Thought Experiment

When I first saw the trailer for Snowpiercer, I was sure it was going to be a good one. The premise looked interesting, the trailer was packed with action, and Chris Evans is always a plus.

Unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations by quite a bit.

The film itself has remained relatively unknown in the Hollywood sphere due to a variety of factors. The Korean director Bong Joon-Ho has yet to make waves in the U.S. film industry, despite hit movies in South Korea, including The Host. Additionally, creative differences between the Weinstein Company and Joon-Ho have resulted in a severely limited release of the film in America.

All that aside, however, the film provides a unique movie experience, but the plot is severely lacking, and the acting mediocre. Joon-Ho's Korean style is highlighted throughout, and builds on the somewhat trite themes of revenge and senseless violence. Joon-Ho is to be commended for his work tying American tropes to Korean ones, but it fails to satisfy either standard. The violence is aplenty, but juxtaposed with Hollywood-esque character development and exposition. Put bluntly, the two didn't mesh well. There were definitely opportunities to expound on both without the film being jarringly disjunct, and Joon-Ho didn't work with that experience.

The plot leaves a lot to be explained, and the conclusion appears all too convenient. The acting wasn't bad, but the overall casting could use work. Some characters feel out-of-place, and such a feeling can interfere with the entire moviegoing experience.

Joon-Ho's work here left much to be desired, but it's an ambitious strike into Hollywood by a director who is unafraid to introduce unfamiliar stylistic choices into the mix. I have no doubt that Snowpiercer will likely launch him into many more opportunities to work with big names. Although Snowpiercer fell short of my expectations, I would definitely keep an eye out for future works by Mr. Joon-Ho. He's bold and headstrong (as evidenced by his scuffles with Weinstein), and hopefully that spirit will show itself in future films.

Grand Theft Auto has always been a game with a powerful social structure. After all, as the player, you are immersed within a vibrant city that reacts to your decisions and actions. But, up to this point, the directions in which the plotline is moved by the characters themselves, and not just your actions, have been extremely limited. GTA III featured, as its main protagonist (?), a generic White male, who, to really drive the point home, doesn’t speak a single word throughout the course of the game. Vice City attempts to give the character some definition, but, like in San Andreas, both protagonists fall flat as they are subjected to a certain mold they have to fit: an ex-mafia hitman, and a gang member from inner-city LA, respectively. GTA V breaks away from its predecessors by not only giving you the control over three different characters, but three believable, dynamic humans.

As mentioned in the first part of this commentary, these three characters play different parts in the story’s narrative with their different styles. Yet, there is a deeper level to each of them, and the story progresses with their individual and collective developments. Although it’s true that Franklin lives in an area where gang violence and activity are an everyday occurrence, he is not, as the game puts it, a “gangbanger”. Instead, he is constantly helping to keep his best friend Lamar, who is a gangster, from getting tangled up in things too big and too dangerous. Franklin tries only to escape the neighborhood in which he lives. Unlike CJ, in GTA San Andreas, Franklin is not a product of his environment, which is a large step forward towards defusing racial stereotypes. He’s a likable kid, without much direction; a much more realistic portrayal of the Black demographic than an assertion that they are all gangsters and drug dealers.

Michael is also a man with a backstory. He is currently living under an assumed identity after he was reported dead with the rest of his crew when a job went south. Although he has money, his family is very much screwy, and reminiscent of a morally bankrupt Hollywood-decadent relationship. Yet, he’s no psychopath. He misses the way things were, and only wishes that he could put some of the things he’s best at into what he’s currently facing.

Then there’s Trevor, who is pretty much the psycho that the GTA franchise has been known for. He’s a man with a goal, and a grisly modus operandi to go along with it. There’s not much to say about him – insanity usually doesn’t need much explanation.

Now, it is a known criticism that the latest game still preserves the sexism and misogynistic undertones that characterized all the earlier games. Many reviews thus far have drawn attention to how women are portrayed, arguing that females in the game are subject to stereotypes limited to distraught housewives, extremist feminists, Hollywood dropout blondes, and women of the night. Although this is not untrue, a large part of the issue rests with the fact that it is an unfair evaluation to even say that. What we have to see as part of the problem is that the entire game is a satirical riot. Yes, it is true that women are stuffed into stereotypical frameworks for the sake of the game, but it is also true that the men in the game are as well. The main issue here is that stereotypes sell. From the viewpoint of the gamemakers, they’re funny. They are relatable, and therefore gamers can see the irony in certain situations. Men are either seen as ultra-American (and all that entails), failed husbands and fathers, or obese, disgusting slobs. But the problem here is that these are funny, in a twisted way, and, unfortunately, that’s what sells.

Think back to Rico, from Grand Theft Auto IV. He’s a Russian immigrant who has left the “motherland” in order to start a new life in the States. Immediately, all sorts of mental images and preconceptions are inserted into the gamer’s mind. Whether these stereotypes are correct or not is irrelevant; the game will perpetuate them anyway. The racist undertones work to progress the plot – many times through the story Rico will spark confrontation because of his status as a) Russian, b) an immigrant, or c) all of the above. It’s a simple construct video game designers resort to in the realm of sandbox games, and more specifically, GTA, because it appeals, and, more importantly, it works.