Poll: Red Dead Redemption: No Controversy?

[A Curious Fellow]

Meh, I didn't see the problem - your main character is an ex-outlaw searching for a collection of other outlaws, and as a result, he has to deal with some very shady characters in order to get to these previously mentioned outlaws.

You know who else was painted in an extremely negative light? The FBI (or whatever that secret government vigilante organization happened to be) - jeez, those guys came off terribly; just a bunch of liars and traitors. Is that how the real Feds are? Absolutely not, but it doesn't matter, because it's a fictitious story set in a fictitious place featuring a cast of fictitious characters.

Please, it's because of complaints like this that ultimately lead to the tirades of bullshit you see on networks such as FOX News.

Hey dude, don't hate. I'm just saying, the first act had the likes of the Marshall and the MacFarlenes, and the third act gave us Nostas. Decent upstanding folks from a variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. In Mexico, everyone was a douchebag. Even Reyes, the closest thing the game had to a positively portrayed Mexican character, was a slimey little ball of filth. I'd have just been happy if there was one male in the game who was both A. a decent human being and B. born south of the border. I'm not trying to make a big thing or go Fox News on your ass. It's just odd to me that the entire race of people was uniformly presented as raw rape-tastic douchebaggery.

There's no hate, sorry if it came off that way - honestly, I don't think Rockstar meant anything by it; furthermore, the whole story of Mexico revolved around the idea of this upcoming political revolution, and thus the central characters were all somehow involved with that revolution - perhaps the portrayal of all of them as douchebags was Rockstar making some sort of subtle political statement... You know, about how Mexican politics has been rife with corruption for decades? And I forget her name, but there was that one Mexican girl (the one who thought she was going to marry Reyes) who seemed to be a pretty decent individual, so they weren't all bad.

Okay, I'll grant you that, Luisa was alright. Still... I dunno. I mean, I'm not even hispanic myself, this isn't my issue. It realllly just seemed leery to me that with the great number of male Mexican major NPCs..... not one of them, not a SINGLE solitary one, DIDN'T have a long sordid history of rape behind them.

I just would have been happier to see something less one dimensional. Give me anything, any dude with brown skin but without a desire to forcibly demolish lady-parts. It doesn't seem like too much to ask.

 

[quantumsoul]

Aren't political leaders supposed to be slimy scumbags which the Mexican characters you refer to are. I didn't see it as anything having to do with them being Mexican.

You completely forget the Mexican women who were portrayed as good people and if I remember correctly some of the peasants were good folk too.

 

[Easton Dark]

Most of the Mexicans I ran into outside of cutscenes were very polite and grateful to me.

I liked 'em. Didn't feel any unfairness there. The game beats it into your head that politicians are scum through the whole game; be them American, Mexican, Governmental, or Revolutionary, but it's the regular people that mattered, and they were alright.

 

[Penguinness]

Actually, probably yes?.. except perhaps the prostitute you saved, if she was mexican, or the nun from the "I know you" stranger questline.. I'm fairly sure that was in mexico. A lot of people were bad but there were certainly a few civilized/nice people up north (Just like England, eh ;D).

You have my yes vote for this.

 

[Zhukov]

Nobody cares what people say or imply about Mexicans.

If they were black people or homosexuals or something it might have been a big deal.

 

[Ultraman950]

Not just the Mexicans. Look at Irish. He's constantly drunk off his ass, he's conniving, and he's willing to rob a nun (at least while drunk). That, and he lies CONSTANTLY. And THEN tries to weasle out of it by twisting his words around. I think Marston is just a douchebag magnet.

I know he's the only Irish guy in the game, but still.

Also, there were a few decent (named) Mexicans in RDR. Like the nun (okay, she doesn't have a name, but fuck you, I'm tryin' to make a point XD), or Luisa. Granted, both were women, but still. You take what you can get.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

Well there you go. There's not a decent chracter in the bunch. XD

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I think it's because nearly everyone except a few characters were wretched low lives. The white anthropologist was heavily racist, sheltered, and a coke head. The Europeans were either drunks or were selling opium. The Chinese were addicted to opium. The American law was either so jaded that it didn't care or was heavily corrupt. The few Americans not native to the region are all highly obtuse with the most intelligent one being a quack. You can't forget that the most repulsive character in the game was an American who talked to the corpses he dug up to rob. Near the end of the game, a newspaper pokes fun at the US's reaction to WW1.

The few decent characters in the game either end up dead, fucked over, or they turn out to be Satan/God/Death. Bonnie is the only real exception, and I'm pretty sure she was raped along with being beaten.

Now, the background characters were almost all good people. The Mexicans and Americans you run into are usually all friendly. That captain in the American army was a badass.

 

[Darkrain11]

It probably was like that to portray the fact that if you weren't some douchebag manipulator then you were one of the poor people being stepped on by said manipulators. From all real life accounts though, Mexico during that time was not a good place to be for the reasons already expressed.

