Borys Shturman
ENG 2150, Dr. Blankenship
03/07/16
Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact
Dear Dr. Blankenship and Writer’s Group:
In my paper titled, Video Games: Playgrounds for Your Subconscious, I analyzed what aspects of the game make it such a widespread success, and what they mean the bigger picture. It was interesting how one game could appeal to such a broad audience; after all it did sell over 55 million copies. I chose this topic because I’ve always been a fan of this masterpiece, and never understood why some people had the audacity to undermine the game as just a “serial-killer factory.” The game developers put years of hard labor into the development of this game to attempt to make something bigger than that. The game in my view was a place for people to release their anger and stress, not to make sane people into psychopaths. The unique story telling of the game helped aid in giving reason and rationale for all the actions in the game. In addition to that it’s what made the game so appealing. The players were able to subconsciously relate to the characters values, reasoning, or emotions. So over time the audience would develop emotional ties with the characters, creating a meaningful and memorable narrative. As I was revising my paper I realized that the emotional bonds were the key to make everything work, without them the gameplay would be meaningless. That’s how I arrived at my new thesis that Grand Theft Auto V’s widespread appeal is partially due to its three main protagonist’s diverse psyches that the players could subconsciously relate to through their values, emotions, and motivations.
The three diverse characters got me thinking; how do they help the game make one of its major points? They served as puppets that the players could control to do their wrongdoings. In other words, they were designed to masquerade the fact that the actions were actually committed by the players. The players are never forced to commit any of the horrific crimes that are possible in the game; there are just as many viable peaceful alternatives to spend your time In the game. Yet most people still tend to steal, murder, and cause havoc despite the repercussions. It seems as if the game is hinting at the fact that most of its players are biologically wired to enjoy enacting their rage and primitive desires, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as no one gets hurt. In the bigger picture, GTA V provides the players a medium to express their built up anger and stress; somewhere to enjoy their violent desires and get away from reality. Overall I feel like I did a good job revising my paper with a positive attitude. I was able to incorporate significantly more rhetorical analysis of the game this time around and connect it to my thesis. I was also able to cut down on the background and reference specific in-game missions that help my argument. For organization i moved a paragraph to the end because it helped me summarize the bigger picture.
Video Games: Playgrounds for Your Subconscious
Although most people tend to view playing video games as a mindless activity with no meaning behind it, with a closer look they might think otherwise. The videogame industry has experienced a colossal growth spurt over the past decade, amassing an enormous and extremely diverse audience. Providing game developers with not only the ability to create storylines and worlds without limits, but also with the ability to touch and influences the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. An aspect of videogames that is often overlooked is they attempt to reflect their audiences; one exceptional exemplar of this hidden commentary is Grand Theft Auto V.
Developed by Rockstar North, GTA V is one of the biggest open world adventure games on the market, providing players with an action packed experience; one in which they have the freedom to do anything imaginable. Although this game has been one of the studio’s most ambitious projects, it has already built-up quite a reputation through their multiple previous blockbuster titles such as Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and L.A. Noire. Through its record of consistency and commitment to gamers, Rockstar has been able to create massive appeal for their newest title through “trust of the company’s credibility” (Carroll). Although GTA V always had its players trust and loyalty, since its release almost 3 years ago, it has been bashed by critics for being misogynistic, grotesquely violent, and an influencer of real world violence. But as some tend to point out, the accusations are pretty ironic considering the game is a fictional representation of the contemporary United State’s society and culture. In other words, the game epitomizes our world – attempting to portray our mainstream media in a satirical and relatable way.
This unconstrained, unfiltered parody of our real-world lives that Rockstar North creates, alongside with the studio’s ethos, is how this game attracts such a widespread audience. The game’s target audience was always mature players (18+) – no matter their specific class, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Although it might seem as if the game only targeted “gamers,” there was always a broader secondary audience of people who didn’t necessarily acknowledge themselves as “video game players” but were looking for a harmless medium to release their bottled-up taboo desires. Most individuals, throughout their lives, build up a substantial amount of anger and stress, and they urge for a way to relieve themselves. For this secondary audience, GTA V looks to solve their exigence – “a circumstance or condition that invites a response” – by providing a safe release valve (Carroll).
