Earlier this week, I posted an interview with gaming journalist N’Gai Croal of Newsweek.
During our conversation about the portrayal of black people in games, we talked about the controversy surrounding the “Resident Evil 5” trailer that debuted at last year’s E3.
It depicts a white protagonist going into an apparently poverty-stricken village (the location is unspecified) and killing throngs of black zombified men and women (see the trailer yourself).
Croal’s reactions were so detailed and thoroughly-described that we decided to highlight them in their own post.
Multiplayer editor Stephen Totilo wrote about his uneasiness upon viewing it, and commenters from other outlets discussed whether or not the trailer was racist. Some agreed with Totilo, but quite a few people disagreed. Earlier this week, developer Morgan Gray explained that he didn’t have a problem with it either.
Croal’s first reaction to the trailer was, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” He explained his thoughts on the trailer and how he would have preferred Capcom to treat it:
“It’s like when you engage that kind of imagery you have to be careful with it. It would be like saying you were going to do some sort of zombie movie that appeared to be set in Europe in the 1940’s with skinny, emaciated, Hasidic-looking people. If you put up that imagery people would be saying, ‘Are you crazy?’ Well, that’s what this stuff looks like. This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can’t pretend otherwise. That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood. … If you’re going to engage imagery that has that potential, the onus is on the creator to be aware of that because there will be repercussions in the marketplace.”
Here are more of his thoughts on the matter…
(As with all of the articles in this series, we strongly suggest you read the piece in full before commenting.)
Multiplayer: I wanted to ask you about the “Resident Evil 5″ trailer…
Croal: I looked at the “Resident Evil 5″ trailer and I was like, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” Because I wonder, and I haven’t sort of really dug into it that much, but I wonder what sort of advice Capcom gave them. The point isn’t that you can’t have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery. What was not funny, but sort of interesting, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it. So how could you have a conversation with people who don’t understand what you’re talking about and think that you’re sort of seeing race where nothing exists?
There was stuff like even before the point in the trailer where the crowd turned into zombies. There sort of being, in sort of post-modern parlance, they’re sort of “othered.” They’re hidden in shadows, you can barely see their eyes, and the perspective of the trailer is not even someone who’s coming to help the people. It’s like they’re all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It’s not even like one cute African — or Haitian or Caribbean — child could be saved. They’re all dangerous men, women and children. They all have to be killed. And given the history, given the not so distant post-colonial history, you would say to yourself, why would you uncritically put up those images? It’s not as simple as saying, “Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in ‘Resident Evil 4,’ and now ‘black zombies and that’s why people are getting upset.” The imagery is not the same. It doesn’t carry the same history, it doesn’t carry the same weight. I don’t know how to explain it more clearly than that.
“The audience isn’t demanding much change. They like the games they’re playing.” |
I think the audience isn’t demanding much change. They like the games they’re playing. They’re by and large comfortable with the amounts of stereotypes in their games. You know because another thing that you sort of have gamers run into in situations like this is that, “Oh it’s just a game.” [laughs] You know, if it’s just a game, then why do we care about how culturally relevant they are? I care about how culturally relevant they are. I take games as seriously as other art forms.
If there were a movie that had those images, I’d question it. I’d really want to know what’s going on in this movie. Like where is this coming from? So we hadn’t seen much of the game. It was just a trailer. If it had been me in that situation, I wouldn’t have put out a trailer like that. I think it’s very easy to misunderstand what that game is about based on that trailer. And while I would certainly withhold final judgment, if that’s all the game is, I’d be concerned about that.
Multiplayer: It’s funny how some people argue that it’s “just a game,” but also get really upset of any criticism of it…
Croal: Absolutely. It’s very difficult in this country, in many countries, to have a conversation about race. Everyone brings to it their own history, their own perspective. Some people are engaged in it, some people aren’t. I think some people are concerned because some people think there is a double standard. Some people say that when it’s images of only black people then people get concerned. Some people feel like their hobby is under attack; it’s being misinterpreted or misunderstood. Again the portrayal of Africa, or the Caribbean, since we don’t know where it’s being set, as sort of this dark, dangerous continent filled with people who only want to do you harm goes back a long, long way. And based on the images put up on the trailer, what else are you supposed to take from it? Especially if you’re not familiar with the franchise?
