In GTA 6, Florida Will Write The Jokes Itself

Since its inception, Grand Theft Auto has all the time constructed itself on humour. Within the 2D days that was the easy, darkly humorous premise of mowing down pedestrians – the stuff that fuelled Carmageddon’s reputation and notoriety. Within the years since, the jokes have change into extra refined, constructing right into a blunt satire of the US of America.

It’s been over a decade since Grand Theft Auto 5, although, and the cultural panorama of the US has shifted significantly throughout that interval. The 2016 election appeared the runway for a spiral of more and more absurd modifications, encompassing every little thing from capitalist greed to pandemic mismanagement and a literal political revolt. In 2018, Rockstar co-founder and GTA’s former head author Dan Houser stated, “A number of the stuff you see is straightforwardly past satire.” So, within the 2020s, how do you satirise America? The reply prompt by GTA 6’s trailer is that you just maintain up a mirror.

For this next-generation rendition of Vice Metropolis – an analogue of Miami, Florida – it seems that Rockstar is replicating actuality in its most direct method but. A number of sequences within the trailer are close to sufficient actual recreations of actual viral Floridian tales. The man with the Joker make-up? He’s primarily based on an actual felony. The dude streaking previous a fuel station, police in chase? That’s a riff on a real bare felon. The lady twerking on the roof of a automobile rushing down the causeway? That actually happened. These are all examples of the ‘Florida man’, a meme that grew out of numerous absurd headlines that every one include the identical phrase: “Police arrest Florida man for drunken pleasure journey on motorized scooter at Walmart” and “Florida man killed after canine steps on fuel pedal” are simply two examples. And so it appears that evidently, via the recreation of those actual occasions, one in every of GTA 6’s new sources of humour will likely be merely reflecting embarrassing actuality and saying “That is you.” Briefly, Florida will write the jokes itself.

To what extent the total image of Florida will likely be mirrored by Rockstar stays to be seen. It’s straightforward to dunk on an odd member of the general public, however there are harder, extra vital opponents. Whereas it has all the time been content material to punch in all instructions, Grand Theft Auto has historically had a left-ish view of America – hardly punk, by no means socialist, however capitalism and conservatism has all the time been a core focus. With nearly all of the collection having been launched throughout the Bush administration, there was no scarcity of right-wing targets. However prior video games not often mirrored particular figures or insurance policies, as a substitute content material to construct exaggerated stereotypes. However in modern-day Florida, these stereotypes are working the fortress. So will GTA 6’s mirror be turned on the state’s deeply controversial governor, Ron DeSantis, and his myriad of anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-migrant, and pro-gun insurance policies? Will echoes of particular Republicans maintain workplace in Vice Metropolis the identical approach its streets will likely be populated with Florida Males? We’ll see how daring the developer is in 2025.

Certainly one of GTA 6’s new sources of humour will likely be merely reflecting embarrassing actuality and saying “That is you.”

Whereas it’s straightforward to imagine that Rockstar will shrink back from something actually controversial, there’s purpose to count on at the very least some topical commentary. The studio’s strategy to satire has steadily developed extra time, changing into more and more wider in scope. Grand Theft Auto’s relationship with lampooning the US started in earnest throughout the 3D period – the trio of video games launched throughout the PlayStation 2 and Xbox console technology. GTA 3, Vice Metropolis, and San Andreas had been largely excited about replicating the sensibilities of landmark crime cinema and a lot of the comedy was discovered of their homage to character tropes established by the likes of Goodfellas and Scarface. However in creating its fictionalised cities, Rockstar stuffed each avenue and airwave with fixed jabs at America’s rampant capitalism and consumerism. These ranged from soiled school-boy puns (GTA’s Sprite analogue, Sprunk, is a play on spunk, the British slang for ejaculate) to outrageous commercials rooted within the US’s patriotism, jingoism, and perceived self-obsession.

GTA 3 featured an advert for the Dormatron, a harmful weight reduction machine that made snide enjoyable of fats folks in one thing of a warped commentary on weight problems and poisonous food plan tradition. In San Andreas, promotions for fried rooster store Cluckin’ Bell made enjoyable of actual KFC animal cruelty accusations. And in Vice Metropolis, a repurposed military chemical agent-turned-household disinfectant featured in a business that laughed at idolising the navy and company negligence (a child virtually boils alive throughout the advert as a result of publicity).

Whereas a good portion of the 3D period’s jokes had been rooted in merchandise and commercials, there have been gags that reached for a extra critical type of satire. Vice Metropolis’s ‘Is Your Youngster a Purple’ infomercial put America’s anti-communism hysteria firmly within the crosshair, whereas additionally focusing on different societal points – it requested dad and mom to look out for kids studying “sophisticated literature” and having “concern for his or her fellow man”, a jab on the nation’s undervaluing of schooling and the individualism that was so prevalent throughout the ‘80s Regan administration. Political gags akin to this might be present in all three video games; in San Andreas, Proposition 421 prompt that individuals ought to be capable to legally shoot and kill a smoker in self-defence, a transparent parody of the nation’s absurdist lawmaking and hard-line leftist officers.

This humour is now the bedrock of Grand Theft Auto and also you’ll discover it in between each fibre in each GTA 4 and 5. However because the collection progressed into the HD period, the jokes grew to become more and more darkish and nihilistic. Maybe fuelled by Rockstar’s outsider standing (Dan Houser is English, and Rockstar’s major improvement studio is situated in Scotland), Grand Theft Auto took greater and heavier swings at a rustic that might be perceived to be embarrassing itself on the worldwide stage.

For Grand Theft Auto 4, the goal was the fallacy of the American Dream as seen via the eyes of an immigrant. “The truth may be very completely different from the dream in a metropolis that worships cash and standing, and is heaven for many who have them and a residing nightmare for many who do not,” learn the back-of-the-box synopsis.

