The story of this project begins when my son was playing Red Dead Redemption last year and asked me to take a look at it. He knows I am interest in all kinds of frontier narratives, but I honestly had not paid much attention to video games, except to play them from time to time. However, when I saw the depth and breadth of Red Dead Redemption and also L.A. Noire,
John Marston earns his keep…
Cole Phelps is on the job
I knew I HAD to play these games, and I quickly discovered that each one clearly follows the conventions of certain frontier narratives, in particular the popular western and the frontiersman figure (in the form of the hardboiled detective, which is a twentieth-century version or incarnation of the classic frontiersman – read Richard Slotkin’s Gunfighter Nation for more on this phenomenon).
Further, there is an incredibly popular social networking game on facebook called The Pioneer Trail that embeds neocolonial discourse and, quite frankly, racist representations of Indigenous identity. I will certainly devote at least a chapter to the revision of American frontier history (many actual historical figures, locations, and events appear in the game) and re-articulation of myth that The Pioneer Trail undertakes.
This is Bart – he will sell you stuff. The game promotes accumulation and consumption.
My book will explore the various paradigmatic myths that these games continue to narrativize. I have completed a chapter, which will also appear in Western American Literature in spring 2012. The abstract for the chapter is located in the page entitled “Eternal Inequality on the Digital Frontier.” I am currently writing another chapter on Read Dead Redemption regarding the representation of borderlands and race in the game.
I admit that I have to finish L.A. Noire before I can adequately map out the chapters – it’s a tough job but someone has to do it!