“It’s very difficult in this country, in many countries, to have a conversation about race.” |
Even if you are familiar with the franchise, if you are familiar with those images and their historical weight, you look at it and say, “Man, that’s kind of messed up.” Then you look at the music that was used in the trailers, that’s one of the things that was sort of funny in so that you had those people who were saying, “It’s not even Africa, it’s Haiti or somewhere in the Caribbean.” The music that they’re using in the trailer is very reminiscent of the music used in Black Hawk Down which was set in Africa — Somalia. That actually was one of the things that was most disturbing because it sort of had a feeling as like, “Wow, what research did this team do? Did they only watch Black Hawk Down and give it this kind of vibe?”
I don’t want to put down the Capcom team that’s working on it. I hope they did more research than that. But based on that trailer, it’s very difficult to tell. And Black Hawk Down was a very problematic film among a handful of critics and particularly among African-American viewers and African viewers when it came out because of the sort of narrow focus of its portrayal.
That’s the whole thing where only Chris Redfield appears to be human before they turn into zombies; the humanity of other people is in question. It’s like you barely see their faces, he doesn’t really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it’s sort of, “Is he there? Is he not?” It’s a very strange thing, and it taps into sort of this very racist iconography. I think that’s the only way I’m describing it. I’m not saying that was their intent. But it seems that a lot of people who were up in arms about the trailer couldn’t see that and didn’t want to engage it.
I think, again, the point is not that Capcom can’t or shouldn’t make a zombie game set in what appears to be an impoverished country where the majority of residents are black. I’m not saying that. But what I am saying is that if I was Capcom, I wouldn’t have suggested to put out that trailer. I would have said, “You know what, this has tremendous capacity for being misunderstood, and we want to signal that this is not what you might think it is” — and they didn’t do that. That’s what I’m saying.
“This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can’t pretend otherwise.” |
It’s like when you engage that kind of imagery you have to be careful with it. It would be like saying you were going to do some sort of zombie movie that appeared to be set in Europe in the 1940’s with skinny, emaciated, Hasidic-looking people. If you put up that imagery people would be saying, “Are you crazy?” Well, that’s what this stuff looks like. This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can’t pretend otherwise. That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood. If you’re going to tread, if you’re going to engage imagery that has that potential, the onus is on the creator to be aware of that because there will be repercussions in the marketplace.
I don’t know how Capcom feels about it. I think releasing that game is going to be very difficult. I think there are people and organizations who aren’t very understanding of games that if that imagery is brought to them they’re going to be like, “Wait, hold up. I don’t know how you could put that out.” Then you have to say, “Does Wal-Mart want to deal with that? Does Target want to deal with that?” I’m not saying that censorship is the answer. I’m saying that the same rights that allow Capcom to put the game out are the same rights that allow people to bring pressure on people who might release that game. This is why it is important to whoever works in the American office of a company like Capcom to be able to show this is the history, this is where this comes from, this is where we need to be more sensitive. I’m not sure they’ve done that yet.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“It was just a trailer. If it had been me in that situation, I wouldn’t have put out a trailer like that. I think it’s very easy to misunderstand what that game is about based on that trailer. And while I would certainly withhold final judgment, if that’s all the game is, I’d be concerned about that.”
There is the train of thought that would say that a trailer is supposed to conjure up excitement and curiousity about the game. If that was the aim (and maybe I’m giving Capcom too much credit here), they’ve succeeded wildly. I mean, put this game in Russia, and people are just excited about RE5 and it gets mentions only when it is near release. But stir up a controversy, get people talking about the game that might not have before? That’s publicity you can’t buy.
If I go with the supposition that Capcom are geniuses, I would say they put out this trailer to set the stage and create controversy, and then in the actual game, there will be moments of humanity amongst the “dangerous men, women and children.” They may even release a second trailer showing this type of character(s) in the game.
Of course, I could be wrong. And they most certainly are playing with fire when they don’t take into account the historical imagery that they are bringing up, as you mentioned. We’ll see how it all plays out, I guess. Good food for thought, N’Gai.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
First of all, we’re not upset by people attacking our game. We’re upset that all this attacking of our game will lead to some eventual form of censorship of it. Sort of like with GTA; whenever there is controversy surround something and whenever a group of people, regardless of how small or large that group is, gets offended, then some kind of censorship will occur. That’s the state of affairs in politically-correct America and other places currently.
