Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons English Faculty Publications English 2010 Removing the Checks and Balances That Hamper Democracy: Play and the Counter-Hegemonic Contradictions of Grand Theft Auto IV Marc A. Ouellette Old Dominion University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_fac_pubs Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, and the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Original Publication Citation Ouellette, M.A. (2010). Removing the checks and balances that hamper democracy: Play and the counter- hegemonic contradictions of Grand Theft Auto IV. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture, 4(2), 197-213. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Vol. 4, No. 2 (2010) http://www.eludamos.org Removing the Checks and Balances That Hamper Democracy: Play and the Counter-hegemonic Contradictions of Grand Theft Auto IV Marc Ouellette Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2010; 4 (2), p. 197-213 Removing the Checks and Balances That Hamper Democracy: Play and the Counter-hegemonic Contradictions of Grand Theft Auto IV MARC OUELLETTE The American Dream’s a fairy tale. It was never meant to be taken literally. —Bobby Jefferson, Secretary of Security Enforcement in Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar North 2008) Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North 2008) continues the franchise's seeming secondary function of providing an ongoing critique of U.S.