Resident Evil called 'racist video game series'

[Shrygue]

via Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/24/resident-evil-called-racist-video-game-series/)


An author on left-leaning AlterNet.org not only jumps on the controversy of Resident Evil 5's alleged racism, but calls it a "racist video game series." The article is such a mess that you really have to enjoy it for its absurdity. The piece starts by saying those who go to see the "blockbuster Resident Evil: Extinction" in the theaters may want to play the game, but those who do "will likely enter a world little-known beyond the expensive and expansive universe of gaming, a world increasingly populated with very dangerous depictions of nonwhites."

The author only covers RE4 and RE5 in declaring the series racist. For RE4 he says its Spaniards have "stereotypical Mexican accents" and that RE5 "could be a training video for a white supremacist race war or another U.S. military adventure in one of the increasing numbers of deserts on the planet." Beyond the Resident Evil series there is a rehash of the Haitian controversy from GTA: Vice City -- although the author is way off in his timeline calling GTA: VC "this year's most popular video game."

There's a lot more "racist" issues brought up, but the article really stands as great piece to highlight how even when you introduce diversity to gaming, it's not just the extreme exclusionists who get upset and don't understand why there are women, gays, non-whites in games, but the extreme inclusionists too. Although in the inclusionist's case they want a rosy picture painted of the non-majority group; however, that's boring for narrative, unrealistic and in the end racism really depends on context. There are more moderate views on race issues in video games and that really shouldn't be forgotten. The AlterNet article is just so weird in its "one step forward, two steps back" presentation, we can't help but share.

[Sonicboy 101]

I am getting really tired of this rubbish.
Ok, so zombies not being pure white is racist now, huh?
What a world.

[DazJW]

Those crazy Japanese white supremacists!...

[splodger15]

People call racist on anything these days

[masamune]

Its totally racist, if I ever went to a hispanic location in Europe I would expect to see no spanish speaking people... Also who would expect to see black zombies in Haiti... BAH!! totally racist...

[maxipower90]

yea so white people are being killed all the time in games but when a black persons the bad guy they cry foul... typical

[SimSon2k3]

omg there are no differnts, white people and black people are the same ;)
to think about this topic thats racism, those people see a big differnt between black and white and thats not ok
in my opinion the game is not the problem ;)

sorry for my bad language ;)

[mcdougall57]

yea so white people are being killed all the time in games but when a black persons the bad guy they cry foul... typical

exactly, this is just bollocks. This kind of thing has gotten out of hand nowadays i know people who are scared to say the world black because they fear the black society will see it as racist. and i bet the guy who made this report isnt even spanish, yet he complains about the stereotypical spanyards accent what about the stereotypical english accent used in videogames,films and just about every tv program (not all people in england speak the southern accent!!), should we uproar about that?

[SilverDesertRain]

Only way to solve this matter is to put a black hero in the game. Also unlockable Japanese and an Arab hero will be a very good idea so everyone will be happy in the end except the zombies ofcourse... ;-)

[Game_over]

As an African-american.....I have to say that this is bullshit. It's obvious that they did not know anything about the series. Heres a few pointers:

* Chris Redfeild- the star of RE5 has been in the series since the first installment so niether him or Leon magically appear just to kill a certain group of people that is of different ethnicity as their's.

* Leon went to a small village in france, Chris is somewhere that looks like south america or africa.

* There is no adversity in regards to race in Japan, it's more to the contrary, try going yourself.

* Since both RE4 and RE5 take place in different countries, and it's about local becoming zombies and other mutants than chances are they are not all going to be white.

When we saw the trailer for the first time for RE5 we pretty much saw this coming, it's only the beginning, don't worry there is alot of people of color that are huge fans of the series and we all know better. Ignorance isn't always bliss.