Also, I’ve always been all for racial equality and balanced representation of all races in media. I consider myself extremely engaged in racial discussions, and aware/informed about such issues. I’m an ethnic minority in America as well. However, I personally don’t see the racism in Capcom’s representation of blacks in the RE5 trailer. When you really stop to think about it, all they really did was the exact same thing conceptually as RE4, except they just swapped the Spaniards with Africans. Yes, the Africans, even in civilian/human, pre-zombie form, looked more menacing and creepy than what a average African person would look; but that was exactly the point, and it was the case for their Spanish counterparts as well. All in all, I don’t currently see any issue in what Capcom is doing with RE5, and I know there is a tendency in this day and age towards over-political correctness, and over-sensitivity to the more controversial topics regarding race, sex, and violence; I feel that minority groups have a tendency to speak on behalf of unfair portrayals of their own race too much, and not enough about racism in general as it relates to everyone else, and in the process they can get to the point where they come off as nitpicky or whiny. or overly sensitive. I’m really the first one to point out egregious instances of racism and bigotry, but I try to be vigilant about how I go about it and with what frequency; to criticize every single little trivial thing that COULD even possibly be construed as racism will eventually backfire and engender more resentment than agreement to your cause.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I agree that the biggest concern about this trailer is its lack of context. The first time I watched it, I was paying more attention to the “zombie” aspect of it than the racial aspect. But by the end of it, I felt vaguely uncomfortable with the imagery.
I showed it to my wife (who’s neither black nor white, if it matters) and she thought it was just straight-up wrong. Before anything else, her impression was, “So you’re a white guy sent into a village to shoot a whole lot of black people? That’s pretty racist.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but it got me thinking, of course, about the parallels to Resident Evil 4. I don’t feel that game is racist, even if it is somewhat naive (American super-stud invades poor, backwards village to shoot first and ask questions later). But I suppose I came to the same conclusion as you, N’Gai, because I kept thinking that while the mechanic is the same between the two titles, the context is not — at least based on what little we know.
At this point I don’t think the game is intentionally racist. I think that by the time this releases (if it ever does!), there will be proper context and story; the trailer indicates an RE4-style outside influence (the man with the megaphone), which presumably corrupts the ordinarily good people in the village (as was the case in RE4). Had the trailer taken more steps to present the game this way, I don’t think people would be as upset.
You know, I can see a story that that would make sense; foreign colonization and intervention is what caused this problem, and in man’s ultimate naiveté, foreign intervention is also believe to be the salve. There is great potential for a mature tale to be told here; whether it actually gets told is another issue.
In the developer interview that has been subsequently released by Capcom, nothing of the sort was addressed. Their only comment was, “this game is about the extremes between light and dark.” Yeah, the armed-to-the-teeth white man gunning down dozens of poor black citizens kind of illustrated that, thanks — perhaps not in the way that the dev team intended, though.
Even if the game’s story does provide a perfectly legitimate context for what we saw in the trailer, will it be too late? By not realizing the potential impact of this baseless imagery, Capcom may have done irreparable harm to RE5’s opinion amongst the public. Sure, some will, as you say, either ignore or simply not see the implications. I’ll bet, though, that most mainstream outlets won’t.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
“What was not funny, but sort of interesting, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it.”
Not to try and dimish the feelings of those who were offended/upset/disturbed by the trailer, but isn’t that a good thing? Doesn’t is signal progress if people can play a game without seeing all of these racial undertones?
Personally, I didn’t really understand the racial controversy either. To me, it was just someone from STARS fighting Zombies in a predominantly black part of the world. I didn’t even really equate a lot of the pverty issues that Stephen saw. I just saw a new setting that hadn’t been tried before, a fresh look.
One question I have though is, would it have been better if the protagonist was black too? Specifically though, a black American with STARS, with all the baggage that entails too?
April 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
It’s not a matter of race unless it is brought up as race.
It is a geological setting. If RE5 took place in Vietnam and we have a bunch of zombie Vietnamese people running around, you want to kill them before they kill you. Would some some Asian group get all fired up about this? Probably not.
