Crispy Gamer Calls Out Resident Evil 5's Racism

[Jabbawocky]

Okay his first paragraph is irrelevant if Resi 5 was racist it wouldn't matter what ethnicity he is. He basically trys to put across that because he's white and feels a game where black people are the main antagonists is racists then it must be super-racist, that's not how racism works I'm afraid Crispy, it's either racist or it isn't.

Okay then he tries to comapred the pyscial differences by saying that basically the heores look health and those that are infect don't (well doy!). Also when talking about the primitive nature of the infected in this game I'm pretty sure that the Spanish in Resi 4 was pretty mich the same.

Paragraph about natives, look at the 12th post.

However I agree with his points that the Japanese do seem to be quite ignorent these days but hey even Western Developers stick to sterotypes (see Deputy Wheeler in Silent Hill Homecoming).

 

[The Black Adder]

The game is set in Africa, so obviously majority of the enemies are going to be black. I've played through the entire game and I wouldn't even think that this game is racist. It was actually kind of weird to see Arab and white enemies. Even on of the supporting characters, Josh, is a black BSAA solider that helps Chris and Sheva along their path. I'm was under the impression that Sheva is only half Africa, not only because of her light skin, but because of her British accent. You aren't fighting regular people, you are fighting a people that have been forced into taking in the Las Plagas parasite, just like the Spaniards in RE4. Sure, Chris is from America, but he is the main character and part of the Resident Evil series, which until RE4, took place in America. What do these reviewers want Capcom to do, give all the African's baths, nice clothes and give them chap stick and eye drops? What's next are they going to say that the game is cruel to animals because you can blow dogs and hyenas away with grenade launcher? Or that this game is a Nazi game because Wesker wants to give birth to the master race by killing everyone with a new virus?

 

[The Black Adder]

If they use the N word or one of the white folks says something like "who cares if they are infected, they are black so kill'em all and let God sort them out" then I would be the first one calling for a boycott. Or if there is a KKK robe for an unlockable costume.

not all racism is blatantly obvious. in this case it's all about parallels. white hero vs. black "savages" is just too imperialist for my tastes.

Actually the main antagonist is white and all the main enemies are villagers and tribals that are infected with a parasites. The story fully explains that Umbrella did tests on villagers and tribes as a new experiment, which caused these people to become violent and aggressive. What you need to do is play through the game before you go around making judgments based upon screen shots and videos.

 

[Cervani]

People who try to say this game is racist, and attempt to justify said claim by saying because they appear tribal, they're different than the heroes etc etc... just please, stop procreating.

Hold your head underwater until you feel sleepy.

You'll be doing us all a favor.

 

[The Black Adder]

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.

But then again, like Yahtzee hinted in his first review that was put on the escapist, Japan is filled with xenophobic dicks.

So is America.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Its clear to me that killing white people anywhere else is completly fine

 

[Bofore13]

Just from the first page i can tell this person has played at most the original RE as he doesn't know what else Chris was in, and as for his comments on the appearance of the zombies in this game there are a multitude of files on why everything is as it is that any real fan of RE would take the time to read.

This next quote i like a lot

Things get more troubling when a scream erupts from a nearby alleyway, and Chris and Sheva spot a zombie dragging off a white woman by the hair. Chris and Sheva give chase. When they find the woman, something has happened to her. She falls limply into Chris' arms. "Are you OK?" Chris asks repeatedly.

First off he asked once, and secondly, zombies don't discriminate, so this is irrelevant.

Also it seems that he played this on easy the way he described the actions of his AI since i do not suck at games i play at a high level of difficulty, which in turn provides better AI to not suck with, the only problem that i really ever have with her is her inappropriate choice of weaponry once in a while.

And lastly as Assassinator pointed out spear throwing africans still exist. Ok i lied tis time it is really lastly haven't we been slaughtering old white guys since the 90's that were significantly less dangerous?

 

[hondommond]

You know Ive heard of of crap about this being racist but I think its just alot of hype and whatnot i mean

killing 1000s of white "honky" zombies wasnt racist
killing 1000s of Spanish cultist zombies wasnt racist...(hell I doubt that thought came to anyone playing RE4)
but as soon as it comes to killing about of African americans "blacks whatever" in the country they came from...is automatically racist...If we decided to kill abunch of black zombies in I dont no Europe...Asia...Australlia fine I see your point but no...its africa...
what they hell do you want to kill a ton of asian and american zombies in the slums of africa...NO!! thats unrealistic...

AS soon as they zombies have afros and fried chicked as a look/weapon then go for it scream racist but till then L2P

 

[n01d34]

Let me start by saying that it's not racist.

