The Hidden Meaning of GTA – Wisecrack Edition

Hello everyone. This is Jared, creator of all things Wisecrack, and today we have another special episode for you. Many people have called Grand Theft Auto V a satire, some have called it social commentary, and others have called it sarcasm. The world doesn't need more sarcasm. It is the sword of the time. But wich ones? People will tend to mix sarcasm, irony and satire. It's something like squares and rectangles. You know, that “all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares” thing… or is it the other way around? Ugh, we need a math channel. Welcome to this special episode about social commentary, satire, and parody in Grand Theft Auto V.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that the game's opening scene takes place in a therapist's office. It can be argued that the main characters: Michael, Franklin and Trevor, are all incarnations of the Freudian model of the unconscious. If the constantly complaining Michael is the punishing superego and the poised, speedy Franklin is the ego... then Trevor's desire to blow up shit, fuck and kill everything makes him the ideal candidate for identification. .desire goes crazy. He died nobly and brought great joy to a lonely man. Well, let's focus on Trevor Phillips: the depraved psychopathic drug addict who resides on sandy shores.

He could easily encourage a discussion about mental health and the war on drugs, but the most pertinent and least mentioned element of Trevor is his relationship with violence, torture, and the current state of the games. I appreciate your honesty. Trevor has no qualms about smashing a biker's face with a bottle and then stomping on his head to a pulp. He has no problem taking out an entire gang of bankers or kidnapping and seducing someone's wife. You are a good man. I can see that. Basically, Trevor has nothing to care about. Trevor is, in a sense, the embodiment of the average GTA player, the talking madman that people become in the sandbox worlds.

Trevor reflects the sociopathic behavior that most players exhibit when playing a GTA game. In this way, the game forces the viewer to confront the real personification of his actions. While most people could argue that the function of this franchise is catharsis, acting in the virtual world and then returning to its peaceful existence, having fulfilled its impulse... it can be argued that Trevor's very deliberate psychotic nature suggests something else. —When presented with the option of indulging in debauchery—to satisfy their most violent impulses—people tend to be quite disordered. Trevor presents us with the most radical possibility: that deep down we are all violent psychopaths.

The terror (and macabre pleasure) we derive from Trevor's actions forces us to confront this. Trevor essentially introduces a metafictional element to the game. Traditionally defined as fiction about fiction, we would have to adjust our definition and wording to say something like Grand Theft Auto presents us with Meta-gaming, games about games. This sandbox game not only allows you to kill, steal and prostitute. It also allows you to do silly things like yoga. Did someone say yoga? What's the most boring, pointless minigame ever? Tennis, biking, golf, darts, hunting, skydiving, etc. But it would be a mistake to consider the possibility of having these options arbitrary.

If doing the yoga minigames is boring, why is it fun to slaughter a bunch of people? The game has received a lot of criticism over the years for supposedly "empowering" the player to carry out random acts of violence. But in GTA V, the player is presented with viable and peaceful alternatives. Playing the yoga minigame is just as viable as random walks, but people often choose to enjoy the destruction and chaos. That way, the game developers are making a statement about how we project our OWN psyche and desire onto the game, and not the developers empowering us.

Nowhere is this clearer than in GTA V's most controversial scene, where Trevor tortures an informant to LIE. Not only does he torture someone without blinking, but he seems to take a sick pleasure in it. At one point, Ferdinand Kerimov, the tortured Azerbaijani, shouts "sadist." The real question is: who is the real sadist? Trevor? Or the player who enjoys expressing his psychopathic impulses with fictional characters? Far from being a passive acceptance of torture, this scene serves to over-identify with the sadistic desire to inflict harm on the threatening terrorist. Overidentification is a loaded term that is best described as a kind of radical reproduction of what is considered taboo: it is a performance tactic that undermines power through mimicry.

