Is Street Fighter Sexist/Racist?

[Maximum Bert]

Its a fighter these games dont focus on massive character development (although some like Persona do this as well) so to make the characters interesting they give them crazy designs and moves. MK9 had a story mode which did show the characters in more light than SF4s frankly terrible (as in it would be better if they werent there) ending segments but design wise I would definitely argue that Chunli is more iconic and instantly recognizable by the vast majority of people than anything Netherrealm have come up with.

Every character is a characature of some sort Chunli the chinese girl wears a chinese dress Ryu the karate expert wears a Gi Dudley the british boxer smells roses and always acts posh Fei Long is the Bruce Lee inspired fighter, Dhalsim is the yoga contortionist etc.

I think you are just taking way to much offence to everything im British and I dont take offence to Dudley with his massive chin, flower smelling tea drinking and boxing ways they are all British stereotypes to a greater or lesser degree only the truly stupid or ignorant would take these stereotypes as fact but just looking at the character I can get a basic idea of his fighting style and personality because of how he is designed.

Also its definitely SF4 you played im not sure what version but SF5 has not been released or announced yet. Also cant believe you have never heard of Chunli after Ryu shes pretty damn famous all the original cast is actually but Ryu and Chun are especially.

EDIT: Actually just found some info on SF2 (but that cast returns in SF4) and something I never knew was that Dhalsims character was apparently derived from the manga of Jojos bizarre adventure.

here a copy pasta transcript from the main guy in charge of SF2s development and his attitude to character designs
[quote/]Nishitani: I would say yes to almost everything people would bring me. ... Back then, there were several teams creating games at Capcom, so the teams were competing with each other. But the Street Fighter 2 team was also competing amongst itself ? the programmers and artists were each working on their own characters, which led to a lot of rivalries. You know, "My character's going to be better than yours."

Because of that, they'd each come up with crazy ideas and bring them to me. And I didn't want to tell them, "Ah, that won't fit with our game system, so you should do something else." Or "that idea's too crazy ? you should come up with something less over the top." I didn't want to discourage their creativity, so I said, "OK cool, I'll make that happen, and come up with more crazy ideas and I'll make those happen too."

I think that's part of the reason why the game turned out well. These days, as the president of a company, I can't be as irresponsible as I was back then. So sometimes what I'll tell people today is different from what I'd tell them then. Back when I was making Street Fighter 2 though, that was my attitude.[/quote]

the full write up is here if you are interested

http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history

Yeah its not really SF4 but I still think it relevant in understanding the series

 

[xPixelatedx]

As a black man, Capcom has done some stuff to piss me off. IE. Resident Evil 5. But I don't think that they come from a place of hate. To quote Yahtzee, "They're just idiots!". I love them, but damn it, they can be really fucking stupid sometimes.

It doesn't come from hate, and ironically enough calling them stupid for the way they portray black people is in of itself kind of a form of racism. Capcom isn't at "fault", Japan is. Over there making fun of someone over racial things isn't considered offensive, it's considered funny. All races are fair sport, all genders are fair sport, and they still make fun of gay people to. You're right though, there isn't any hate attached to it, if anything one could argue there is a large degree of love.
A gay person in One Piece
They love the absurdity of stereotypes, and like with all things absurd, they think it's something we should have a good laugh about.

I've even seen them make fun of Japan and Japanese people.

Basically their stance on the matter of 'playful teasing' is "We can handle it, it's your own problem if you can't." Which is probably the best stance to possibly have about this stuff.

 

[Ieyke]

Why are you expecting properly fleshed out characterisation in a one on one fighter? that's like expecting balls to the wall action from a turn based game.

The characters are designed to be equal parts stereotype (the Japanese characters are stereotypes, by the way) and eye catching, they're not trying to make an artistic or social statement.

That's not what I'm saying. Cammy should have more to her character besides, you know, her ass. She doesn't seem to much of a character. I mean even Dhalsim had character. A fucking hugely racist character, in my opinion, but still a character. She just boring from what it looks like, which is the most disappointing. Also, just because something is equal parts stereotype DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT. That's a lame excuse. It's still stereotyping and that's not cool. I'm also not looking for an artistic statement from a game called FUCKING STREET FIGHTER. But decent characters would be fine. Mortal Kombat had interesting (although stupid) female characters. What's this games excuse?

Game doesn't need an excuse.
Cammy's a badass. She's a British MI6 commando assassin.

