Frecklebitches
There was a great, memorable piece of news that managed to slip past the radar a couple weeks ago.
From MediaBistro (a journalism website):
Grand Theft Auto is officially art. Rockstar Games had been sued by the owners of an LA strip club, who felt that the Pig Pen was too close to their own Play Pen. But US District judge Margaret Marrow ruled:
Defendants’ use of the Play Pen trade dress and trademark bears some artistic relevance to the game, and does not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source or content of the game.
So with this and the Hot Coffee ruckus behind them, Rockstar can gear up for the release of Bully and the accompanying media squwaks.
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OK, the side “games as art” comment calls for a deep, Steven Johnson-level discussion [1]. To me, the big issue here is parodic expression within digital entertainment and how, if this judgment went the another way, our future games could have been quite different [2].
Like sex in video games or Screen Actor Guild digital boycotts [3], real-world representations in video games weren’t much of an hotbed issue in the beginning. The first real-world video game ad I remember seeing was a Shell gas billboard in Pole Position, circa 1981. Roughly around the same time, Microsoft’s Flight Simulator version one was rocking the computer charts… with white vector lines [4]. Gamers praised both for having the best real-world experiences. Although I was a youngin’, I was one of those gamers.
As technology evolved [5] developers started incorporating more lifelike representations in games. The PC CD revolution, which was spurred on by graphically-intense games like Myst [6], gave designers the memory space to show FMV, or Full Motion Video. FMV is basically a video put into digital format. Actors replaced avatars.
Gamers responded by throwing proverbial, digital apples at these early ’90s FMV-heavy titles (Sewer Shark!) and developers went into the direction of making realistic 3D polygon landscapes. The first-person shooter Quake is one of the first games to mark the new era. However, voice acting and real-world inspiration never completely went away.
The humor in Duke Nukem 3D, another stellar, though oft-forgotten first-person shooter released in the mid-’90s, consisted almost entirely of quotes and references to bad action movies [7]. If it were to come out today [8], if this lawsuit is any indication, Rowdy Roddy Piper would own half of 3D Realms right now.
Definitely derived from the same tree, Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas are odes to pop culture if there every have been within the game universe. The three would not exist without Goodfellas and nearly any other Scorsase flick, anything you saw on I Love the ’80s and my whole gangsta rap music collection, respectively. We’re finally at the point where the video game can reference pop culture in a way as complete as any Quentin Tarantino movie.
Games as art? Maybe. But this lawsuit would have killed that.
To me, games should have the same artistic license as movies, music and publications. The People vs. Larry Flynt comes to mind. Now, I would rather not see Rockstar Games putting women, or anyone for that matter, into food processors [9], I think it is only fair to give them room for parody, cultural criticism and humor. As I’ve written in different essays, I have a mixed relationship with the Grand Theft Auto series and its portrayal of race. I also know that, like South Park or Ice-T, it has a particular role within our society. A hypersensitive court would squash that creativity and social discussion that comes from this forum.
This Tuesday will see the release of Saint’s Row, THQ’s attempt to bring a next-gen Grand Theft Auto before Rockstar can do the same. It looks like an interesting “urban simulator” [10], though I can already see myself squinting at the racial epitaphs [11].
Ironically, around the same time this PigPen lawsuit happened, I got a call from my down-south game retail friend [12] who managed to cop the Saint’s Row demo. He described how the game varied from Grand Theft Auto, some of the weaponry and such. Then he explained how, when your crew is hungry, they suggest going to “Frecklebitches,” a fast-food establishment with the logo of a little redhead girl with pigtails. I couldn’t help but laugh at the audacity.
I’m sure Dave is rolling in his conservative grave.
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[1] For another time. You’ve been spared.
[2] i.e. boring.
[3] Is there anything Grand Theft Auto hasn’t innovated?
[4] Is that Dulles or LAX?
[5] Or in the case of Full Motion Video, devolved.
[6] And porn.
[7] Bad meaning good. Tango and Cash, They Live, etc., etc.
[8] Which, at this rate, will never happen.
[9] Perhaps as a boss battle?
[10] I have relatives that live in the hood. Why the hell does someone need a simulator? I know people who are trying to get out.
[11] THQ, please don’t go there.
[12] I see you, wardie.