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D&D = American + European Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7756679" data-attributes="member: 6873517"><p>I'm not really sure that's uniquely American or even particularly related to the Old West. For instance <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Once_and_Future_King" target="_blank">The Once and Future King</a> as a retelling of the King Arthur story is a "zero to hero" story. There's plenty of examples from Greek mythology as well, both Hercules and Theseus being good examples. I've watched and/or read many Westerns and they don't tend to be that kind of story. Many of them are more set pieces in an area with existing, established heroes, anti-heroes, and villains, although it depends a good bit. Moving west to restart your life and escape from your past? Going into the mountains after some gold that may not be there? Those are definitely Western tropes. I'm sure there are examples of "zero to hero", but many of the most famous Westerns really aren't in majority or at all. You can see it in <em>The Magnificent Seven</em>, which is an adaptation of Kurosawa's <em>Seven Samurai</em> (itself highly influenced by Westerns) but interestingly enough the character that fits the trope actually decides to go back to being a farmer at the end, and gives up on being a hero!</p><p></p><p>All that said, I don't disagree that D&D is American. It's not just American, it's very specifically Midwestern in origin.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7756679, member: 6873517"] I'm not really sure that's uniquely American or even particularly related to the Old West. For instance [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Once_and_Future_King"]The Once and Future King[/URL] as a retelling of the King Arthur story is a "zero to hero" story. There's plenty of examples from Greek mythology as well, both Hercules and Theseus being good examples. I've watched and/or read many Westerns and they don't tend to be that kind of story. Many of them are more set pieces in an area with existing, established heroes, anti-heroes, and villains, although it depends a good bit. Moving west to restart your life and escape from your past? Going into the mountains after some gold that may not be there? Those are definitely Western tropes. I'm sure there are examples of "zero to hero", but many of the most famous Westerns really aren't in majority or at all. You can see it in [I]The Magnificent Seven[/I], which is an adaptation of Kurosawa's [I]Seven Samurai[/I] (itself highly influenced by Westerns) but interestingly enough the character that fits the trope actually decides to go back to being a farmer at the end, and gives up on being a hero! All that said, I don't disagree that D&D is American. It's not just American, it's very specifically Midwestern in origin. [/QUOTE]
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