Rockstar, the gaming company behind the Grand Theft Auto series, knows what buttons to push. Its latest offering is Bully, set to be released in October:

The story follows Jimmy Hopkins, a teenager who’s been expelled from every school he’s ever attended. Left to fend for himself after his mother abandons him at Bullworth to go on her fifth honeymoon, Jimmy has a whole year at Bullworth ahead of him, working his way up the social ladder of this demented institution of supposed learning, standing up for what he thinks is right and taking on the liars, cheats and snobs who are the most popular members of the student body and faculty. If Jimmy can survive the school year and outsmart his rivals, he could rule the school.

Needless to say, the game had put many wary organizations in a tizzy. Brian D. Crecente of the Rocky Mountain News does some excellent reporting, giving voice to a variety of opinions and providing some social and historical depth to the controversy.

To cite one example, his juxtaposition of two particular voices is revealing:

“This is plainly a new way to communicate messages, to tell stories and a new way to get people conversing with one another,” said Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

“(Video games) plainly have certain levels of subtlety that are not easily available to other genres. The story can move in a lot of different directions depending on how you play it.”

But Frank Bolaños, the Miami-Dade school board member who pushed for the game to be banned in his district, has a different view. “It’s just a violent game,” he said. “It just seems to be profit driven.”

Bolaños, who hasn’t seen the game, formed his impressions from the three screen shots released for it last year. He asked the board to add the game to the school’s banned list as part of an ongoing effort to “increase student safety and reduce bullying.”

Bolaños thinks the game will lead to an increase in violence at schools. School districts have a responsibility to look out for what games and books children are exposed to, said Bolaños.

“Parents need to be aware of the impact books or video games have on children.”

What bothers me so much here is not the act of censorship itself but the process by which Bolaños “formed his opinion” of the game. Stephen Colbert (see previous post) would argue that while Bolaños doesn’t know the facts of the game, he has the “truthiness” of it — he just feels it’s a bad thing.

The unwillingness to critically engage our culture allows us to be prey to many forces — not just the forces asking us to consume without question but also the forces who assert a prejudiced moral absolutism about entire cultural genres — and entire generation, for that matter.

Why can’t we have conversations about cultural texts like Bully when it is available to everyone — referencing specific scenes, discussing point-of-view, etc.? Why are we so afraid of that dialogue? Younger generations, from my experience, know very well when they are being insulted.

Clive Thompson, video game critics for Wired News, is very articulate on this point:

Video games are as divisive as rock ‘n’ roll was and they have created an experiential generation gap ….

There are a number of reasons why games are more disturbing to people than movies or music. It is demographics; the people who are worried about them, don’t play them, and don’t understand them. It’s a perfect storm of misunderstanding.

[...]

Play tends to disturb America. All forms of play are seen as wastes of time, but they are philosophically, existentially important.

Video games are forms of valid expression, without question. You can use them to convey ideas, thoughts, a world-view, they are so obviously art.

We’ll have to wait and see how artistic and complex Bully actually is, but the only way we will form an educated opinion is to play it, watch it and talk about it.