Because the only think we seem to like better than funny cat videos is videos of either kids or elderly folk reacting to things outside of their well of generational knowledge, here — have a video of old people reacting to Grand Theft Auto. When last we saw the Elders React series, they were giving us their two cents about Kim Kardashian's attempt to break the Internet. If you remember how that one went down... well, then, you've probably got a pretty good idea about what to expect from this one. Without giving them any information other than how the controls worked, the REACT YouTube channel created by TheFineBros had 30 senior citizens play Grand Theft Auto 5 for 30 minutes. Spoiler: It's hilarious.
I'll confess that I've never been a big fan of the GTA franchise; there are a lot of reasons for it (many of which are rather complicated), but the simplest one is that I just don't particularly enjoy open world games. I guess I prefer my storytelling in video games to be a little more linear. That said, though, I actually think it's kind of useful to see older people reacting to it. As was the case with the Kim K. video, it's a nice reminder for younger generations that you don't have to be an old fogey when you get into your twilight years.
Most of the elders seen here had heard of GTA before — they'd seen the trailer, they'd spotted a commercial on TV, and so on — but a lot of them didn't look like they went into it expecting to enjoy it. By the end, though? Let's just say that they had a grand old time with it. Here's the short version of the journey from "WTF is this?" to "THIS IS AWESOME!" most of them took; scroll down to watch the whole video.
"Why would you want to teach kids how to steal a car?"
Good question, Melvin.
"I don't want my grandkids to see me doing this!"
Let's hope Barbara's grandkids aren't old enough to access YouTube on their own yet.
"I know I'm going to screw this up... Oh, I like that!"
We're such simple creatures, are we not?
"Oh, look at that! 'I'm a manly man!'"
This, by the way, was spoken in a put-on voice. There is nothing more adorable than a little old lady providing the voice for a big, tough video game character.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
This? This is my favorite. What happened here is that she arrived at a stop sign — and subsequently actually tried to obey the traffic laws that govern stop signs in the real world. And this more than anything else shows the generational divide at work: Those of us for whom GTA is part of our cultural landscape know that the rules of the world within the game are not at all like the rules of the world we actually live in. Folks who aren't familiar with GTA — or with gaming in general — may not know that the rules of a game's world (and, in this case, the road) aren't necessarily the same as the ones we actually live by. Interesting, no?
"DESTRUCTION DERBY!"
Once they figured out they could do pretty much whatever they wanted in the game, though, they all just kind of went for it. And that, I suspect, is the appeal of GTA: You can do things in it you'd never, ever do in real life. Not that people don't ever do them in real life, but... well, you get what I mean.
"That is so cool!"
Stop Sign Lady eventually wound up around Santa Monica, which she was thrilled to find actually looks like Santa Monica. When she decided to take her little digital self on the roller coaster, she experienced the joys of a rumbling controller for the first time. Awwww.
Watch the whole video below:
Images: REACT/YouTube (7)
