Crispy Gamer Calls Out Resident Evil 5's Racism

[electric discordian]

They could have just gone the route of the 30days of Night film adaptation which featured no indigenous peoples at all! That would of course court the same level of controversey for being racist for not depicting anyone but white people.

You are only recist if your White

Your only sexist if your Male

Bare that in mind if you are about to say anything at the moment and we will have a much quieter time!

 

[Spudgun Man]

Be warned. Your going to get a lot of hate for this post.

And yes, thoughs images of the african zombies with spears and shields did scream ignorant racism.

Surely then any images, animated or not, that have a depiction of [Insert Ethnic Group Here] with [A Certain Item Concerning Said Ethnic Group In Past Or Present Tense] is offensive.
E.G. A very English looking Gentleman wearing a bowler hat and drinking tea. or A very Mexican looking Gentleman in the same picture as a Sombrero or Poncho.

 

[mike1921]

so you guys see absolutely nothing wrong with a white American guy & his buddies going into an African village (where everyone is "infected"), massacring the populace and being portrayed as a hero?

No, not if the infection controls their mind. For the love of god context

so you guys see absolutely nothing wrong with a white American guy & his buddies going into an African village (where everyone is "infected"), massacring the populace and being portrayed as a hero?

No, not if the infection controls their mind. For the love of god context

its funny that the bad guy in RE5 and just about any RE is Albert Whesker, the whitest white guy on earth, his martial arts style is a cross between Savate and Capeoira, which is French and Brazilian, he's blonde... he wears Ray Bans which is American and made famous by Top gun the most Western film in existence, he has an eighty's hair cute reminiscent of western boy bands. And chances are his suit is made by Hugo Boss, which is a new york based fashion company.

lets recap, the bad guy in RE is
1. called Albert (possibly states his name is Cecil (with a lisp) in gay bars)
2 Has blonde hair
3 looks like a character from Top Gun, the gayest film in existence
4 Does martial arts based from two western countries, gay countries may I add, France and Brazil

So yes RE5 is racist, its racist against gay western poofs, I for one am appalled at its portayal of big gay western boy band members.

edit; I had a point to make but starting giggling to myself about how gay Whesker looks, then kinda ran with my stupidity, I can't remember my original arguement though.

Brazil's gay? Your original arguement seems to be that RE stereotypes.

I'd say: let it go. Fact: skin color does not matter, it's that simple. Our forefathers may have been idiots, but (hopefully) we're not. History is history, let's grow up. This kind of stuff keeps actual racism alive, instead of growing out of it. Let's stop splitting people up like that, and let's just treat black people the same.

again, this is fine in an ideal world. but racial inequality still exists & remains a major issue in all countries of mixed ethnicity. to simply "let it go" would be patronising to not just victims of racism but to all ethnic minorities. there's nothing wrong with talking about it. pretending that it isn't there or that it'll go away isn't helpful. skin colour does matter. it might not matter to you, but it does matter.

No it's not a major issue. You're exagerating. It's a minor issue that becomes whatever's in between minor and major when people start shouting "racist!!" for no good reason. At least in America. I know nothing of 3rd world country and while I never hear of a lot of it in the UK or Africa I don't really know.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I'd say: let it go. Fact: skin color does not matter, it's that simple. Our forefathers may have been idiots, but (hopefully) we're not. History is history, let's grow up. This kind of stuff keeps actual racism alive, instead of growing out of it. Let's stop splitting people up like that, and let's just treat black people the same.

again, this is fine in an ideal world. but racial inequality still exists & remains a major issue in all countries of mixed ethnicity. to simply "let it go" would be patronising to not just victims of racism but to all ethnic minorities. there's nothing wrong with talking about it. pretending that it isn't there or that it'll go away isn't helpful. skin colour does matter. it might not matter to you, but it does matter.

Then racism will stick with us forever. In any case, political correctness won't help, heck it's making it worse. This is a zombie game set in Africa, a lot of black people live in Africa, so a lot of black people will be zombyfied, and zombies need to die, so they're shot. End of story. You're making MUUUUUCH more out of this then it actually is.

 

[Extravaganza]

Well excuse me OP,
Its not like Black people live in africa or anything..

 

[DigitalSushi]

Brazil's gay? Your original arguement seems to be that RE stereotypes.

Thats what I meant! yes it totally does, its racist towards Spaniards, Yanks, everyone.

Thank you, thanks your here, otherwise I might come accross as a stupid online prick that doesn't make sense.

RE6 will probably be set in rural France, where the peasants wave stale baguettes at you, and are a parasite to the rest of Europe, and dont make sense and just like in RE4 are controlled by a short prick with an inferiority complex whose name begins with "S". oh look at that.

edit, like in real life! hur hur!

 

[Jumplion]

harhol - you are not reading what anyone is saying. It's not white against black! The main character has a partner (right next to him) who is a black woman. He is killing all races... to the point of it being a bit silly. I killed more hispanic and white people than I did black. Sure, their leaders are black but come ON!! It's Africa!!!

my problem is not specifically to do with white vs. black but more to do with the obvious colonial overtones.

[there's a reason most films, books & games steer well clear of stories involving white, first-world heroes shooting up Africans.]

it's difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of the prejudice or "racism"... it's just there. i'm not arguing that it's definitely 100% racist, i simply said that to dismiss any suggestion of racism is silly. it's a genuine debate which needs to be approached seriously.

I agree wholeheartedly with you.

Like I said in my original post, RE5 is as racist as you make it out to be, it all depends on the context. If video games are ever to become "art" then debates like racism and sexism should be seriously debated in these games.

