“To point fingers at anything other than Grand Theft Auto V for
this tragedy is morally irresponsible,”
National Rifle Association executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre on the mass shooting
that occurred in a D.C. naval office building.
http://www.newslo.com/nra-blames-gta-5-for-d-c-shooting/
http://kotaku.com/grand-theft-auto-blamed-after-eight-year-old-shoots-gra-1201375715
There are four major theories on how media exposure effects the public. A more
outdated theory is the Hypodermic Needle theory which claims that the media is
subliminally injecting the public with images, ideas, morals and narratives some good
and some bad.
The second theory is called the Uses and Gratification theory, it is different to the
hypodermic needle effect because it states that the media works along with peoples own
ideas instead of forcing ideas at them. It is seen as a more accurate theory than the
hypodermic needle.
A third theory is the passive or active consumption theory which claims that there are
two ways people consume media, the first being passively so they believe everything
they see and hear and don’t challenge it or think for themselves as to whether or not its
true or morally right. If you actively consume media you think about what you are being
told and don’t take everything as being true or completely accurate, you would also
engage with what you're consuming and make their own opinion from it.
The last theory, reception study, claims that the media is in fact meaningless and the
consumers create the meaning by processing it. It’s a strange concept to comprehend but
technically it makes sense that media such as tabloids is just ink on a piece of paper and
it’s the people reading who process and understand how they want to understand it. This
could be tied with active consumption because both theories say that it is all about the
consumer not a special trick used by the media.
So how do these theories connect to Grand Theft Auto? The crime game series that has
been running since the late nineties has caused a lot of controversy since the first game
and more recently in September 2013 when Rockstar game developers released their
newest installment Grand Theft auto 5 with more complaints and accusations than ever.
This report from an American news centre took this quote from National Rifle
Association executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre
“While our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, we feel it would
be remiss not to remind the American people of what it is that makes these catastrophes
so commonplace,” said LaPierre. “The lurking variable that leads to the deaths of 87
Americans every day.”
“I am talking, of course, about Grand Theft Auto V.”
Wayne LaPierre could be referring to either the hypodermic needle effect, passive
consumption theory or the reception theory when he states:
“Many adults leave their video games and consoles lying out in the open where children
can find them,” said NRA member Justin Morrow of Harrisburg, Mississippi. “Why, just
the other day, I walked into my friend’s living room and his five-year-old was trying to
set up the Xbox 360. I couldn’t believe it. Given how many unaccounted-for video
games there are lying around, it’s a wonder there aren’t more horrible acts of violence.”
I think it is fair to say that a child’s exposure to a violent video game is far more serious
than an adults because of their reception being less developed and children tend to take
in information passively without thinking whether it is right or wrong because their
brains are in the learning stages of development. However the point made by LaPierre is
invalid because those involved in the mass murders were not children… and even if they
were children the blame can’t be placed on the game developers because they
appropriately rated the game 18 (mature audiences only) for this reason. So the fault
would lie in whoever purchased the video game and made it available for a child to play
on.
http://kotaku.com/grand-theft-auto-blamed-after-eight-year-old-shoots-gra-1201375715
The above article shows that children have taken it as far as to murder but very rarely, it proves my
point however that violent video game exposure to less mature audiences can be damaging
psychologically and physically.
Here is an example of a receptive theory http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a333969/grandtheft-auto-blamed-for-london-riots.html#~oHCPU793y9m3Uq
A claim that the London riots could be blamed on the grand theft auto 4 video game, a police
officer stating:
"When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto
and want to live it for themselves."
Again the receptive theory says that it is up to the consumer as to how they process what they see
(in this case what they play). Having said that how can a video game be held responsible because of
criminal CHOOSING to live it for themselves? The key words in all of these articles and arguments
are choice and free will. There are millions of people who know that the video game is… a video
game and not an instruction manual for causing havoc. The few hundred people around the world
that are so easily manipulated and compliant to what they see and play on a screen that they take it
the wrong way and copy the acts are the ones responsible and a play on a video game influencing
them sounds to me like just an easy excuse to “get out of jail free”.
In response to the negative effect of the media here is an article praising the video game!
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/grand-theft-auto-skills-help-11-old-save171027380.html
This is an example of the uses and gratification theory. A young boy claims that he saved his
grandfathers life as well as his own and others around him thanks to grand theft auto. He steered a
car to the safety of a ditch and away from a busy road when his grandfather unexpectedly fainted at
the wheel. The boy said:
"The only way I had any experience was the Grand Theft Auto game,"
If the boy hadn’t learned from the game he wouldn’t know anything about steering response in a car
or how to take the wheel, this is a good example of the uses and gratification theory because it
shows that a child has used the media to learn skills in real life. It also supports the active
consumption theory because he doesn’t necessarily think taking the wheel at any time would be a
good idea but in an emergency like this it was vital and it wouldn’t have happened if he was a
passive consumer of media because was engaging with the ideas of driving in real life and free
willed with taking the wheel without thinking it would be a bad idea.
In my opinion it is up to the consumer to take from the media what they want and engage in what
they see and here, because if they don’t and they passively consume what they think is acceptable,
they will take it the wrong way and it will lead to these crimes with no excuse because “GTA made
me do it” is just not good enough.