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Grand Theft Auto V, Character Analysis: Trevor

Posted on by Gaming Backlog

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My third and final character analysis for Grand Theft Auto V belongs to Trevor. There could be serious psychological consequences for anyone who tries to explain Trevor’s thought processes, but I’m willing to give it a shot. I think it’s safe to say that Trevor represents the player’s need to cause chaos. The Grand Theft Auto series is best known for the mayhem the main characters inflict. With every new installment, people are ready to point out how out of control the video game industry has become.

*A game that glorifies theft, violence against police, and mass violence.

*It depicts a sex scene when using the “hot coffee” mod.

*The new first-person view in GTA V shows acts of prostitution, up close and personal.

Grand Theft Auto found its success by giving players the opportunity to create havoc in real-world settings. None of the non-playable characters are safe; not women; not grandpa; and especially not cops. You can steal a car, run over every pedestrian on the way to the police department, and partake in mass murder for no other reason that your own, sadistic gratification. Just make sure to hide until the blinking stars go away, and all is well.

Trevor is the GTA V character that harnesses that basic, animalistic urge to lose control. Like Michael, Trevor primary motivation IS NOT money. Both characters recognize a part of themselves that wants back in “the game,” but their desires seem to be based on completely different reasons. Michael sees “the game” as a challenge. Trevor sees “the game” as an outlet to cause chaos.

My favorite part about Trevor’s character, and there are many, is his loyalty. Any good traits that Trevor displays stand in stark contrast against all the other crazy shit he does, making them shine brighter than they would have otherwise. Trevor kills because of headaches, so it’s nice to know he has a group of friends who he respects and responds to in less-than-lethal ways, even when being criticized by them. If Michael had been any other man, and not one of Trevor’s long-time friends, Trevor would have killed him several times over throughout the course of the game. Trevor’s loyalty to Michael is what saves Michael from Trevor. However, it was Trevor’s loyalty to their mutual friend that almost caused him to kill Michael when Trevor found out that Michael had used the man’s dead body to fake his own death.

One of my favorite scenes in the game involves Trevor displaying his loyalty to Franklin when he helps him and Lamar during their drug deal on Grave Street. As I mentioned in my first character analysis about Franklin, Franklin learns to trust Trevor, someone who he thought was completely insane. That mission was a highlight for me, and the relationship between Trevor and Franklin, as well as Lamar, is the reason why. It resulted in character development for all characters involved, and it didn’t even require a lot of talking.

To wrap up my character analyses of the three main characters from Grand Theft Auto V, I want to reiterate that each one of them plays an important role in the player’s experience.

Franklin depicts the player’s desire to progress.

Michael depicts the player’s desire for continued challenge.

Trevor represents the player’s desire to cause chaos.

See something I missed, or have something to add to the analysis of a specific Grand Theft Auto V character? Maybe you want to share your favorite moments or character traits, or tell me why you disagree with me. Leave a comment below, and remember to visit my blog again, tomorrow, for the Top 10 Things I Love About GTA V!

Grand Theft Auto V: Still Playing

Posted on by Gaming Backlog

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It’s been a while since I beat Grand Theft Auto V (months!), but every now and then I still like to load my saved file, and ride around the city of San Andreas.

I know that most people who still play this game are probably looking for collectibles, or causing tons of chaos, but I just like to see the sites. The game world is beautiful, with realistic day/night cycles, weather, and I still seem to find places I’ve never been before – or didn’t notice while I was speeding along during my play-through.

I finished a mission involving Trevor’s mom, and I completed a mission given to me by one of the businesses I bought with Michael, but now the world seems uneventful. PLEASE DON’T KILL ME for saying that. The world is still ACTIVE, but the events that kept pushing the game forward are gone, now. That’s just the natural progression of the game, I know, but I miss it. I hope they come out with some great DLC for single players.

I’m dedicating this entire week to Grand Theft Auto V posts. For this post, I thought I’d talk about a couple of the things I’ve done post-game. For Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’m doing character analyses of the three main protagonists, and will talk about how each one of them represent common traits found in fans of the franchise. On Friday, I’m posting my top 10 favorite things about the game.

