Comments on: Grand Theft Reality

By: emilie

emilie — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:35:54 +0000

I’m at the too-cool-for-school dvd place and listening to the employee and a customer discuss the GTA franchise:

Customer- So yeah, I mean, shit it’s like probabably the wickedest thing I’ve ever played.
Employee- Oh yeah?
C- Yeah, like, you’re shootin’ shit and crashin’ cars and the chicks… shit. Hot.
E- I heard it’s pretty violent towards women.
C- Well, like, nothing YOU HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT OR SEEN BEFORE.

Me (leaping out from behind the foreign release shelf)- What the FUCK, dudes? You are such a douchebag.

/stomps out.

By: catchfire

catchfire — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:51:10 +0000

Thea: thanks, and I definitely agree with you in our tendency to attack “easier” targets of misogyny in order to purchase our general malaise and hypocrisy when it comes to making a real difference. Part of my thinking on this came from the way I react to this game: I played the first GTA3 for a bit and enjoyed it, but when it came up in conversation, I would self-righteously tut-tut certain aspects of the game. Not only is such behaviour cringingly moralizing, it’s like I was making up for my own deep-seated prejudices by jumping on the “outrage” bandwagon. And I definitely see a correlation between suburban teenage male misogyny (i.e. eminem, etc.) and the kind of response GTA provokes.

By: Thea

Thea — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:46:48 +0000

Wow, really great point and perspective. My roommate and bf play this game a lot and I often (passive aggressively) criticise them while they play. I should try focusing my energy on more useful (and unvirtual) efforts to end violence against women.

I wonder if part of how we criticise GTA is similar to the way we criticise misogyny in “gangsta rap” much more than we might criticise it romantic comedies or rock & roll music (where it certainly exists). We’re generally quicker to villify misogyny when it comes attached to subcultures of colour (in particular black subculture). I think GTA with its inner city emphasis, hip hop soundtrack and immigrant protagonist make it a much more likely candidate for our ire than say, Stephen Harper.

By: Beijing York

Beijing York — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:16:38 +0000

People in Winnipeg get more upset over teenagers stealing cars for joy rides than the countless women who go missing and turn up dead. Most are sex workers and many are Aboriginal women. Double whammy of misogyny and racism.

By: Prole

Prole — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:36:45 +0000

A man in Ontario just got a 30 month sentence (well, one day actually, the 30 months was time already served) for murdering a woman. But yanno, she was a prostitute so it’s okay. Yeesh. I’d put money on more people being vocally upset about GTA IV than this case.

http://bastardlogic.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/what-the-fuck/

By: borealdreams

borealdreams — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:27:31 +0000

Well put, excellent rebuff of the hypocracy of our society. I have a flip-side outlook of how GTA is making society better in the long run.