Hmm... should I be offended by how the McReary family is depicted?

Cunny-Funt

The tax man wrote: »

Top O' the mornin' to ya.

woah, holy **** I saw that episode a few times on Sky but I'm pretty sure they blanked out that English building getting blown up.

charlie mchugh wrote: »

as opposed to
.......

As stereotypes go, we get off lighlty.

You misunderstand me I was saying the fake Irish accent is the worst "irish" stereotype imo. Not worse stereotype in general. It just really pisses me off as the accent does not even exist yet American TV consistently use it.

steviec

I don't "get" the Irish family in GTA IV. I didn't think they were portrayed overly negatively or anything, but I genuinely didn't understand the Irish connection. If they didn't occasionally mention Ireland in the dialogue then they'd just seem like standard American thugs to me.

joe123

Didnt even bother reading the rest of the posts but to the OP....for gods sake its gta. ****s sake.:cool:

mehfesto2

Hows the accent in the game?

I could put up with the portrayal when it's not diddley-aye accent. Or a Scottish one. Nothing worse than that!

joe123

mehfesto2 wrote: »

Hows the accent in the game?

I could put up with the portrayal when it's not diddley-aye accent. Or a Scottish one. Nothing worse than that!

They all have american accents....understandable some of them maybe having american accents but I thought at least one of them though would have an irish accent. I think there just of irish heritage sort of thing...

yoji101

Yeah gotta go with the majority here, I think you're overreacting.

It's all over the top in the GTA4 world. This seems like a case of something just being closer to you than all the other stuff. Very like the way I've seen people love South Park untill they start slagging off/attacking a group that the previous fan was a member of.

Asmodean

Yeah I'm the same I didn't find them offensive at all, considering how they COULD have been portrayed. All red hair sitting on crocks of gold and ****. lol
And in all fairness we got off lightly, look at the poor roasting the south americans got off Lazlo

koneko

Everyone gets stereotyped and "hard done by" in the GTA games, I think you're definitely overreacting and being overly sensitive. It's GTA, don't take any of it seriously.

Went drinking with Packie, it was hilarious, he said he dreams of going to Ireland and then sang Danny Boy. Then got his by a car, stopped singing, got up, and continued. Then he fell on his ass again. Classic.

Definitely lol at Lazlo's slagging of the south americans.

Vegeta

Asmodean wrote: »

And in all fairness we got off lightly, look at the poor roasting the south americans got off Lazlo

The first time I tuned into Integrity I heard this

Branoic

joe123 wrote: »

They all have american accents....understandable some of them maybe having american accents but I thought at least one of them though would have an irish accent. I think there just of irish heritage sort of thing...

I thought I detected a bit of an Irish twang now and again in Derrick's accent (the junkie brother)? He was supposed to be just recently returned from some time in the "Old Country", maybe that's why.

tHE vAGGABOND

not bothered to read the thread at all...

All I will say is that if your easily offended your really playing the wrong game.

Maybe you should get a wii and mario party or something non-offensive

faceman

Gta is a very tongue in cheek game, OP is deffo over reacting. Im more flattered that there is a bit of irish included in the game, as OTT as it might be!

KrazeeEyezKilla

The tax man wrote: »

Top O' the mornin' to ya.
OP you should be more upset with Matt Groening then RockStar.

That was John Swartzwelder not Matt Groening.

These things depend on the context. If it was a serious drama I'd be offended but GTA can't be taken seriously so it's ok, they didn't get really nasty or insulting.

MCMLXXXIII

OP you are overreacting. Just be glad that the Irish culture is important enough to be considered for the game. No one is represented well, and only a few are represented poorly. There are many different cultures that were ignored for the game.

estebancambias wrote: »

...
Its only because we're Irish we here of the 'plastic paddy' thing, but really most people in America associate themselves with ( )-American.

Well...not quite. I now live in the US and the only people I know that identify themselves as ( )-American are Black people, and Aisians that were adopted by families here. As we all know, Blacks are African-American, and (mostly Koreans)(at least where I am) refer to themselves as simply American. Most others just say "Irish" or "Middle-Eastern," etc.

My Dad is Irish and my Mum is Italian. I look more Italian (it's the hair). Average conversation when I meet someone at a bar:
"Hi"
"Hi, how are you?"
"Good, I'm <insert name here>"
"Nice to meet you, I'm Mike."
"Oh geeze, there are like a zillion Mikes - what's your last name?"
"<I tell them my last name>"
<I get a weird look> "Oh, you looked more Mediterranian to me, like Greek or something."
"Nope, I'm Irish and Italian"
"Oh, so you got all the drinking genes!"
"Sure...let me buy you a drink..."
...and the conversation continues.

