MovieChat Forums > Grand Theft Auto V (2013) Discussion > Really should be a female protagonist

Really should be a female protagonist


in at least one of these games, anyone else think so?

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Absolutely. GTA needs a strong female. Rockstar is capable of making strong female characters. Bonnie MacFarlane from Red Dead Redemption is a good example.

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Taliana Martinez...

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Nah. Wouldn't fit in with the series tone.

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Nah. Wouldn't fit in with the series tone.

Women can commit crimes too. Rockstar does need to start stronger female characters. The only two independent females they've created that I can recall are Bonnie MacFarlane (RDR) and Maude (GTAV). Of course, there's Karen (the bane of my existence) from GTA IV and V, but she was evil. We need a protagonist.

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Women can commit crimes too.
Yeah, but the games are geared toward straight males, possibly ones that hold slightly patriarchal views, I mean, like in the sense of classic gangster, mafia, assassin or warlord films. It's a kind of male mischief club theme, that perhaps both men and women, as an audience, can enjoy.

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A little progressiveness wouldn't hurt. I know the games make fun of the left wing, but still.

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A little progressiveness wouldn't hurt.
I see progressivism as being about making society or institutions more inclusive, and in many ways, it does not hurt. I'd think the Houser brothers can also be trusted not to create a blatant wish fulfillment character (i.e. Mary Sue in excess of Gary Stu), so in general the idea is not bad. However, both counts are kind of beside the point.

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If they can create such memorable video game characters like Niko Bellic, John Marston and Trevor Phillips, I know they can give us a bad-ass female protagonist.

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"Nah. Wouldn't fit in with the series tone."

Are you kidding me?

Have you ever heard of Griselda Blanco, otherwise known as the Godmother? She is considered to be one of the deadliest career criminals to ever be encountered by US law enforcement.

She was also known as La Dama de la Mafia, La Madrina, the Black Widow, the Cocaine Godmother and the Queen of Narco-Trafficking. She was a Colombian drug lord of the MedellĂ­n Cartel and a pioneer in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld during the 1970s and early 1980s. She was personally responsible for at least 200 murders during her career in crime.

She was murdered in 2012, at the age of 69, when she was shot in the head twice by a drive-by hitman. And you think a female protagonist wouldn't fit in with the tone of the GTA series? I have to disagree.

ant-mac

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And you think a female protagonist wouldn't fit in with the tone of the GTA series? I have to disagree.
What people think the series is about factors into this question, considering that the player is given the option to visit strip clubs and places like them, in addition to basically functioning throughout most of the story as a foot soldier, not a general, not a lord. Notice too that most of the antagonists are male too, along with the police, NOoSE, FIB and DOA. It's not a stretch to believe that such is a theme in and of itself. Should then a female protagonist be a Gwendoline Christie or a more average-sized woman but lesbian?

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What the games series of GTA is about has nothing to do with the gender of the protagonist. In any case, if future games contain more than one protagonist, there is no reason why one or more cannot be female.

And while a character may start off as a "foot soldier", the ultimate goal is to climb up the ranks - just as the Godmother did in real life. I mean, you don't actually think she began her life of crime already at the top, do you?

There is no reason why a female character need be gay - or straight either. The same is also perfectly true for any male character. In any case, female characters have worked perfectly well in online GTA for years now, so there is no reason not to include one in the single player version of the game.

ant-mac

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What the games series of GTA is about has nothing to do with the gender of the protagonist.
I'm not so sure. Admittedly the makers haven't gone so far as to have Playboy Magazines scattered throughout the city like in Mafia II, but the same theme is shared.

I mean, you don't actually think she began her life of crime already at the top, do you?
Hell, no, but how is she fit the philandering hood/tycoon archetype? Or did she do to men what men do to women? While it's not unusual for women to own brothels, they're not customers for them unless they're lesbian. There is a certain theme in play here, even if the protagonist is a gentleman when not causing havoc.

In any case, female characters have worked perfectly well in online GTA for years now,
The Online protagonist is just a cog in a machine, a free agent and a loner. He/She has no story. Then again, the way that works out is a bit like the portrayal of Claude's life. The game is still basically designed for a male audience.

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"I'm not so sure."

I am. This is the twenty-first century and gender is irrelevant. Males and females are both capable of committing crimes and playing video games.

"Admittedly the makers haven't gone so far as to have Playboy Magazines scattered throughout the city like in Mafia II, but the same theme is shared."

What the hell are you going on about? Playboy Magazines are irrelevant. And if for some reason they become relevant, then introduce magazines for the girls to enjoy. They exist you know.

In any case, if future games contain more than one protagonist, there is no reason why one or more cannot be female.

"Hell, no, but how is she fit the philandering hood/tycoon archetype?"

Why does she need to fit into any current archetype? Create a new one for her if necessary. That doesn't mean getting rid of any of the old ones.

Besides, if there is more than one playable character, not all of them have to be the same or have the same motivation.

"Or did she do to men what men do to women?"

That and worse. She paid prison employees to allow her to have sex with her toy boy while inside. So what?

"While it's not unusual for women to own brothels, they're not customers for them unless they're lesbian."

Then introduce male prostitutes. What's the problem?

Plenty of female gamers play GTA now, so why shouldn't male gamers play the equivalent type of game to what they currently do? Or are you saying that males can't match it with females?

"There is a certain theme in play here, even if the protagonist is a gentleman when not causing havoc."

Then alter the theme if that is a problem.

"The Online protagonist is just a cog in a machine, a free agent and a loner."

Both my male and female characters are both the head of companies with employees working for them - as well as other gamers of both genders. Neither of them are "cogs".

"He/She has no story. Then again, the way that works out is a bit like the portrayal of Claude's life."

A back story is easy to come up with if necessary - for either gender.

"The game is still basically designed for a male audience"

This is not the 1950s, this is the twenty-first century. There are plenty of gamers of both genders playing GTA. Wake up and smell the coffee.

What are you afraid of?

ant-mac

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No thanks. When I create my own character in a video game, it's never a female.

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[deleted]

You're going to get your wish. Next GTA has a woman protagonist.

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I love it. It's a proper one.

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I think a writer should create whatever type of protagonist they want. If they don't want to write a female protagonist, so be it.

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