I never got the controversy behind Resident Evil 5. Africa + Zombies = African Zombies. You shoot them because they're undead, not because they're black. The only offensive thing I can think of is the portrayal of the Ndipaya tribe, and you might argue they're taking the Indiana Jones route of caricature (never heard a peep about the portrayal of Peruvian tribesmen in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not even from my Peruvian buddies). There's a general concensus it's dumb and harmless.

After apartheid, the image of a white cop shooting Africans is a little troubling to some. I think understandably so.

Context is everything. Getting offended by things not tied to the thing that is offensive is a character flaw.

Yea, but people are dumbasses like that.

Basically their stance on the matter of 'playful teasing' is "We can handle it, it's your own problem if you can't." Which is probably the best stance to possibly have about this stuff.

Yup. The "get your head out of your ass and deal with it, you big baby" approach.

 

[144_v1legacy]

I'll use another character as a parallel example.

E. Honda is themed from a sumo wrestler, for which stereotypes have been picked out and exaggerated for the purposes of defining the character. I wonder what real sumo wrestlers or sumo fans would think. Are they offended? Do they see it as mockery? I doubt it.

I would peg most Street Fighter characters that way, Dhalsim included (who, BTW, you should've figured out was Indian sooner). I wouldn't say Cammy is particularly overly sexualized - her outfit is less revealing than what we'll see in the figure skating ring for a few weeks. It's designed to her character.

As far as fighting games go, Street Fighter is pretty tame and diverse. I'd say the most iffy is probably Dee Jay.

 

[Roofstone]

I've always treated it a bit like simpsons. In that everyone is a real person times a hundred. I honestly find all the characters rather swell.

Especially Elena, which is a charicature of a native African, she is a happy bundle of love. I adore her. <3
Street Fighter is as racist as you make it to be in my opinion, a bit like Apu in the simpsons.

 

[Naeras]

My first reaction to this was "yeah, well, kind of" until I stopped and started thinking about it. And, no, I don't think it's racist or sexist. I just think it's full of really stupid stereotypes, which isn't really the same thing.

The thing is, when most games get the "racist/sexist"-thing thrown at them, it's because the games are usually about stereotypical heroic white guys beating up stereotypical evil arabs/blacks/asians/whatever to save a stereotypical pair of boobs. The Street Fighter series is about a bunch of stereotypical (insert every gender, race and sexuality here) beating the shit out of each others for various reasons nobody cares about(because the story is shit). However, there's a character diversity you rarely see in other games, and every character (except Dan, because Dan) is portrayed as strong at worst.

Interestingly, all the worst examples(except for the SFA3-Dolls and maybe Sakura) came from SF2. And, to be sure, I don't blame anyone for reacting to T.Hawk and Balrog. However, that game also gave us Chun-Li, which is one of the most iconic female video game characters ever. Also, pretty much none of the characters introduced in SF3 and SF4 are even close to the same level of ridiculous stereotyping you'd see in SF2, so I do believe even Capcom realized how silly some of those older characters were.

 

[MrBaskerville]

Street fighter's not really racist, the fighters are national stereotypes, not racial stereotypes. And the cultural references aren't even particularly negative.

I guess the word you're looking for might be 'nationalist'? Though that implies favoring one's own nation... which the game does, note that the Japanese dude is the generic everyman character, but it's not... intended as an insult, as such.

I agree with this, it´s also important to note that there´s quite a wide variety of black character types (and female), it´s not as well rounded as King of Fighters (not even close) but they have a wider palette of characters than most other games. Which is generally the problem with gender and race in games, the variety in personalities among females and black characters is usually too narrow and one-sided. You can´t really say that about Street Fighter these days. Unless we are talking about native Americans, then there might be a problem .

 

[jklinders]

In terms of sexism, is it even worth it to mention Dead or Alive's boob jiggle mode?

Bah! Anyway, even in story mode you are not gonna get Shakespeare. These types of games tend to have characters that are drawn from archetypes. The side stories are going to be pretty meh. And there will be a bit of fanservice. It's not bad or good. It's just the way it is.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that if you are truly looking for well rounded characters that are not stereotypes maybe, just maybe one on one fighting games are not for you.

 

[Yopaz]

The thing about Street Fighter is that no-one is playing it for the story (exaggeration) so in order to make the characters stand out they have to do so in an over the top fashion.