That line was echoed in-game by Liberty Metropolis’s Statue of Happiness. In the actual New York Metropolis, the towering Statue of Liberty – guiding torch in hand – was meant to symbolise a brighter future for arriving migrants. However GTA’s perverse reflection, bearing not a torch however a disposable espresso cup, held a pill that learn, “Watch us trick them into wiping wealthy folks’s asses, whereas we persuade them it is a land of alternative.” The verse lays clear GTA 4’s seething disdain for this residence of capitalist brutality.

GTA 4’s characters actually confirmed Rockstar’s disdain for what rampant capitalism and irresponsible authorities had finished to the so-called best metropolis on this planet.

If the 3D period stated that America is bizarre, then GTA 4 stated that it’s bizarre and hateful. That it’s harmful, deceitful, and debased. The radio waves had been full of the rantings of right-wing reporters on the Fox-lampooning Weazel Information, who related labour unions to terrorism, alongside elitist lefties searching for public adoration for his or her ‘progressive’ actions on discuss exhibits. Between these exhibits was the now-staple tidal wave of product adverts, the billboards for which might be seen on each spare wall of Rockstar’s most detailed, costly metropolis thus far.

The satire didn’t simply exist within the set-dressing and peripheries, although. This time the satire fuelled the textual content itself, leading to a way more critical tone. The way in which Dan Houser and the writing workforce painted GTA 4’s characters actually confirmed their disdain for what rampant capitalism and irresponsible authorities had finished to the so-called best metropolis on this planet. Playboy X, as soon as a booksmart child, couldn’t escape the pull of the drug commerce that plagued Liberty Metropolis’s disadvantaged, largely POC-populated boroughs. Elizabeta Torres, a Puerto Rican immigrant, grew up on these streets, too, which moulded her right into a harmful drug baron preventing for each final greenback. And Manny Escuela, a former heroin addict, tried to wash up the streets, however grew to become consumed by a superficial need for fame. There’s tragedy in each forged member – even these not dragged into the crime enterprise, such because the virtually evangelised Kate McCreary, are gunned down by it.

The stage for this tragedy was painted within the hues of sewage. Grand Theft Auto 4’s color palette ranged from gray to brown, to a shade of inexperienced so putrid you possibly can virtually odor it. It was drawn as such as a result of that’s how protagonist Niko Bellic sees Liberty Metropolis; the American Dream he hoped to seek out is as a substitute a spot the place the ‘Jingoism Act’ permits for mass citizen surveillance, calls for fixed patriotism, and prohibits flag burning.

These grotesque colors pale for 2013’s Grand Theft Auto 5, however the nihilism didn’t. Every of its central characters was written to dig the knife right into a trio of American cultures, with little curiosity in making them sympathetic. Michael DeSanta, an ex-bank robber wallowing within the wealth of his profession, is an indignant, self-centred scumbag. His spouse and daughter are vapid Kardashian-types, whereas his son is a poisonous layabout. Collectively, they paint an unpleasant image of America’s monied, privileged class. In opposition is Trevor Phillips, Michael’s unfastened cannon of a former companion. Whereas Trevor is technically one thing of a psychopathic anarchist, his aggressive and inconsiderate behaviour echoed so-called ‘trailer trash’ and the uneducated underclass that may, within the years following GTA 5’s launch, be so typically blamed for propping up the cult of ‘Make America Nice Once more’. Caught between them was Franklin Clinton, a small-time felony wrapped up in violent gang tradition whose major ambition is to climb the felony ladder.

The trio had been the lens via which a stranger image of America was filmed. GTA 4’s anger had remodeled into one thing of a bemused, virtually defeated shrug. There have been nonetheless various enjoyable jabs at up to date points – it was straightforward to seek out catharsis in tech billionaire Jay Norris, a social media baron grown fats on consumer information, exploding in entrance of the press. And Fame or Disgrace mirrored on a decade of actuality TV that exploited members of the general public, whereas additionally poking enjoyable on the status-chasing nature of the individuals who participate. However, for probably the most half, GTA 5 continued its ordinary schtick with little considerably new to say. Weazel Information stored up its right-wing media spin, discuss exhibits platformed Democrats with unrealistic insurance policies, and wall-to-wall commercials continued to mock the nation’s unending unethical capitalism. The message, it appeared, was ‘That is what America was, is, and can proceed to be.’

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 means that the Rockstar view on America hasn’t considerably modified. Its billboards function comparable jokes, Weazel Information remains to be in enterprise, and filthy cash nonetheless makes the hedonistic world go spherical. The Tiktok-like movies of its Florida Males recommend the developer has lastly caught up with the numerous impression social media has had on the world, and it’s probably GTA 6 will touch upon the starvation for by no means ending viral content material, the folks we exploit to make that content material, and the way that’s warped our view of our society. However that’s not a far cry from what the collection has explored earlier than. So the actual query is, how will Rockstar strategy comedic commentary in a world that its personal former head author claimed is usually “past satire”?

There may be purpose to count on Rockstar to undertake a extra shrewd focusing on lens this time round, placing Florida’s ‘anti-woke’ angle in its sights. A 2022 Bloomberg report claimed that the studio’s ‘frat boy’ tradition had been cleaned up, and theorised that the tone of Grand Theft Auto 6 might be notably completely different to its predecessor. And so it could be that Rockstar’s historic ‘equal alternatives satire’, which punched down at minorities with the identical fist it used for politicians and CEOs, is a factor of the previous. And if that does come to go, hopefully the nihilism that fuelled GTA 5 will evaporate and get replaced with a extra hopeful, reinvigorated sense of humour that’s prepared to face as much as the ugliest corners of American society.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK Information and Options Editor.