Capcom Hits Hot Water With Resident Evil 5
Based on the sheer fact this probably hasn’t occurred to you yet negates the fact it was a purposeful move on Capcom’s behalf. However, some people are crying fowl to the recent trailers and information we’ve seen coming out for RE5, declaring it offensive and racist. On one hand, it’s pretty easy to see how someone could draw this conclusion. The game is after all centered in Africa where a white protagonist kills the locals. Given the history in the country, some feels it somewhat oversteps some bounds, and that is understandable to an extent.
In another, it’s easy to see how the cultural references didn’t sink in for the Japanese based development teams. Regardless, zombies are zombies, and the need to kill them should overstep racial barriers. It’s hard to say whether the issue will fizzle, or whether it will grow. In which case Capcom may have a more serious issue on their hands.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:36 pm
The trouble is that the people who find this offensive are hypocrites, just by the mere fact that they’ve seen something racist in it, obviously they always have this skewed anti-racist mindset so they are in fact racist by continually pointing out that there is such a divide.
These people can’t seem to get their head around the fact that, yes there are different people in the world, and yes they are going to rub up against them. Does every body in the game being changed to white change the fact that their still being killed?
Or would they be happy if it was an Afro-American as the main character? That would be even more racist.
Hollywood produces racist stuff all the time with the main white American lead and the token sidekick black guy getting killed near the end in an act of sacrifice to save the token white American guys life.
Point being, the game’s set somewhere where there are people with darker skin. No one reacted to shooting the people in RE4, why? Because they were white. And anyway the game is bringing back an established character of the franchise. But it could be a neat game mechanic where you’re just one of the locals and end up scrounging whatever you can from your surroundings to fend off the zombies.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I am not really going to get into … but I will say those people who raised those concerns are not off base at all. I have had this type of discussion before with many of my black friends and we pretty much agree … but anyway the scope of this is far to complex to explain over the net on a thread …
Also no black person refers to themselves as Afro-Americans so you may want to keep that in mind in the future Josh B. so that you don’t offend people. In fact the majority of intelligent black Americans prefer to be called black Americans or better yet Americans. African American is actually a very insulting term and yes I know that other Blacks use that term but it is because they haven’t been shown how derogatory that label is. Anyway I don’t want to get deep into this because it is a very complex and delicate issue and I don’t want to get into any arguments with anyone.
But I did want to state that there is merit to what the person(s) brought to light … you have to really examine it in the proper context and it becomes pretty clear. Also it is very true that the Japanese are really insensitive when it comes to black people in their games (if they are in them at all). But again that is also pretty much known how the Japanese feel towards blacks … and in particular black men so really it should come as no surprise to anyone that not one lead character of any major game from an Asian studio has ever been a black man .. never. And when we are used in their games it is always in the stereotypical fashions. These are just facts that cannot be overlooked … and then you combine those facts with the stuff going on in the game and it does cause one to pause and wonder …
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Well, it’s set in Africa… so what’s the problem with the zombies being, well, African?
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Actually my understanding is that it is occurring in Haiti … where voodoo originated.
And James it goes a lot deeper than that … a lot. It really starts from off from the fact that 98% of the lead characters (especially the heroes) are non-black characters … and then it goes from there and gets even more complicated because of the way blacks are used and portrayed in video games. The main thing is that blacks are rarely portrayed in a heroic or intelligent way while white and Asian characters have tons of different roles in the gaming world … even women have better leading roles in games than black characters (men to be more specific). So if you don’t have but one or two options of how to view blacks in video games then it becomes an even greater problem when a white character is used to gun down hordes and hordes of black characters (regardless if they are zombies … blacks have been called zombie and worse in the past so this could be interpreted any number of ways).
So basically what it comes down to is that blacks have to have more roles in video games … more lead character/heroic figure roles and then when games like this come out it won’t be a big deal because then people can also point to game Z that has a really positive black role model/character who is the main hero. Right now that is just not possible and that is pretty sad. Even the upcoming big blockbuster games are absent of a lead black character. This is an issue that has to be addressed by game developers … it is very crucial that black youths be able to relate to the heroes of the games they play in the same manner in which white and asian males are able to do so. It would be nice for a black kid to be able to really feel like he Master Chief or Marcus Fenix, or Gordon Freeman or any of the other numerous tough/good/heroic/honorable lead characters.