One unique aspect that makes the game appealing to such a widespread audience is the way the game presents its narrative. The storyline is told through three interchangeable characters whose lives throughout the game become intertwined to create a compelling and enthralling experience. The player is able to freely switch between them, seamlessly jumping into their lives and getting a glimpse at what those characters were busy with just before he/she takes over. This little peek into the protagonist’s lives, whether they are getting drunk, hiding from the police, doing illegal drugs, having a family moment, or are at a therapist, goes a long way in helping develop multiple perspectives and create emotional bonds, through pathos, with the characters. All three protagonists, Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips, are unique in their own ways; having different motives behind their actions. Each protagonist having a diverse background and personality creates contrasting gameplay experiences every time the player switches between them; allowing for an individual relationship with each character.
One might be led to wonder why Rockstar North decided on three male characters and three distinct and unmistakable personalities that each possess. Upon closer scrutiny, under all the layers of the storyline, it seems as if this ingenious game design, to have multiple protagonists, is to appeal to the players through pathos – using the audience’s emotions or values (Carroll). Michael’s, Trevor’s, and Franklin’s personalities all portray different values, extreme emotions, and unconceivable desires that the player could connect to subconsciously. This subconscious relatability helps form strong bonds between the player and each character; bonds where one actually feels for the protagonists and wants them to succeed. As can sometimes be seen on online streams of gameplay, when players switch between protagonists, often without even realizing it, he/she internalize their persona and emotions; slowly beginning to play as one would expect the character to behave. This adoption of identity is one of the ways the developers used pathos to create a memorable and enjoyable experience.
Trevor Philips, one of the three main protagonists, is GTA’s most recognizable and despicable characters, yet in a way he feels necessary to the series; after all he is the epitome of what some people think of the game. Thoughtless sadistic gratification is how some would characterize the way they feel while progressing Trevor’s storyline. The protagonist is shown to be unpredictable, vengeful, homicidal, and plain out psychopathic, leaving him prone to frequent violent outbreaks. He is a person who has no problem with murder, kidnaping, torture and prostitution; quite the contrary actually, he enjoys and lives for these vile crimes. Trevor’s motivations in the game consist of satisfying his primitive desires of making money and releasing his rage. This could clearly be seen in the mission titled, “Nervous Ron,” where after a biker gang disrespects Trevor, he goes out to their territory and brutally murders all of its members in the nighttime. In other words, he is the perfect character for the secondary audience who wish to just release all the built-up anger they have.
Although his role could be easily overlooked as just another “mentally insane redneck” of the fictional world of Los Santos, a stronger argument could be made about how he was created to be used as a free-pass to let the player release all their rage. He certainly does seem to resemble the part of some player’s subconscious that enjoys creating chaos and havoc. He is the essence that explains and gives reason to all the evil that takes place in this virtual world. In previous Grand Theft Auto games, the senseless, grotesque killings had no meaning behind them and only subtracted from the meaningful character development the storyline was trying to build. With Trevor, Rockstar North had finally been able to solve this problem by creating this fictional character who embodies all the sinful desires people have; an excuse to allow the players to do anything they want. When one takes control of Trevor no-one is safe –not the police, not innocent bystanders, not even the military. Through this psychopathic protagonist, Rockstar North was able to create an emotional bond with the players because he resembles a therapist that helps them cope with their stress and anger.
The second protagonist is Franklin Clinton, an ambitious young African American, who dreams of becoming successful “cleanly.” The players could easily relate to Franklin’s desire to make something of himself, creating a connection where they could feel accomplishment and success for his progression through society. In the fictional game world of Lost Santos, Franklin plays the role of a former gang member moving towards turning his life around by working as a repo man for a luxury car dealership. Franklin grew up in the ghettos with his aunt, and had an extreme stereotypical African American childhood; one where he never got the opportunity to meet his father and losing his mother to a drug overdose. His ruthless upbringing along with an unparalleled drive to succeed and impeccable work ethic are more ways the developers used pathos to create a bond between the character and player.
