#if youve been watching my activity here the past few months me posting sean macguire meta should NOT come as a surprise

[sushisocks]

One thing abt Sean that I really like is that he never really teases Arthur for being stupid. The only time I've seen him do it, has been when Arthur starts it by calling Sean stupid and Sean being like "well youd know, wouldnt you" -- not even denying it but grabbing at the chance to enjoy some banter.

I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that Sean doesn't think Arthur is dumb. It'd be a bit "throwing stones in glass houses" to call a man who reads and writes unintelligent, when you can't read and write, and that ability is seen as a hallmark for intelligence by most of your contemporaries.

It's just a nice difference from a fair amount of other people in the gang. Arthur's teased for his intelligence a lot, whether warranted or not, but Sean, who is seen picking on the rest of the gang a fair amount, doesn't really bring up this as a thing with Arthur.

Instead, what Sean harps on, is Arthur having English heritage -- which arguably isn't even true. More importantly, it's something Arthur doesn't really care about, beyond being annoyed by Sean's insistence on bringing it up as often as he does. Which means it's a safe topic! Sean can tease Arthur about this and be sure it won't be taken harsher than what it is; light hearted.

I feel like that's the case with a majority of Sean's interactions in camp. He's trying to bring some light-heartedness and fun in, and he does that in the way he knows best, while toeing the line as best he can. I have thoughts in this regard because you do see him stepping back when he realizes he might have overstepped (like with Javier), as well as show some genuine disapproval in other interactions (usually when related back to his own heritage and home; failing to connect with Molly due to class differences, for example, or getting mad about how Colm's name is pronounced).

I think about how many camp interactions he has with Kieran a lot; they have a fair amount, and you can actually learn a fair amount about Kieran from Sean asking questions. The way their relationship evolves from Sean headbutting Kieran while drunk, to genuinely listening to him talk about his life and about Colm, is very interesting to me. Sean very clearly wants a connection; in the same way he very clearly wants a connection with Molly.

But it's not just about how he clearly wants to connect with anything and anyone who reminds him of home. It's also about how he interacts with everyone else in the gang. It's about a majority of his teasing usually not actually being that offensive. It's about Dutch yelling at Sean when he's not being the silly goofy camp clown.

I think I lost the plot at some point in here but I wanna end this with saying that I think Sean clearly is cast as this role in the gang that he has to navigate as best he can, and he's barely allowed to be seen beyond that role if you don't pay him attention. But he clearly cares, a lot, and it shows in how he chooses to fill that role. And I think it's a little sad that he's often reduced to the silly clown or stupid bully that he's expected to be, because I think there's more to his character worthy of exploration and discussion.

#sean macguire #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #teki talks #long post #i have so many thoughts about this man this isnt even the half of it #but it does get a little into why I've written him as I have in AV #if youve been watching my activity here the past few months me posting sean macguire meta should NOT come as a surprise #there's more where this one came from #rdr thoughts