If the world get too sensitive about killing a certain race of zombies, then we might as well start going to B-movie route and kill “Martian Zombies From Dimension X-15″ to satisfy their zombie-hunting fix.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This is a very American viewpoint on a Japanese game.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Bunch of crybabies, its a game. When the negros start breaking out the glocks and fried chicken, then you have a right to be upset
April 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I’m not a Newsweek reader, but I do enjoy N’Gai Croal when he is a guest on gaming podcast that I enjoy. He’s one of the most informed gaming journalists out there and has some very well formulated opinions on the gaming industry. I totally respect him.
It is true that there is a lot of history that we need to respect when doing anything in this country (U.S.), but we shouldn’t let history hinder creativity. I don’t imagine that Capcom created RE5 with racist will in their plans. I think they thought it would be a cool setting and environment that would be scary.
Did anyone find out if Capcom did have any black employees working on this title? Would it really make a difference? Would this make it okay? If so, why?
This isn’t racism. This is people perceiving it as racist, which isn’t an issue for Capcom, but an issue for that individual. Some groups think that Rumble Roses is a sexist game just because the creators wanted to make the female characters sexy. There was no sexism in that game at all, but some how sexy gets turned into sexism. We shouldn’t turn every black vs. white thing into a racist issue because in the end it’s just pointing out that we can’t move past the color of our skin.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I understand what is being said here but I think what people arent thinking about is this. The game is made in Japan. Not many black people worked on it? I doubt many white people did either. This has nothing to do with America or its history. To even bring it up makes no sense at all. Basically, all we have is a trailer. There are two camps that have strong opinions about it. One thinks its nothing, and the other think its everything. They are both wrong. We do not know the context of everything in the video. So to have an opinion on what it means and IF the Japanese team working on it were slightly racist is thoughtless. If it is in Kenya in a village, then one could assume that the zombies would be black. I am African American. I dont think its offensive. But… I am from a South African family that moved because of apartheid and the damage done to people. So that means I am white but doesnt mean that I somehow identify with the main character shooting blacks? Am I going to get more entertainment by doing that? Im not that shallow. Not every person applies to this rule, but I understand where the bad things will come from. Its not an issue of race or racism, its an issue of punks taking things out of context when they play a video game. Black zombies is not the same as Hasidic emaciated people in the 40’s. It isn’t and its a little stupid to make that comparison. Why did you dig that far to make a point? They were black zombies, not black American slave zombies from 300 years ago. I just hope people stop looking at this like its so black and white for lack of a better phrase.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Statix,
I realize that in your opinion, all Capcom did in going from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 5 was remove the Spaniards and replace them with people of African or Caribbean descent. The point that I made in my interview with Tracey is that the history of Spain and the history of African and Caribbean countries are different enough that they cannot be seen as equivalent. That’s why I gave the example of a fictional Resident Evil 6 set in 1940s Europe with emaciated, Semitic zombies. I don’t think people would look to kindly at that. Similarly, if Resident Evil were set in 1940s China or Korea, with a Japanese protagonist mowing down Chinese or Korean zombies, I don’t think that would be looked upon favorably given Japan’s imperial past.
There is a long and ugly history of portraying African and Caribbean countries as dark, dangerous places filled with threating natives who need to be killed or subjugated. Those portrayals came out of situations where black people in those countries were actually being killed and subjugated by white colonizers. This is not my opinion. This is historical fact. If you haven’t read the book “King Leopold’s Ghost,” I suggest that you do so–it’s an eye-opening primer on this subject. Another good book, on the history of racist imagery, is “Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality.”
Whether or not the developers at Capcom intended this, the images in their trailer are strikingly reminiscent of classical racist imagery. I’m not saying that the game is racist, because I haven’t played it. And having played previous installments in the series, I suspect that Capcom will bring some humanity to the portrayal of some of the black characters–the ones who are “human,” at any rate, as opposed to zombies. The problem is that the trailer shows little to no humanity in *any* of the black characters. They have no lines of dialogue. Their faces are often hidden in shadow. Their movements are slowed down in slow-motion. They look menacingly at the camera. The protagonist doesn’t interact with them. And everything I’ve just described takes place before the protagonist is attacked, before the gameplay footage begins. In my reading of the trailer, the black extras are already being portrayed as zombies, as something less than human, before all hell breaks loose. Again, I don’t know what Capcom intended, but given the history of these kinds of images, they’ve put out a trailer that makes such readings possible.
