In this fine, thoughtful article at Quarter to Three, critic Tom Chick explains why he thinks GTA V‘s much-discussed torture mission is successful satire.
Do It By The Book
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Comments
6 responses to “Do It By The Book”
By The Book did in fact make me think of that particular torture scene in Zero Dark Thirty, so much so I wonder if Rockstar took some inspiration from it.
*SPOILERS*I was fine with the mission until the tooth pulling. Made me feel a little ill. Still not sure if a message like this is lost in a game where your mission grade is based on using all the instruments. Is that another message to make us think? But it did make me think about my actions in game, I’ll give them that.
Just a heads up there’s spoiler tags you can use if you wish. They’re contained in the button with the little eye above the comment box!
I did the tooth pulling first, ugh.. Made me feel really off. I didn’t really think it would be a scene I could interact with. Though I thought the jerry can was going to contain gasoline and Trevor was going to go all Reservoir Dogs on the poor bloke..cool. didn’t know it was there. thanks
Welcome.
Just that the discussion is here proves the legitimacy of exploring violent, dark or adult themes in games. I felt genuinely uneasy during the mission and i actively searched for way to not cause pain, then we get a little monologue on the subject and the power fantasy Trevor understands torture to be.
The much-publicized torture scene in Zero Dark Thirty – despite basically explaining to the camera what they think of torture – only made me truly reflect on the topic in it’s political use in the film. It had little comment on the act of torture. In GTA V, it sickened me and I’m glad it did. Because when Trevor basically says “see what we did there?” right after it, I’m pretty sure I’ve just had a reflection that only a video game could give me.