So are rednecks/religious people the new boogeymen now?

[Saetha]

There's been a spate of media recently that seems to be drawing on the idea that people from the South/Rural areas or devout Christians are violent, misanthropic, and hateful. Outlast 2 (Which dealt with Christian nutjobs in Arizona.) Resident Evil 7 (Southern-accented psychos from Lousiana.) the new Farcry 5 (In fairness, this is hard to judge, as it hasn't come out yet, but set in Montana.) and while I admittedly know almost nothing about Handmaiden's Tale, it also seems to be depicting Christianity as the root of evil. You decide whether or not these portrayals are a true-to-life depiction or a baseless stereotype.

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

 

[Catnip1024]

Rednecks and Hillbillies have been on-off bad guys for years. Just look at some of the old movies. It's just gaming that's now catching up a bit (although one could argue Fallout raiders...).

I have nothing against it, I just hate the whole band-waggony thing where everybody suddenly decides to do it at once. It kind of kills variety.

 

[Zhukov]

Rednecks have been an "acceptable target" in fiction for decades.

Cults too, although perhaps not as frequently used.

 

[pookie101]

There's been a spate of media recently that seems to be drawing on the idea that people from the South/Rural areas or devout Christians are violent, misanthropic, and hateful. Outlast 2 (Which dealt with Christian nutjobs in Arizona.) Resident Evil 7 (Southern-accented psychos from Lousiana.) the new Farcry 5 (In fairness, this is hard to judge, as it hasn't come out yet, but set in Montana.) and while I admittedly know almost nothing about Handmaiden's Tale, it also seems to be depicting Christianity as the root of evil. You decide whether or not these portrayals are a true-to-life depiction or a baseless stereotype.

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

well cults and rednecks have been the bad guys especially in horror movies going back decades, its just a new phase for games thats all.

as for depicting christianity as the route of evil. well alot of people see some seriously scary ass comments coming from American, right wing conservative christian groups these days, so if anything its not christianity in general as such its actually fundamentalism and zealotry

 

[Avnger]

There's been a spate of media recently that seems to be drawing on the idea that people from the South/Rural areas or devout Christians are violent, misanthropic, and hateful. Outlast 2 (Which dealt with Christian nutjobs in Arizona.) Resident Evil 7 (Southern-accented psychos from Lousiana.) the new Farcry 5 (In fairness, this is hard to judge, as it hasn't come out yet, but set in Montana.) and while I admittedly know almost nothing about Handmaiden's Tale, it also seems to be depicting Christianity as the root of evil. You decide whether or not these portrayals are a true-to-life depiction or a baseless stereotype.

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

Not to drag this into R&P territory too much, but...

Right-wing extremism is (in the US) regarded as the largest terrorism threat by officials.

Again in the US, right-wing extremism is generally affiliated with Christian ideology[footnote]As in, many of these groups believe they are doing God's work, utilize Christian symbolism, and/or attempt Christian religious justification for their actions. It's similar to terrorist groups in the Middle East wrapping themselves in Islamic religious justifications.[/footnote][footnote]https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/active-hate-groups-2016[/footnote].

Of course, I doubt the trend is based on any type of actual data. It's more likely that devs finally got tired of the using "brown" people as the default bad guys and moved onto another target.

I will say that watching various groups that love to call others 'snowflakes,' 'PC police,' and 'triggered' lose their mind over such depictions when they are either completely ambivalent of or actively supportive of other identities being used as enemies is a bit enjoyable. There are already pieces up on sites like Infowars with people complaining about Far Cry 5.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

Nah. These games were in development long before Trump was President, and probably before Trump was a candidate.

And Christians make good targets for stuff in the US as, over here, we have some uniquely toxic versions of it. Like, "it's legal to marry a 13 year old and trying to make that illegal is rejected on religious grounds" or "you can let your child die from medical neglect because medical procedures are against your religion" toxic.[footnote]Yes, yes, #notallchristians, I get it. I'm Catholic myself[/footnote] So it doesn't surprise me that Japanese, Canadian, or French developers find some easy horror ideas there. (Doubt FarCry 5 is a horror game, but Outlast 2 and RE:7 definitely are)

That said: seeing the same people who would aggressively downplay any hints of racism or sexism or whatever suddenly get their knickers in a twist over the bad guys being a 'roided up version of the Montana Freemen is delicious.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

What? You never saw Deliverance?

