If there’s one factor that the Grand Theft Auto collection isn’t any stranger to, it is American politics. There was a time when attorneys and politicians had been virtually tripping over one another in an try to denounce Rockstar Video games for any variety of causes.
Very like how rock and roll and Dungeons & Dragons had been thought of countercultural at finest and outright satanic at worst, GTA was seen as one of many faces of an business that was corrupting kids and turning them into violent criminals.
Fortunately, these days are successfully gone. The rise of contemporary web tradition, growing older demographics, and a greater understanding of video games as an entire definitely 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 must be reminded how a whole arc of the sport addressed the style through which the USA utilized torture, home spying applications, 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 sport, so its exploration of sociopolitical points was largely restricted to surface-level analyses. As stunning 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. Conflict on Terror and home police insurance policies had been wholly unoriginal by the point it launched in September 2013. Working example, Spec Ops: The Line got here out in 2012 whereas Steel Gear Rising: Revengeance got here out in February 2013.
The identical might be stated of GTA 5’s portrayal of society. It is enjoyable to giggle at social media, celebrities, and actuality exhibits, however the sport 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 isn’t left with a deeper message.
The biggest 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 method that it might as properly be lifted from a actuality present. The depiction of the household nearly 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 motorbike. 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 sport must be a fancy and critical deconstruction of contemporary society. GTA 5’s strategy to political subjects is just value mentioning as a result of it is nearly juvenile once you have a look at Rockstar’s earlier video games.
L.A. Noire for instance is a somewhat critical story about PTSD, corrupt cops, society’s therapy of conflict veterans, and big 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. Pink Useless Redemption had a narrative and themes that, although not wholly authentic, had been not less than introduced in a comparatively distinctive method 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 elements of contemporary American society. The trailer itself had quite a lot of scenes that regarded like punchlines to the Florida Man meme.
Amusing as it might be, there is a high-quality line between basically placing a well known joke right into a sport and a billion-dollar firm punching down at individuals who cannot defend themselves proportionately.
There’s additionally the query of how Rockstar will strategy criticisms of companies and shopper tradition. GTA 5 allowed you to show a CEO’s head into immediate ketchup on dwell 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 trendy tech corporations to thrive.
One might go as far as to say that the second GTA On-line grew to become profitable is the second that Rockstar become 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 sport in GTA 5 has additionally turned out to be prophetic. The preliminary goal could have been the Name of Obligation 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 properly.
With the Subtlety of a Rockstar
To their credit score, Rockstar’s writers are nonetheless fairly sharp relating to political points. Pink Useless Redemption 2 virtually beats you over the top with its political messaging by the tip, pitting you towards capitalism in a figurative and literal sense as you battle towards each Pinkertons and the U.S. authorities.
That being stated, on the finish of the day Rockstar poured all of its assets again into GTA On-line when it was clear that Pink Useless On-line was not as fashionable. Unsurprisingly, an organization goes to chase what’s fashionable 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 risk. It is not out of the query that Rockstar would possibly take GTA 5’s over-the-top satirical tone into GTA 6 and crank it to eleven. All the pieces is a joke as a result of that is what sells, despite the collection’ inherent sociopolitical undertones.
By the way, this is able to flip the sport into the identical corporate-approved edginess parodied within the trendy GTA video games, serving as a extra correct parody of society by way of its mere existence than what any sport can hope to attain.