Hawick: The Latest "Bad Press" on Rockstar North's List

Another Amber Glass Blog that which concerns Grand Theft Auto V? Say it ain’t so!

Ok, as you probably have guessed, this is slightly less concerning Grand Theft Auto V’s violence factor and more, interestingly enough, the series references to Scotland and Scottish Culture.

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Yes, Grand Theft Auto’s game series is particularly known for the many references that have left anyone not from, or within, Scotland scratching their heads in confusion. “So what’s the problem?” you might be wondering. Well, for any of you that may have a copy of Grand Theft Auto V, do me a favour and visit “Los Santos” and look for a district by the name of Hawick.

Don’t worry, I’ll wait! I’ll just post this to kill time!

Our beloved Max (I finally got to publish the picture!)

Finished? Well then, you’ll likely have noticed that the district Hawick is rather…druggy.

Sources varying from BBC news describe the in game district as “…drug addicted hipster…” because I guess taking a Puff of the Magic Dragon is prone to “mainstream” or something.

So yes, the problem here is quite simple: Hawick, the Scottish Borders town, is nothing like the in-game district of Hawick. In fact, these two are so unfamiliar in all but name that in fact Hawick Councillor David Paterson is absolutely disgusted by this “adverse publicity”. This buzz caused enough controversy that MSP John Lamont was prompted to invite Rockstar North to visit the area in hopes that they will “…realise the mistake they have made.”

Thing is though, can we REALLY call it a mistake?

Now I am not saying that Rockstar is trying to tell us that the Scottish Borders town is intentionally trying to tell everyone that Hawick’s a “drug addicted hipster” town, that would be absurd and rather unlike Rockstar, which is more in favour or picking on popular trends and that which has become common knowledge. What I mean is I am unsure if the blame falls entirely on Rockstar North for causing the offense as it were, and perhaps Mr. Paterson and Mr. Lamont are, dare I say, not really getting it. Or, if they are, they’re more concerned about the media attention than any possible damage to the town.

To take from the film industry as an example, let’s look at Borat.

 

Considering the number of "mankinis" I had to see for this image, you people owe me!

In this film, the nation of Kazakhstan was portrayed in a very poor light, deceptively so in fact. Feeling offended, the officials of Kazakhstan expressed outrage to the creators of Borat, this hit papers and suddenly, everyone said the same thing upon hearing that bit of news:

“Wait, Kazakhstan’s a real place?!”

And so, tourism in Kazakhstan received a boost for short term and, ironically enough, Borat was adored by the Kazakhs. Not to mention they got so much attention that Microsoft Word actually understands what I am trying to type out in spell checker!

Combining this possibility with Rockstar North’s nature when it comes to portraying areas of the United States and referencing Scotland and its culture, what can we honestly take from this? For one, I can safely say that Rockstar wasn’t out to offend Hawick as, much like how Borat’s Kazakhstan was a parody of the West’s perception of foreign countries, Grand Theft Auto V’s Hawick is likely just a jab at Hipster culture getting mixed in with the drug addicted ghettos. Perhaps someone in Rockstar North came from Hawick and just wanted his little town to get some attention so he can look back and say “See that district in Los Santos? I named that! I was on the development team you know.”

On the other end, this does bring up a question for developers in other games. What makes a reference good, bad or just neutral? I am sure that in future, this will arise again as media seems to have a bad habit of offending somebody enough for news to ride it home, leading us to ask what’s ok and what isn’t when referencing material?

After all, just because there’s such a thing as “Scottish Reductive Humour” doesn’t mean all the people in Scotland would be able to laugh at a portrayal of their kind as overweight and complaining about the weather all the time, can they?

Greg Baxter
Amber Glass Broadcast