The historical significance of Arthur Morgan’s journey
The second installment of Rockstar’s epic western weaves historical commentary into the stitches of Arthur Morgan’s story.
In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner wrote The Significance of the American Frontier in American History, which argues that American democracy was formed by the American frontier and the process of pioneers settling in the west. Many American cultural ideals and beliefs find their roots in the westward expansion of the 19th century. Our politics, our movies, our clothing, even our truck commercials have elements from the folklore of the second Industrial Revolution. Over time, there has been a certain mythology that has been attached to occupations such as factory workers, miners, and ranchers that represents the blue-collar culture that many Americans revere so passionately. Captains of industry such as John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan have traditionally exemplified the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of America, otherwise referred to as the “American Dream”. Both ideals were products of the U.S. westward expansion in the late 19th century. While these stories hold some truth, the reality was that the U.S. western expansion was brutal, and the socioeconomic costs were not great for a lot of Americans. This is something that Rockstar Games is keenly aware of, and it makes Red Dead Redemption 2 an intriguing work of art that explores our relationship to the Old West and how we view one of the sources of our cultural identity.
Red Dead Redemption 2 takes us to the end of the U.S. Western expansion, where the player takes control of Arthur Morgan, a member of the Dutch Van der Linde gang on the run from the law after a botched ferry job that turned into a massacre. The days of the American outlaw were numbered, as the U.S. government was federalizing the economy and law enforcement in the interest of industrial growth. The second Industrial Revolution was ending as the United States saw a massive economic shift from a predominantly agrarian economy to an industrialized machine, and the number of people who worked for wages soared. Families fled to the cities in search of jobs as immigration exploded, tripling the population from 1850 to 1900. The “savagery” of the American West was finally being tamed, as the railroad industry gained steam and connected the country from coast to coast.
After Red Dead Redemption 2 was released, the usual reviews came out lauding every detail of gameplay of Rockstar’s western masterpiece. The graphics are phenomenal, the character movements are smooth and extremely detailed down to the footprints left in the snow, and the world is vast and full of interesting, fleshed-out characters that add to a fascinatingly organic story. While all these things are amazing, the biggest achievement of RDR2 is the social critique that Rockstar weaves into the fabric of the gameplay and allow the player to absorb it through exploration. Rockstar has always been known to inject satire and social commentary into their games, most notably Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption. What is different in RDR2, however, is how that commentary is delivered. Traditionally, missions go something like this: you go to a point on the map, a character gives you their two cents on some abstract topic, and then they tell you to murder someone. It gives the game a very satirical, and sometimes comedic, feeling. The sarcastic remarks and animated tirades provide insight to the game developers views on American culture, whether it’s the brutalization of the American West or our apathy to violence. In RDR2, the commentary is delivered through action, giving the game a less satirical point of view and a more organic experience. Every movement, visual, and voice inflection works in coordination with a feeling of optimism that, over the course of the game, turns into inevitability and despair. Things like more chaotic weather patterns, open spaces becoming overwhelmed by the thick forest, and the visible deterioration of Arthur’s health all play a role in these feelings as the story progresses. Even the geography of the main story continually pushes you into the northeastern corner, with the gang losing mobility each time a new camp is set up.
There’s a quote in the mission “Revenge is a Dish Best Eaten”, that stood out to me. Dutch, in reference to the Native American tribes losing their land to the U.S. government, says “What you saw, were people who lost everything to savagery. The savagery of peasants, failures who come from Europe to reap some awful vengeance on God’s last creation.” This quote, I believe, best summarizes the cost of industrialization in the late 19th century. Industrialization turned America into the world’s leading super economic power. But the U.S.’s economic rise didn’t come without a cost. During this time period, the income inequality gap widened exponentially as companies were forming monopolies and partnering with the federal government, leading to economic power favoring America’s elite class. Rises in immigration created a surplus in the labor market, which led to long work weeks under brutal conditions for the working class, leading to countless deaths due to unsafe work environments. The U.S. Army oversaw the cultural genocide of Native Americans, forcing them from their homes in the interest of economic expansion. And the land on the frontier was exploited for natural resources, causing the destruction of many species, including the American bison. The costs of industrialization and westward expansion disproportionately affected our working class and our wildlife.
What Rockstar games has done is utilized gameplay mechanics, geography, and story to sew the historical critique into the fabric of the world. In other words, rather than hearing these stories, you experience these stories. Through exploring the map, you come across a railroad labor camp where the Chinese immigrants who work there endure harsh work conditions. There’s a mining town named Annesburg, where its residents are cash starved and work long hours for the mine that owns the town. There’s a Native American reservation where the Wapiti tribe is suffering from poverty and disease, with no access to resources. There’s a small town at Butcher Creek where its residents suffer from arsenic poisoning, caused by recklessness from a mining company. If you move farther west, the feeling becomes more wholesome as the more favorable elements of the old west are present. But there is still a giant oil rig run by Cornwall Industries in the middle of the Heartlands, and the town of Blackwater is home to an aggressively expanding banking industry. Civilization is swallowing the American frontier in the name of manifest destiny.
RDR2 utilizes every aspect of the gameplay to help you feel the stories of those who were crushed by the U.S. westward expansion. 1899 was a time where the Old West and the people who exemplified those times were being pushed into extinction to make way for a new era of industrialization. America wanted to tame the west in order to become an economic and military superpower. But on the quest for that goal, many Americans surrendered their economic freedoms and power to the elite class who were looking to exploit every piece of land and any community to maximize profit. As a result, many people were burdened with the horrifying costs of the U.S. westward expansion. Even though the game narrative informs you that the law is chasing you and tuberculosis is ravaging your health, exploring the different communities makes you realize that Arthur Morgan might be the most free man in the world.
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