Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is one of the most successful video games of our generation. The game takes place in a fictional representation of Los Angeles, called Los Santos, where crime and violence are rampant. Gamers get to take on the character of a criminal and act out their wildest, most violent desires (e.g. rape, murder). The game poses as an opportunity to participate in a civilization with no rules and no repercussions. Nevertheless, the racialized, misogynistic virtual world of Los Santos has numerous real life consequences.

Due to the various barriers of access to the expensive game, the majority of the audience consists of young, white, middle and upper middle class males. This particular demographic probably has had little interaction with people of color and women, particularly when they are at a young age . Consequently, their perceptions of such groups largely stems from how these groups are presented to them through various forms of media, like video games.

Unfortunately, the portrayals of race and gender in GTA are largely negative. The designers create characters whose costume, skin-tone, car, weapon of choice, preferred music genre, and linguistic style evoke common, yet problematic stereotypes. For example, the prominent character Franklin has dark skin; wears baggy jeans, wife-beaters, and varsity jackets; carries a gun; is a member in a gang; and is the product of an abusive father and drug-addicted mother. Franklin clearly evokes a “young, Black gangbanger” stereotype. On the other hand, the women in GTA are largely characterized as sexual props. They wear skimpy bikinis and mini skirts. Moreover, the only real interactions players have with woman are with female strippers, escorts, and damsels in distress. Moreover, the players are encouraged to commit violent acts towards the women in the game by being provided the option to have sex with a woman (without any requirement of consent from the woman involved) and even to murder them. In addition, some of the escorts in the game are covered in bruises and cuts, therefore suggesting that the women are sites of violence and encouraging players to beat them. Without exposure to non-stereotypical representations of Blacks and females in GTA, players create harmful associations between blackness and criminality and females and sexuality.

In addition to its portrayals of race and gender, GTA creates an opportunity for players to essentially be identity tourists. The mostly white, male players can choose to be an avatar of any race; live in impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhoods; and essentially live the lifestyle of a stereotypical male of color (players do not have the option to be a female avatar). Nevertheless, they do not experience any of the real life consequences that men of color experience. As a result, playing GTA can be a form of digital black face, in which blackness is a commodity as opposed to an identity.

 

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