Franklin gets intertwined into the narrative when a chance encounter of repossessing Michael’s son’s car resulted in Franklin losing his job and becoming Michael’s apprentice. Franklin can be seen as the mediator between the radicalism of Trevor and the confusion of Michael. The developers used him as a way to implement logos – appeal through logic – into the game (Carroll). All of Franklin’s actions throughout the story were completely understandable; we no longer find ourselves mindlessly blowing up civilians and going on nonstop rampages. We only witness Franklin partaking in violence and atrocity because there’s no other alternative for him if he wishes to succeed. Now the player not only could emotionally feel for a character, but finally also understand the rationale behind their actions.
Michael De Santa, plays an essential role in understanding some of the games subliminal messages. He takes the role of a retired ex-convict that has built quite a comfortable life for himself and his family of two kids. Michael had a long prior history with Trevor where they committed multiple heists together, until their occupation backfired; Michael was captured by the FIB (the game’s version of the FBI), leading him to snitch on his partners to be acquitted of his crimes while in the witness protection program. Fast forward ten years, and some would find it ironic that Michael struggles to find happiness in his stress-free life of tennis, yachting, yoga, and relaxation while his dysfunctional family falls apart into ruins. It doesn’t take much analysis to see the protagonist’s domestic struggles, with a lazy drug-addict of a son, a spoiled pretentious daughter that only dreams of becoming a celebrity, and an unfaithful and careless wife who is too bored with life to even attempt to save her family.
We jump into Michael’s life during his mid-life crisis and attempt to help him rebuild himself while simultaneously regaining some of his former glory. Throughout the game we watch and feel compassion for Michael, as he shows deep sorrow for his failures as a father and husband. The players relate to Michael’s desires for relevance and respect. He connects with the part of the player’s subconscious that causes regret, remorse, and reprimand. Although most of the time he evades family interactions, he does make attempts to connect with his family which usually never go well. In the mission, “Daddy’s Little Girl,” Michael attempts to bond with his son during a friendly bike race to the beach; he ends up rescuing his daughter from a yacht full of adult film stars. This protagonist’s weaknesses and values add a humanistic feel to the game, a feeling most believed the game was lacking before.
Throughout the game, all the characters seem to reinforce the metaphor that “money doesn’t buy you happiness.” Underneath all their materialistic consumerism, the protagonists realize that their lives have no meaning beyond their money and all at certain points begin to feel empty. “…The way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is a very much a matter of metaphor” (Lakoff and Johnson, 3). As Lakoff stated, how one experiences things and thinks is related to metaphors. All the characters realize that the money they make is only temporary relief; where they actually derive their pleasure and sense of accomplishment from is their heists. The thrill of danger, violence, and instant gratification motivates them to do what they do. The developers might be hinting at the fact that people truly enjoy themselves when they let their emotions and desires loose.
The autonomy that GTA V provided the players with was unparalleled. Gamers were almost never forced to partake in violence with the game being packed with an array of fun non-violent activities such as driving, parachuting, investing, swimming, bike riding, hiking, working out, yoga, etc. Even with all these possibilities, while not progressing the story, most people will still tend to murder, steal, and break numerous laws throughout their exploration of the virtual world; even though such actions will prompt the same in-game consequences as in reality (Police arresting you and putting you in jail). This isn’t shocking news; the game developers knew this fact before they even began production, leading the game to subliminally say that the players were already biologically wired to be unconsciously cruel and enjoy violence.
It’s indisputable that Grand Theft Auto V’s widespread appeal is partially due to its three main protagonist’s diverse psyches that the players could subconsciously relate to through their values, emotions, and motivations. Grand Theft Auto V is the video-game masterpiece of our generation, from its unparalleled graphics and unique gameplay, to its loaded storyline full of subconscious messages and satirical commentary on our modern lives. The game adds to its appeal by seamlessly creating emotional bonds and connections between its protagonists and players. The audience understands each character and feels for them, because on a subliminal level we could relate to them. In the bigger picture, GTA V provides the players a medium to express their built up anger and stress; somewhere to enjoy their violent desires and get away from reality. Any wrongdoing in the game is on the player, they were never forced to do anything. With this in mind, the game seems to hint at the fact that most of its players are biologically wired to enjoy enacting their rage and primitive desires.
Carroll, L. B. (2010). Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1980. Print.
Grand Theft Auto 5. Rockstar North. 17 September 2013. Video game.