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Observation One Sunday, February 02, 2014 Time: 5:00 PM 6:10 PM Description of the Location: Los Santos is a made up city in the game Grand Theft Auto Five, which is based off of Los Angeles. Within Los Santos there are two main parts, the city and the desert. You can then break the city down into two sections, the ghetto, and the hills (which features nice houses and the Vinewood sign). The other half of Los Santos is a desert, and a mountain; this half is also the location of a military base and airfield. Figured World: A figured world is a large environment that has actors and artifacts in it. Within the figured world the actors are grouped with other actors who share the same goals. These actors also abide by the rules and conventions in their figured world and have a certain way they talk to each other. Rules and Conventions for Los Santos: The goal of most of the discourse communities within this figured world is to make money. Money is what joins Franklin, Michael, and Trevor together to rob banks, and do other illegal things. Franklin is a younger guy raised from the street, trying to make more money, besides doing his usual repo job. Thats when Michael comes in. Hes a retired con, who is wealthy on account of his bank robbery history. He basically takes Franklin under his wing, and teaches him how to do bigger crimes like robbing banks. Trevor is one of Michaels old friends that helped him pull of heists. Hes the psychopath of the group that no one truly likes. Trevor is constantly messing up the heists the trio try to pull off, and doing things that are just plain wrong. When Trevor isnt screwing things up, theres always a group of mercenaries called Meryweather, and some crooked, corrupt FBI agents, who make Michael, Franklin, and Trevor lives a living hell. The activities that are appropriate in Los Santos are doing drugs, stealing, torturing, manipulating the stock market, and killing people. There is chaos everywhere in Los Santos so things that are normally seen as inappropriate, and wrong, are constantly happening and not really looked down upon. Things that are inappropriate in Los Santos are doing things like glitches to get an unlimited amount of money. The forms of communication used in Los Santos are basically the common stereotypes for the communities within it. For example, Franklin and the people in his separate community are constantly using the n word. All of the communities however are always using foul language, and saying disturbing things. Actors: An actor is a person within the figured world. They follow the rules and conventions that the figured world has and react with other actors. Michael De Santa Michael refers to himself as being a retired con; he has a very bad relationship with his family, and is constantly going to therapy lessons. Michaels original name was Michael Townley, but after a bank robbery went wrong, he struck a deal with the FIB and was place in protective custody under FIB agent Dave Norton. Franklin Clinton- Franklin is an ex-gangster just trying to make more money. Hes living with his aunt, and is friends with a guy named Lamar. He also works for a guy name Simeon, who he repos cars for. Later on he meets Michael who helps him do bigger jobs and make more money than hes ever had.
Comment [A1]: Describe the atmosphere in the different sections of Los Santos. Explain how the people in one section behave differently than the people in another. Comment [A2]: Make description longer, and add more details to it.

Comment [A3]: Did a good job explaining the rules and conventions. It would be easy to understand how the games like if you havent played before. Comment [A4]: You could add the police, the civilians, and could break the civilians up into smaller groups, like ghetto, redneck, and high class.

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Lamar Davis- Lamar is one of Franklins friends and also worked for Simeon. He sells drugs and is a part of a gang called the Families. Simeon Yetarian- Simeon is a crooked car dealer, that sells cars to people who cant afford them, and then send Franklin and Lamar to repo them. Stretch- Stretch is a member of the Families gang and recently got out of prison.

Artifacts: Artifacts are objects, or even emotions that have a significant meaning to the actors in the figured world. The Bagger (Motorcycle) - This is the motorcycle that Franklin and Lamar had to repo, which caused a huge shootout between them and a Mexican gang called the Vagos. The BeeJay XL (SUV) - This is the car that Franklin had to repo from Michael. This repo starts his relationship with Michael, but ends it with Simeon.

Comment [A5]: You could add money to the actors

Discourse Communities- Discourse communities are groups of actors that all have the same goal. Gangsters- Franklin, Lamar, Stretch. They all belong to the same gang (The Families), and they are constantly doing illegal things like kidnapping other gang members, and they have been in quite a few gang shootouts. They are constantly arguing with each other and calling each other vulgar names and they always make use of the n -word. The Dysfunctional Family- Michael, Amanda, Jimmy, and Tracey (Michaels wife and kids). Michael and his family possibly have the worst relationships with each other. Everyones always yelling at each other, and Michael and his wife, Amanda, are always cheating on each other.