It's completely ignorant to completely brush off any slight hint of racism in any game, and saying things like "It's Africa, they have Africans!" is completely missing the point. If this was set in, I don't know, New York or Philadelphia or Chicago instead, would it change anything? Just change the setting, that's all, does it do anything? After all, there are black people in NY/Philly/Chicago, so therefore it's not racist because there are black people there anyway! Hehehe, no.

I'm not saying RE5 is 100% racist, and neither is Harhol. He (or more specifically, we) is just saying that it has racial undertones depending on how you take it in context.

This video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw8DkSmJDOg&feature=channel] compared to this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1IQfLItmBE&feature=channel] are both good points. In the second video, just switch out Fat Princess with RE5. I don't like the first one though because of the second one, Moviebob was a complete hypocrite when he made the second one. But they both make good points.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

The only racist things I can see are:

1) Barely dressed, spear wielding, grass skirt wearing, face painted African zombies? There may be ONE person like that left in Africa. Even most of the tribes who still live like tribes have some form of modern clothing on them.

2) Sheva seems, as Yahtzee said, like she's been dipped in tea. She's a light-skinned black person with a British accent. Is it me, or was she only put in the game in order to avoid cries of racism by being the token black "good guy"? It is in a way similar to pointing to your black friend when you are accused of racism and saying "See, I have a black friend; I can't be racist!"

Honestly, I think that the game was made into a co-op game at the last minute for the reasons listed above, thus resulting in some really shitty AI and what Capcom so heavily advertises as bein great co-op coming across as rushed and gimmicky (due to the advertisement).

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Like many have said, if the game where in Africa and all the zombies were white, that would make no sense at all. They did Africa because the same settings for games get old. We've been through cities and Spain and all that stuff, so we need a new setting. I'm actually disappointed that the first thing people would think is "OMG RACIST!!!" as opposed to "Well this is a nice change of pace." Seriously, I can't beleive that people are so closed minded that they would point out "offensive" content when it's not even there. If RE5 is racist, then so is Grand Theft Auto (black dude shooting up white cops??) or Call of Duty (White guys shooting up German people?) so people need to lighten up and play the fucking games.

 

[NoDamnNames]

The only racist things I can see are:

1) Barely dressed, spear wielding, grass skirt wearing, face painted African zombies? There may be ONE person like that left in Africa. Even most of the tribes who still live like tribes have some form of modern clothing on them.

Very incorrect, as i stated in a previous post there are MANY tribes that fall under the following categories: Self Secluded (chose to be secluded from society to practice their own beliefs and culture), Un-contacted (known ancient tribes still practicing their cultures that have not been contacted by the outside world but are known to us because of satellite and aircraft imagery), and Un-discovered (Tribes that have not been discovered that have been practicing their ways for centuries, they find one of these every few years).

In short there are LOTS of people in Africa living with Ancient cultures, rituals, hunting methods, and garments.

The biggest failure to any race is the fact so many people don't know these tribes exist. Depicting these people as zombies is no more racist than depicting Amish as Zombies.

 

[PirateKing]

I've played a ways into the game and I came across a diary written by a village boy. He talks about how, after being infected, the village men started dressing like that and wearing war paint. The parasites caused them to regress mentally but gave them enhanced physical abilities.
This happened in RE4 as well with the ganados. The villagers and the guys in the castle all wore old style clothes and lived in shacks. In the case of the zealots they lived in the castle. They had spiked shields and used medieval weapons.
So I don't know if this is so much racism as it is just an effect of the plagas.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

The only racist things I can see are:

1) Barely dressed, spear wielding, grass skirt wearing, face painted African zombies? There may be ONE person like that left in Africa. Even most of the tribes who still live like tribes have some form of modern clothing on them.

Very incorrect, as i stated in a previous post there are MANY tribes that fall under the following categories: Self Secluded (chose to be secluded from society to practice their own beliefs and culture), Un-contacted (known ancient tribes still practicing their cultures that have not been contacted by the outside world but are known to us because of satellite and aircraft imagery), and Un-discovered (Tribes that have not been discovered that have been practicing their ways for centuries, they find one of these every few years).

In short there are LOTS of people in Africa living with Ancient cultures, rituals, hunting methods, and garments.

The biggest failure to any race is the fact so many people don't know these tribes exist. Depicting these people as zombies is no more racist than depicting Amish as Zombies.

I havn't played the game yet, and I admit that maybe I was exaggerating, but you have to realize that the chance of Mr. Redfield meeting one of those people is slim. Especially if they are secluded. Be it Las Plagas or the T-virus, the chance that some African tribe out in the middle of nowhere would get infected is low. I honestly think that Capcom isn't being overtly racist, but is being a bit sloppy with what could be seen as subliminal racism. What's next, gay zombies in ballerina outfits =P ?

 

[NoDamnNames]

What's next, gay zombies in ballerina outfits =P ?

That, added with the tentacle aspect of new RE games and the abundance of hentai tentacle porn that is out there would lead to some of the most disturbing video gaming I can fathom.

 

[Zorg Machine]

Honestly, those spear-chucking Africans I saw in the Escapist's own review supplement seemed to be something that would even make Joseph Conrad blush. ]

Why is it more racist that Africans are wearing their cultural clothes? and why isn't it racist when every single lower rank criminal in movies and games are black?

 

[ZonerZ]

i don't think it racist at all. If anything it makes more sense with spear brandishing Africans than without.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Resident Evil has always been racist. I mean come on, ALL the zombies were white, WTF is up with that? Hating on white folks.

Second thought: when are we going to see oriental zombie ninjas?