If there’s one factor that the Grand Theft Auto collection is not any stranger to, it is American politics. There was a time when legal professionals and politicians have been virtually tripping over one another in an try and denounce Rockstar Video games for any variety of causes.
Very similar to how rock and roll and Dungeons & Dragons have been thought of countercultural at finest and outright satanic at worst, GTA was seen as one of many faces of an trade that was corrupting youngsters and turning them into violent criminals.
Fortunately, these days are successfully gone. The rise of recent web tradition, ageing demographics, and a greater understanding of video games as an entire actually contributed to the normalization of Rockstar Video games’ picture. Nonetheless, Grand Theft Auto 5 nonetheless managed to draw its personal fair proportion of controversies.
Whereas Grand Theft Auto 4 did contact on political points like immigration, GTA 5 turbocharged the political messaging by actually placing it in your face. Most individuals most likely do not should be reminded how a whole arc of the sport addressed the way by which the USA utilized torture, home spying packages, personal army corporations, and plenty of different dubiously ethical means to guard “freedom” and “democracy.”
Grand Theft Auto 5’s Edgy Satire Loses Its Edge
After all, GTA 5 is merely a recreation, so its exploration of sociopolitical points was largely restricted to surface-level analyses. As surprising and uncomfortable as GTA 5’s torture mission was, it wasn’t actually advancing a revolutionary viewpoint to say that torture is dangerous.
If something, the sport’s criticism of the U.S. Warfare on Terror and home police insurance policies have been wholly unoriginal by the point it launched in September 2013. Living proof, Spec Ops: The Line got here out in 2012 whereas Steel Gear Rising: Revengeance got here out in February 2013.
The identical may very well be stated of GTA 5’s portrayal of society. It is enjoyable to chuckle at social media, celebrities, and actuality exhibits, however the recreation is not offering any new commentary. More often than not, you’d get some grade-school sexual innuendo earlier than being whisked away to the subsequent joke. Consequently, the viewers is never left with a deeper message.
The most important casualty of this by far is Michael’s household. Everyone seems to be an unlikable strolling caricature, and their story arc concludes in such a means that it could as nicely be lifted from a actuality present. The depiction of the household virtually fails to be satire as it’s neither intelligent nor enlightening and solely barely manages to be humorous.
GTA On-line doubled down on the absurdity, culminating within the notorious flying assault bike. In all equity, the multiplayer portion was by no means anticipated to be critical or grounded in actuality, besides it is exhausting to think about that anybody was anticipating such a wild flip.
That is to not say that each recreation must be a fancy and critical deconstruction of recent society. GTA 5’s method to political matters is just value mentioning as a result of it is virtually juvenile whenever you take a look at Rockstar’s earlier video games.
L.A. Noire for instance is a fairly critical story about PTSD, corrupt cops, society’s remedy of struggle veterans, and large fraud. Max Payne 3 options extra corrupt cops with ties to an organ-harvesting ring, set to a backdrop of political corruption and basic class battle. Purple Useless Redemption had a narrative and themes that, although not wholly unique, have been no less than offered in a comparatively distinctive means by advantage of the setting.
Grand Theft Auto 6 and the “New” Rockstar
If Grand Theft Auto 6’s trailer is any indicator, Rockstar goes to proceed satirizing the extra unflattering points of recent American society. The trailer itself had various scenes that regarded like punchlines to the Florida Man meme.
Amusing as it could be, there is a tremendous line between basically placing a well known joke right into a recreation and a billion-dollar firm punching down at individuals who cannot defend themselves proportionately.
There’s additionally the query of how Rockstar will method criticisms of companies and client tradition. GTA 5 allowed you to show a CEO’s head into instantaneous ketchup on reside TV and relentlessly mocked Fb and Apple, but GTA On-line’s success can simply be attributed to the identical vapid consumerism that enabled these fashionable tech corporations to thrive.
One may go as far as to say that the second GTA On-line grew to become profitable is the second that Rockstar became one of many societal points mocked by their very own video games. It is satirical in and of itself that an organization, which advantages from the established order, would have a flagship product that is basically “Society Sucks, Do Crime.”
Coincidentally, a parody recreation in GTA 5 has additionally turned out to be prophetic. The preliminary goal might have been the Name of Responsibility collection, however seeing as how GTA 5 was re-released a number of instances and have become bloated with microtransactions over the previous decade, the joke hasn’t precisely aged nicely.
With the Subtlety of a Rockstar
To their credit score, Rockstar’s writers are nonetheless fairly sharp on the subject of political points. Purple Useless Redemption 2 virtually beats you over the top with its political messaging by the tip, pitting you in opposition to capitalism in a figurative and literal sense as you combat in opposition to each Pinkertons and the U.S. authorities.
That being stated, on the finish of the day Rockstar poured all of its sources again into GTA On-line when it was clear that Purple Useless On-line was not as widespread. Unsurprisingly, an organization goes to chase what’s widespread as that is the place the cash is, and cash is their precedence above all else.
What this implies for GTA 6 is unclear right now, however it presents a worrying chance. It isn’t out of the query that Rockstar may take GTA 5’s over-the-top satirical tone into GTA 6 and crank it to eleven. All the things is a joke as a result of that is what sells, regardless of the collection’ inherent sociopolitical undertones.
By the way, this might flip the sport into the identical corporate-approved edginess parodied within the fashionable GTA video games, serving as a extra correct parody of society by its mere existence than what any recreation can hope to attain.