Raiden (a word that means “thunder and lightning” in Japanese)

Also check out David Bowie and the Occult

MGS3 Promo Book: The Countdown

I recently found a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: The Countdown,a cool little promotional book released in Japan. It contains an interview with Hideo Kojima,synopsis on previous games in the series,production notes,a portion of the virtuous mission's script,as well as stuff that can be found in the original Snake Eater instruction manual such as instructions on CQC controls & camouflage, character art,and historical timeline.

If anyone knows Japanese and wants to translate the Kojima interview or any other part of the book,please let me know.

Here are a few images from the book

JFK to MGS

In the original script for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty the AI that contacts Raiden  later known as JD or “John Doe",is referred to as JFK

Did you know that the Kennedy assassination,the first atomic test at the Trinity site,and the impact of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki all occurred at nearly the same line of latitude?

MGS2 connects a presidental assassination with the potential use of nuclear weapons

The president in MGS2 shares the same last name as Kennedys successor Lyndon B Johnson, who appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

MGS3 and Peace Walker cover the history and aftermath of the Cuban Missle Crisis, the most important moment in Kennedys presidency.

Stanley Kubrick's film Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,which deals with mutually assured destruction, was scheduled to have its first test audience screening on the day of the Kennedy assassination. As a result of the national tragedy,the films release was pushed back to early 1964 and edits were made including changing the ending

John F. Kennedy was said to be a huge fan of Ian Flemming's 007 novels. The series of James Bond adventures began in the early 1950s, but gained mainstream international popularity at the time Kennedy was in office.

Kennedy was especially a fan of the 1957 novel From Russia With Love, which he listed as one of his top ten favorite books.The 1963 film version was released a month before the JFK assassination and it is believed that the president saw the film a short time before his death.

Ian Fleming and JFK,50 years later

ClandesTime: The CIA and James Bond

007 was an influence on MGS series as well

and in Oliver Stone's 1991 conspiracy-thriller JFK,District Attorney Jim Garrison arranges a meeting with a shadowy figure named Mr X, played by the actor Donald Sutherland (Kiefer's dad)

While I can't verify it,some people belive that the cemetery shown in MGS3 and MGS4 is the Arlington National Cemetery,the burial place of JFK

Kennedys role in the 1960s Space Race is also highlighted in the series

I came across an interesting analysis of Kojima's PT demo that discusses potential JFK references as well as oter historical topics.