It's not really racist or sexist, it's simply extreme stereotypes of all nationalities that are present. Guile, E. Honda, Cammy, Balrog, Dhalsim, T Hawk are all over the top. If one or two had been exceptions then you would have a point, but they are the rule.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

My answer would be "no".

But this forum asks me to elaborate. So I'll explain.

First thing: I'm a woman and also a rampant feminist.
Second thing: I'm an English teacher and I graduated in Japanese language - I know foreign cultures and can tell racism.

Oh really, what are you gonna' tell it: "quit bein' so racist"? el oh el

Therefore I think I'm pretty qualified in my opinion.

Ehh...this does not bode well for your argument...

It's not racist. It's playful stereotyping.

Okay, racial stereotyping is, I'm pretty sure, the definition of "things that are racist".

T.Hawk as a generic big nature-loving Indian

Native American, Indians are from India. There's a lot of travel time between these two places to help you keep track.

But in general, fighting games are among the most gender equal videogames ever, and SF is one of them.

Street Fighter's got in the neighborhood of 65 characters, 15 or so are female and like at least three of those are clones.

Hurray for us girls! Thanks Capcom!

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
I wonder if anyone at Capcom knew that Capoeria is actually from Brazil when they made Elena, or if they were just like: "We're making a Capoeria girl so...KENYA~!"

 

[babinro]

I've always viewed Street Fighter characters as glorified positive and negative stereotypes. Every character comes across like this and so I don't get any sense of harsh or cruel context towards any particular group.

It's kind of like Southpark, if you insult everyone you get a free pass.

 

[nuttshell]

Looking around in the thread, everything has been said allready, except:

...But I also felt dirty for enjoying it...

Enjoying SF makes you feel dirty, huh? I don't believe you want a serious discussion.

 

[Ranorak]

Looking around in the thread, everything has been said allready, except:

...But I also felt dirty for enjoying it...

Enjoying SF makes you feel dirty, huh? I don't believe you want a serious discussion.

I wonder how he feels after playing Dead or Alive.
You know, with it's highly 'realistic' ...physics engine.

 

[Bertylicious]

I never got the controversy behind Resident Evil 5. Africa + Zombies = African Zombies. You shoot them because they're undead, not because they're black. The only offensive thing I can think of is the portrayal of the Ndipaya tribe, and you might argue they're taking the Indiana Jones route of caricature (never heard a peep about the portrayal of Peruvian tribesmen in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not even from my Peruvian buddies). There's a general concensus it's dumb and harmless.

After apartheid, the image of a white cop shooting Africans is a little troubling to some. I think understandably so.

It'd be a bit like if you had a Russian game about invading Poland or a game where your protagonist was a German who fights Jewish extremists. Potentially thorny, but it depends on how the beligerents are portrayed; if your adversaries are actually characterised as the wronged party you might get away with it but even then you're wandering into the territitory of saying extremism is alright if you're Jewish, which is equally problematic. Issues like this need to be handled delicately and that is difficult (but not impossible) in a game where your primary method of interaction is via grenade launcher.

OT: Well... it's Capcom isn't it? The bug-eyed, grass skirt wearing, spear chucking enemies of RE5 were virtually parodies of themselves. I don't think they have an overt, racial infeiority/superiority based agenda but they do come accross as rather quaint though, like an old relative that is fond of saying; "what we need is another war!"

 

[krazykidd]

I never got the controversy behind Resident Evil 5. Africa + Zombies = African Zombies. You shoot them because they're undead, not because they're black. The only offensive thing I can think of is the portrayal of the Ndipaya tribe, and you might argue they're taking the Indiana Jones route of caricature (never heard a peep about the portrayal of Peruvian tribesmen in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not even from my Peruvian buddies). There's a general concensus it's dumb and harmless.

Because there are only black people in africa right? I was actually talking aboutthis yesterday with a dude at work. I don't know how little people know about africa, but there are other ethnicities than black, black, and really black. Africa is a ( really big) continent. There are black people, white people, Middle eastern people, hell even asian people. But for some reason everyone think that Africa is full of poor black people. Also fuck that tribal stage.

OT: Really, you are going to jump in on the latest street fighter game and start yelling racism?Racism isn't the word for this. I'm starting to believe people have no idea what racism even means. Is Street fighter Prejudice? Maybe. Stereotypical? Sure. Racist? No.

Next you'll be telling me they discriminate against the LGBT community for x reasons.