Fallout’s unique mix of retro-futurist aesthetics and vintage music creates a bizarre, yet striking atmosphere in its dystopian world. The use of 30s, 40s, and 50s music in the Fallout series adds an eerie contrast to the violence and brutality of the wasteland.
Amazon’s Fallout show cleverly integrates this iconic music into scenes of gore and violence, enhancing the irony and atmosphere of the adaptation. If you’ve played Fallout, there are a few distinct things that you might think of when you try to explain its overall vibe to someone.
It’s dystopian, largely barren, full of violence, and marred with brutality from all sides. But it also has a distinct retro-futurist aesthetic borne out of its setting in an alternate universe that diverged from ours long before its nuclear devastation.
Fallout’s timeline diverges from ours after World War 2, resulting in the incorporation of 50s and 60s aesthetics alongside futuristic technologies. This creates a muddled and bizarre, yet extremely striking feel.
The Fallout show captures New Vegas’ heart and soul, incorporating the iconic music and epitomizing the distinct retro-futurist aesthetic, which is a hallmark of the series. The music from the 30s, 40s, and 50s is an integral part of Fallout’s identity, adding to the series’ unique vibe and contributing to the strange time period being depicted.
The show’s creators recognize this and cleverly use the music as backdrops to acts of brutal violence, capitalizing on the contrast between the reality of the wasteland and the smoothness of the music. The strong contrast between the eerie music and the violent setting is a fundamental aspect of the series’ identity and is effectively recognized and utilized in the show.
This recognition and integration of the music into a different medium adds to the show’s humor and creepiness, making it an interesting adaptation.
