I feel a deeply unexplored aspect of the Fallout universe is the Culture of the wasteland
It feels like the post nuclear society has made people lose a lot of what makes them human. There's no new art being made, no movements or aesthetics that aren't copied from whatever remnant the bombs left behind, now mangled and repurposed to serve modern sensibilities
The Kings clearly worship Elvis (and Some have even listened to him) however, that visual identity is not tied to a form of self expression, but a tribal branding that helps keep them and their people safe
In 76 there are many instruments laying around you can play with, and there can be a real sense of community behind that practice, but it's a shame that's never translated to the single player games. People in Fallout have lost the human need to express themselves artistically, they've been reduced to the very essentials in the pyramid of needs
Perhaps it's the fact that it's Hard to actually move past those basic needs, to achieve enough security to make art, but a lot of people do make art today Despite (maybe even because of) their shitty circumstances
The nukes didn't cause a nuclear winter, but it did turn the world into a snow globe. The memory of a place forever frozen in time
Nothing changes, nothing progresses; nihil novi sub sole, as they say
Also, I refuse to believe that, were the world end today, people would still be listening to Taylor Swift's Wood in 200 years
I agree that the Fallout franchise is really missing out when it comes to culture. I believe there would be an insane amount of folk artists in the Wasteland making weird shit out of weird shit.
Imagine a statue made out of bottle caps that the artists protects from scavengers. Maybe it looks like his kid or his spouse, idk. Good angst potential. Maybe you help with protect it or maybe you steal it from him. It would be a fun quest weighing morals and survival.
I like to imagine that music artists in the wasteland would have a form of Neo- 1950s music inspired by the music from the Before Times, but made through current instruments. Drum kits made from scrap metal and hide. A guitar pieced together from a violin and another guitar, because that's all they had. They'd invent new sounds, but maybe still take inspo from the things they've heard.
I've talked a little bit about this before in a post about fnv characters and the art I'd think they'd do, but graffiti!!!!!! there's already some graffiti, but imagine it being actual art and not just little warning signs. Imagine a graffiti deathclaw!!! Or the end of a defunct tunnel being painted to look like a giant mouth to scare people!!! Imagine tribes and groups tagging their areas to seem better than their competition.
Sighhh...I love art. OP you were cooking!! and side note, I've heard one snippet of Wood by TS in an edit someone made for the new movie Husband Material, and that was enough for me.
