Effects on audience (GTA V) essay pt 2

Moral panic essay

‘Identify the potential impact of a media product you have studied on the audience’

The product I have studied is Grand Theft Auto V. Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North. The regulatory body Pegi gave the game a rating of 18+.Its audiences ranges from 15-35+, 10% female 90% male and is played mostly by the Abc1 classification. 

All 3 playable characters are morally corrupt and are anti-heroes. You play as the protagonists. The game has an unconventional structure. Many role play games with a classic ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ storyline has the player controlling the central ‘hero’ figure. This is reversed in GTA and the player takes the actions of a corrupt character into their own hands whose decisions will have consequences throughout the gameplay. This can lead to morally corrupt decision making by the player. The game offers an opportunity for a player to play the villain that doesn’t play by the rules of normal society.  This can offer the player a great amount of escapism from rules and decisions of everyday life.

Unusually for this sort of game there is a significant back story to each character. The impact of this on the audience is that the player will seek to identify with some of the characteristics of the character and through personal identification with the character, it helps to justify the actions taken. For example, the central protagonist Michael is dealing with a midlife crisis and has trouble communicating with his son and daughter and has a marriage that is on the rocks. Michael (AB) is a wealthy man that lives in luxury. He attends counselling and relationships with his family are falling apart due to him being selfish. This lifestyle may represent the audience of GTA V and have an impact on the consumer base; this is represented in the statistics stated in the introduction. These sorts of personal relationships in the story line may be the main impact on the audiences age range. GTA V’s characters backstory connote common characteristics and scenarios that people throughout the social grade classification system can relate to (AB,C1,C2,DE). The character is deeply flawed and struggling with normal life scenarios but deals with them in extraordinary ways, which the player can only fantasise about in real life.

 Franklin (C2) grows up in the ghetto of ‘Los Santos’, an ex-gang member and is a product of social violence and deprivation. Therefore, he has a desire to ‘hustle’ his way out by getting a job at a car dealership. Consumers in the social class grade C2DE may interact and see Franklin as a personal relationship within the game due to him trying to steer away from gangs. He sees Michael as an ideal self.

Trevor (DE) is a sleazy, trailer park criminal, and Michael's best friend. Trevor is seen to be the worst of the bunch, as a psychotic maniac and also is a fan favourite due to the dark humour, toxic communication/ voice lines and having anger issues. The impact Trevor has on the audience is that he acts as an outlet of rage. One positive interpretation of this is that the game is seen as therapeutic for people that are not violent, toxic or objectifying in real life. The normal human urges that are controlled in everyday life can be displaced into a virtual character. Rage and violence can be visualised on screen with no real consequences to a ‘living’ person. It is made safe through the game.

The characters in GTA V heavily impact the gameplay and the audience and this is backed up by Anderson's (2007) theory of high exposure to games like GTA. Opposite to the view given above, Anderson says that these ultra-violent games dampen emotional responses to real violence and desensitises the human brain. This can lead to some incidents in the media where crimes have been blamed/ influenced by this block buster title. Due to pre-18 year olds getting a hold of this game; the media/ Pegi may think the content of this game may easily influence adolescent children. However, the vast majority of people that play this title can differentiate fantasy from real life and will experience nothing more than a vicarious thrill.

In conclusion GTA V has many potential impacts on the user; good or bad. I have highlighted the ones that have been most apparent to me and have identified the strength of escapism this game provides and the weaknesses/ negative effects it may have on human brain chemistry.