As to your opinions on political correctness, and over-sensitivity, I’ll leave you to them. However, I will say that I find it interesting that in your world view, what’s required in order for us all to get along–to avoid “engender[ing] more resentment–is that I refrain from expressing my opinion in case you or others might consider it a “little trivial thing.” Or that I should somehow substitute your opinion of what are “egregious instances of racism or bigotry” for my own. That’s not going to happen. Ever.
Cheers,
N’Gai
April 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Aren’t zombies a concept of Afro-Caribbean decent in the first place? It is a concept coming from Haitian voodoo (or vodou). It was brought to the us through settlements and slaves in Louisiana… carried on in the tradition of the Louisiana-Creole. Which later has been interpreted as possibly being a psychotic-psychedelic display rather than a pharmacological raising of the dead.
On top of that there is the much distant modern stance on zombies where it is treated like an epidemic (ie 28 days later). This exaggerating and calling attention to the currently frequent HIV epidemic in Africa. Let us not forget Ebola-virus yet either. This fictional portrayal of modern zombies draws attention as movies like Andromeda-Strain did not.
It also draws attention to genocide. When populations are wiped out, it requires a stance that the victims were sub-human. One can obviously then see the difference portrayed of zombie Africans and real Africans. It shows a view beyond race. It makes race look petty. It is simply a reaction of a uncontrolled epidemic of evil.
Resident evil is simply bio-mimicry mixed with current events and the ultimate fear of evil.
The point of the game is fear! It is horrid, shocking, and controversial. You are fighting evil which requires your own evil (to kill). So it has to draw upon modern issues ingrained in us all. If this was made in the 40s/50s it may possibly take place in Europe with Jews rather than Africans. It uses present political guilt to enhance the horror.
I commend the trailer and find it to be usefull commentary on modern current events.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I don’t know if saying that it displayed classic racist imagery is quite accurate. Black people fading into the shadows is a problem, yes (actually, I didn’t notice it, I may have to rewatch). But the real issue is what Croal said of the holocaust victims: the imagery has weight, has meaning, but rather than recalling American-based racism it recalls the imagery we get from news outlets of Somalia or Sudan or even Haiti. It’s taking something truly terrible and setting a game there.
Even if it’s accurate, it’s not the point: the point is that there’s a double-standard. We wouldn’t accept a game that involved a run through a Serbian village or WW2 concentration camp. (And don’t bring up RE4, it’s just not the same thing: it’s not like that game was set in Guernica and was having you kill Basques.)
April 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Japanese are aware of Racism issue but they wher trying to pop out zombies so they did it in Africa and so the hero was actually trying to save Africans other than that village(as it was already one) in the first place. So I think they owuld have rather thought that htis would appeal to them but they definitely new they were taking some risk.
Also I would say if the game is as gripping as RE4 itself it doesnt needs improvement following the old trend correctly would be better.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Yann, shut the f*** up you idiot troll.
You know, I gotta agree with N’Gai on this. If this were a movie trailer, people would be justifiably horrified. We, as people who love games, should be asking tough questions: Capcom, what’s your motivation for constructing the story this way? Why does it need to be told like this?
However, it’s a bigger “slam” on gamers than it is on Capcom, because we don’t say, “This is tasteless, I don’t like it.” We say, “WOO! A new Resident Evil game!” despite that fact that really, it’s feeding us a message with, at the very least, questionable moral values.
Like I said, if it were a movie, you’d hear a lot of objections from movie-lovers. But it’s a game, and the gaming audience is still pretty immature.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
N’Gai, you know I love you, but, “the black extras are already being portrayed as zombies, as something less than human” come on. I know I cant see it with the same eyes as other people may. But I cannot understand why one race, nationality or religion can be acceptable to use and others cant. It is a video game. I find it more offensive that every pimp in a game seems to be black and every mindless gang member seems to be Latino. Take arms about that and I understand. Taking arms about a fictional place and time where the zombies happen to be a certain race when they have been other races in the past? This isnt a “Shoot the bad black people simulator” Its kill the zombies. Its like saying in the old RE’s that the white zombies were a political message of the white man trying to make everyone the same and take over. This is as thoughtless as arguing that “Racoon city” had some hidden agenda in the name.
