Historian to Launch GTA Lecture Series
OPla G
21 Sep 23:50
39
0In four months, on January 20, 2026, the University of Tennessee will host the first history lecture built around the Grand Theft Auto series. Last year, a similar course focused on Red Dead met with remarkable success, and Professor Thor Karl Olsson even published a book on the topic. Now he plans to do something similar with another popular Rockstar Games franchise — possibly even with an audiobook version narrated by an actor from the series.
But for now, the focus is on study, not reading or listening. The professor originally picked the date based on GTA 6 earlier planned release window in fall 2025. Since the game was delayed, the course will begin before it launches. Still, GTA VI itself won’t be part of the discussion — its contemporary setting will interest historians only decades from now. For the moment, the spotlight is on earlier titles.
As Olsson explains, America of the 1980s looks very different from today. To understand why the country feels so divided now, you need to go back 45 years — when CEOs earned not 400 times more than workers, but about 25 times more. When immigrants made up around 5% of the population, not 15%. Even the prison population quadrupled between 1980 and 2005.
Political rhetoric of the era is vividly echoed in GTA radio stations: in GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, oddball characters take the mic, while in GTA 4 and GTA 5, radio hosts actively argue with each other — much like today’s polarized media voices.
Liberty City, Vice City, Los Santos are fictional port cities modeled on major U.S. metropolises that symbolize the global outsourcing of American manufacturing. After the 1980s, the U.S. saw a boom in container shipping, which fueled this transformation.
The storyline of GTA: SA is heavily inspired by the 1992 Los Angeles riots. While the beating of Rodney King is usually seen as the spark, professor points to deeper causes — some of which the game itself reflects.
Unlike RDR, which leans closer to historical reconstruction, GTA is a mix of clichés, stereotypes, and satire. That’s why it makes little sense to debate what in it is “accurate” and what isn’t. Olsson emphasizes that students don’t need to own consoles or buy the games — everything will be shown through screenshots or gameplay demonstrations he provides. And most importantly: knowing the franchise lore won’t help you ace the class. There won’t be any exam questions about Niko Bellic or Trevor Philips. The games here serve as tools for understanding history, not as subjects of study.
Political rhetoric of the era is vividly echoed in GTA radio stations: in GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, oddball characters take the mic, while in GTA 4 and GTA 5, radio hosts actively argue with each other — much like today’s polarized media voices.
Liberty City, Vice City, Los Santos are fictional port cities modeled on major U.S. metropolises that symbolize the global outsourcing of American manufacturing. After the 1980s, the U.S. saw a boom in container shipping, which fueled this transformation.
The storyline of GTA: SA is heavily inspired by the 1992 Los Angeles riots. While the beating of Rodney King is usually seen as the spark, professor points to deeper causes — some of which the game itself reflects.
Unlike RDR, which leans closer to historical reconstruction, GTA is a mix of clichés, stereotypes, and satire. That’s why it makes little sense to debate what in it is “accurate” and what isn’t. Olsson emphasizes that students don’t need to own consoles or buy the games — everything will be shown through screenshots or gameplay demonstrations he provides. And most importantly: knowing the franchise lore won’t help you ace the class. There won’t be any exam questions about Niko Bellic or Trevor Philips. The games here serve as tools for understanding history, not as subjects of study.