Literacy Practices- Literacy practices are the way the actors communicate with each other. The way they communicate with each other is unique to each discourse community within the figured world. The use of the n-word- The gangsters always use this word when acknowledging each other. They are the only discourse community that uses it. Yelling- Michaels family seems to never be in a good mood with each other. They are always yelling at each other unlike any other discourse community.

Comment [A6]: Expand on the definition of literacy practices .

The Observation: 5:00PM- Michael is talking to his therapist about his family. He then starts to go on a rant about how lazy his son is and how all he does is smoke weed, and play videogames. He then talks about his history of robbing banks and being incarcerated, and how he looks at those things as being opportunities that he took. He then talks about how even though he has a lot of money, and lives in a mansion, hes still not happy with where he is. His therapist then says that thats all the time he had and that he would see him next week. Michael didnt seem satisfied, and has thoughts on rather or not the therapy was working.

Comment [A7]: Make the time intervals more consitant. For example do ten minutes between each one instead of jumping from five to 15 Comment [A8]: Change to Observation One.

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5:05PM- Michael walks out of the therapy building and sits down on a bench, when Franklin and Lamar walk by. Lamar asks Michael if he knows where a house is and Michael points it out. Franklin and Lamar then take the two cars up for repo at the house and decide to race back to Simeons car dealership. On the way there they run into cops, they dont feel like explaining the repo job so they decide to just escape the cops. After they escape the cops and met up at the dealership, Simeon is busy trying to rip off his next customer. After dropping the cars off Franklin gives Lamar a ride and they go to their neighborhood. 5:20PM- Franklin goes to the car dealership for work Simeon greets him by naming him the employee of the month, and calls him his black son. Lamar and Franklin then get in an argument about the title. They then leave to go repo a motorcycle, called the Bagger. They go into this neighborhood searching through different garages when a group of Mexican gang members (Vapos) confront them. Lamar pulls out a gun and shoots one, while the others run away for backup. There is a huge shootout, leaving a whole lot of dead Vapos members, and Franklin and Lamar unscathed. They then spot one of the Vapos members escaping on the Bagger, which leads into a car chase. They end up killing the guy, and Lamar decides to keep the Bagger for himself instead of returning it to Simeon. 5:30PM- Franklin returns home as his aunt and her friends are leaving for a walk, and Lamar appears with his dog, Chop. Lamar then tells Franklin to come with him around the block to pick something up. On the walk there Lamar then explains that he wanted to kidnap a guy named D, a member of their rival gang called Ballas. They walk up on D and as soon as Lamar pulls out a gun D storms off on his motorcycle. There is then a car chase until D gets hit by a car. They then continue the chase on foot, with Chop helping Franklin find D. Franklin and Lamar then throw him in the back of a van with Chop. After Lamar makes a phone call to the Ballas, telling them he had their boy D, Franklin makes him hang up claiming that they could be tracked. They throw D out, and Franklin takes Lamar and his dog home. 5:50PM- Franklin goes to the car dealership and Simeon tell him to repo the car of a kid named James De Santa. Franklin then sneaks into the guys house in order to get the car located in their garage. He drives away when Michael De Santa comes out from the back seat where he was hiding. Michael orders Franklin to keep driving to where ever he was going, and questions him at gunpoint. He asks about whom he works for and why he was taking the car, he also invites him for a drink. Franklin answers all of Michaels questions, until they get to the dealership. Michael then tells Franklin hes going to kill him unless he drives the car right thro ugh the car dealerships windows. 6:00PM- Franklin drives the car through the window and Simeon starts to freak out wondering whats going on. Michael tells Franklin good job, hands him some money, and tells him to leave. Michael then beats up Simeon, and makes it clear to him that he doesnt want to have to come back up there. Michael then returns home. 6:10PM- Amanda, Michaels wife, and Tracey, his daughter, are arguing about Tracey wanting a guy to spend the night. Meanwhile Michael is trying to escape the yelling by relaxing by the pool with a beer and cigarette. Franklin then appears, asking about the drink Michael offered. He also asks if there was anything he could help out with, since Michael basically ruined his job, and because Michael seemed to be doing pretty good money wise. Michael then has a deep

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conversation with Franklin about how he was retired, and basically telling him to go to college instead of following his route. Observation Two Monday, February 03, 2014 Time: 7:00 PM 8:00 PM Actors: Jimmy De Santa- Jimmy is Michaels son, and he is constantly fighting with him. He uses a lot of vulgar language especially when playing videogames, and isnt the brightest guy seeing as hes never had a job in his life. Tracey De Santa- Tracey is Michaels daughter; she also disrespects him a lot. She is always watching a show called Fame or Shame and usually hangs out with the wrong crowd (porno producers). Amanda De Santa- Amanda is Michaels wife; she seems to no longer love him but is stuck with him because of the witness protection. She is caught cheating on him multiple times, and isnt the greatest mother. Martin Madrazo- Martin is a Mexican drug lord, who Michael ends up owing money to. He is the leader of the Madrazo Cartel, but appears to also be a businessman.

