With every new Grand Theft Auto installment comes new criticism - now as an integral part of the series.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is now the subject of a number of rumors about features and events that will be added to the game. For example, some players are either complaining about the speculated inclusion of Pride Parades or are stoked about it. Even if this is just a rumor, it would get to the heart of the GTA concept.
Pride Parades In GTA? Rumor, But Entirely Possible
With rumors swirling since the middle of the month that Pride Parades will appear in GTA 6, the rumor mill is churning with all the ingredients that make GTA what it is: several jokes about an instant 5-star level for drifting across a rainbow crosswalk and people saying they're looking for the heaviest vehicle ever to drive through one of these parades. You can get upset about it, laugh at it or see it for what it is.
Wait, so they put a pride parade in a game that’s generational survivability is based off of chaotic random violence targeted against innocent bystanders?
And while LGBTQ+ parades are just a rumor, there's really only one correct answer to this question. Why would that be absurd and why would it be a big deal in Grand Theft Auto?
GTA As A Social Satire
GTA is characterized by its fun storytelling, dynamic gameplay and open world where you can do pretty much anything. In GTA: San Andreas, we play Carl Johnson, who lives in a POC-inhabited neighborhood by stealing things and killing people. In GTA 3, we play Claude, who seems to lack any form of emotion as he takes out enemies and betrays friends. And with GTA 4 and 5, this concept evolves into the modern era. All parts have extreme gun violence, sex and morally questionable decisions in common.
While it's perfectly fine to appreciate the game for what it appears to be on the surface, it's much more interesting to take a look behind it: The game is one hell of a social satire, peppered throughout with prejudices and twists that make you think for a second. There is no shortage of jokes about pretty much every kind of person: be it people of color, LGBTQ+, women, men, police officers, prostitutes...: That's Rockstar's secret recipe.
Why Don't We Talk About The Bizarre Commercials?
In GTA San Andreas, we can listen to many funny conversations on the radio. For example, there is an advertisement from a mother for cigarettes that are supposed to be good for her and her children because they keep her from getting so stressed that she hits her children again. In Vice City Stories there's an ad about fashionable children's underwear, there are ads that trivialize rape or “gloryhole theme parks”. Many advertisements allude to our consumer behavior or current social issues in order to make jokes about them. Sounds lowbrow at first, but it's quite normal in the world of GTA. Why should this be surprising for the NPCs residing there when all hell is breaking loose around them?
Even though it has only been speculated, it wouldn't be anything special, nor worrisome, if Pride Parades were inserted into the GTA universe. It's part of our society that Grand Theft Auto keeps dragging into the mud, laughing at it and then punching it in the gut.
Because Grand Theft Auto thrives on moments that shouldn't be okay, but are commonplace there. And we love it for that.