This thing's been around for a while. Rednecks/separatists/militias/KKK/whatevers have been a stock bad guy in US media for a while now. There was a huge spurt of it after Oklahoma in the 90s that lasted basically until a while after 9/11. And the actual organisations these things are based off of are decades-old, like from the 80s. Like, read about the Turner Diaries. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turner_Diaries] That shit's older than I am.

If anything, this is a hipster-ish resurgence of an old-school trope. Like Trump just hit the Oh Shit, Racism button in a lot of writer's minds and we all collectively remembered that there used to be terrorists who weren't Arabs.

 

[Basement Cat]

What? You never saw Deliverance?

^^^This!^^^ So very much this! It was the first thing that came to mind, in fact.

The hillbillies depicted in Deliverance re-branded hillbillies for generations. Ye gods! It had the same effect on people going camping and canoeing as Jaws did for beach goers i.e. it scared folks off and ravaged tourist industries.

The male on male rape scene remains one of the most disturbing scenes in Hollywood history for countless people (especially men).

On the plus side the movie made "Dueling Banjos" ultra-famous.

 

[09philj]

In addition to all of the above, I'd hazard that many writers want to use foreign terrorists in such an incendiary political climate. I can't say I blame them. Nobody wants to make 24 after it went nuts again.

 

[Kyrian007]

I don't think its "new" maybe just gaining in popularity recently. Honestly, racist redneck fundamentalists are right in there with Nazis, terrorists, criminals... just standard canon fodder "evil" badguys that can be gunned down in a video game with little thought because they are without question "the bad guys." Like how zombies are ok to maim and dismember in games because... well they're zombies, they're not people anymore. Its ok. In a game like FC 5, well they're bad guys. Christian fundamentalist bigots, they're terrorists... blaze away, its ok. They're exactly as much not actually Christians as ISIS and Al Queda folk are not actually Islam.

 

[oRevanchisto]

Deliverance, anyone?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Redneck horror has been a popular element in fiction since... well, longer than anyone on here is alive, that's for sure. I mean, Texas Chainsaw Massacre? The Hills have Eyes? Deliverance? And even earlier than that you have the literary genre of Southern Gothic. And even in video games, you know, you had games like Bioshock Infinite providing a very damning portrayal of what's pretty much fundamentalist american christianity, a too many evil redneck archetypes to count, Resident Evil 4 for an european spin on the same things...

What I'm saying is, it's not exactly a recent trend. Is it going through mind of a rennaisance now as a response to a conservative government in America quickly turning the country into a dictatorship? Suppose so but then, those, for the most part aren't even the rural, christian fundamental kind of conservatives. Of course then a game where you fight a bunch of entitled 20 something rich kids with MAGA hats and Pepe shirts that fantasize about a muslim genocide would probably never be made out of fear of pissing of their target audience. Actually, you know what? I'd play the hell out of that. Screw rednecks, I want that game now!

 

[Saelune]

Can we stop equating "religious/religion" to JUST Christian?

Cause religious people have been the boogeyman for awhile now, they are called Muslims. And all the Christians up in arms about games like Far Cry 5 are often quite unaware that Muslims have been dealing with this for awhile...and many of those angry Christians too often say "How dare Ubisoft persecute religion...we should be killing Muslims instead"...Uh...really?

Freedom of Religion would mean ALL religions get that benefit, but it seems alot of Christians dont understand that their religion is not the only religion in the world.

The hypocrisy is suffocating.

 

[Parasondox]

I thought you were talking about this petition...

https://twitter.com/the_moviebob/status/869476023255085056

This shit right here is too fucking funny!!

 

[Wolf Hagen]

Rednecks:
GTA Series, quite some outta there Horror movies, the Fallout 3 DLC Point lookout, Resident Evil 7.
As a point of ridicule ever since the 20's in any kind of comedic sence.

Cristian themed Zealots:
Resident Evil 4, Bioshock infinite, Wold of Darkness (PnP), South Park.

You just opened the window on popular culture last month or...?