Artifacts: Michaels yacht- Jimmy tried to sell this boat, which ends up endangering his life when some guys decided to steal it. When Michael and Franklin go to get Jimmy, Michael seems more worried about his boat getting stolen rather than Jimmy almost being killed.

Discourse Communities: Ballas- They are a rival gang to the Families in which Franklin, Lamar, and Stretch belong to. They show up multiple times and usually cause a lot of trouble.

The Observation: 7:00PM- Michael and Franklin leave Michaels house for a drink, when Michael gets a phone call from his son Jimmy. Jimmy says that hes hiding inside Michaels yacht that was stolen by guys he was trying to sell it to. Michael is furious, and tells Jimmy hes not coming for him but hes coming for his boat. Franklin sees this as his chance to get some work and decides to help Michael get his boat back. They hop in his car and head to the location Jimmy said he was. 7:10PM- They get to the area and they see Michaels boat hooked up to the back of a truck. Michael drives real close to the boat and Franklin jumps from the car to the boat, and kills the people on board. Jimmy is clinging on to the boat and Michael drives beside it for him to fall in. Michael then goes behind the boat again for Franklin to jump down. They continue to chase the truck until Michaels car breaks down and they have to go Los Santos Customs, a garage, to get it

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fixed. On the way there Michael is extremely pissed about his boat and Jimmy begins to argue with him about how little concern he had for his own sons life. 7:20PM- They arrive at the car shop and Michael calls a taxi to pick him up, so that he could get some alone time. He then gives Franklin some money, and asks him to get the car fixed and to take Jimmy back to his house. After Franklin drops off Jimmy, he returns to his house to find his aunt there with her friends exercising, she then tells him to leave. While hes leaving he runs into Lamar, and Stretch. He greets Lamar but decides to ignore Stretch. Stretch gets mad because he just got out of prison and Franklin wasnt showing him any respect. They then start to argue with each other, talking about each others mom and girlfriends, and life in prison. 7:30PM- Lamar attempts to stop their arguing and ask Franklin to drive them to Ammunation, a gun store, to buy a gun. After buying the gun, Lamar explains that they needed it for a drug deal they were about to do. Once they get their Franklin finds out that the drug deal was with D, the guy they just kidnapped not so long ago, and knows something fishy is up. They all greet each other and shortly after they find out D set them up. Stretch pulls out a gun and kills D, and then other Ballas come out to try and kill them. There is a huge shootout, but Franklin, Lamar, and Stretch are able to escape. 7:40PM- Michael returns home to find Amanda cheating on him with the tennis trainer. Michael is furious and threatens the guy. The tennis trainer then jumps out the window and drives away. Franklin is just walking in as Michael is about to go after this guy, so Franklin decides to help him. They follow him to this real nice house, where the tennis trainer is standing on the deck. Michael hooks the truck up to one of the support beams holding up the deck, and drives off pulling down half the house with him. 7:50PM- Franklin and Michael then drive back to Michaels house when a car pulls up and a man name Martin Madrazo comes out with his thugs. Franklin then informs Michael of who Martin was, and Martin tells Michael that it wasnt the tennis trainers house they pulled down. After taking a beaten by Martin with a bat, Michael agrees to pay him 2.5 million dollars to have the house rebuilt. Martin and his thugs leave, and Michael announce to Franklin that he was going to have to come out of retirement to repay Martin. 8:00PM- Michael tells Franklin to give him a little alone time so that he could track down an old friend named Lester. Michael gives Lester a call and Lester tells him to meet him at his house. Michael shows up and there are security cameras all over the place. Michael tells Lester that hes need to make money, and Lester agrees to help him as long as he does a favor him first. Lester tells him to go undercover as someone working for a company called LifeInvader, and put a glitch inside their new prototype phone.

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Observation Three Tuesday, February 04, 2014 Time: 1:00 PM 2:00 PM

Actors: Lester- Lester is one of Michaels older friends who helped coordinate the bank robberies they did. He has a bad leg and walks with a limp. Hes really smart and a great hacker.

