Sunday 18 January, 2009

1-18-09

Before I began playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a friend of mine pointed out to me that its plot was based on the movie ‘Boys in the Hood.’ He recommended that I watch this movie to fully appreciate San Andreas’ story. Granted, I don’t find myself really having the liberty to slow down and watch this movie. This game does strike me as a gangster movie, as my friend indicated, and I suppose this is one of the charms of the series that I never paid any attention to in past play throughs.

Sand Andreas seems very heavily driven through race and gang relations. This was gathered through playing the first three missions of the game and watching the various cinematics. While anyone will openly admit that gang affiliations, killing, and racial slurs and discrimination are bad, that appears to be the entire premise of San Andreas. We, the player, are immersed into the character’s life and lifestyle. We are introduced to gang culture and the morals that are tied to it. Granted, this appears to be a gradual immersal and not necessarily spontaneous.

You’re released from prison, and your character, CJ, immediately returns to his old gang buddies. As soon as you arrive, you’re almost killed by an old friend, not knowing who your character is. Most moral codes perceive killing as an abhorrent practice. However, in this gang culture, you quickly realize that killing is an accepted practice, and that you must kill or be killed by rival gangs. It doesn’t stop there, as the game begins to relate to you that you can build respect from your rival gang members by placing graffiti over rival gang graffiti and various other illegal activities. This game easily throws the player’s morals to the wind, throwing them into the midst of what is easily a lawless land filled with heavy gang violence.

I wouldn't say that killing, per se, is an accepted practice in gang culture as portrayed in SA. Rather, it's certain types of killing against certain people. Do you think the setting makes the difference? When you mentioned a "lawless land" I immediately thought of the Wild West. It seems pretty much the same thing, right?