boholikeu said:
I agree with most of the article, though I do have one point to raise about the whole Resident Evil debacle:
People often forget that what might be racist in one country is not necessarily racist in another country. People in Japan, for instance, are probably only vaguely aware of imperialism in Africa, so trying to imply that the game is the result of even subconscious racism is just flat out wrong.
This doesn't get them a free pass of course. Once the developers learned how insensitive this type of game appears to a westerner they were obligated to change it. However, I don't think Resident Evil 5 was a product of racism any more than say, the Spanish zombies in RE4 were.
I/m not sure it could be said that they are only "vaguely aware" of imperialism in Africa.
Whomever made that game was an adult. Yes, the game does offend sensibilities, but that is in large part because of the history of Africans and afro descendants as an oppresed population. You can't help but to equate it with that if your cultural background fascilitates it.
But you are right on the money on the other things you say. On grounds of merit RE5 should not be any more offensive, which is still plenty, than, say, RE2 or RE4, you know what I mean? It depends on who's looking.
In RE4 a caucasian blond white male is stomping foreign soil trying to save the daughter of the
president (a caucasian blond white woman) from the unruly natives that exhibit nothing but antisocial behavior, not only towards outsiders but to themselves. Even his initial attempts to establish some middle ground are shrugged aside by their sheer brutality.
There is a peripheric scene at the beginning of the game where you can go inside a shack to pick up supplies and you have a run-un with a
female corpse impaled on over the head hanging from a wall.
But In the middle of all the carnage that you both witness and partake there is always time for the caucasian white guy to engage in, well...
shopping from what could very well be described as a death profiteer (
"welcome stranger!").
What exactly is
that about? Is it a statement of the superiority american democracy over a decaying Europe? After all, the game was made by a nation that was defeated by the U.S and occupied at the tail end of WWII, which in turn deeply shook up its cultural workings to the core, to the point of reshaping society and, in large part, its values.
Now let's go back in time and take a look at RE2 where you use the aforementioned caucasian white guy and his friend: the caucasian white girl. There they try to survive a generic american
multicultural city that is falling apart all around them after a viral outbreak. How do they manage this? Blowing the populace to smithereens because they are thy are the living death, of course.
Also, a deduction could be made about the inner workings of the city by looking at the puzzles from the game. It is not hard to notice that Racoon City is an odd place, with oddly placed statues, strange key puzzles, odd architectural blunders, their odd police station actually headed by a sociopathic madman, etc., etc., etc. What kind of
culture is this? Hell, not even levers work the way they're supposed to!
Even before the outbreak, would that be a place where you would feel at home? Clearly those
mixed people in that
mixed society had odd ways of life, noncompatible with the
normal society of ours.
Odd, eh?
The argument could take a lot of different shapes but that's not to say we should not have a honest discussion about it.
Take for example N'Gai Croal's take on RE5. I would not say we should agree with him exactly on what he says, especially considering possible issues someone might have given RE4 and RE2's subject matter. Yet that does not mean we should not listen to what he says. In fact, we should, and listen well, and see where each of us stand.
A simple, honest, "I know we've talked it over, and I know it offends you, but at least know that that is not my intention. Here's why..."
It certainly beats "Screw you! I'm tired of your PC bullshit and entitlement, get out!"