By forcing the player to violently use the same "advanced interrogation techniques" tactics, the possibility is created of provoking a strong reaction in the player, either disgust, thus subverting the ideology of the war on terrorism, or even sadistic enjoyment. . . This is a form of satire. According to Bedford's Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, the goal of satire “is not so much to abuse as to provoke a response, ideally with some form of reform.” It's easy to satirize a character who wakes up in his underwear under a bridge covered in vomit and blood and has no problem murdering an entire gang to take over their territory, but it's harder to see how the explosion of the fourth wall Trevor's game creates a reflection for the player, forcing a confrontation with our true psychic selves and our real feelings about gruesome violence.

I'm sorry I showed up there, okay? Continuing with the second part, in which we interrogate Michael De Santos, the California lifestyle, parody and the media. Like the films of Mel Brooks, the world of Los Santos is a somewhat skewed representation of reality. In many ways, Grand Theft Auto is a parody or, as defined, “a form of high burlesque that imitates a specific literary work or an author's style for comedic effect, usually to ridicule or criticize that work, author or style…parody.” It is often used to make a satirical (and even political) point. Android phones are badger phones, Apple is replaced by iFruit, Fox News is weasel news, even with a fictional news ticker.

American Idol is Fame or Shame, Mark Zukerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of the world combine to make Jay Norris, Google Maps is an eye finder and Facebook is an invader of lives. Michael De Santos, a retired bank robber in witness protection, provides a conduit to discuss the cliché of the California lifestyle: preoccupied with the economy, capitalism, personal fitness, paparazzi, celebrities and all the media. communication. Michael is the only character who watches television regularly and is in love with old movies, a parody of the Ageleano stereotype. Likewise, Michael's wife is "in love" with his tennis coach AND his yoga instructor, Michael ties his backpack, listens to horrible music, *Rhythm of the Night* his son has identity issues, his psychologist is completely inept, cynical and greedy.

Family work is a little more expensive. That? Double? Squared. and his daughter messes with porn guys. Michael, like most winter travelers who travel to California on permanent vacations, has problems in Hollywood. Even his reviews are decidedly Californian. Going to college. Then you can scam people and get paid for it. It's called capitalism. Michael criticizes capitalism but risks nothing. He's still chasing that St. Andrew's dream. Nothing, he was just lost in an '80s fantasy movie. Michael is complacent in his critique of capitalism, but he still owns a yacht, a luxurious house, tricked-out cars, several giant televisions, a tennis court, a swimming pool and a Decent collection of stylish cargo shorts with sandal sets.

Michael doesn't really question the underlying logic of consumption; he just complains... like most people in Hollywood. The game world setting itself is a tongue-in-cheek play on real California locations. Vespucci Beach is Venice Beach, Vinewood is Hollywood, Del Perro Pier is Santa Monica Pier, the famous Watts Towers are renamed Jefferson Towers, Compton is reinvented as Davis, Long Beach is Cypress Flats, the Pacific Palisades pass renamed Pacific Bluffs, Bel Air becomes Richman, or rich man, and the Salton Sea is renamed the Alamo Sea, where the surrounding desert in GTA is the sandy shores; In reality, the area is the hipster sands of the Coachella Valley.

Grand Theft Auto 5 goes to great lengths to ensure verisimilitude - the amount of hours and work put into creating such a huge, lively environment is exceptional. The attempt to create a world that feels real to the player is commendable, but perhaps at times it is too real. To the point that Lindsay Lohan has sued Rockstar for the use of her image to create the character Lacey Jonas, a former child star who has exiled her parents and is constantly harassed by the paparazzi. Oh shit! Here they come! GO! GO! GO! LOSE THEM! Sounds familiar? GTA V presents a total critique of our media-driven world: all forms of radio, television, film and social media are fair game.

Some of the most stinging criticism comes when you're driving from place to place listening to talk radio. The gaming and technology industries are not exempt either. Jimmy plays a strange game where you kill pigs, Michael infiltrates the Lifeinvader campus to find programmers unable to close numerous not-safe-for-work pop-ups and run simple antivirus software, and Lester constantly screams while undoubtedly locking tea bags in which he "dominates" people. the first person shooter. If Trevor serves as a way to critique the increasing onslaught of drugs and violence in the media (Michael is perhaps the most cynical character), Michael's story delves into the sense of emptiness inherent in the shallow, superficial lifestyle. of California's upper class, of a lifestyle built around appearance. —a world of plastic surgery, self-help, leisure and misery.

