Americana in Video Games: How a Genre-Transcending Theme Found its New Perfect Match

Americana is defined as any artifacts that belong to the cultural, national or geographical identity of the United States. To put it simply, Americana is anything or idea that is associated with the social and cultural aspects of good ol' US of A. The idea of Americana, as a communication phenomenon, is often attributed to nostalgia. While the history of the United States is somewhat filtered and splintered between classes, ethnicities and even politics, Americana encompasses anything that is typical of America.

However, even with the incredibly broad cultural map that spans America, Americana still finds its home with the predominantly Caucasian and Mid-Western culture. One can listen at Americana as a musical genre to hear just that. Americana music is usually a marriage of folk, rock and roll, country and R&B. Sounds pretty typical of dominant American culture, but believe me it's not all like that. Thankfully, much of modern Americana, music of otherwise, does include any and all cultural or ethnic identities found in the US. But is it just found in music, old railroad maps and newspaper clippings from the various boroughs of the country? Visual medias like film and television have been dominant for a long time, yet video games seem to be escalating in every regard. This includes their presentations of themes. Americana is no exception.

Red Dead Redemption is without a doubt the most successful exhibit of unmitigated American culture in video game history. A big claim, but I can back that up with flying colors. The game takes place in 1911 New Austin, a fictional south western state on the US-Mexican border. Players control the primary character, former outlaw John Marston, through a litany of cowboy adventures. Red Dead Redemption's narrative is one of unadulterated transparency into the American dream on the unforgiving and transformative Plains. That dream can be brought to fruition, or immediately stifled by the many issues that have cursed the idea of Americana and the very notion of American Exceptionalism (the thought that America is inherently extraordinary). Ethnic discrimination, crime and political corruption run rampant through the history of the United States. Red Dead Redemption uses Americana and American culture to bring those very faults and issues front and center, such as religious and political dissonance. The game even goes so far as to use Americana to criticize certain components of turn of the century America such as the notion of manifest destiny. The infamous but notable 19th century doctrine that pushed for genuine Americans to control all of North America, is lambasted by the game's story for its xenophobic characteristics.

The 2010 masterpiece from Rockstar Games also does the theme of Americana itself justice, as well as using it to address the complicated story of America. A rough and meaningful ride across the legendary American West is exactly what one would be looking for while listening to Jason Isbell or Bob Dylan. What's more Americana than a dust caked wilderness punctuated by settlements occupied by colorful and interesting people? After all, Americana wouldn't be what it is without people. That's probably what Red Dead Redemption accomplishes best in its quest to cultivate interactive examples of Americana - people. An insane grave digger, a manipulative federal agent, a grizzled gunslinger looking for redemption? It's like Sergio Leone and James McMurtry had a baby.

Shifting gears to another example of Americana and that darned American Exceptionalism, ever played BioShock series? Now I've got the wheels in your brain turning. BioShock, if you haven't heard, is a first-person thriller that takes place in multiple Americanized super cities, one at the bottom of the Atlantic in the 1960s, and the other in the sky during the early 1910s. The later, 2013's BioShock Infinite pits players against the entire city of Columbia, a floating fortress dedicated to American manifest destiny. The city is wrought with xenophobic jingoists who wish to cleanse the "sodom below." Sodom is revealed to refer to foreigners and people of varying religious and ethnic identities. It's a really negative feature of former American ideals, I know, but BioShock has a silver lining when it comes to the Americana theme. It offers players a look into not just racist ultranationalists, but into the poetic and dynamic struggle between classes and race. It's not overwhelming positive, but it's something more than the one-sided and embodies a very realistic part of American history. Visually, the game screams turn of the 20th century, and feeds gamers a warm taste of classic American style, be it architecturally or in clothing.

So what exactly am I getting at here? That video games can highlight depressing facts about a complicated nation, just as much as any other media? Yes, but not exactly. I'd like to shift gears yet again to another game. Bear with me because it's also a grim one, but its utility is ultimately positive for the theme that seeks to express nuanced American cultures. The Last of Us is an award-winning title from the esteemed Naughty Dog Studios. The 2013 hit follows Joel, a man who escorts a young teenage girl, Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. 30 years following a deadly outbreak, America is in ruins. Joel is constantly teaching a curious Ellie about the former country they spend an entire year traversing. While some of Ellie's comments are pessimistic, her observations show some very positive things about American life. They find themselves wandering through coffee shops, a college and playgrounds, taking it all in as they go. All these places were American icons and the places of meeting, laughter and joy. Just because there are zombie-like creatures and bandits roaming through them does not mean that they don't call back to a happier time. It may look like a Cormac McCarthy book (a great nod to American culture in and of itself), but The Last of Us still allows the positive facets of Americana to come forth.

American culture is an undeniable force in today's media. While it has been propelled, abused and misled over the years, video games give it hope. Did you read anything in this article that led you to believe that these three games stretched the truth about the US? Did they ever seem like paid sponsors for Americana? No, they simply showed us an unfiltered presentation of the cultures that Americana features as a theme. That theme drives so many pieces of media content, but very few approach it as directly and unapologetically as visual media. I'm confident that video games are leading the charge, and become the theme's perfect match.

#BenStembridge