This is a perfect example of failing to recognize the difference between a story that contains violence, disturbing imagery but still has a moral compass and a story that rides off violence and disturbing imagery for shock and pleasure. I haven't read The Count of Monte Cristo but there is a gulf between what The Terminator films do and what GTAV is doing.
The original Terminator film sternly presents the Terminator character as the antagonist - a symbol of terror and violence when we let technology get out of hand. It's an extremely straightforward example. The sequel pits The Terminator as a hero, but one who doesn't understand the nuances or delicacies of human life so he needs a human influence to teach him. From the beginning of meeting John Connor, he immediately stops killing people - he doesn't understand why - that'll take him the duration of the film to understand, but he doesn't do it. So do you understand that just because the Terminator films are framed as violent action movies, they have a clear moral backbone that can be readily consumed without feeling like I have to take a cold shower afterwards?
Even in more harrowing, hard hitting movies like, let's just say Fight Club - a film where our protagonist is riding a very morally grey line - the film itself never falls into a moral quandary - on the contrary, it's making mature and thought provoking statements about male, animalistic desire for violence and how that can go very, very wrong. Its moral compass is in good stead.
It's not a question of censorship. It's not a question of "Think of the children!" It's a question of "Is this really the best we can do?" Is this what 'storytelling' is in video games? Is this ultimately vapid, wasteful, reckless and immature? Could we replace this schlock with something more meaningful and moral? And by no means is this exclusive to GTAV - this is an ongoing issue with the medium as a whole. There are far too many in the industry ready to hand wave the entire problem. "Video Games are made for adults! Didn't you see the R-rating on the cover?" Then make a game for adults - with the meaning, maturity and nuance an adult should expect.
Here's the thing about GTA though, in any other medium, it could be held up as a work of subversive art. No, seriously. Even just a cursive look at its content displays a unified message.
GTA is the American Male Id thrown back in the face of everyone who plays it. Everyone is human garbage; the men are idiots or sociopaths though usually both, the women are whores, nags, problems and usually all combined. The pursuit is money, bloodbaths be damned. Every problem is solved by screaming, killing, or driving really fast.
Everyone is a caricature of human; a ripoff of a popular movie or singular character trait distilled to its ghoulish base. Scenes play out to the perfect soundtrack under breathless shouting back and forth. Buddies are made through excellent digs at each other and women are dismissed with a slap on the ass and a good lay. That guy over there? He's from that one tv show. That chick? She's from that one racial stereotype. You've got everyone summed up because you know how the world works from watching TV.
The media thinks everyone is dumb as shit in the games. The universe has people swilling the products they peddle from advertisements openly mocking their consumers. That's the burgers you eat, the websites you visit, the people you know...they are all garbage and you love it.
Other male id-isms: Shoot down everyone, get in trouble, how do you solve it?...just run away. Don't deal with it. After enough time, everything goes back to normal. The state of the world is unchanging. Blow up a building, kill a thousand people, it doesn't matter. You are both the center of everything and completely meaningless in the world you inhabit. You affect no one and everyone. A giant screaming vent of violence and the world is uncaring to the point of un-noticing.
At a meta level, GTA completes its male id manifesto by forcing its will onto its projected user base of chest thumping males: Hate "gays"? Name a game after a flamboyant gay character and make you take missions from him. The same audience that would cringe away from naked men because c'mon NO HOMO puts a giant swinging dick in a cutscene just make you uncomfortable. What could be more male than finding what you don't like and forcing you to experience it and jeer at you for laying down your hard earned cash.
Oh, you want to be the king? Try a yoga mission. Or mop the floors.
Also, the split between Nico being a raging serial killer in gameplay and Aw-Shucks schlub in cutscenes is the Father Goes To Church On Sundays model of Americana presentation. Everyone loves Nico!
GTA doesn't need the moral backbone of traditional storytelling, it's the Onion article about all perceived American Men.
As a side note, I recall there being a minor hubbub when one of the Housers said that they wouldn't do a female protagonist for a GTA since the games were about a very specific male presentation. Normally, developers just say this to hand wave hetero-normative creative decisions, but in this case, he's not. He's right, the GTA games are one of the few games that are actually about something. The entire encompassing whole of a GTA game is a thematic representation of an idea, most people just don't want to accept it.
It's a shame that the GTA games are terrible games though.
