Perspectives on non-humans in modernity from the representations of Red Dead Redemption 2

Abstract

Nature has been understood and represented in various ways throughout history, and therefore it is possible to understand part of the complexity of the idea of Nature also through art. In this sense, the present paper proposes to understand games as historical sources, and thus discuss in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) the meanings of the human-nature relationship in the 19th century and in the present time through the analysis of discourses, narratives, ideologies, representations, and above all anachronisms. Presenting itself as a critically and publicly acclaimed video game and therefore a rich documentation of the present time. Far from being windows to the past, videogames are historical sources with the marks of their manufacture capable, through dialogue between historian and theory, of presenting the cultural climate and spirit of an epoch, since their manufacture is imprisoned in its time. Therefore our proposal is to discuss and include non-human beings in historiography.