Final Essay 1

Final Essay

Brielle Hill

Xavier University

Stereotypes of Grand Theft Auto V(Five)

Grand Theft Auto V is the fifth main entry into the Grand Theft Auto video game series,

the game is set in the fictional location of San Andreas, which is based on Southern California.

The story follows three criminals, a young street hustler, a retired bank robber, and a psychopath

with their attempts to commit heist while under pressure from dangerous elements from the

criminal worlds as well as the US government and the entertainment world. The characters must

learn to survive in the ruthless city all while not being able to trust anyone, including each other.

The game is played from either a first person or third-person view by controlling and switching

between the three main characters. The story is centered around the crimes that are committed

and many missions involve shooting and driving gameplay while a wanted system monitors the

aggression of law enforcement response to the players who commit crimes. The overall theme of

this game is crime and each of the characters in this game represents a stereotype that can be

mixed in with crime. Stereotypes that range from the black men and their connection to crime,

the stereotypical rich white men, and poor white hillbilly. But the characters aren’t the only

aspects of stereotypes throughout this game. Elements such as music, supporting characters, and

dialogue. The audience members of this game play a role in reinforcing these stereotypes and

keeping violent behavior alive.

“However, the predominant modern stereotypes are the violent, brutish African-

American male and the dominant, lazy African-American female. Recent research has shown

that whites are likely to hold these stereotypes especially with respect to issues of crime and
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welfare (“VCU Counseling Services,” n.d.). In 2016, much like in 1998 when the above quote

was written, the idea of stereotypes is still very prevalent. Many people in the hegemonic society

still uphold the stereotypical ideas about blacks, especially black men. Ideas such as black men

being absentee parents or growing up without a father, that black men are drug dealers or do

drugs, the common idea that all black people are from the hood and that’s usually where they

stay. “All forms of media are filled with black men but the roles they are typically given are

limited to angry abusers, low-lifes, losers, drug dealers, criminals, thugs or even dead-beat dads,

he complained,” (Spokesman, 2013). There are a mountain of stereotypes that sometimes are true

and a lot of other times aren’t. However, in Grand Theft Auto V the character Franklin fits all

those typical stereotypes that the hegemonic society places on him. Franklin is a drug dealer

from the hood that grew up without a father and smokes marijuana. If his background isn’t

enough of a stereotype, his actions throughout the game also prove to relate to the stereotype of

the black man. He is a drug dealing criminal and his goal in the game is to attempt to commit

heist and avoid the cops. For example, in the first scene that Franklin is featured in the game, his

task is to boost a couple of cars and outrun the cops. Although Franklin is reluctant to be in the

world of crime, he ends up thrust right into it, which adds to the stereotypical idea of young

black men growing up in the hood and being drawn to a life of crime because of their

atmosphere.

Stereotypes of white people range from the picture perfect family all the way to the idea

of the poor white hillbilly living in a trailer park. Grand Theft Auto V has a stereotypical rich

white man as well as a white drug addict hillbilly named Trevor, as characters in the game. In the

game the character Michael is your typical rich white man who lounges around while drinking

scotch, plays tennis and has spoiled lazy kids. Michael is a retired bank robber and he is rich
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because he is living off of his earnings from his former life. This alone fits into the stereotype of

white people being able to commit crimes and easily going back to living their normal lives like

nothing happened. Both Trevor and Michael open up the first scene of the game by robbing an

armored transport company. “While whites can and do commit a great deal of minor and major

crimes, the race as a whole is never tainted by those acts,” (Bloom & Press, 2014). As for

Trevor, he fits the stereotype of what poor white people are seen as, “white trash”. Trevor is a

trailer park living, drug addict with a booming meth business. “The people primarily categorized

in this stereotype include those living in poverty, poorly educated, homeless, frequent drug users,

and most shockingly people who associate with African Americans or Mexicans,” (Name, 2012).

Trevor’s character is one of violent personality and actions, and has been criticized by critics.

Other elements such as music, dialogue, and supporting characters add to the

stereotypical atmosphere of this game. The music that plays when you switch to the character of

Franklin represents a black stereotype. “But the victory of rap was doused by the crack epidemic.

When drug dealers begin to rap, the two “professions” became forever entwined—and black men

have been associated with that image ever since,” (Spokesman, 2013). Throughout the game,

every time the character Franklin is in play the game plays rap music. This goes along with the

stereotypical idea of black men, especially drug dealers, being associated with rap music. “In

Grand Theft Auto 5, a lot of the city's and the characters’ heart is something that can't be

conveyed in boisterous dialogue alone. Even the narrative is helped along by the game's

culturally-driven music,” (Corriea, 2013). The music is a huge part of what makes the criminal

aspect of the game, but the dialogue always attributes to the aspect of crime and the stereotype

that criminals tend to have dirty mouths in order to get their point across. The dialogue in this

game is very colorful and is also very vulgar which matches the violence of the game and its
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characters. The supporting characters of this game are also all stereotyped. Along with its

portrayal of blacks in the main character the supporting characters that are black in this game are

all mistreated by the cops, a part of a gang, and seen as dangerous. Hispanics are also stereotyped

in this game, either they are a part of a gang or they are working class members that can’t speak

proper English. While this is a game full of stereotypes and that alone makes it a questionable

pass time activity, the aspect of the audience it reaches is also frightening.

