Grand Theft Auto IV repeatedly slams Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the Bush Agenda

Bjorn Against

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Thu May-01-08 06:24 PM
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Grand Theft Auto IV repeatedly slams Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the Bush Agenda

When we think about the influence that entertainment media has had on our perception of politics we usually point to such sources of entertainment as music, film, television, and books. It is not very often that a video game is cited for its ability to make people think about the issues facing the world, but with this week�s release of Grand Theft Auto IV that may change.

When GTA IV debuted this week it set numerous sales records, and is very likely to become the top selling game of all time. And the critics received it just as well as the fans, with most publications giving out perfect scores it appears likely to become the best reviewed game of all time as well.

Tens of millions of people are going to play GTA IV, and everyone who plays it will get to hear some of the most subversive political content to ever grace a video game.

Yes, while Grand Theft Auto may be famous for its over-the-top violence and sexual content, it also features some of the most intelligent political satire to be heard this year. Fox News is not going to like this game, and the reason they are not going to like it has nothing to do with the sex or the violence. The reason they will hate it is because the game repeatedly slams the right-wing media and the Bush Administration in both subtle and not so subtle ways.

Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in Liberty City , or as we refer to it in the real world New York City. The hero of the game is Niko Bellic, an illegal immigrant who left Eastern Europe after witnessing the horrors of war in the hope of achieving the American dream. Upon arriving however he quickly realizes that the American dream is not as easily achievable as he had been led to believe and he ends up living in poverty with his cousin Roman who is being hunted down by loan sharks. The scenes involving Niko�s story are very serious, intense, and surprisingly very emotional. The key story scenes of the game are similar to a film along the lines of the Godfather or Scarface, but as we move from the main story sequences to the outside world the game becomes a brilliant and extremely humorous satire of American society.

If you try to go to Manhattan early in the game you will not be able to get across the bridge. Why is the Bridge closed? Because of unspecified terrorist threats of course. They don�t have any evidence that the terrorists may strike, but the commentators on Weasel News insist that the bridge needs to be closed down to protect our freedom. When the mayor of Liberty City wants to reopen the bridge this is the response from Weasel News:

If he is foolish enough to reopen the bridges, he and the President should put out a clear ultimatum. If Liberty City is attacked the United States will respond in kind. We will throw darts at a map and bomb any country we hit, only stopping when we are satisfied. Arbitrary violence must be met with arbitrary violence.

Yes, Weasel News plays a very prominent role in the game and their logo clearly represents that of a real-life �news� network named after another furry animal. As players progress through the game they regularly receive �furry and balanced� news updates from Weasel News which use hilariously tortured logic to blame liberals for all the problems of the world.

Fox News is not the only right-wing media source parodied however, Rush Limbaugh also makes a very prominent appearance on WKTT radio, the in-game right-wing talk station whose slogan is �Because democracy is worth suppressing votes for.� While Limbaugh goes by the name Richard Bastion in the game, if you don't figure out the influence for Bastion from his voice and his politics you will figure it out when he is encouraging his listeners to call in and he says �You listeners make the show. All I do is make the money and spend it on face fulls of pharmaceuticals that make me go deaf.�

Bastion spews off all kinds of right-wing talking points in ways which truly illustrate their absurdity. When asked why we went to war his answer is simple. �We did it for freedom...and we did it for valuable munitions contracts.� Of course any character based off Rush Limbaugh has to rail against the �liberal media� which is public television. Bastion goes off on a rant about how the puppets of public television children's shows are corrupting children with the liberal agenda. Bastion makes it clear what he thinks of puppets;�The only puppet I like is the President.�

Throughout the game, Grand Theft Auto IV makes repeated jabs at many Republican talking points. The game clearly set out to show just how ridiculous the notion of a �war on terrorism� is and, if you want to see for yourself how the game takes on this issue go here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2FXFPBiAN64&feature=related and watch for yourself to see just how pointed the humor is.

There are many, many more slams on Republicans including an in-game television cartoon called �Republican Space Rangers�, which can be seen here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2Iy34aUhc

Corporate America takes just as much of a skewering as the right-wing does, and even the instruction book includes sharp jabs at big business. An ad for the fictional fast food chain Burger Shot which appears in the instruction book is pushing the 99 cent Heart Stopper burger by attacking the patriotism of those who don't eat the crap they push on us. Here are the words which appear in the ad:

What are you doing to us, America? Where has this sudden obsession with health come from? We don't spend billions of dollars advertising to children just for you to fill them with liberal ideas and plates of overpriced foilage. The combined GDP of the third world is threatening to catch up with our monthly profits and soon the US economy is going to be as tattered as your lower bowel after a week of eating BS sluggers for breakfast. Be a patriot. Eat at Burger Shot today.�

While there is no doubt that Grand Theft Auto IV does contain a great deal of material that many people will find objectionable, the truth is that despite the sex, the violence, and the crude humor the game is probably contains the most pointed social commentary that has ever appeared in a major video game release. And this is not just any major video game, this is likely to be the most popular and most critically acclaimed game of all time which means tens of millions of people will be enjoying numerous slams on the right-wing media and corporate America.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of references to political and social issues in this game and while the left does take a few jabs we definitely don't get skewered to the extent that the right does. Say what you will about the sex and the violence in the game, there is no doubt that some of it is disgusting, but when a game actually makes people look at our society's flaws and recognize the absurdity of the ideas being floated by the right that can only be a good thing.