Point of story: (In the US) 90% of the time it comes up in the first conversation with someone
AND
That stereotypes follow you constantly everywhere so we just need to learn to deal with it and work the situation so we can get numbers at the bar.

estebancambias wrote: »

I don't think there is any reason for it to be parodied, when its not really all that funny and just fact. Like on the American census it says Irish American, German American, Polish American...whatever American.
Its not like all Americans want to be irish, they just simply are Irish. I don't know how one can be expected to lose their tradition just because they moved somewhere else.

Not to tear your WHOLE post apart, because the census does day ( )-American, but besides once every ten years in the privacy of your own home, it really depends on what's going on. I have never seen so many Irish people in my life, than I do every March 17 - in the US. Every department store has shirts that have "cute" sayings like "Kiss me, I'm Irish" or "I'm not lucky, I'm good" all with shamrocks and harps. Everything is dyed green, including the Chicago river, and it's hard to find beer that is not green during the middle of March. Yesterday was May 5, a Mexican Patriotic holiday. Those same people were all drinking margaritas and wearing sombreros all day. A few months from now, Americans will be complaining about the Mexican border, while drinking Oktoberfest and pretending they are German. I guess it's good that everyone embraces so many other people, but people usually only refer to themselves by their "home" country, and generations later hold allegiance to that country rather than the US. That's just how it is in the US, and the pop culture (including GTA) shows that.

KoKane

Kovik wrote: »

I general, I think the representations of the various communities in the GTA universe are perfectly excusable, given that not only are they very cartoonish in nature but the games seem to have contempt for everybody indescriminately.

However, they really go to town on the Irish in this game. There are four McReary mission givers thus far and all of them make reference to substance abuse, alcoholism, broken homes and occasionally things like "futile causes" and the troubles up north. These, while a little grating, I can excuse for the above reasons. However, while in a car with Packie he comes out with something to the effect of "if you're Irish and you're not beating yourself up you're beating your wife" which kinda struck me as more than a little barbed and malicious.

I think I might just be oversensitive, but anyone reckon the Irish are getting a more raw deal from the game than other communities? The cynic in me reckons that the Rockstar North's large British staff may have something to do with the more cutting nature of these themes compared to, say, the Italians but that might just be paranoia.

In the interest of mental health;
remember, its just a game.

singloud

I've yet to buy the game.

Let me make a wild gues:
does the Irish family have any IRA connections?

I cannot believe this thread has gone on for so long over such a silly issue.

Explosive_Cornflake

I think OP's questions weather or not the Irish get a rougher end of the stick than other nations, and if so should he be allowed to be offended.
IMO, no, a lot of nations get rough treatment, especially the Americans themselves.

estebancambias

But the thing is I don't think they have been rough. They have been rough on Jamacians, and hell even african americans but like the Hispanics in SA the Irish in this game are tough and pretty life like I think.


*just for the record why does Packie in that mission keep saying ''let us go peaceful LIKE''

singloud

i think the irish appear to have got off quite lightly compared to other ethnicities in GTA

Sod'o swords

The way i look at it is
IRELAND GOT MENTIONED IN GTA!
BACK OF THE NET!!!!

stevenmu

Maybe I'm being dumb, but I really don't get how any kind of negative stereotype is being portrayed, I don't see how anything damaging or bad can come out of anything in the game.

They're a family of gangsters, criminals who go around robbing and killing and more, just like many other characters in the game. They drink and do drugs, just like many other characters in the game. The only thing that really seperates them from anyone else is that they have an Irish surname (and probably some of the best acting the game, with the obvious exception of Brucie).

I really didn't see anything stereotypically Irish about them, good, bad or otherwise.

jill_valentine

This whole thread, I think like four people have actually read the original post. Lads, I know we tend to get a bit defensive about GTA because every two days there's some nutter ringing Gerry Ryan to complain that you can rape a granny* in San Andreas or whatever, but the OP is asking a reasonable question that deserves a bit more thought than a generic "Justagame,getalife" whatever.


*I used to work in a videogame shop. I actually had a customer come in to complain to me that I had sold their child a copy of GTA: SA, when you can "rape a granny" in it. I patiently explained that A) I had sold her, an adult, a copy of GTA, which she had then given to her child unbeknownst to me. So stop blaming me, you f-tards, and Having completed San Andreas by then, I could confirm that you couldn't. Also, wtf would you want to? Is granny rape really going to rope in the averange PS2 user? I dunno.

Anyway, she didn't believe me. Why would she? Gerry Ryan had told her so...

Single Malt

stevenmu wrote: »

I really didn't see anything stereotypically Irish about them, good, bad or otherwise.

The only stereotypical thing I found is when going for drinks

when you take Michelle for a drink she can walk normally (doesnt get drunk), but Kate gets as hammered as you do, reinforcing the drunken Irish stereotype

Single Malt

Single Malt wrote: »

The only stereotypical thing I found is when going for drinks

when you take Michelle for a drink she can walk normally (doesnt get drunk), but Kate gets as hammered as you do, reinforcing the drunken Irish stereotype

because Michelle was trying to get information from Niko