And so it begins: RE5 accused of racism

[Joestar]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/zombie-racism/ ... 284725.php
http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/07/resident_evil_5.html

The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity. “I have a job to do and I’m gonna see it through.”

This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.

I think everybody saw this coming after the E3 trailer.

If Capcom gives in to this kind of bullshit, I'm giving up all hope for humanity.

[APE]

And stuff like Serpent and the Rainbow is cool because it shows a country of black people beating up a white guy.

[ace]

I think it says more about the predjudice and racism of the journalist.

This is a really touchy subject. Looking past the mistaken idea that the game is being marketed to children, I can completely see where Platt is coming from to a certain extent. It is a white figure of some authority being attacked by a horde of what appears to be African peoples. This much is true.

No, it's a person who is not a zombie attacking a horde of zombies. Race plays no role in it. Are you saying that if the Zombies were white and the same hero was attacking them it would be okay? No one had issues with it before the skin colour of the zombies was changed.

If the game does anything it bolsters the hatred of black zombies already present in the well-established hatred of zombies in general. It teaches us that no matter what color they are on the outside, flesh-hungry reanimated dead people are really fundamentally the same, and should probably be avoided at all costs. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I'd like to think that mankind will band together regardless of race or nationality in the name of preserving the future of humanity and the safety of our precious brainmeats.

Better.

[not just souLLy now]

*sigh* by that logic RE4 was racist against Mexicans

[Luriden]

*sigh* by that logic RE4 was racist against Mexicans

I agree with what ace said. If this had been the opposite, a black military guy killing tons of white people, nobody would have said/done shit. Society is pathetic.

[Specially Cork]

Isn't the same issue as GTA being racist because all the main players were white but you shot at a few black guys. So then they made the main guy black in Sam Andreas and suddenly it was racist because it was potraying black people as criminals?

Surely the most racist people of all are the people who notice things like this and make a big deal about it? They're the people who are constantly highlighting the difference between races and turning it into an issue of superiority/inferiority.

[Covar]

i wonder if that person thinks night of the living dead was racist.

[Veggita2099]

Im offended by the movie White men can't jump.

[ThinkTank]

Im offended by the movie White men can't jump.

That made me laugh quite loudly.

This is a silly subject. What the protester failed to realise is the fact that the game as a number 5 on the end. In 1, 2, 3, 4 and all the other games in the franchise it was zombies from other races. Capcom started taking the series around the world. Sooner or later they're going to come across people who are not white.
I agree with BoneyCork. It's the people who go looking for these racial arguments who seem to be the most racist.

If the story is good, and the setting is appropriate then go Capcom. Although, they've not put any Japanese zombies in their games yet... 'Curiouser and curiouser', said Alice.

[S. Thompson]

*sigh* by that logic RE4 was racist against Mexicans

It took place in Spain, not Mexico.

- Fuzmeister

[az_bont]

*sigh* by that logic RE4 was racist against Mexicans

It took place in Spain, not Mexico.

- Fuzmeister

As far as I can deduce, the only thing we know about the location is that it is somewhere in Europe where Spanish is spoken.

We do know, however, that the in-game currency is the peseta.

As the game is set in 2004, two years after Spain adopted the Euro, a more likely candidate is Andorra, which still used the peseta (along with the French franc) at the time the game is set.

[ace]

*sigh* by that logic RE4 was racist against Mexicans

It took place in Spain, not Mexico.

- Fuzmeister

As far as I can deduce, the only thing we know about the location is that it is somewhere in Europe where Spanish is spoken.

We do know, however, that the in-game currency is the peseta.

As the game is set in 2004, two years after Spain adopted the Euro, a more likely candidate is Andorra, which still used the peseta (along with the French franc) at the time the game is set.

Nerd.

[Pyrite]

It's just a blog ran by a nobody who happens to not know much, no one should be paying attention to this person in the first place.

[Cid Highwind]

So it wasn't racist for CJ to cap white people in GTA: SA?

Seriously, this was bound to happen, being the full of crap attention whore she is, it surprised there isn't a tiny final line saying "first".

[mankrip]

I've been there. Sincerely, accusations like this are disgusting. Specially when you make a black character whose shoes and clothes have the Brazilian flag's colors*, and people start saying that you've made an stereotyped character with a "Jamaican color scheme" (an obvious implied allusion to marijuana and drug usage).

*Our palette was limited and we didn't have time to think about color schemes, so I've picked the first useful color scheme that came to my mind.

I felt lost. When someone says something like that, replying that "it wasn't my intention" isn't enough, because it's too easy to get an "you're lying" response in return. How could I give a definitive proof that I wasn't being racist, when I'm a white guy with blue eyes who currently doesn't have any close friend that's black (and to be more accurate, I have only one close friend)? The only answer that seemed to be safe was to remove the whole character from the game.

Situations like this hurts a lot. I hope this doesn't happen to Capcom.

[cube_b3]

It shouldn't be, as Capcom and their designers are Japanese who don't have black and white discrimination as far as I know.

No body complaint when the spanish were turned into Gonadas and what not...

[Ex-Cyber]

It shouldn't be, as Capcom and their designers are Japanese who don't have black and white discrimination as far as I know.

I wouldn't count on that. I've seen more than a couple black anime characters that have a rather prominent blackface look to them. Blackface is not necessarily racist per se, but it's associated with some of the uglier stereotypes.

[APE]

It shouldn't be, as Capcom and their designers are Japanese who don't have black and white discrimination as far as I know.

I wouldn't count on that. I've seen more than a couple black anime characters that have a rather prominent blackface look to them. Blackface is not necessarily racist per se, but it's associated with some of the uglier stereotypes.

[pixel]

[Lartrak]

It shouldn't be, as Capcom and their designers are Japanese who don't have black and white discrimination as far as I know.

I wouldn't count on that. I've seen more than a couple black anime characters that have a rather prominent blackface look to them. Blackface is not necessarily racist per se, but it's associated with some of the uglier stereotypes.

While there certainly is stereotyping of black people in Japan (at a minimum), I'd have to say the use of blackface in Japanese games doesn't seem to be racist, at least not deliberately. It's more like they just think it looks interesting, something along those lines. Much like how they use Christian symbolism and the religion itself in ways which could be considered insulting to Christians.