But it is highly provocative. Given that in Africa millions die from diseases like Malaria and Aids every year it is clearly insensitive for Resident Evil to portray their fictional disease as having come from there.

When you add on the history of European colonisation and the old western prejudice of "Deepest Darkest Africa" it all gets a little seedy. I still wouldn?t call it racist but it is in incredibly poor taste.

And the ooga booga language the black zombies speak doesn't help matters.

 

[LadyZephyr]

Does blowing the heads off a group of enemies that are predominantly black bug me?

Only as much as blowing the heads off a group of Spaniards did. It twinges me a bit, but not for my sake: for the sake of a lot of idiot gamers who could be desensitized to racial violence.

But if you didn't say anything about the legions of Spaniards you killed in RE4, you need the sit the hell down and shut the hell up about RE5.

ETA: Also, I remember someone much smart than I finding RE5 fascinating as an example of Africa being used as a weapon and how the world needs to lend them more help to prevent such taking advantage of their poverty and problems.

 

[hondommond]

Does blowing the heads off a group of enemies that are predominantly black bug me?

Only as much as blowing the heads off a group of Spaniards did. It twinges me a bit, but not for my sake: for the sake of a lot of idiot gamers who could be desensitized to racial violence.

But if you didn't say anything about the legions of Spaniards you killed in RE4, you need the sit the hell down and shut the hell up about RE5.

ETA: Also, I remember someone much smart than I finding RE5 fascinating as an example of Africa being used as a weapon and how the world needs to lend them more help to prevent such taking advantage of their poverty and problems.

when it comes down to it...we are killing people...semi-innocent people being killed by a Bulky guy and some chick (with a very nice booty)

 

[JakePwnsAtLife]

I'm sorry. I simply do not see racism in RE5 (I haven't finished beating the game, though I have played through a good part of it).

Africa has black people. If Africa had a zombie outbreak, Africa would have black zombies. You can't deny reality just because you're scared of stepping on a few toes. I think Yahtzee made an excellent point when he said nobody gave a shit about the Spanish zombies in RE4.

What amazes me the most, however, is that virtually every outcry about racism I've seen has been from a white dude. It's pathetic, really, that people are so insecure about this kind of crap. I don't think anyone should take this seriously until the NAACP gets involved.

Exactly. I mean, really, once again it's in AFRICA, they would be accused of racism if they -didn't- put black people in Africa. It's like Left4Dead is set in America, but all the white people don't cry for discrimination when the zombies are white. They're zombies in a game, no one was trying to offend anyone else, can we be a little more mature people?

 

[Colodomoko]

Ugh, screw you guys and your talk of racism.

I'm going back to play Resident Evil 5 now.

 

[BLOONINJA 503]

Japan is ignorant,rightly so, to our percieved racism problems ,for the most part, the U.S. has(i.e. they have gotten over it)



off topic, This reminds me, for some reason, of the motorcycle. Before it was known to be a death trap the Japanese released it ONLY in the USA... lets just say A LOT of people died the first year, revenge for the A-Bomb if you ask me.


sorry but that was stuck in my head for like a month now I had to post that.

 

[squid5580]

"First things first: I'm a big white dude. Aside from a small amount of Native American blood, I'm as white as white gets. So I'll say this as clearly and as honestly as I possibly can: As a big white dude, I was uncomfortable with the subhuman portrayals of black people in Resident Evil 5. "

What a stupid and irrelevant way to start a review.

I'm not going to read on, it's just wrong.

It's a game set in africa, if there's no africans, i'd be f***ing worried.

-Joe

As a big white dude, I was uncomfortable with the subhuman portrayals of black people in Resident Evil 5.

Now watch this

As a big white dude, I was uncomfortable with the subhuman portrayals of white people in Resident Evil 1,2 and 3.

As a big white dude, I was uncomfortable with the subhuman portrayals of Spanish people in Resident Evil 4.

Now watch this: As a big white English dude, I was uncomfortable with the subhuman portrayals of Irish people in Resident Evil 6.

There's nowhere near the unfortunate history of portraying Spanish or white people of a place like Racoon City as subhuman as there is when it comes to black people. The one white group that's been depicted by western civilization along the lines of black people are Irish Catholics--subhuman, they breed too fast, they are prone to cultish behavior, etc.

I'm pretty sure that if an RE game was set in Belfast or Derry and they sent in an English character, a lot more people would 'get' the race issue.

So devs should use kid gloves when telling these stories because of history? That strikes me as racist. Stuff happened. Can't deny it some bad stuff happened to some innocent people way back in the day. I just don't think there is any need to tip toe around something completely unrelated to the history when it involves those specific races. Especially when no one seems to have any problems whatsoever when it comes to Germans and WW2 games.