There’s a lot to learn from video games. Just like with any form of media, video games can offer incredible storylines. Likewise, they can be used to help showcase different eras of history. So it’s not too uncommon to see some video game materials come up in class. For instance, Assassin’s Creed is a franchise that could be used for a wide range of eras and historical cultures. But would you be surprised to hear that Grand Theft Auto is getting its own college class?
That’s right, it looks like there’s a push to see Grand Theft Auto used as the basis of a new college course. This course is set to come next year, but there’s a little more to it than just the crime-ridden gameplay that the professor is looking to highlight. In fact, this professor is not a stranger to using a video game to base a college course.
Grand Theft Auto History Class
The news comes from IGN, which noted that this course is coming to the University of Tennessee. In particular, this is being taught by a history professor named Tore Olsson, who has done something similar in the past with Red Dead Redemption. With Red Dead Redemption, the professor was able to showcase the history of the Wild West.
However, with Grand Theft Auto, the professor is looking to highlight some of the history of America from the 1980s through today. It’s a series that spans several decades, although Tore noted that, as a satirical parody of America, the games often get the history wrong more than right. That said, there are still areas where the professor can showcase that the games get it right.
But I find the games much more interesting – and useful in the class – when their parody rings true. For example, Los Santos, Liberty City, and Vice City are each home to bustling container ports – what 5 calls “the orifice of American capitalism” – that often sit near rusting manufacturing districts. This is spot-on: arguably no technology was more transformative of post-1980 America than the shipping container, which facilitated the global outsourcing of U.S. industry. Or there’s GTA’s radio stations, where much of the games’ sharpest social commentary takes place. In 4 (set in 2008) and 5 (2013), we encounter a highly polarized media landscape where rival political commentators spit acid at each other from separate stations.
The same can be said for the overall storylines of the games. One that particularly interests the professor is San Andreas, as it highlights corruption and the battle to rid a neighborhood of drug dealers.
I’m perhaps most excited to use San Andreas, set primarily in a fictional Los Angeles of 1992. As many know, the game follows Carl “C.J.” Johnson as he returns to the West Coast, seeking to evict drug dealers from his neighborhood and then free his brother from prison, while crooked cops seek to derail his plans. The narrative climax of the game comes when these police officers are found innocent of their crimes, which triggers a vast urban rebellion against the miscarriage of justice. “Los Santos will burn tonight,” declares an in-game news anchor ominously.
Unfortunately, Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be available to take snippets from in this class. While the professor had hoped to use the game in this course, he, like a lot of players worldwide, was let down by the news of the game being pushed back to 2026. So while January’s class rolls around without GTA 6 in the lectures, perhaps we’ll see a revised class the following year that features Rockstar Games’ upcoming release.
