A Grand Theft Auto game courts controversy by default, and the recent mammoth hit GTA V was no different. It wasn't long before the various accusations of glorifying violence and rampant sexism rolled out, and Rockstar were no doubt loving all the extra publicity that the game totally didn't need. The scene in particular that caused the most controversy was the torture mission in which, at the behest of the FIB, Trevor uses a number of weapons to torture a suspect in the quest of getting information out of him. As for sexual content, there's the ever-popular hooker murders, and the generally lascivious positions you can find most of the female characters in at one point or another. To critique the torture mission is to gloss over the fact that said mission is very clearly a satire of the "enhanced interrogation" tactics used most infamously by the American army against terror suspects in Guantanmo Bay. The grand irony is that, after torturing the man, the person you assassinate with this information turns out to be the wrong man, highlighting the futility of obtaining information through torture. More to the point, though the game allows players to perform a multitude of ugly acts, we are never expressly told that what they're doing is right, but instead, Michael, Franklin and Trevor are all pretty morally reprehensible people, likeable more for their roguish charm than the content of their character. The sexism debate is a little less straightforward, because the game isn't exactly brimming with decent, upstanding female characters, but then neither is it brimming with any upstanding male characters either. Everyone is fair game in GTA, from men, to women, to lazy teenagers, politicians, the fans of the game themselves and everyone in between. To force a female protagonist into GTA would be to kneel to the very overly-sensitive political correctness that these games are satirising from the outset. As the game's creators have said themselves, these games are so inherently about masculinity and its culture that to turn away from all the strip clubs and casual sexism of the characters would be dishonest and a disservice. But still, what do you think?
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
