History Professor Teaches Grant Theft Auto Class at University of Tennessee
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Key points
- History professor Tore Olsson is teaching a Grand Theft Auto history class at the University of Tennessee.
- The course is called “Grand Theft America: U.S. History Since 1980 through the GTA Video Games.”
- The professor uses the fictional representation of the US to analyze what took place in the United States over the last half-century.
History professor Tore Olsson is teaching a class called “Grand Theft America: U.S. History Since 1980 through the GTA Video Games.” In the class, the professor wields the fictional representation of the US, including the characters, storylines and urban landscapes, as a tool to provide a framework of real-life events within the United States over the last half-century.
The GTA franchise is nearly 30 years old and covers a substantial number of historical events. GTA Vice City Stories is set in 1984, with Vice City set in the 80s. San Andreas and Liberty Stories provide context for the 90s, and GTAs 3, 4, 5 and eventually 6 will provide historical context for the 21st century, according to an exclusive interview with Olsson conducted by IGN.
“In many ways, the America of today is unrecognizable from its 1980 version. In my class, we’ll explore how all of this came to change – and we’ll use the fictional world of the GTA games as the window for this exploration,” Olsson said. Olsson stated that the GTA franchise has always dealt with satirical parodies of the past, noting that he finds the games much more interesting when “their parody rings true.”
The radio programs in the GTA games are the source of the games’ sharp social commentary, drawing an example from the talk radio in Vice City and San Andreas, where various debates were played on a single station. Olsson relates this to US President Ronald Reagan in 1987, when he began deregulating television and radio with the repeal of 1949’s fairness doctrine, paving the way for networks like Fox News and MSNBC.
Olsson said that video games have evolved from the margins to the mainstream. His course is now one of the most popular classes at the University of Tennessee. The class was originally slated to launch alongside the release of GTA 6, but the game’s numerous delays have prevented this from happening.
Olsson planned for the upcoming game to play a major role in the curriculum but had to adjust accordingly, stating, “That’s why we got a GTA college history class before we got GTA!”
