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Jul 26th, 2009 at 21:16:16 - Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2) |
“Suck my dick, ole bitch!” a young Black man bellows at a passing woman.
“I mess with girls and guys! So?” a Black woman shrieks back, rolling her neck so quickly her head becomes a blur.
“I’ve been sellin’ guns, servin’ the community for over thirty years! Ha!” a middle-aged Black male exclaims.
As I progress through Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I hear such expressions used repeatedly by random non-playable characters (NPCs) roaming the streets, primarily uttered by the Black American NPCs. In my first entry, I wrote about my concerns about the game’s prevalent Black stereotypes and I wondered whether they were necessary to fully render its atmosphere. I have observed, however, that language, particularly the type of Black slang frequently labeled as “hood”, “ghetto”, or “thuggish”, seems to have a huge role creating that very atmosphere.
OBSERVATIONS
1. GTA: SA’s storyline involves Black gang warfare in primarily Black and/or Latino communities.
2. In the 90s, gangsta rap and Black films gained national prominence. Rappers like Public Enemy, Ice-T, N.W.A., and Ice Cube rapped about Black gangsta lifestyles and hood culture. Films like “Boyz In The Hood“, “Tales From The Hood“, and “Friday” may have portrayed some Black characters in a stereotypical “thug” manner, with the former two films emphasizing the more serious aspects and “Friday” emphasizing humor. GTA: SA’s storyline and presentation appears to be heavily influenced by earlier gangsta rap artists’ music (look up Ice Cube’s songs “It Was A Good Day” and “How to Survive In South Central L.A.”) and the films “Boyz In The Hood” and “Friday” in particular (compare Ryder’s appearance to Ice Cube’s character’s appearance in “Boyz In The Hood” for example).
3. The vast majority of Black characters, both randomly appearing ones and those crucial to the storyline, use Black “hood” slang with Black “ghetto“ accents.
4. Even in non-dialogue moments, the game’s text is written out in “Black” slang terms. For example, at the beginning of a mission for Sweet, the mission objective cheerily reads, “Chase the car down before they cap your homies!” Would such language be used if the game did not have its hood atmosphere?
Is it ethical to liberally use “Black” vernacular not only as a means of constructing the game’s universe through dialogue but also as in-game text? Is it exploitative?
Without the distinctive rhythms, cadences, inflections, and vocabulary of 90s Black ebonics, GTA: SA would not be believable as a simulation of a Black “ghetto” community. But still, the usage of the language does not have to involve blatant (and at times, offensive) stereotyping of characters solely for the sake of an atmosphere. My understanding of the Kant approach to ethics is to treat others as “ends” , not only as the “means“. I feel that GTA: SA treats “Black” slang as the “means” of shaping its universe, or “end”. It does not consider how those same “means” and “end” can be interpreted by individuals outside of itself– namely, the multicultural, multi-age demographics of individuals who play the game. Therefore, according to my understanding of the Kant approach, GTA’s over-reliance on Black ebonics is unethical.
I do admit that I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game. Perhaps delving further into the main storyline I will find valid justifications for the portrayals of Black people in the game.
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Jul 26th, 2009 at 00:01:11 - Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas (PS2) |
Some homeboys stay standin’ on the corner, sellin’ yay and crack and not even givin’ a fuck. They steady rockin’ all purple, too, just chillin’ all casual n’ shit on the block, no trace of punk ish, all up on my block like they own that muthafucka… Aww hell naw! I’m ‘bout to roll up on ‘em in my Cadillac, bumpin’ that new Shabba Ranks on the radio, and bust a cap in all they bitch-asses…
…And in reality I get a text on my cell, ending the gangsta thug fantasy simulation more popularly known as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
With it’s early 90s gangsta-funk soundtrack, old school slang, and distinctive characters designed to resemble images of Black American hood cultures, GTA: SA transports gamers into a war fueled by drugs, territories, and unhinged violence. The game’s protagonist (and who the game controls), Carl Johnson (known as C.J.) is a tough, street-wise Black man who, after leaving Los Santos for five years, must re-earn his reputation as a dangerous (and apparently sexy) gangsta. He must assert his machismo by spraying his gang’s graffiti sign over other gangs’ graffiti (and in some cases, gang members), getting and remaining in shape, getting tattoos, having a nice hair cut, shooting & terrorizing rival gangs, assisting his homeboys in their crimes, and otherwise not being a “buster” by simply refusing to submit his pride or his life to another (GTA emphasizes all of these factors, seeing that they all comprise the actual gameplay).
