Since the games release last Tuesday, Grand Theft Auto Five
has enjoyed the largest opening success in video game history, raking in over
1 billion dollars to date. The numbers
are staggering, but perhaps even more staggering is the new content included in the
game. The addition of mandatory torture
scenes in the games campaign has drawn a variety of critics to condemn the game
for promoting such intolerable acts. When
I read these criticisms I can’t help but think draw a parallel between the criticisms that accompanied the releases
of the other Grand Theft Auto games. Critics
have always condemned the game for themes like drug use, violence, robbery, and
sexuality. While I do feel torture may be a
step too far when it comes to video games, I feel as though the addition of
torture reflects how society has changed its tolerance about various topics. For example, I still remember as a middle school student nudity in any form of media was shunned, and yet now girls wear shorts that barely cover
their butts and we have topless girls dancing around on youtube (thanks Robin Thicke). Have these changes necessarily
made society worse? I honestly don’t
think so and therefore I look at these new torture additions in Grand Theft
Auto similarly. Do these scenes really
make people more violent and susceptible to committing acts of torture? If anyone is really to blame for this new
attitude of condoning torture it should be the CIA. Ever since 9/11, there have been countless
stories about water boarding and other tortures that would make any person
cringe at the thought. So is Grand Theft
Auto just reflecting the changes society is going through or is adding torture
scenes really a violation to human rights? The answer really lies with the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment