So Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has received an “Adults Only” rating.
I guess that makes some sense, but lemme get this straight…
You mean to tell me that since some hackers were able to find a part of the game where fully clothed people make “sexual movements”–and while we’re on it, is a movement sexual if there’s no sex? And is there fully clothed sex?–the game is off shelves? Oh, but mowing down a bunch of gangbangers on the street, that’s okay enough to keep in stores?
I tend not to trip too hard over the images in these video games, but I’ll admit that I don’t play GTA for fear of getting too into it. I’ve seen what that game does to people. It’s pixelated crack. Really, folks have stories of consecutive days where the game never turned off. One dude would fall asleep with the controller in his hand, and another would take it from him and play, and the cycle would repeat.
It’s nuts like that.
I would agree that folks need to filter what they put into their heads. I’m not as sensitive to violence as I should be, and that’s partially due to the stuff I’ve watched and listened to. I’m not just talking about entertainment, though. That includes the news. In Los Angeles, the news may as well be directed by John Woo.
Anyway, someone’s going to have to explain to me why “sexual movements” are more objectionable than rampant murder and mayhem. Maybe what we’ve got with the violence is a bit of a gangsta rap situation. For the most part, these last two GTA games have involved non-white folks killing other non-white folks. “San Andreas” is Los Angeles, but I’ve never seen a mission to go take out some white folks in Beverly Hills.
Similarly, early gangsta rap was primarily about black folks killing other black folks. There were no complaints. Shortly thereafter, NWA came with “Fuck Tha Police,” which readily advocated killing cops black and white. What was heard was open season on a deified set of white folks, and then came the complaints.
Think it would take someone uncovering some sex for GTA: Melrose Hills to get pulled off the shelves? Me neither.
The hypocrisy of this is maddening, but this is also a somewhat pointless measure. Sexually charged video games stand out to people because they sounds oxymoronic to the Atari generation (though many of them must have forgotten about Leisure Suit Larry). Maybe that’s what gets in folks’ craws, so they’ve gotta protect the children.
Nice try. Any kid looking for sex need only click and go.
Anyway, back to that hypocrisy. Boosting cars is cool. Licking shots are, too. Doing business with rock stars (not the kinds that play guitars…refer to definition 9)? That’s cool.
Gyrations? Get that out of the stores.
I guess we can boil this all down to this question–Would you rather kids getting laid or kids laying folks out?
If the former bothers you more (and I’m assuming latex would be involved), I’m not sure what to say to you.
July 21, 2005
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