Grand Theft Auto IV

It’s often been remarked that people who live outside of a culture can see it more clearly. Whether that’s true or not is debatable, but in favor of the argument, I’d submit the Grand Theft Auto franchise. With it, the Brits at Rockstar have repeatedly skewered our empty consumerism and love of guns with razor-sharp wit, and shown remarkable versatility in distilling different eras of late-20th and early-21st century America down to their most recognizable cultural signifiers, attitudes, and mores.

However, I’d say Grand Theft Auto IV offers the most bracing, honest commentary on our great nation of them all. That’s largely because its protagonist, Niko Bellic, is an immigrant who arrives in Liberty City (which is clearly just NYC) with all those quintessential immigrant dreams: a fresh start, a better life. And it does not take long for reality to begin disabusing him of the notion that such an existence is within his reach. With GTA IV, the series didn’t sacrifice the biting satire that had defined the trilogy of III, Vice City, and San Andreas, but it did pair it with something deeper: a poignant story of a man who comes to the United States in pursuit of the American dream, only to learn that for him and for so many others, that’s nothing but a fairy tale.—Carolyn Petit