Ain’t the American Dream Grand
Satirical Play in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6188190 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John E Wills (0000-0001-8517-3207, Rütgers (Germany), corresponding author), John Wills |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-07 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1991-9336 • E-ISSN: 1991-9336 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ejas.17274 |
| OpenAlex | W3199619875 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 10 |
Rockstar Games is a video game publisher famous for its immersive and highly detailed action-adventure titles set in America, thanks to its two main franchises, Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto. This article explores how Rockstar employs the location and game play elements of Grand Theft Auto V (2013), a title that has now generated over $6 billion in worldwide sales, to critique elements of American culture, politics, and lifestyle. Presented by Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser as “the endpoint of the American dream,” Grand Theft Auto V provides a crime-laden journey through a simulated Southern California landscape (“San Andreas”). The game is awash with social and political commentary. Of interest here is how, through specific game mechanics such as “satirical play,” the title targets the concept of “the American Dream,” and exposes themes of excess consumption, fake-ness, and social decay in the Californian and broader American experience. Exposition of these themes is, however, compromised by Rockstar’s primary commitment to deliver a mainstream gameplay experience, resulting in mixed messages and moments of ludonarrative dissonance
Adventure · Art · Art history · Culture of the United States · Dream · Exposition (narrative · Literature · Mainstream · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Digital Games and Media · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Law · Psychology
| Citations per year | 1.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |