The American Dream is also shown not to be promised to anyone, not even when they already live in America. On the plus side, Roman Bellic, as well as other characters ( Brucie Kibbutz, Bernie Crane, Ivan Bytchkov, and Hossan Ramzy among others) are optimistic about America and life in general, tend to do very well for themselves financially, and try in vain to encourage Niko to be more optimistic. Niko mocks American stereotypes like 'strip malls and clinical obesity' (as do the makers of the game by hilariously parodying concepts like post-9/11 hysteria and celebrity obsession). This American greed takes everyone! It is like a disease!'.

Mikhail Faustin also laments before he dies that 'America made him ( Dimitri Rascalov) greedy!. Niko is cynical about America, saying 'capitalism is a dirty business' and only people who are extremely greedy and/or born into wealth have any opportunity. The game and its very complex plot deals with several themes:Īs read on the packaging of the game, Rockstar Games asks 'what does the American dream mean today?'. Niko is normally shown to be in the right, but is also proven to be overly cynical, leaving interpretation open to the viewer. Grand Theft Auto IV's deeper meaning circulates around Niko's own philosophy, and his clear, blunt critiques of American culture and life in general make the deeper ideas much easier to see and understand.

The very first dialogue by Niko in the very first trailer for the game sets up the first notable protagonist to be from another country other than the United States, Niko Bellic, to enter the United States of America and make more critical analysis of American culture than previous main characters have done.

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