Our third section, in which we look at Franklin, the commodification and appropriation of black culture, and white collar crime. Franklin Clinton, an ambitious young man from south Los Santos, serves as a kind of catalyst for the game. Franklin's repossession of Jimmy's vehicle is the precipitating event that brings Michael out of retirement from him. But it is Franklin's role in the market that serves as a critical starting point for our discussion. When Lester asks Franklin to make ummm… moves to ensure manipulation of the stock market, it makes for an interesting contrast. No matter how many people disappear, no matter how suspicious the deaths may be, no matter how much money is made betting on the stock market, no one is ever sent to jail.

You literally can't get caught for insider trading in GTA V. Which is funny given Franklin's hatred of pyramid schemes. If GTA is a satire of our contemporary condition, is it any wonder that people making millions and billions of dollars in dubious ways rarely see the inside of a cell? While economic corruption can go unpunished, that doesn't mean the police aren't available. The lack of effort to catch white-collar criminals contrasts with the very real violence that people face in the inner city, whether of a criminal nature or police violence; The LSPD motto is literally "Obey and Survive." The LSPD is a caricature of the LAPD whose history of race relations is well... stellar.

See what I did there? That's sarcasm. Franklin explores complicated relationships with race: each character who is not a person of color adapts their own version of the street vernacular when interacting with them. Trevor, Jimmy and Devin change their speech when they see Franklin. Jimmy, in particular, serves as something of a foil for Franklin. Brother from another mother. Sort of a way to demonstrate his true blackness: Jimmy just wears the blackness as a mask. The game goes to great lengths to assure us that Franklin is real. Every time he smokes Marijuana Lobbyist weed he doesn't see aliens like Michael sees them (he just ignores it) because the lobbyist has weak shit compared to the chronic Franklin smokes regularly.

The appropriation of black culture is an important discussion. In the end, Jimmy can act black whenever he wants, but he doesn't have to deal with any of the everyday realities of being a person of color in America, not unlike the player who takes control and plays an "original gangsta." " every time they turn to Franklin. This is much deeper than it seems. The player is allowed to distance themselves from the racial politics of GTA. They believe themselves to be part of the solution and not part of the problem; they do not act like idiots. What GTA V confronts is the desire for a blame-free solution to racism by asking the player to laugh at white people who clumsily try to pass themselves off as black, while they literallythey control a stereotypical shadow of a black man.

Which is pretty ironic given how many white kids in the suburbs feel smug because they know they're not Jizzle (at least, they think they're not). They may not have the poser style and the stupid name, but they can participate in car parties, engage in gang wars, and smoke marijuana, all the while believing that Franklin is an accurate representation of an authentic black man. Just as Jizzle lives vicariously through Franklin and the vitality of “black culture,” GTA V reflexively makes the audience experience the same gratification, making a more interesting statement about racial politics than simply shaming the elderly and pointing fingers. with the finger.

Saying that GTA V can be reduced to just a game about stealing cars and blowing things up is perhaps a mistake... I mean, it's about so much more, like strip clubs, drug deals and turf wars. Sure, it's possible to focus on the sensational aspects of the game, but to view it simply as something that glorifies sex, violence, and drug use is choosing to stay out of a long series of inside jokes. To paraphrase a popular song about missing the point, you would be the type of person who “likes to sing and shoot, but wouldn't know what it means.

Michael, Trevor, and Franklin serve to destabilize the players' ability to believe in the validity and seriousness of the world in which they play. Grand Theft Auto is less an opportunity to indulge in debauchery and more like a mirror showing America its true nature... Maybe the writers aren't vindictive. They are not sadists who profit from suffering, but rather artisans who use the supposed glorification of sex, violence and torture to create a masterful critique of American culture.