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Maybe in games:

Rednecks been acceptable targets in movies for decades. I'd understand if some of them are upset at this depiction since I'm sure a lot of them are actually quite well-read and you need a certain strength of character to be a successful farmer. Notice however, that the Bakers in Resident Evil are decent people taken over by a malevolent force. That could happen to anyone regardless of their heritage, although the innate fear of severely inbred humans (effectively utilized by Stephen King and other horror writers for a long time) is most effectively conveyed through a demographic that has, sadly, become known for it happening more often than with anyone else.

Religious zealots on the other hand, have been a dangerous threat since time immemorial, especially in fantasy games (in fact people have accused Final Fantasy of being anti-religion because it does this so often).

Whether they're worshipping a dark God, purging the world of 'sinners' in the name of a just God, or simply using it as an excuse to do whatever they want, they've been a stock enemy for centuries. Christianity just gets the most exposure because it's the most dominant religion. People read into its history and see how its advocates forcibly muscled out the other religions for centuries, and decide that templar/crusaders/the inquisition would be an effective nemesis if they just change the names.

I remember when I read the New Jedi Order books I wondered if the writers were catching any flack for the similarities the Yuuzhan Vong religion has to any other, and one of their main methods of attack was horrifyingly similar to radical Islamists.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm just kind of fascinated that I'm the bad guy now (zealously religious dude in what some would consider a cult in Montana). I'm certainly not going to sign that petition or anything, I'm just not particularly used to this. xD

 

[happyninja42]

There's been a spate of media recently that seems to be drawing on the idea that people from the South/Rural areas or devout Christians are violent, misanthropic, and hateful. Outlast 2 (Which dealt with Christian nutjobs in Arizona.) Resident Evil 7 (Southern-accented psychos from Lousiana.) the new Farcry 5 (In fairness, this is hard to judge, as it hasn't come out yet, but set in Montana.) and while I admittedly know almost nothing about Handmaiden's Tale, it also seems to be depicting Christianity as the root of evil. You decide whether or not these portrayals are a true-to-life depiction or a baseless stereotype.

Given the president we have in office, it's maybe unsurprising that this seems to be the new acceptable target. Still, I'm wondering what people think of the change - if they think any change exists at all. So, uh... discuss, I guess? Meh.

Having lived my whole life in the south, I can say that the whackjob fundamentalists that are portrayed are fairly accurate to a certain percentage of the population. I've lost count of the number of religious fuckos that feel perfectly happy to piss on everyone's day by spouting their religious bullshit for all to hear, condemning everyone that doesn't believe their particular brand of invisible sky father. And I know there is a percentage that orgasmically await some 2nd Revolution so they can get out their guns and "Save 'Murica". So the 2 aspects of the Farcry 5 villain group "Religous Fundamental Zealots" exists, as does the "Gun Crazy Fuckos". While I personally don't see many of them acting to the level of the game, for obvious reasons this would be all over the news, I don't think it's that far out of the realm of reality to depict some small town that gets so far up it's own ass with it's religious jingoism that they go on a killing spree.

But again, it's not like we haven't had examples of religious nutjobs in an isolated community, going crazy and militant, requiring the government to come in and stop them from trying to set up their own little kingdoms. The Branch Davidians in Waco isn't that far off in basic concept.

So no, I don't have a problem with depicting religious rednecks as bad guys. After hearing them earnestly telling me things like "we need to just wait for Jesus to come down and kill all the heathens (which would include me)", or "They're all gonna burn in hellfire once judgement comes. They've made their own beds of sin, and will have to suffer their fate" I have zero sympathy for them and how they are depicted in the media.

 

[MonsterCrit]

Rednecks have been an "acceptable target" in fiction for decades.

Cults too, although perhaps not as frequently used.

because there comes a point where a cult gains enough power or members to basically be a religion. See Scientology, oh hell see just about every religion out there. And yes, rednecks and hillbillies have always been an acceptable target. See as far back as the beverly hillbillies and lil' Abner. You see, said rednecks and extremists are not likelyt to be consuming the media in which they are negatively portrayed .

honestly. I think it again shows the fundamental flaw of human social structure. We all need someone to rag on. Whether it's extremist religions, people who are poor,immigrants, jobless; society always has its 'acceptable target' for everyones misanthropic nature.