Red Dead Redemption (Paperback)

John Wills

ISBN 10: 0806191856 / ISBN 13: 9780806191850

Published by University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma, 2023

About this Item

Paperback. While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history. Drawing on game studies, western history, American studies, and cultural studies, the authors train a wide-ranging, deeply informed analytic perspective on the Red Dead franchisefrom its earliest incarnation to the latest, Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). Their intersecting chapters put the series in the context of American history, culture, and contemporary media, with inquiries into issues of authenticity, realism, the meaning of play and commercial promotion, and the relationship between the game and the wider cultural iterations of the classic Western. The contributors also delve into the role the series development has played in recent debates around working conditions in the gaming industry and gaming culture. In its redeployment and reinvention of the Westerns myth and memes, the Red Dead franchise speaks to broader aspects of American culturethe hold of the frontier myth and the Wild West over the popular imagination, the role of gun culture in society, depictions of gender and ethnicity in mass media, and the increasing allure of digital escapismall of which come in for scrutiny here, making this volume a vital, sweeping, and deeply revealing cultural intervention. Rockstar Games Red Dead franchise has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. This book offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780806191850

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Red Dead Redemption (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0806191856
• ISBN 13: 9780806191850
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history.

Drawing on game studies, western history, American studies, and cultural studies, the authors train a wide-ranging, deeply informed analytic perspective on the Red Dead franchise—from its earliest incarnation to the latest, Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). Their intersecting chapters put the series in the context of American history, culture, and contemporary media, with inquiries into issues of authenticity, realism, the meaning of play and commercial promotion, and the relationship between the game and the wider cultural iterations of the classic Western. The contributors also delve into the role the series’ development has played in recent debates around working conditions in the gaming industry and gaming culture.

In its redeployment and reinvention of the Western’s myth and memes, the Red Dead franchise speaks to broader aspects of American culture—the hold of the frontier myth and the “Wild West” over the popular imagination, the role of gun culture in society, depictions of gender and ethnicity in mass media, and the increasing allure of digital escapism—all of which come in for scrutiny here, making this volume a vital, sweeping, and deeply revealing cultural intervention.
 

About the Authors

John Wills is Reader in American History and Culture at the University of Kent. He is the author of Gamer Nation: Video Games and American Culture and Disney Culture.

Esther Wright is Lecturer in Digital History at Cardiff University. She is the author of Rockstar Games and American History: Promotional Materials and the Construction of Authenticity.