Scenes From Los Santos: Volume 1

Welcome to the first full installment of Scenes From Los Santos, where we explore the artistic side of Rockstar Games’ latest entry of their controversial franchise, Grand Theft Auto V. Today we are going to look at some photos comparing locations in the virtual world of Los Santos to their real-world LA counterparts, somes examples of some of the many in-game brands and advertisements, and finish off with an in-game selfie (yes, a selfie) at a location from one of my favorite Christmas movies. Enjoy!

Scenes From Los Santos — prologue

Few pieces of modern media come with as controversial a reputation as Grand Theft Auto. For over a decade, politicians, parents, and mainstream media have been uttering the three-letter-acronym like a four-letter-word in reference to violence, sex, and the decay of the morality worldwide.

My thoughts on these reactions, to GTA in particular and violent video games in general, is certainly for another time. Right now, I want to introduce another side of Grand Theft Auto, one that is unfortunately almost entirely overshadowed by the the controversy and drama.