[iceman100]

Only way to solve this matter is to put a black hero in the game. Also unlockable Japanese and an Arab hero will be a very good idea so everyone will be happy in the end except the zombies ofcourse... ;-)


Don't be absurd re4 had nothing fictional let alone raciest it there, but re5 now that's a different story. I don't know about you but seems japan has nothing better to than put the central story of their game in Africa or Haiti, and wasn't all this suppose to take place in the us? I don't know about you but going into a place like this and shooting up would be zombies that are all going to be black of course there would be a problem with it, and the game could have easily been made somewhere more believable with zombies.



Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverDesertRain View Post
Only way to solve this matter is to put a black hero in the game. Also unlockable Japanese and an Arab hero will be a very good idea so everyone will be happy in the end except the zombies ofcourse... ;-)

P.S whoever wrote this is an idiot, and has no clue to what this topic is about.

[stevo11185]

Only way to solve this matter is to put a black hero in the game. Also unlockable Japanese and an Arab hero will be a very good idea so everyone will be happy in the end except the zombies ofcourse... ;-)

^ loooooooooooooool

very true. i think in most games on the DS you can choose your skin color so thats a good suggestion

Arg, what will be next? Animal Rights agencies bombing people because they have animals that are killed in games? or maybe Alien rights might be taken into consideration?

[Potat4o]

Maybe it's sarcasm.

[sup3rman]

omfg re4 racist, or maybe they talk Spanish because thats where it takes place! wtf is wrong with this idiot that wrote the article

i wana slap the retard that made the article...

[maxipower90]

i wana slap the retard that made the article...

i want him dead, see the sarcasm. ohh wait there is none... GET HIM

[jools]

lmfao:rofl:

[wolfpack]

since im white, and i shot another white guy, is it a hate crime?

since im white and i shoot a black zombie in the face who is trying to eat my brains, is it STILL a hate crime?

[maxipower90]

if im white (which i am) and i hate white people is that a hate crime....? you get the point... think about it, the guy who wrote that is white im guessing.. but if no black people complain and that dude pointed it out, in his mind does he see black people as different. cause i dont. why do people always jump on the gun same as the bans on violent games, okay a dude murdered some one. quick blame the game it has nothing to do with his personal life or that hes just a born killer.. yea right..like i said hope he dies

[mike_jmg]

racist, yeah sure
when all the time the zombies have been white, who complained? no one

why don't they call racist grand theft auto san andreas?, now that's racism

[maxipower90]

racist, yeah sure
when all the time the zombies have been white, who complained? no one

why don't they call racist grand theft auto san andreas?, now that's racism

its not racism, its the truth. im Irish and people take the micky out of me all the time. thats life

[Elmarco]

It'd look a little strange if the community of the games africa was white now wouldnt it. Allow me to flash back to GTA san andreas.........

[alexvander]

wow thats stupid that just because the zombies r black makes it racist. last time i checked most of africa was black. if they made no black zombies then they would say the game is racist for not including blacks either way they would complain.

srry if this sounds racist its not meant to be

[.:}<3\/!}\{:.]

"i Have A Dream!!!!...............................

[DimensionT]

Don't be absurd re4 had nothing fictional let alone raciest it there, but re5 now that's a different story. I don't know about you but seems japan has nothing better to than put the central story of their game in Africa or Haiti, and wasn't all this suppose to take place in the us? I don't know about you but going into a place like this and shooting up would be zombies that are all going to be black of course there would be a problem with it, and the game could have easily been made somewhere more believable with zombies.

Dude, what are you talking about? So they shouldn't be allowed to make RE games that take place somewhere other then the U.S? Why, because it's not believable? What about zombies is believable in the first place?

Even if zombies were believable in general, would it somehow be impossible for the virus to spread? There's a magical zombie blocking fence surrounding the United States right? Trapping the zombies inside?

:rofl:

[royvedas]

Oh my f***ing God... Will this go on forever? It is like saying that video games and movies will make you kill people.

No it is not going to make you kill people! If you want to kill people then it is because you are stupid, jealoous, in self defence, by accident or a soldier, executioner or hitman - NOT because of computer games.

