I went googling Rip Van Winkle, for silly reasons, and found that it’s a real short story allegorical of the societal changes during the American revolution. The guy goes to sleep for 20 years and misses the whole revolution, as in he is stuck in the ways of the past despite living in the present. Similar to being consciously unwilling to bend to a new way to live. Similar to the themes of the death of the west, with the “American spirit” being tamed just as it was before. Rockstar is so good, even one throwaway line in a cutscene that sounds like an ancient shitpost has meaning.