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D&D = American + European Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 7757089" data-attributes="member: 5142"><p>[MENTION=3285]talien[/MENTION], thank you for this article. You hit the nail on the head. </p><p></p><p>This discussion reminds me of a similar discussion of genre in regards to Star Wars. Many people classify Star Wars not so much as Sci-Fi, but as Science Fantasy. But a number of film critics note how much of Star Wars, particularly the first film, is rooted in the American Western, arguably making Star Wars a Sci-Fantasy Space Western. With even another strong influence on Star Wars, Akira Kurosawa, having pulled heavily from American Westerns. Not to mention other early pulp sci-fi stories and serials (e.g., Flash Gordon, John Carter of Mars) that also drew from American Westerns. You can watch Star Wars (A New Hope) as an American Western. The first part of the film focuses on a frontier desert region with dangerous natives. There is a retired gunslinger who takes on a farm kid wearing a poncho. A saloon scene. An outlaw smuggler and his exotic "Indian" sidekick armed with a bow evading bounty hunters with a stage coach who offer to take them across the "desert." </p><p></p><p>Likewise, D&D like many other American-made stories seems firmly rooted in its Americana. D&D frequently entails an American view of the Medieval period and feudalism that is more focused on the aesthetics than the social mechanics at play. Though D&D frequently uses the vaneer of social "class," D&D itself operates mostly as if it was classless. "Class" consciousness is something that is fairly foreign to many Americans. I even recall my own learning experience where I visited England, and people occassionally remarked that "You have a good working class name." My name is not something I would tie to class. </p><p></p><p>But D&D also incorporates an adversarial sense of "Civilization" vs. "Wilderness (and its native inhabitants)" that borrows more heavily from an American settler and colonial mindset. The stories are less about squabbling feudal lords, duty, or even faith, but about treasure-seekers fighting the "uncivilized." And as someone mentioned, a lot of D&D adventures follow common tropes of Westerns: frontier town threatened by savage natives, sheriffs, territorial governors, etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aldarc, post: 7757089, member: 5142"] [MENTION=3285]talien[/MENTION], thank you for this article. You hit the nail on the head. This discussion reminds me of a similar discussion of genre in regards to Star Wars. Many people classify Star Wars not so much as Sci-Fi, but as Science Fantasy. But a number of film critics note how much of Star Wars, particularly the first film, is rooted in the American Western, arguably making Star Wars a Sci-Fantasy Space Western. With even another strong influence on Star Wars, Akira Kurosawa, having pulled heavily from American Westerns. Not to mention other early pulp sci-fi stories and serials (e.g., Flash Gordon, John Carter of Mars) that also drew from American Westerns. You can watch Star Wars (A New Hope) as an American Western. The first part of the film focuses on a frontier desert region with dangerous natives. There is a retired gunslinger who takes on a farm kid wearing a poncho. A saloon scene. An outlaw smuggler and his exotic "Indian" sidekick armed with a bow evading bounty hunters with a stage coach who offer to take them across the "desert." Likewise, D&D like many other American-made stories seems firmly rooted in its Americana. D&D frequently entails an American view of the Medieval period and feudalism that is more focused on the aesthetics than the social mechanics at play. Though D&D frequently uses the vaneer of social "class," D&D itself operates mostly as if it was classless. "Class" consciousness is something that is fairly foreign to many Americans. I even recall my own learning experience where I visited England, and people occassionally remarked that "You have a good working class name." My name is not something I would tie to class. But D&D also incorporates an adversarial sense of "Civilization" vs. "Wilderness (and its native inhabitants)" that borrows more heavily from an American settler and colonial mindset. The stories are less about squabbling feudal lords, duty, or even faith, but about treasure-seekers fighting the "uncivilized." And as someone mentioned, a lot of D&D adventures follow common tropes of Westerns: frontier town threatened by savage natives, sheriffs, territorial governors, etc. [/QUOTE]
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