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C_Dubiel44's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
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[October 4, 2010 12:56:37 PM]
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Continuing on from last night, I decided to do some more missions, ending up doing a couple of drive-bys, acquiring weapons in an alley, and buying clothes to represent the Grove Street gang. Following the story, CJ periodically asks about what happened to his mother at the beginning of each mission, but Smoke, Sweet, Ryder, and even Emmett the weapons dealer are hesitant to say too much. What CJ does know is that the Ballas are responsible. He, along with his gang, wants to get revenge by taking out the Ballas.
In the first mission of today, I drove my gang to get some chicken and then some Ballas showed up, and immediately a drive-by ensued. In the next mission, CJ must go with Smoke to get some guns from Emmett, followed by getting some clothes to show his gang's colors. On to the next mission comes another drive-by, this time a planned one as the Grove Street gang members drive into Balla territory with CJ at the wheel.
Once again, on the third and final day of my playing of GTA San Andreas, the stereotypes of the ghetto are blatant when it comes to going out for chicken, to wearing a gangs colors, to drive-bys. The moral topic that is heavily prevalent is revenge. Obviously revenge is never the answer, but CJ and the Grove Street Gang want to avenge his mother's death. They want to kill the Ballas so they never come into Grove Street territory again. While it might seem easy to get police involved, it does not seem satisfying to gangs for police to serve justice for them. They want to be vigilantes and settle their own scores, which in most cases becomes tragic. They feel that vigilante justice will better protect them, when in fact it causes more violence.
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[October 4, 2010 11:39:01 AM]
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(DAY 1 - 9/29/10) originally posted in wrong section.
I just started playing GTA San Andreas today and only played for about half an hour. I started off doing some missions in which CJ has to follow Sweet and Ryder on bmx bikes. I noticed right away that the game is based heavily on stereotypes based on the design of the maps and the appearance of the characters. CJ is an African American with his jeans hanging off of his behind showing his boxers. He lives in the ghetto of Los Santos, a fictional city based on Los Angeles. The other characters in CJ's gang all wear baggy clothing and look like stereotypical gang members. While following Sweet and Ryder on the bike, CJ must keep up in order to avoid being shot by rival gang members following in a car. I didn't get very far in the game, having to repeat the following missions multiple times because I kept getting shot.After this mission, I took Ryder to the barber shop, where I (CJ) changed my appearance. Next came the trip to the pizza place to learn the mechanic to replenish stamina by eating. After that I got to the mission where CJ must "tag" over a rival gang's "tagging." After my first short experience of GTA San Andreas, I could clearly see the inner city, racial stereotypes in the game, as well as the depiction of a bond formed between fellow gang members. This can be classified as a representation of the family theme so to speak. Also fighting between rival gangs is a relevant theme presented in the game. I still need to play the game more to become fully immersed into the story, but the characters and setting give me plenty of understanding on stereotypes and themes.
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[October 4, 2010 11:37:31 AM]
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Chris Dubiel - GameLog
10/3/10 11:55 p.m.
Tonight I picked up where I left off playing the next mission after the tagging mission. This one was called “Cleaning the Hood.” In this mission CJ and Sweet plan to round up some neighbors to join their fight against the rival Baller gang. CJ must drive with Sweet to B-Dup’s house to find him and Big Bear. They find that B-Dup has enslaved Big Bear as Big Bear has become addicted to crack. So the mission entails CJ and Sweet beating up drug dealers around the hood.
I thought about the moral question of whether it’ moral to use violence to promote good after I did this mission because CJ must kill the crack dealers to clean up the neighborhood. This act could definitely be avoided by getting the police involved, but in the setting of the game, the police probably don’t care too much, with drugs coming with the territory that is the ghetto. So in this instance, killing the dealers is pretty much the only way to stop the dealers, but that still doesn’t make it right.
Continuing observations of the themes in this game, I can see stereotypes heavily being used as crack is prevalent in the neighborhood and people fight with bats and guns over their territory and treat their own gangs as family. On a side note, I was driving Sweet’s car and a song on the radio was playing with the “N word” being used repeatedly and was somewhat shocked as to how far the game goes to stereotypically portray the ghetto and the musical tastes of those who live there.
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