One interesting thing (at least, I think it’s interesting), is I jumped on a jet ski, and tried to leave the city. I’m sure many of you have tried this in other games, as well. It’s just a curious attempt to find the boundaries of the game. I guess some people would call it game-breaking, because it ruins the illusion that the world is open and expansive. Long story short, it doesn’t work with Grand Theft Auto V. In the most realistic FAIL a game has ever dished out to me, my jet ski ran out of gas, sank, and a shark ate me. TAKE THAT, ME!

I chose Michael as a character, and went drinking with Trevor. I watched a really strange foreign film in the movie theater. I played tennis with Amanda. I honked my horn a few too many times at a parked police car sitting on the side of the road, and it ended with my death. I followed some pedestrians around until they started getting freaked out. I took a long, boring tour of the city.

You know, I’m starting to feel a bit like Michael at the beginning of this game; as beautiful as the world is, the thrill of the game is gone. I need a new adventure. Lucky for me, I recently picked up a copy of GTA IV (as mentioned in my last post).

Remember to follow my blog for more details about the games I play on the road to completing my goal of beating 50 games before getting a current gen console. Check back tomorrow as I start my week-long dedication to the great game, Grand Theft Auto V, staring with my character analysis of Franklin!

Grand Theft Auto 5: Trevor’s Torture Scene

Posted on by Gaming Backlog

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I recently played the Grand Theft Auto 5 mission in which Trevor is given the task of torturing someone in order to obtain information. I’d heard that it was pretty gruesome and would probably make me feel uncomfortable. Personally, I think it was thought-provoking, and I didn’t have a problem with it.

Look, I don’t condone torture, and my personal thoughts about what is and isn’t acceptable as a form of entertainment is probably some shade of gray, maybe even a little hypocritical at times. That being said, I’ve never been tortured, don’t suffer from any PTSD, and I’ve never killed anyone, let alone torture them. Maybe this game has a deeper impact on someone who has been through some serious stuff in there life, but I wouldn’t know.

I can’t say “this is just a game,” because the developers were obviously making statements throughout the game. The Life Invader company is satire of Facebook (duh), stereotypes can be found everywhere you look, and the talk radio stations in the game are just one big parody of actual talk radio stations (and not too far off I might add).

Is it safe to say the torture scene might lie somewhere in the ballpark of a political parody/spoof/satire? Absolutely! And it’s not the only one. Marijuana legalization is an issue within the game, and so is the topic of a secret government. Even video games are criticized. From the moment I started playing this game, I saw it for what it was, and that’s one big critique of modern society. That’s why I enjoy it so much. The game is an exaggerated truth, a perversion of ideas that we hold sacred. I love it!

I’ve read a few other opinions about the topic of Trevor’s torture scene, and I’m surprised to learn that so many people think that THIS is where Rockstar crossed the line. It wasn’t the hookers that were introduced in GTA 3 or the 1st person view from the current generation of consoles? It isn’t the simulated act of committing the actual crime of grand theft auto, which we’ve become so accustomed to that it’s no longer even an issue? This series has allowed people to kill old ladies with sex toys long before Trevor had to yank someone’s teeth out, so why is torture so hard to stomach?

Maybe Grand Theft Auto 5 forced people to confront torture without an option to skip the scene because, like it or not, torture exists. We can’t skip it, because it’s a fact. Your opinion of torture might be different from mine, but that doesn’t make it go away. And yes, maybe it was hard to watch, probably more so if you weren’t already aware of the (in my opinion) unavoidable social commentary within the context of the game, but developers are free to create art. For video games to be more than games, those of us who watch the reviews, go to the stores with wallets in hand, read the ratings, read the content of those ratings, and fork over the cash, need to be ready to accept the nature of the content we have chosen to subject ourselves to. Nobody made me buy the game, and the developers never promised to hold my hand.

Did the torture scene bother me? Not really. Although I hate cruelty and violence in real life, I’m pretty desensitized to it in video games and movies. The fact that this is actually satire (again, kind of hard to argue against this game being satirical in nature) makes Trevor’s torture scene a great addition to the game. It’s definitely something to talk about, so please share your thoughts and opinions.