An Ode to The Media That Changed my Life
No one can truly understand the amount a piece of media can affect oneself until they experience it themselves. I used to struggle understanding why some felt so connected to their favourite media. To me I could enjoy something but never fully feel immersed enough that it affected my soul and the way I looked at the world.
That all changed last year when I decided on a whim to purchase Red Dead Redemption 2 for my PC. I had played video games in the past, mostly shooters like Valorant, Minecraft or Stardew Valley. But nothing could have prepared me for the true wonder and awe of RDR2.
When I say this game is one of the best pieces of media I have ever consumed, I truly mean it. At every waking spare time I had, I was on my computer playing this game. Through tears, laughter and anxiously hoping to make it through a level alive, I thoroughly enjoyed playing. Red Dead Redemption 2 follows the storyline of an outcast gang, The Dutch Van Der Linde Gang. The player plays as a man by the name of Arthur Morgan, a man who grew up in the gang after running away at a young age.
RDR2 specifically takes place in a transitional period of the United States where the end of outlaws and the wild west is coming to an end and law and order is taking their place. We play out the struggle outlaw gangs have with this period and their attempts to live free. They must run away from the law moving around the United States.
What makes RDR2 so different from any other media I have ever consumed is immersion. I have never felt so immersed, interconnected with something curated, animated for the viewer. But RDR2 causes these feelings through their open world. One becomes connected with the fellow gang members through every interaction. The player could remain inactive and the world around them continues, animals scurry in the forest, NPC continue their adventures.
The world itself is ever changing and you see this as you play through the game. Your actions have consequences that last longer than just one day, you can gather bounty from doing unlawful actions. The NPC remembers what you have done, whether good or bad. In a sense the world feels alive. You can miss moments if you don’t live in the moment such as random stranger events that will never come back if missed.
“Take a gamble that love exists, and do a loving act.”
~ Sister Calderón
With this immersion comes heartbreak as the story progresses and the world and the characters turn and shift, one starts to feel nostalgia for the old days, when things were better. I can certainly say I had this feeling multiple times, to this day I still do. I ache to play the game for the first time once more. I pray I can contract short term memory loss but just for RDR2 to experience it once more.
This video game spiked my interest in the Wild West and even for the focus on slow living, a life without as much technology. It inspired me to make more things by hand, whether that be weaving, sewing or pottery. It made me grow an appreciation for the nature around me and realized I needed to be grateful for what we have. Because there is a real fear that it could all be gone in the future. As I played as Arthur Morgan, travelling the Rocky Mountains searching for food I was comfortable in the silence. Just “me”, my horse and nature. There was something so comfortable and heartwarming.
This game also taught me some valuable life lessons through my 200 hour play thru. There is a particular quote that I adore from the game “Take a gamble that love exists, and do a loving act.”. In the context of this quote, a nun is telling Arthur to do something good with his life despite the fact that he has been an outlaw for the most part of his life. I immediately bursted into tears at this scene and I have this quote in my Instagram Bio to this day. I feel like this quote is an amazing reminder that you do not have to believe in love, you just have to be loving, and love will return back to you. In a sense is the idea of doing unto others what you would like to be done to you. It taught me also that moments are truly fleeting, and you must live them to the fullest.
As I was playing through I began to wish I could restart it all because I felt like I wasn’t playing its true potential, or I missed a certain period of the game where everything was easy. That’s when I came to the realization that much like real life, you can’t just go back and change things
Top: In game photo of the gang, Abigail Marston and artist drawing of Arthur Morgan
Bottom: In game photo of the campground
Above all, Red Dead Redemption was educational, I learned what life was like in the 1800’s, the good and the bad. The player learns how people were treated, the women’s movement or the treaties with the local Indigenous Tribes. You learn popular songs and phrases of the time.
Red Dead Redemption became the reason I purchased cowboy boots or dressed up as a cowboy. It became the reason I made sure to stroll through nature. It started an obsession to consume any media that spoke about RDR2. To listen to the amazing soundtrack that plays through out the game, anything to take me back to the certain scene in the game. It encouraged me to take life in slowly, to find comfort by oneself. To me, RDR2 was a pause from the crazy outside world, a pause from short form media.
And then, before you know it. Your media has come to an end, you now must move on to your day to day after experiencing one of the most cinematic pieces of media ever consumed by my 17 year old self. Now, I still search for the same fleeting feeling I held for RDR2 but at the same time it feels wrong to attempt to replace a media I adored.