#so i wouldnt say that westerns are a Unique American Creations

[newvegascowboy]

i think the thing about westerns is that tragedy is kind of like, endemic to the genre. going into rdr2 knowing how it ends makes the beginning of the game feel sooooo lonely. like arthur is riding around having a good time surrounded by the people he loves and he's trying SO hard and you KNOW the narrative is going to take you by the hand and tell you it doesn't matter. there is no way that this can go right - but it makes so much sense for the game!

which is why tragedies have so much staying power, i think, because our stories from the very very fucking beginning have always, ALWAYS, been about grief. from the moment gilgamesh cried out to enkidu and achilles was visited by patroclus' ghost, humanity was built around love and the grief that comes after. westerns really inherit that part of storytelling, especially when you factor in the grief and anger of native americans and mexicans and the brutality that they faced being forced out by white settlers. it's also a very bleak look at capitalism and exploitation, and why the villains in so many westerns tend to be powerful, rich white men.

westerns really become a unique facet of american storytelling in which we encompass a lot of our grief and sadness, but specifically loss. even in a western that isn't necessarily tragic, there is a not of mourning that undercuts the entire theme. something tells you that these characters are dead, even as you're watching them on screen, like their ghosts are sitting next to you telling you that they didn't make it.

idrk where i was going with this. i like westerns but they make me sad.