March 7, 2008
A unnamed blogger who teaches in a Brooklyn public high school sees racial bias in the ultra-popular Grand Theft Auto series - even though he claims to be a fan.Big Smoke Street Corner touches on the writer's view of racial stereotyping in GTA as part of a larger discussion on race, language and perceptions:
[GTA's] main audience is clearly suburban white males... [the various GTA games] are praying [sic] on the idea of crime-ridden ultra-violent cesspools run mainly by thoroughly corrupt ethnic minorities...
Having played pretty much the entire series (being, sadly, the resolute gamer I am)... I can not remember a single positive image for Blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Jamaicans, Colombians, Haitians, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Japanese, one Jewish lawyer (!) and soon in the upcoming game, Russians and Serbians; not to mention the constant lampooning of liberals and homosexuals. Mind you, of course, there are never any white gangs...
Rockstar Games... most common excuse for this insipid behavior is that, because their constant use of stereotypes is so widespread, they cannot be faulted as being racist at any one ethnicity. It’s an equal-opportunity putdown for all!
Comments
What do I win? Cake?
As far as lampooning liberals go; How can you look at Ammunation (there are other jokes, but this is the first one that comes to mind) as anything other than lampooning conservatives? Wasn't there an Ammunation commercial in Vice City that referred to the movie "Red Dawn" as a documentary?
I myself am a white, overweight, progressive geek of russian descent. I have played every GTA save for VCS, and I have never felt offended by any of the stereotypes that cover me in these games. They are jokes, and they are fairly spread out over everyone.
If you truly find this stuff offensive, then don't play it. Rockstar is not going to come to your house, type you up, and make you play the game at gunpoint. There are plenty of things in entertainment that I do find offensive, so as a general rule I do not expose myself to them... except for American Idol, but my wife makes me watch that.
@Andy_UK
CJ actually bothered me at first. When I first started playing SA it seemed like CJ was more interested in getting his gang back together than finding out who murdered his mom. He's not any more detestable than his predecessors, but given the setup to the story, it really seemed like his priorities were screwed up.
http://kotaku.com/365137/gta-+-where-are-all-the-white-gangs
:P
Good evening and welcome to another edition of 'Prejudice' - the show that gives you a chance to have a go at Wops, Krauts, Nigs, Eyeties, Gippos, Bubbles, Froggies, Chinks, Yidds, Jocks, Polacks, Paddies and Dagoes.
Racism is all stupid immature shit anyway, people are people, they're ALL fuckwits. The double standards shit me the most, why can a black guy use the word nigger but not me? Attempting to censor my vocabulary is nothing short of criminal! Besides if I were to call a black guy a nigger, he can call me a slaver and we're even. Insult about a horrible moment in history for an insult about a horrible moment in history, sounds fair to me.
They also have a quirky sense of humor so it could be a jab on many levels all in fun, thats a trubble with PC nazis everything is serious business and personal to the point of a grudge beyond the grave.
Err and its somehow the fault of racism in GTA3
Maybe if they threw in the cousin-marrying Republican preppies from Bully everyone would be happy.
Technically, so do the white males in the GTA series, since THEY'RE the ones they're playing as, and they ARE commiting crimes in the game.
And the folks on the talk radio are... liberals? I would have taken them for Conservatives.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Personally I though FF12 was the most racist game I've ever played. The only black character in actually has bunny ears and lives in the jungle. That was kind of a WTF? moment. In that game, they literally made the black race jungle bunnies.
Never played GTA 3?
Just as there are bad guys in the games who are of different ethnicities, so too are there ambulance drivers, police officers, soldiers, etc.
There is a certain amount of lampooning of homosexuals as he mentioned, but nothing outright offensive, unless you are an incredibly sensitive soul. Most are silly double entendres or bad puns.
"It’s an equal-opportunity putdown for all!"
A lot of stereotypes do get portrayed, but they are portrayed as such. Rockstar is not saying "This is what the world is like, black people and other ethnic groups are criminals, etc." They take a basic premise (80's Miami, 90's Los Angeles) create a city and populate it with over the top caricatures.
What do you think the mafia is?
As for positive black roles, um, hello, Carl Johnson, an african american guy in San Andreas goes to break up a drug ring and deal with corruption in the police force.
And as to my point above, in both GTA3 and Vice city you played as a white guy working for a white guy gang most of the time.
