QOTD 13: Which makes Grand Theft Auto poetic…

(Note: what follows is a mostly spoiler free post about Grand Theft Auto V’s narrative themes and subtext, while I will mention details from various missions and specifics, I won’t mention how they fit within the story and plot, instead talking about them abstractly – proceed at your own risk)

Yup, we’re talking about this again, but in a different context, specifically as it relates to ‘Grand Theft Auto”s particular brand of delicious cheap-shot satire. As I mentioned in the feminism thread, ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ is a troll. What I mean by this is that while ‘GTAV’ is technically about three different characters, it’s in reality, a whip-smart deconstruction about why, exactly, the player likes causing all this mayhem.

On its surface ‘GTA V’ is a high quality
game about low quality activities: stealing, murder, drug use,
manipulation, materialism, and chaos. But a little below that surface is
the fact that ‘GTAV’ knows this sort of thing is an absolute blast in a consequence free environment, and continuously pokes the
player in the ribs, dancing around the question of *why*
you enjoy these despicable acts.

This question is illustrated in a bunch of ways, through the three main protagonists of the story. During Micheal’s therapy he’ll admit to ‘killing a guy on the way over’ to the office and simply not caring (because you probably did, and definitely don’t), by the way Franklin will constantly agree to doing dastardly deeds then bemoan the fact he can’t say no (because if he said no, there would be no game), and the fact that Trevor is a completely unlikeable, (sexually) predatory madman, who is the only character of the three you could see enjoying the wonton slaughter of hundreds of people. By giving us two somewhat sympathetic anti-heroes who are compelled by the player to do nasty things, and one wholly despicable character who engages in those same actions for kicks – like we do while playing, we start to understand “GTAV” is trying to say something to gamers who want to think critically about it.

And for the record you don’t have to think critically about it. You can enjoy the story, the jokes, the boobies, the customizable cars, the fact we finally see Lazlow in the digital flesh, and have a blast – accepting it as purely escapist entertainment. I have friends that enjoyed ‘The Sopranos’ this way, and love it to death. There are people who love ‘South Park’ simply for the gross out humor and miss out on all the satire and subtext and nuance of that show, too. But when you dig deeper into what this game is trying to communicate beyond the surface level plot twists and turns, there is a lot to chew on.

Lets take a look at a mid-game mission where you’re required to torture someone. I won’t give the context or the reason why, but lets just say it’s brutal, you’re forced to do it, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll feel really gross about it. In a game where you’re allowed to go on massive rampages, killing dozens if not hundreds of people in the name of pure carnal joy, when one of these nameless citizens suddenly has a name, a job, a personality, and fear in his eyes, things start to hit too close to home. Being forced to select a torture implement, and watch this detainee squirm and scream and cry and beg for his life is unbearable, and in a very subtle way, turns a mirror on the player. This whole murderous rampage thing isn’t as fun when you’re up close and personal with it, now, isn’t it? This scene confirmed the suspicion I had all along. ‘GTA V’ knows it’s sick, thinks you’re maybe a little sick for wanting to play it, and wants you to question your humanity with every trigger pull and flattened pedestrian. 

The world Grand Theft Auto V creates is one devoid of political correctness. Radio advertising directly needles at personal insecurities, whereas in real life those same insecurities are preyed on subtlety and subconsciously. Whooshing news flashes include phrases like “Penis news!” where as in real life they’d be under the context of something like ‘health watch’ despite having the same exact content. The short films in the theater are grotesque and hard to quantify, featuring cliche just long enough to subvert it. There is simply no such thing as political correctness in Los Santos, everything is communicated directly and honestly. In a bizarre way, GTA’s America is a far less complex one than our own.  

So what does it mean? No doubt about it, Grand Theft Auto V is fun. Really fun. It is the apex of all things interactive media: Graphics, scripting, writing, game-play, variety, and world building. But what does it say about our society that the biggest games are hyper violent? What does it mean when the apex of this console generation is a game that features the ability to to pour gasoline over a series of cars and light them all on fire with people in them if you so choose?

Thus I think ‘Grand Theft Auto V”s purpose is to challenge the boundaries of the human soul in a soulless world. Nothing we do in ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ really matters. Even that character you torture is ultimately a collection of 1s and 0s, with a perfectly healthy actor reading lines. But regardless, when you look in his eyes and see real fear, you can’t help but question if you’ve gone too far. Political correctness exists to protect our feelings, to prevent us from feeling bad, or challenged, or unhappy – unless we’re being marketed too.Grand Theft Auto rips that away from us like a band-aid we’ve been wearing too long, and forces us to ask ourselves what part of the soul does a game like this fill, and should it be filled at all?

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Blog Otter Award: Project Blue for the Unsolved Mysteries love. Your Stackalicious award can be found here.

1. I really cannot get over the quality of the satire on display in GTA. It’s ‘South Park’ meets ‘Naked Gun’ meets “American Dreamz” which is a great little move I think like 4 people saw.

2. Now that we’re adults, does it disturb you that 10, 11, 12, and 13 year old kids are going to be playing this game in the same way we did back in the day? On one hand I think exploring ‘mature’ content as a teenager is an important part of growing up – sneaking into an R-rated movie, catching cinemax late at night, whatever, but at the same time I don’t think it should be condoned. I feel part of the maturation of growing up is kind of ‘getting away with it’ in much the same way you’d go over to a friends house to play Mortal Kombat, or get a friend’s older brother to get you into “The Matrix”. Perhaps a different topic for a different day.