GRAND THEFT

AUTO AS

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THE POSTER

WHERE IT ALL STARTED…It started in 1997 with Grand Theft Auto which was in 2D for PS1, it was basic game, but it gained a lot if attraction, then till 1999 it launched three versions which showed the real success of GTA and from there onwards Rockstar has started has made its mind to continue its GTA series. Following the success og the first two the makers of GTA decided to go further and make three more. The players of the game are initially set loose in any chosen American city, they are given a set of tasks to complete, these include things like assassinations and heists, if the tasks are completed the players get the reward of money.

WHAT MAKES IT POSTMODERN?In short, GTA V wants to be regarded alongside the

highly acclaimed gangster films and TV shows of its time. Yet it is ‘postmodern’ not simply because it tries to dissolve barriers between high and low culture, but in the way Fredric Jameson famously understands the concept. In other words, GTA is a cultural product that displays ‘a new depthlessness’ and uses ‘pastiche’ as substitute for its inability to create ‘parody. The ‘new’ is merely an alternative combination of what already exists, promoted as controversial in a self-inflating media sphere, thus disguising the near-absolute stability of the devices of production.

WHAT MAKES IT POSTMODERN? PART 2A major feature that classes GTA under postmodern is

simulacra and simulacrum as the boundaries of high and low culture or even virtual and real are clearly blurred an example of this in GTA V is where the players are able to create their own characters in a virtual world where they are also able to what ever they want including going to strip clubs and killing random people. Flow and immersion can also come into place here, Immersion describes how the gamer invests imagination in the game and is subsequently absorbed in the game world, Within the flow, immersion becomes difficult and challenging while also feeling creative and pleasurable, so the feeling of being ‘ lost’ in the game world leads to and enhanced state of ‘ happy hyper reality

WHAT MAKES IT POSTMODERN? PART 3Lyotard’s incredulity towards meta narrative can be

considered in this video game as the game is dependant on the way the players decide to play the game making them the ones in control, when not given tasks players can do what ever they want meaning there is no chronology in the way the game is being played.

There are many intertextual references that are included in the game, GTA tends to make fun of social affairs however by doing so there are not intending to criticize it, they are more likely celebrating it.