Miss MacFarlane
Earlier, I posted a funny bit taken from a newspaper in Red Dead Redemption. I lovingly nickname the game Grand Theft Cattle because it bears a strong resemblance to Rockstar Games’ other famous title. This is a good thing.
Like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption’s female roles are varied and complex. Just like real-life women. There are whores, yes. But the protagonist also runs into workaday drones of both genders, can get his horse stolen by woman playing damsel in distress, runs across a Clint Eastwood style mysterious woman-of-no-name. Best of all is Miss MacFarlane.
She’s strong. She can ride, shoot, and handle herself in the West as well as any man and better than most. As daughter of a ranch owner she has become the de facto foreman (forewoman?) of a large ranching operation. At times she’s caring, fair, and even once… flirty. Most other times she’s tough as nails: fighting fires, rescuing a herd of cattle in a storm. In a particularly low point in the game she’s been abused and nearly dies from lynching.
The protagonist asks, “are you alright, Miss MacFarlane?”
The camera cuts to her beaten face. She replies with a stern look and wipes the corner of her mouth. Bruce Fucking Lee.