Anyway that is about as clear as I can make it … if you still don’t understand why some people are a bit concerned then I don’t know what to tell you. I would just say to you think about all the games you have played … now look back and count all the times you were a black character who was the focal point of the game and the hero of the game. Not a sidekick but the MAN.
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Anuban: That’s because they’re Western characters, American or European, which means they will most likely be white.
In Japan, the majority of characters, heroes, etc. are Japanese, in Korea, they’re Korean.
In Africa, the majority of fictional characters (and heroes) in movies, books, comics etc. are, guess what, African.
There’s nothing “racist” about it, it’s simply a cultural thing. It’s like saying it’s racists that there aren’t any any white rappers (besides one, who really sucks).
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Well I have to strongly disagree with you and again point to what I said was the issue. But it appears you missed the primary point I was making … it has nothing to do with the local and the indigenous population (and again this takes place in Haiti … not Africa … but that is a minor point). And again Japanese people are very racist against blacks … that is a fact and everything they produce shows this (from games to movies to anime to manga) and we live in the 21st century so there is no excuse at all for this … certainly not this cultural crap I hear people trying to put forth. And your example about white rappers is rather ridiculous. The reason there are not many white rappers is that they are just not very good … bottomline.
But if you want to stick up of for a racist culture that exists in this modern era where there is the internet that can get you all the facts you could ever want to know about black people. And there have been some notable blacks that have touched the entire world … surely the asians could see that blacks can be great leaders and great heroes … but you wouldn’t know it by anything they produce. So no I will not excuse them … not when they have no trouble using white characters as lead heroic figures but not blacks.
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I agree with with Josh on this:
“The trouble is that the people who find this offensive are hypocrites, just by the mere fact that they’ve seen something racist in it, obviously they always have this skewed anti-racist mindset so they are in fact racist by continually pointing out that there is such a divide.”
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Anuban: Certainly in the world of cinema, black actors/actresses aren’t stereotyped the was you describe it (sidekicks). I could point you to dozens of great black actors in leading parts throughout the last few decades. Sure it wasn’t always like this, but it’s pretty clear how it is now.
And what about the stereotyping of white actors, who are portrayed as “the man” etc. White actors are always the cold business people only thinking about money, while black actors are “hip” and cool all the way through.
case in point: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399327/
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
And why would you have a problem with how movies or anything else portrays white men when in reality you and I and everyone else knows who has all the power and who really runs things. So please don’t even make that comparison … again you don’t get it and really I don’t expect you to. Anyway I am done with this debate as well. I said my piece and stand by it as a black man who experiences prejudice and racism on an almost daily basis. I just hate to see it manifest itself in the gaming industry so hopefully some things will happen to change the direction of where the industry appears to be going. Peace out people.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
And by the way why would you bring in Cinema when we are talking about gaming … strange and really it doesn’t have anything to do with my argument. Like I said you missed the point completely. Later.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Well, I still see the U.S. as a democracy (whatever that is these days) where people are “equal”. But sure, I can never see it 100% from your perspective.
As I live in Europe, I can honestly say that I don’t recognize any of what you claiming (the white man being in power and all). But this is Europe, quite different from the U.S. (doh).
And by the way, why would you bring up politics when we’re talking about gaming?
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:45 am
Thanks for you reply to my post Anuban, I wasn’t aware the labels I used were offensive but I can see your point about just being American.
And yes, from what I understand, Japan is a very racist country but they see this as quite normal, to most Japanese there is Japan and then there is the outside world. However, I don’t think change will come about until some of their deep seeded cultural ways of thinking are understood, by them, to be unhealthy.
August 4th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I wish people would stop screaming out racist crap when u kill a black person. This is why im so annoyed, now if the game was called KKK. Then I would understand. But, this game is in africa. The country is full of blacks = africans.. Why shoot russian zombies or UK zombies in the land that africans are from?
Just my input, I think people are doing this for the attention. If you’re a black person, please understand.. cuz ur character/enemy is black doesnt mean ur a racist by killing them. Its just the setting people. People say far cry 2 is racist.. yet wse barely know anything bout it. (attention, its all about attention.) what makes me feel sick that most of the people are probably white doing this crap.