This week, students taking History through Video Games had a surprise visitor join their class. Known as Franklin Clinton in Grand Theft Auto V, Shawn “Solo” Fonteno stopped by to talk with students and answer some questions.
“(The class) was cool, it was different — this was a first for me, where they had a class based around (Los Angeles) life and Grand Theft Auto,” Fonteno said. “This was at the top of the scale, me being in Knoxville, this is a 10 right here. This is my highlight.”
During the visit, Fonteno went into detail about his own upbringing in Los Angeles and how it helped him connect to his character.
Fonteno grew up in the Watts and Compton area, and both neighborhoods are cited as two of the more dangerous parts of LA.
“I’ve been through a lot. I’ve come up through gang life, I’ve been shot five times. I’ve been through a lot of stuff,” Fonteno said. “I was able to really play that character to a T because of my experience of what I’ve been through in real life.”
GTA V came out in 2013 and is still exceptionally popular to this day. Holding the title as the fastest entertainment release to reach $1 billion in retail sales, GTA V sold over 200 million copies.
In the game, Fonteno’s character, Clinton, is known by fans as being a true protagonist with relatable choices. Looking between the three main characters, Franklin is the good guy of the bunch.
“Franklin played a pivotal part in the whole story,” Fonteno said. “The best character, as they say.”
Tore Olsson, associate professor of history and director of graduate studies at UT, teaches the course — HIST 150 — and made Fonteno’s visit possible.
“The main goal of this class is to explore the transformations that remade the United States since Ronald Reagan’s first election in 1980,” Olsson said. “There’s a lot of really thoughtful satire and commentary about the U.S. that I’m able to use in the classroom.”
HIST 150 is the first class at UT to look at history through GTA. The class previously used and focused on Red Dead Redemption, another Rockstar Games production.
“I came to realize that video games are this enormously influential form of pop culture that so many hundreds of millions of people play and find meaning in, and it’s also where they encounter history,” Olsson said. “When you play Red Dead Redemption 2, you are engaging with the history of 1899, if you’re playing GTA San Andreas, you’re engaging with the history of 1992 in the United States.”
Olsson believes that the students are enjoying the class and the material. Hearing from students themselves, it is evident that this is true.
“This is a fun class for sure, like this is pretty cool,” David Eterno, a mechanical engineering freshman in the course, said. “Actually connecting footage and stories from the games to real American history (has been memorable).”
In terms of Fonteno’s visit, students in the class seemed to enjoy the surprise.
Emily Snider is a freshman majoring in computer engineering who came to class and took a photo with Fonteno afterwards.
“I think it is very interesting to get to hear his story and see how he related to the character that he was playing,” Snider said.
Other than his class visit, Fonteno is joining the Fanboy Expo this weekend along with other celebrities in the gaming, comic and anime industries.
He and Olsson also sat down together for a 90-minute interview, which will be the topic for the final paper in the course.
“The professor was awesome, we’ve been communicating now for a few months,” Fonteno said. “I was inspired by how I’m a part of a class on the history of LA.”
The good news for students is that Olsson will be teaching the class again in the fall 2026 semester. No prerequisites are required and the class size allows for hundreds of students to enroll.
“I’d love to see more students come back or others join in,” Olsson said. “I hope to make the class even more fascinating and engaging the second time around.”
