Two popular Rockstar titles -- "Red Dead Redemption" and "L.A. Noir" -- are critical of the left
On Sept. 17, “Grand Theft Auto V,” the latest installment in the
wildly popular video game franchise, will be released for the
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, perhaps as one of the final major games for
the current console generation.
Video games have developed quite a
bit in both quality and influence since the “Pac-Man” booths of yore.
In 2011, the Economist reported the video-gaming industry was already
three-fifths the size of the movie industry. For that reason alone,
games deserve serious critical attention — and that includes looking at
their politics.
“GTA V’s” publisher, Rockstar, has dealt with
themes of socialism and class struggle in the past — and in a way that
at times seems to betray a right-wing, anti-government slant. Two games
deal especially closely with these issues: “Red Dead Redemption” and
“L.A. Noir.”
“Red Dead Redemption” is a 2010 action and adventure
game inspired by the spaghetti westerns of filmmakers such as Sergio
Leone. Now I’m not a die-hard gamer. I haven’t played everything out
there, or even close. During the opening character-creation sequence of
“Skyrim,” a game hardcore reviewers were in ecstasies over, I got bored
and gave up. But I LOVED “Red Dead Redemption.” And yes, the caps lock
is necessary. It boasts a beautifully rendered world, solid
character development and a well-written story.
Part of the game
is set during the Mexican Revolution. The central protagonist is a
bounty hunter named John Marston. Asked whether he is a socialist, he
explains, “I’m many things, most of them bad. But a man of political
principles? No.” Marston fights on both sides of the conflict before
throwing in his lot with the rebels, seemingly more out of personal
loyalty than ideological conviction.
Rockstar portrays the Mexican
dictatorship as brutally corrupt, though it eventually paints the rebel
leadership as little better. Similarly, the publisher seems sympathetic
to the revolutionary rank-and-file, while also suggesting they are
naive. Luisa Fortuna, a selfless peasant fighter, is perhaps the game’s
most uniformly likable character. She speaks passionately of the
struggle without Rockstar imposing a noticeable sense of irony. At the
same time, however, she is in love with a local guerrilla leader, who
admits to Marston he would never marry a peasant and is revealed to be
something of a political tyrant-in-waiting. His insincere commitment to
Fortuna and the rebel cause is perhaps explained by his upper-class
origins.
In
the end, Rockstar sides with the rebels, but quite unenthusiastically.
And the publisher seems to go further, cynically suggesting government
can never be representative of the people’s interests, no matter the
circumstances, no matter how much the masses struggle. This, of course,
leaves no room for progressive change.
“L.A. Noir,” also published
by Rockstar, is a 2011 pulpy period piece set in the 1940s.
Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as fun as “RDR.” There’s very little
overarching story or character development to propel you forward, and
the cases you work through could probably be played in any sequence, as
you might watch the TV show “Law & Order,” without missing much.
One
investigation could be interpreted as an implicit criticism of
Red Scare hysteria. The central protagonist, a police
officer, investigates a series of suspicious fires he believes to be
connected. The game leads you to charge a low-level gas company employee
found in possession of anarchist pamphlets, specifically Peter
Kropotkin’s Law and Authority. And if I’m following the game’s twists
and turns correctly, the employee is actually innocent.
Another
investigation, however, introduces us to a Communist character who,
while also falsely charged, is the most unflattering representation of a
leftist in either “L.A. Noir” or “RDR.” The guy’s insufferably snotty
and just in case you didn’t pick this up from what he says, he’s wearing
an ascot. I mean, an ascot? But it doesn’t stop there. He looks down on
working-class people and beats women, just in case you didn’t get that
he is a monstrous hypocrite too.
Overall, the perspective of “L.A.
Noir” and “RDR” seems to be one of hipper-than-thou cynicism. While
Rockstar does criticize the right wing, it casts equivalent doubt on the
personal motivations of progressives and the feasibility of their
goals. To accept this “neutral” view presumably leads to political
disengagement — which benefits the powers that be.
Of course, we live in a country where, according to
Gallup,
only 36 percent of the population has a positive view of socialism,
however it may be defined. So it makes sense that a major game publisher
would present an ambiguous-to-negative view of the left.
Still,
Rockstar’s output represents an increased engagement with class
struggle issues that could lead a wider audience to
investigate anti-capitalist ideas for themselves. And at this point in
our history, when the largest socialist groups boast no more than a
few thousand members and seem most interested in reenacting
century-old sectarian squabbles, might dubious attention be better than
none at all?