"I can not remember a single positive image for Blacks, Mexicans, Cubans, Jamaicans, Colombians, Haitians, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Japanese, one Jewish lawyer (!) and soon in the upcoming game, Russians and Serbians"
Funny, I can't remember a single positive image for white people either. Carl Johnson in San Andreas does save a woman from a burning building, which might be the only altruistic event in the whole series. What good deeds have any of the white protagonists accomplished?
GTA is a very cartoony universe. They've been moving towards realism, but it's still very obviously a sarcastic pastiche of reality drawn with intentionally broad strokes. It's also required by sane game design that it be immediately obvious by their appearance to what faction any actor belongs. So, if you have an ethnic group of people who all look alike (I'm sorry, but you do. You know which ethnic group I mean.) you can't let them belong to different factions.
Mikeu, get with the program. Italians? White? You're not thinking like a RACIST!
trying to put the wrong things right????
As the background for San Andreas is somewhat similar to boyz in the hood, and Cuba Gooding JR's character tries to break out too, I see it as positive image.
I know tha really doesn't focus on the race element but it shows a more positive side.
Maybe?
Either way you are all gona buy it!!!
There really not agaisnt races, everyone knows what they say is meant to be treated as ironic for god sake!
Not to mention the cavalcade of idiotic white characters giving you missions throughout all three games.
Corrupt policemen (white in GTAIII, White and Black in GTA SA)
Corrupt politicians (White in GTA VC,
Corrupt inbred white people (Farmers in SA)
Corrupt white religious people (Radio in VC)
There are plenty of corrupt evil white people in the game. The problem of "no white game" stems from the fact that you are playing the white gang.
And you thought they were hot didn't you? :P
that would be hispanic caucasian and african american.
Other caucasian gangs in GTA series:
Russian Mafia
Appearances: GTA:SA
Trailer Park Mafia
Appearances: GTA:VCS
Liberty City Biker Gang
Appearances: GTA:LCS
Biker Gang
Appearances: GTA:VC, GTA:VCS
and if i rememerber right these two were also
Streetwannabes/Sharks
Appearances: GTA:VC, GTA:VCS
Avenging Angels
Appearances: GTA:LCS
Positive images.
In GTA.
Lets move on.
But my Irish/Welsh heritage doesn't count for anything anymore. Go figure. I'm just white.
I love that part.
The person who invented paper is racist because paper is white and not black!!!
But I got a question, does GTA portray gangs as they would be in reality?
In other words, are minorities more likely to be in gangs.
If so, then GTA did nothing racist, they just portrayed the way these races portray themselves.
If not, then that point it mute.
Guilty as charged.
Actually it is legal to be racist against White people. White men at least. It is called "Equal Oppurtunity". That law bsically tells the employer if a white guy and a black guy apply for the same position you have to hire the black guy regardless of creditials.
Of course it is more complicated than that, but that is the jist of it.
most people just don't get that grand theft auto is satire.... and satire isn't made to make people look good.
"Personally I though FF12 was the most racist game I’ve ever played. The only black character in actually has bunny ears and lives in the jungle. That was kind of a WTF? moment. In that game, they literally made the black race jungle bunnies."
I never thought of it that way at all, but regardless, I could listen to Fran read from a phonebook for 30 hours and call it a phenomenal gaming experience. Whoever they got to be her voice actor should have my babies...
What a voice!
Its kinda a story!!!
Maybe I look into it too much!!!
It's not intentionally "insipid" or even remotely malicious. And it's not apart of some conspiracy either. It's a game telling a story - I'm willing to bet theres going to be tonnes of white antagonists in this game because, surprise surprise, how many visually ethnic minorities do you see coming from Russia? I'm from there (originally) and at last check we weren't exactly filled to the brim with multi-coloured citizens.
Some people just look to be offended and will seek out such things quite actively. We can't let games fall victim to the same politically correct slippery slope that plagues so many other aspects of society.
Clever
The Viera are the only black characters in FFXII? Is Reddas not black?
Given that the Viera are all female and prance around the jungle in pointy heels and almost no armor... Their role as "jungle bunnies" never crossed my mind.
I know man but sadly some people out there just don't get it, there is no such thing as different races for humans, other than the Human Race (everyone). you go back far enough and everyone was one color.
YAY EYES OF NYE! everything I learned I learned from Bill Nye, The Science Guy.