The first thing that fascinates me about GTA is how thoroughly the game renders it’s atmosphere. From the opening credits, 90s gangsta rap era G-funk style hip hop beats blare a gritty backdrop to C.J.’s deep baritone as he narrates his reasons for returning to his hometown. No sooner does he grab his luggage from the airport when two police officers, fellow Black American Frank Tenpenny (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and Eddie Polaski (who seems Italian to me, but I may be wrong) arrest him. They steal C.J.‘s money, ridicule him when he states that he isn’t involved with the gangs anymore, frame him for a case in which another office was killed, and leave him stranded in a rival gang’s territory. During this cut-scene, the game begins to establish C.J.’s personality, his circumstances, and more importantly how the characters interact with one another; when a Latino officer at the airport drives off after C.J. is apprehended, Polaski shouts, “Stupid Mexican!“. Later on, Tenpenny, after describing how he will frame C.J., exclaims, “Wow, you work fast, NIGGA!”
What bothers me, at least in the hour or so that I have played the game, are how vivid the stereotypes of Black Americans and 90s Black culture are rendered in the game. From just running down the streets, I encountered a Black man wearing a red early-LL Cool J-style fisherman’s cap, nothing covering his upper body except for tattoos and a gaudy gold chain on his neck, and red baggy jeans swaggering (note that I did not use the verb “walk) down the street with unabashed hood coolness. His swagger alone to outsiders outside the Black community hollers “I’m so raw and can’t nobody touch me!”, an aura that has simultaneously entranced and struck fear into the heart of mainstream white America. Turning on the radio in the game’s cars reveals historical accuracy in the songs and artists played in the 90s, with artists like En Vogue, SWV, Boyz II Men, and Ice Cube getting airplay (all artists I listened to growing up in a predominantly Black suburb). Black and Latina women wander the streets wearing bikini tops and tight pants, speaking with exaggerated accents (Black hood girl and Latina boriqua styles, respectively), cursing out the men who “spit game” or cat-call at them. This gaming universe strives to achieve a high level of immersion into a fictional minority ghetto, where gangs and crime dictate how its denizens live their lives. And it definitely succeeds in achieving that high level, to frightening results.
The stereotypes of minorities (in this case, the Black characters), bothers me. Some may argue that historical accuracy is why the game portrays minority characters in such manners. The character Ryder, for example, comes off as a hyper masculine, thuggish N.W.A. reject who looks like a cross between rappers Easy E., Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. He smokes cigars, talks with ebonics and a heavy “Black” accent, and commits violent acts without remorse. He seems like a character pulled out of a 90s Black film like Boyz In Da Hood. The other characters do not act much better: Big Smoke and Sweet all talk in similar manners, and they all want to re-assert their gang’s dominance. But does “historical accuracy” and “research” justify the game’s stereotypical depictions, especially when considering that many gamers, of all ages, races, and backgrounds, will buy GTA: SA and possibly internalize those same stereotypes as reality? In fact, exactly who researched the culture referenced in the game and deemed it historically accurate? Who are the gate keepers who designed the game and encouraged its Black gangsta aesthetics? Basically, is it ethical to portray these Black stereotypes in the name of “historical accuracy” or simply for effect, when many individuals who play the game may not be able to distinguish between its fictional elements and reality?
At this point, I’m conflicted. As a writer and a life-long gamer, I understand the desire to craft a story and to create game scenarios that reflect the story and the elements pertaining to it. As a Black Latino person, however, I do feel some anger at the idea that the game developers used blatant stereotypes to create the atmosphere and story within the game. As of now, however, I’d like to delve more into the game and further observe its racial and cultural representations of minorities.
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