The Mustang Diaries: A Study of Mexico in Red Dead Redemption 1

Abstract

Can a form of play be used to portray the past in popular culture? Can a person engage in such an act and acquire agency of a particular time in history? Play constitutes many forms—but for the sake of this paper, it will be used in the context of video games. Using the two main schools of thought for the study of these, narratology and ludology, I intend to highlight the potential for games to not only recreate history but also interact with events and how they can provide new ways of understanding history. I will focus mainly on the Mexican Revolution and the U.S.-Mexico border relations in Rockstar’s epic western: Red Dead Redemption 1.