And I've had it up to here with people claiming that every time non-whites are portrayed in a less favorable way - then everyone is racist and evil. No they're not. People are trying to change the art, someones vision - that is prejudiced and evil.

No instead tell me why you made Kingpin black in the Daredevil movie and catwoman for that matter. That is too f***ing "Free you Mind - mtv - nineties bullcrap - lets make this a generic Benetton movie that makes Bono happy." No there weren't too many black people in the marvel Universe back in the day. Just too bad - make black people enter new stories and leave the old ones - or at least don't turn white characters into black ones and vice versa for that matter.

And for Christs sake - let people smoke in movies - it's part of reality - don't call them deathsticks.

I hate censorship. It Disneyfies art, and that my friends - is very disturbing.

[maxipower90]

And for Christs sake - let people smoke in movies - it's part of reality - don't call them deathsticks.



dont worry when the MG film comes out.. there will be cancer sticks

[idapimp]

this is so stupid that im not going to waste time making a smart comment on it.

[ish420ism]

get a hold of yourselves people. this game is not racist. anyone who thinks this game is racist has some sort of inferiority complex.

[kcajblue]

this is the most retarded thing ive heard.

why the hell would anyone call the RE series racist?

thats just being stupid.

[grudge1981]

re racist? HA; as far as i can remember there has been 1 black guy in the series so far that unlucky cop in re2 that you watch transform... as for re4s racism thats funny, maybe if they were all wearing sombreros and throwing burritos i could see it.

[ish420ism]

you want racist. Watch that Germy, Ned Holden A.K.A., Fake Latin wannabe, Carlos Mencia. Better yet, don't watch. **** the Show of Mencia

[Johnny Rash]

re racist? HA; as far as i can remember there has been 1 black guy in the series so far that unlucky cop in re2 that you watch transform... as for re4s racism thats funny, maybe if they were all wearing sombreros and throwing burritos i could see it.

LMAO! :rofl:

As for Resident Evil being racist.
It's complete bullshit.

Capcom did not intentionally put RE5 in Africa so you can run around and mercilessly slaughter people of color. In fact, the complaint should be reversed since all these black people are looking to destroy a sole white man.

Racist? You be the judge.

[Bestwick]

Black people in Africa? Never!

Seriously, does the author expect the creators to fill the African villages with white people for the sake of what he thinks is politically correct?

I happen to live in Africa, South Africa to be precise, and I really thought the rest of the world had gotten over this level of hypersensitivity. I'd expect that here, but not in the western world.

[sourced]

i say pokemon is racist. because they made pikachu yellow, and EVERYONE knows that Asians are yellow. so they're implying that all asians are small, shoot thunder balls out of their cheeks and have tiny squeaky voices?

tsk tsk, racisy pokemon.


lol, this article is bull

[robman84]

bollocks

[Kaeruyaki]

It's racist to depict Africans in Africa?

[klx5]

the author sounded racist to me because he says that those zombies sounded like Mexicans, i am Mexican and i nor my family or any of my mexican friend sound like them so he is an ignorant jerk for saying that it seems to that every person who speaks spanish to him is Mexcan.

[DarthPaul]

Racist video game series!?

What about the rest of the games of this series? This is not the only Resident Evil game, you know?

Were you killing black people on all the RE games? No.

[AcerVentura]

Zombies should be really offended by this game. They're always depicted as brainless flesh-eating maniacs. What about the good zombies?

I'm still upset there are no Scotsmen in any RE games. I'd much prefer to play wearing a klit and brandishing a shotgun, a pint of Guinness and an accent thicker than haggis.

[EvanQuinn]

Just because blacks are too ****ing stupid to figure out how to beat it, they call it racist. Figures. This shit is really getting old. I know I seem ignorant, but if you don't wear chains, sag your britches, sell drugs, and smack a woman in a video game, it is now racist. No One called san andreas racist did they? Hell no. Always looking for sympathy.