 

[astrav1]

In light of all the talk about political correctness and bigotry, something came to mind. I saw virtually no outcry of any kind on this site regarding Red Dead Redemption's treatment of Mexicans. I mean, literally every male Mexican character in that game is a rapist of some kind and not a single one was portrayed as having a shred of honor or credibility. I even found my own attitudes being colored against them. In the entire second act of the game, the only major NPC to evoke any emotion in me except revulsion or pity was Landon Ricketts, a white man.

Thoughts? Anybody? Am I the only person who thought it was a little bit suspicious?

EDIT:

I'm just saying, the first act had the likes of the Marshall and the MacFarlenes, and the third act gave us Nostas. Decent upstanding folks from a variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. In Mexico, everyone was a douchebag. Even Reyes, the closest thing the game had to a positively portrayed Mexican character, was a slimey little ball of filth. I'd have just been happy if there was one male in the game who was both A. a decent human being and B. born south of the border. I'm not trying to make a big thing or go Fox News on your ass. It's just odd to me that the entire race of people was uniformly presented as raw rape-tastic douchebaggery.

What about Lisa? At least I think that was her name. The revolutionary's wife to be. Anyway, almost everyone in that game was a douche or a piece of shit, I can only assume you are suffering from a bit of overcompensating white mans guilt. We all had it at one point in our life. After you pass 18 you'll probably see why the question is kind of silly. Besides I'm sure there was somebody that was outraged.

 

[teknoarcanist]

Gonna give it to you, OP.

In GTA4, I sort of gave it a pass. EVERYONE was an offensive caricature, because Liberty City itself is an offensive caricature -- it's the far opposite end of the fictional spectrum at one end of which is Superman's gleaming Metropolis, and in the middle of which is our own, real, overall-pretty-ambiguous New York City. So the gays are all flaming, the Russians drink vodka, the rastas all deal drugs, the Italians are all gangsters, and every white guy is a xenophobic gibbering lunatic whose every third word is 'terrorist'.

And I bought it. And it made for a hell of a setting for a videogame. Hell, it would make a good setting for a movie.

But yeah, no, the depictions of mexicans in RDR were just...their own thing. I don't think they really spoke to the setting at all. Most of the white characters were pretty sympathetic and likable in their own ways (off the top of my head: Bonnie, her dad, the sheriff in Armadillo).

And of course if we're talking about blatant stereotyping:

Irish.

(Although they handled the Indians pretty well...)

 

[Sean Steele]

What about Laura or however it is spelled the girl who is enamored with Reyes?

 

[theonlyblaze2]

As a Mexican, I wasn't offended. I felt that if there had been a main character with a redeaming quality of some sort would have been better than none at all. But, the way they were portrayed, as raping, waring gangsters, that was how Mexico was at the time. It was a Revolution.

 

[Jamash]

I think your game must be glitched if "literally" every male Mexican NPC was a rapist.

In my game, the majority of them were polite and harmless folk riding around on donkeys.

Maybe you need to explore the game more and experience the world, rather than focusing on the main villains in the story missions and cut-scenes.

Unless this is one of those occasions when people mean the opposite of what they say (like "I could care less"), and by "literally every male NPC" you actually mean "just a few of the central villains".

 

[moosek]

Undead Nightmare gives a little more character to Mexican... characters. The nun becomes a main aid, and there's a young cryptic woman who helps shed light on the situation.

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

The few decent characters in the game either end up dead, fucked over, or they turn out to be Satan/God/Death. Bonnie is the only real exception, and I'm pretty sure she was raped along with being beaten.

Now, the background characters were almost all good people. The Mexicans and Americans you run into are usually all friendly. That captain in the American army was a badass.

I agree that Bonnie's the only pure character, though I doubt they raped her, I would have imagine she'd be a lot more distraught and physically beaten up if they had.

I'd say that Leigh's a pretty decent fellow as well, jaded and a little harsh by today's standards, but not a bad person.

And that US Army Captain is awesome. Why they didn't add him in multiplayer I'll never know.
And he looks like Flashman!

Spoiler: Comparison

 

[Boba Frag]

I suppose I'm the only one who could find the guy called 'Irish' as the most offensive, stereotyped character in the game.

Not exactly something I enjoy being associated with my country, to be honest.

At the same time, it's a video game.... and over looking the absolutely dire and utterly shit Irish accent that the voice actor thought somehow earned him his paycheck, I thought he was pretty funny.

I think the Irish had it better of his lines, I am Welsh, lived here all my life, NEVER heared someone say that, nevermind use it that fucking often in 2 sentances.

Anyway yo usem to have ignored Lousia (think that her name) The mexican girl, she was nice, shame you couldnt put her in control.

Wow over reaction much, dude you knew 3 guys, 2 were dictaitors, obviousloy the arrmy would be corrupt rapists, and Reyes was the new dictaitor, you cant say they portrayed Mexicans badly when they showed one, they showed one Welshman, dosent mean they made it out that everyone in Wales is an ashhole who says Boyo all the time.

Not sure I really follow you there... I'm not offended by the character Irish himself, I think he's really funny, I just think the voice acting was a bit on the lame side.
Then again, it's an American made game and they never bother getting accents correct, or even close.
Haven't encountered her yet, only just starting to play it sporadically.