Chris Kohler
Culture

<cite>GTAIV</cite> and Urban Anonymity

1up’s Jenn Frank makes a brief reference to Koyaanisqatsi in her blog about the GTAIV trailer, and the next thing you know, a great li’l discussion is going on about Grand Theft Auto and the anonymity of urban life: The city is its own mysterious character in the story—you need the Big City. “Grand Theft […]

Boots 1up's Jenn Frank makes a brief reference to Koyaanisqatsi in her blog about the GTAIV trailer, and the next thing you know, a great li'l discussion is going on about Grand Theft Auto and the anonymity of urban life:

The city is its own mysterious character in the story—you need the Big City. “Grand Theft Suburb” would be a really, really sad game where you have to shoot people you actually know.
GTA’s violence relies on anonymity, and the game itself is all about urban anonymity. It’s about the same twenty pedestrians cycling past on the street, about the same certain identical buildings you don’t get to walk into, about how no one notices you unless you run them over with a car.

Urbanity, modernity, identity, and Grand Theft Auto IV [Infinite Lives]