GTA VI Will Finally Feature a Female Protagonist, but Do We Trust Rockstar To Do This Right?
Excuse me while I put on my clown makeup ...
Recently, Bloomberg shared some exciting news for GTA fans: We’re getting a new game in 2024! They share that Rockstar is going to try to “clean up their image,” after the notoriously horrid work conditions their employees endured while working on Red Dead Redemption 2. We’re glad to hear that they’ve learned their lesson: Sometimes, the extra physics that go into making horse testicles “more realistic” just aren’t worth it.
But what I’m lukewarm about hearing is the fact that this game will feature its first female protagonist in a GTA game, arguably Rockstar’s first in general. This protagonist will be Latina, and the Bonnie in a “Bonnie and Clyde”-type dynamic.
Yes, it seems like something we’d be excited about. But just because someone says they’re going to do a cool thing, doesn’t mean we trust that they’ll be cool about it.
To get this out of the way: I’m not a hater. I love the Red Dead series, I really enjoyed Bully, L.A. Noire was interesting, etc. etc. I think Rockstar makes good games—I know, hot take. But I’ve never been able to sit through a GTA game, for one simple reason: The women feel like they’re written by a team of people who, for one reason or another, just absolutely hate women.
Or maybe “hate” is overstating it, so at the very least, the women in these games feel like they’re written by people who’ve only ever read John Green books. They’re either unjustifiably shrewish, or they’re bimbos, but like, from a male point of view (i.e. without compassion, without fun, just “dumb and blonde”). It makes it difficult for me to sit through a GTA title, because it honestly feels insulting. Yes, by all means, let the violent men have a deep and complex inner life, but god forbid the women in their lives be anything other than caricatures. We wouldn’t want to take away from these big, strong mens’ complexities, after all! Oo, those pesky women, with their personalities—gotta do away with those!
I mean, Christ, GTA V’s Michael De Santa’s spoiled stoner son gets more character development than either of the women in his life, and he’s arguably more of an imposition on his father than anyone else in the family. Why does the daughter have to be an irredeemable airhead, and only that? Why does the wife have to be a cheating nag, and only that? By all means, have the entire family be incompetent and shallow, but make sure the son is on that same level. Don’t give him bonding moments that you don’t get with the others!
Even Red Dead 2, which I did love quite a bit, left me feeling a little disappointed with the cast of women. Were they autonomous beings with their own backstories and motivations? Yeah, sure, you could say that. And the auxiliary gang members weren’t any deeper. But they definitely filled “traditionally female” roles as support systems, even when it was out of character for them. Yes, it was a specific time period, women cleaned and men shot things, yada yada, whatever. But did they really have to make it so that only women could provide emotional support to Arthur when he was having a sad cowboy day? Couldn’t they have also delegated that role to Charles or Hosea, who loved Arthur and would have always been there for him? Did they really have to make Karen sit down and listen to his problems? Karen? Drunk-ass party girl Karen? Get a grip, Rockstar. Just because she has big boobs doesn’t mean she’s made for male comfort!
My last major concern is the fact that GTA 6’s lady killer is going to be Latina. In theory, I should be excited about this—yay, women of color in a leading role in a AAA game! But after all that’s just been said, I don’t know that I trust Rockstar to write her without stereotypes in mind. I’d like to think they’ll make her a well-rounded, believable person with her own interests and motivations, but honestly, at this point, anything is game.
The best-case scenario is they give her the Sadie Adler treatment, but better. Sadie was a total badass, a ruthless killer who was separate from the gang and lived her own life. Yes, it would have been nice to see her with a narrative that wasn’t totally “dead-husband-centric,” but she grew into that by the epilogue. Sadie wasn’t anyone’s emotional support until she really needed to be. Sadie did her own thing, wore her own clothes, rode her own horses, and kicked cowboy ass til kingdom come. I’m hoping our Bonnie will be like Sadie, but with her own, non-caricatured form of Latina representation.
Last thing I’ll say is this: Rockstar has had a lot of time to grow and learn from prior complaints lodged against them. I can’t say for certain what this new game will be like, nor can anyone else. But while my negativity might be a downer on anyone who’s otherwise excited, you have to admit, it’s not coming out of nowhere. I want to be fair about this and maintain some semblance of optimism, but as a woman of color, I’m not gonna hold my breath. I’d love to be proven wrong, truly, but if Bonnie ain’t a baddie, then my money’s staying firmly in my pocket. And that’s that.
(featured tmage: Rockstar Games)
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