Ahead of the Curve: GTA IV & Narrative Evolution

I've just read the sales figures for the first week of Grand Theft Auto IV and the numbers are staggering. A total of five-hundred million dollars was spent on the game in seven days; the biggest interactive entertainment opening in history, and perhaps the most profitable debut of anything on any kind of entertainment medium. It's bigger than anything that music or movies has ever thrown out way, and yet, there's still this air of distaste when it comes to video games. There's still this idea that the platform is only relevant for people wanting to have fun, and looking for entertainment, but why? Sure, the core principles of gaming, are entertainment, but have we not moved onto a bigger picture? Has gaming not become enough of a legitimate artistic plateau to warrant attention from cultural analysts and authors? And I don't mean the kind of attention that sees misguided fame-seekers boasting about how much they don't know regarding the sexuality of Mass Effect, nor the finger-pointers who accredit the downfall of our youthful society to the violence of Manhunt or Mortal Kombat. What I mean is the kind of attention that sees the likes of 'Citizen Kane' hailed by movie critics as genius, or the release of Radiohead's 'Kid A' as a revolutionary cultural artifact. Movies and music are platforms that seem safe to define as artistic, but for some reason the same recognition escapes video gaming. I'm hoping, with the release and consequent success of Grand Theft Auto VI, this will change.

GTA has always been recognized for its treatment of pop culture, it is a legitimate satire of modernity that, in its every incarnation, summarizes the mood and tone of the period it belongs to. GTA IV, however, is different. Where the former games borrowed heavily from films and shows, notably Goodfellas, Miami Vice, and Boyz in the Hood, this time around the narrative is unique, and entirely relevant to contemporary society in its own right. Niko Bellic is one of hundreds of millions of people who seem to be migrating west for a better life, and finding themselves struggling to make ends meet. Disillusioned by the American Dream, Bellic believes in the idea of success and prosperity in the land of opportunity. It is, however, not so easy. There's a poignant occasion in the early minutes of the game where Bellic is outside his cousin Roman's, and, by chance, bumps into an arrogant, wealthy American who berates him and then hands him one-hundred dollars. This acts as a metaphor for Bellic's existence in Liberty City; a series of accidental run-ins that lead to him amassing a wealth of money; the land of opportunity certainly earning its slogan. Person after person delegating tasks to work horse Bellic until he eventually rises up and overcomes them to become the higher power. It's a lesson in modern living, and a warning sign for understanding your own place in society - you're relevant for as long as you can be bothered to stay relevant, and your own work is all that will remind people of your importance. All of the people above Bellic have settled on their wealth, and lost the drive to get their hands dirty; they do not possess the same spirit that Bellic has. As he reminds us on a few occasions, he is in Liberty City to find something, and he will stop at nothing to get what he's looking for. I don't wish to spoil the game for you, so I wont tell you what he's looking for, but I will say that he finds it, and, rather fittingly, it does not fulfill Niko. His tireless journey of toiling and killing is punctuated by a self-reflective climax where our protagonist pulls the mirror up in front of himself and has to come to terms with the fact that what he's been searching desperately for is a lost cause. Everything about Bellic's existence up until this point becomes nullified, and as a result of his affiliations he loses what he's finally realized is truly important. It's the kind of story you'd expect to see in the cinema of Krystof Kieslowski, and an entirely Oscar-worthy saga, only, this is a video game.

Gradually we're witnessing a change in the mentality with which people approach video gaming, but it's far too internal, and even then it's more of a ripple, than a rip-tide. Some how, externally, the world needs to recognize the power of the platform, if only to know that this passion of ours; this hobby we feeds so much money into, it's not wasted, nor is it wasting us. We ARE being enlightened by astounding narrative efforts that are provoking reactions within us. People such as Ken Levine, Fumito Ueda, Goichi Suda, Hideo Kojima, and the Houser brothers, are worth just as much to the world as any Scorsese, Scott, Spielberg, or Lynch, and declassifying the artistic vision of the men and women who work behind these games on the principle that they're "just games" is a naive, and narrow-minded practice.