“While most people imagine teenagers staying up into the early hours playing violent

computer games, there was an 'uncharacteristic spike' in the number if 55 to 64-year-olds playing

the new game,” (Griffiths, 2013). A study done in 2013 said that while you would imagine

teenagers to be playing this violent game or at least adults 25 and under, it’s quite the opposite.

My conclusions about the type of audience that might play this particular game did not come

close to what my research showed. Although the game is rated M for Mature, which is 17 and

older, I was expecting maybe teenagers starting at the age of 14 and above to be the ones hooked

on this type of game. But now that I know who makes up the audiences of this game I am a little

surprised but also relived in a way. “While people working from home and seeking work

unsurprisingly make up a large part of the Grand Theft Auto online audience, the game was also

found to attract players from a variety of industries, from construction to the media.

Players of the game are also 54 per cent more likely to be in the middle income bracket, the

study said,” (Griffiths, 2013). It makes sense that the middle class bracket would be more likely

to play the game because the lower class individuals can’t afford the devices need to play this

game while the upper class have other things to pass the time besides a video game.

With the audiences buying these games and effectively keeping the action in these games

alive I do believe they are reinforcing the ideas within the game. Jean Baudrillard presented the
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idea that media represent reality and in doing so it changes it to make it more visual and fun, but

he then poses the question of what happens when we start to believe that this "simulation" is

actual reality? I believe this applies to the idea of gaming, especially with a game so violent. In a

world where we have a problem with gun control, mass shootings, and gang violence a game like

this can alter the reality of a member of its audience; making that person think it is ok to go out

and rob banks, steal cars, avoid cops, and kill for all of the above. “To non-players, the very

notion of the game, in which the player “inhabits” criminals and plays through their morally

bankrupt antics, no doubt sounds grim. But gaming has become a cultural form that is at home

with moral complexity, presenting players with realistic dilemmas along with the cartoonish

violence and ridiculous challenges.,” (Wright, 2013). This is what makes the idea of such a

violent game scary, because it comes with moral complexity and realistic dilemmas, a less stable

person within that audience might take those realistic dilemmas and use the realistic violence that

comes with the game in the real world. The Bobo Doll Experiment is an experiment where

children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy, they were then taken

into a room with Bobo dolls and 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour. After the

experiment it was concluded that children will imitate violent media content. So of the small

percentage of teenagers that are members of GTA audience, someone in that group might follow

that same experiment and think it is ok to imitate the violent media content. But there is also the

idea of the Uses and Gratifications Model, and the idea that audiences are active, they use the

media and are not used by it. The media is used simply for gratification or pleasure. Both

theories hold to be true, it just depends on the audience member and how they interpret the

media.
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With the fact that this is the fifth instalment into this game series, it proves that it is a

popular item among audiences, which means that by supplying the game with an audience, the

audience is reinforcing the criminal ideas behind the game. According to Forbes in May 2014,

the company that makes and sales the game sold 33 million copies of the Grand Theft Auto V,

that’s $1.98 billion worth of the game not even including the revenue from the GTA online or the

fact that that estimate was in 2014 and we are now in the year 2016. That is over 33 million

people out there playing a violent game while keeping the company supplied with the idea that

this is what sales therefore they should keep it coming. However, with that being said I don’t

think that the audience is culpable for what is displayed on the screen. The concept of a video

game comes from a general idea and research in order to back up that general idea. Therefore,

when the game designers came up with the idea of criminals killing each other and throwing in a

whole lot of stereotypes they became the ones responsible for what is displayed on the screen.

They supply their audience with the actions portrayed on the screen.

In conclusion, the overall theme of this game is crime and each of its characters as well as

the supporting character, music, dialogue represent a stereotype that can be mixed in with crime.

Those stereotypes range from the black men and their connection to crime, the stereotypical rich

white men, and poor white hillbilly. While researching, I realized that the members that make up

GTA’s audience are middle class, middle aged adults with jobs and that only blew me

preconceived notions away. The audience members of this game play a role in reinforcing these

stereotypes and keeping violent behavior alive but they are not to be held culpable for what is

displayed on the screen, that honor lies strictly with the people who make the game and reinforce

the stereotypes of the world.

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Bibliography
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