The Observation: 1:00PM- Michael goes to a clothing store and buys some clothes to help make him look young and fit in with the other workers at LifeInvader. After that he goes to their headquarters waits outside for someone to walk out so that he could buzz him in. After waiting for a while a guy comes out for a smoke break. Michael lets him use his lighter, and the guy begins to talk to Michael about tech stuff. Michael just pretends to understand everything this guy is saying, and just walks in behind him after he finishes smoking. The guy then asks him to help with some viruses he had on his computer. 1:05PM- After clearing up the viruses on the computer, Michael then goes into the room with the prototype phone and installs the glitch. Michael leaves the building and drives home. On his way home he gets a phone call from Lester, who tells him to call the prototype phone whenever the head of LifeInvader presents it on live TV. Michael gets home and Tracey is in the middle of watching her favorite show. He forces her to leave and then waits for the guy to present the phone. Once he presents it Michael calls the phone and all of sudden the phone blows up in the guys face killing him. 1:10PM- Michael then gets a call from Lester, and he tells him to meet him back at his house to discuss the score Michael wants to pull. Michael then goes to see his therapist, in which he basically tells him everything that hes done. He talks about how hes coming out of retirement and all the bad stuff hes done. He also states how miserable his life is even though he pretty much has everything he wants money wise. After his therapy session Michael goes back home and watches some TV. While hes relaxing he gets interrupted by Jimmy screaming at other kids with his headset over a videogame. 1:30PM- Michael storms up stairs to Jimmys room and asks him what he was doing and why he was yelling. Jimmy responds in a disrespectful way and Michael loses it, and ends up throwing a chair into Jimmys huge flat screen TV. They continue to argue, and Michael basically tells Jimmy how much a failure he is to him. After that Michael feels bad and tells Jimmy hes just trying to help. To help try and make things better they decide to go on a bike ride together. They go to the beach and rent out two bikes. They decided to race each other and whoever loses has to pay for the TV. Michael ends up winning the race and Jimmy starts to complain about how these types of things were always happening to him and not Tracey. He also points out a boat in which Tracey was on with a bunch of porno producers.

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1:50PM- Michael is extremely mad and dives off the deck into the ocean to swim to the boat. Once he gets on board he sees Tracey dancing on a table. He grabs the radio and throws it into the water. Tracey is surprised and tells him that he was embarrassing her. He tells her that theyre leaving and grabs her arm. One of the guys approach him to make him stop and Michael ends up throwing him off the boat. After that he takes Tracey to the other end of the boat and steals one of the jet skis. They drive off while the guys on the boat grab the other jet skis and chase them. Shots are fired throughout this chase, and Michael ends up killing them. 2:00PM- Michael then drives them back to shore to where Jimmy was. Tracey jumps off yelling at Jimmy for snitching on her. Jimmy then tells her about all the stuff Michael did to him and they start to gang up on Michael. Tracey tells Michael he ruined her life, and then she called a cab for her and Jimmy. Michael then leaves and goes to see Lester for the heist.

Interview Questions for Michael Why did you retire? I retired because its not worth it in the end. I did all the bank robberies and heists I could and got everything I wanted, but Im still not satisfied. Do you think you over react sometimes when your familys involved? Over react, no. I do whats absolutely necessary when my familys involved. Some people may call it over reacting; I call it being a good father and husband. What made you want to come out of retirement, and start doing more heists? I had to in order to pay off a debt I had to a drug lord. Its not something I wanted to do; it was something I had to do, and I just so happen to be real good at it. How much has attending your therapy, affected the way you react to some of the things happening? I dont think the therapy is really working for me. Its a good place where I can go and just vent and let out whatever Im thinking, but I dont thinks its had any effect on how I react to some things. Give an example of one of the heists you have done. An example of one of the heist I did was when I robbed a jewelry store by using knockout gas, and being disguised as exterminators. It was a great heist in which we got around 4 million from, of course we had to split it and give 2.5 away to a drug lord. It still was a pretty good heist.

Comment [A9]: Did a good job with answering the interview questions, because it really helps explain what type of person Michael is.

Interview Questions for Franklin If you could go back in time and do some things differently, what would you do and why? If I could go back the only thing I would do differently is work with Michael faster, instead of getting involved with stupid gang stuff. Why did you decide to work under Michael? My main reason for working under Michael was because I was fired because of him. Once I saw how much money he had, I decided he would be a great guy to work with in order to take myself to next level and get more money.

Comment [A10]: You could either expand on the interview with Franklin or you could add an interview for Trevor