Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s dystopian series, ‘Fallout’ is set 200 years into the future in a world that has been decimated by a nuclear war and is trying to get back on its feet in different ways. One of those ways is the Vaults, where people have hidden out since the nuclear fallout and have tried to keep up a democratic order of things so that one day when they finally leave the vaults and go above ground, they can restore the world as it used to be, but better. Over the eight-episode season, it is revealed the idea of the Vaults and its perfect societies was concocted by a company called Vault-Tec.
While the world of ‘Fallout’ is entirely fictional, the writers have cleverly grounded everything into the current reality, making it easier for the audience to relate to the mostly bad things done by people and corporations. Did the inspiration for Vault-Tec come from a real place, too? SPOILERS AHEAD
The Fictional Vault-Tec Critiques the Capitalist Greed of Corporations
‘Fallout’ TV show is based on the video game series of the same name, which, over the years, has developed its own lore. The Prime Video series not only relies on this lore but also expands upon it by opening up the threads that had not been explored in video games. It also gives more background to things like Vault-Tec, making them more real to the audience, especially when it comes to the way they are operated.
In the show, Vault-Tec is a company that makes its money by selling places in Vaults they have created to help people survive nuclear fallout. Apart from this, the company also deals in weapons, which they supply to the government to help them fight the war against their enemies. While there may not be a real company that builds Vaults on a large scale, there are corporations that make money from selling weapons of mass destruction, and these companies stand to profit more in times of war.
‘Fallout’ digs into this idea and, through Vault-Tec, exposes corporate greed, where companies look for nothing but their profit, even if it means using war as the way to roll money into their banks. They stand to lose if peace is achieved, so they actively lobby for war, and when that isn’t enough, they decide to intervene themselves and make war, if that’s what it takes. This isn’t exactly an imagined behavior as, in today’s world, it is clear to everyone that all the rich corporations care about is their profits, even when they are drowning in money, and for that, they are ready to let the world go to hell, as long as their profits are soaring. So, in a way, Vault-Tec is a reflection of such corporations and their capitalist greed that stands to destroy the world eventually.