I can’t wait until RE6 in Smurf village.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
@ N’Gai –
“Whether or not the developers at Capcom intended this, the images in their trailer are strikingly reminiscent of classical racist imagery.”
I think this is part of the root of the problem here. At what point do things that look like “classical racist imagery” just become “imagery”? At what point can we, as a whole, let go of that?
I know it’s not the same, but here’s an example. I’m part Irish, and I have a friend whose family is Swedish. He used to joke around and say “Hey, you know, my family raped and pillaged your ancestors, so technically, we’re probably related!” (referencing some of the nastier things the Vikings did a long time ago). I never got offended by this though, cuz it was *centuries* ago and not something I’ve ever concerned myself with.
I would *NEVER* say anything remotely like that to someone of African descent though…it would be hugely inappropriate. But there needs to come a time, eventually, when something like that can be made. Otherwise, the whole world will fall apart because no one will let anything go. The US and Britain will hate each other, the Brits would hate the French, the Scots would revolt, the Aussies would be pissed about being put on a penal colony, and the Aboriginals would start a war over the outback, the Chinese and Japanese would go to war with half of South-East Asia, etc…
Perhaps this game came out while some of those wounds were too fresh, and perhaps given context it’s impact wouldn’t be as bad…but there comes a point when we need to separate ourselves from the deeds of the past. It’s called “classical” racist imagery for a reason, right? It was put out a long time ago…but if we keep constantly comparing the present to the deeds of foolish and racist men in the past, we’ll never make any progress.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Here we go again.
This rascism controversy is maybe the most exaggerated “controversy” ever. Now don’t get me wrong. I get why N’gai is upset and what he is trying to say here. But I am feeling that in some parts of the world, or just lets say it straight, the US, people are still much more “aware” of color, and tend to LOOK and SEARCH for issues. Clearly this is due to it’s history, but honestly, I’m from Africa (not Black but Arab), and I haven’t seen a problem with the trailer.
The only thing that kinda stood out, was the fact that I couldn’t seperate between “Black Guy with an axe, trying to kill white guy” and “Black ZOMBIE Guy with an axe, trying to kill white guy”, which I guess is the big problem.
No this one kind of made me mad: “Again the portrayal of Africa, or the Caribbean, since we don’t know where it’s being set, as sort of this dark, dangerous continent filled with people who only want to do you harm goes back a long, long way.”
So what do you want to do…. throw in a bunch baked up caribbean steel drum players and Rastafaris?
Or an african merchant smiling and screaming: “Come come… very good merchandise! Buy this gun…. very cheap… I’ll make you a good price. Buy gun and bullets is for free… because you good white customer…”. Sarcasm… that’s right.
How in the world should they make a trailer, in which suspense is buildup, without depicting everything around, YOU, the main character, as dangerous. Kind of hard?
Now I already mentioned that I am an Arab. What do you think I thought about Call of Duty 4, where you running around gunning down Arabs all the time?
Right, I enjoyed every single second. You know why? Because it’s a good game, and that’s all it is. Wanna hear more? I enjoy 24 very much! And believe me… as an Arab/African living in Germany I know a lot about racism.
Shit, I would even say I’m a racist myself… truth is, we ALL are and will stay it for a long long time. Now I don’t mean racist, like running around with a swastika symbol around my arm and being a mad, brainless, violent jerk. I mean more in the sense, that every single one of us is going to have prejudice against other people…
Asians are good at math, Blacks have bigger penises and if I see a guy who’s 6″10 I’m gonna think he’s a great basketball player… this kind of *~~%. Yes it’s wrong and immature, but it’s something we all have to accept, that those kind of sterotypes we think of, which are cleary race related, thus racist, are going to stay…
But back to the main point…
If you ask me about racism in videogames, here think about that: Ever seen a whimpy black guy in a videogame? Strange thing… most black game characters are, muscle ripped urban slang speaking, tough badasses who look like they just jumped out of a BET Clip into the videogame. How come?
And although so many video game titles are from Japan, I have yet never seen a clearly asian looking main character in a videogame. Instead they delivered a truly clichey italian plumber, who even after 20 years of gaming still speaks like a true italian sterotype…
Wonder why nobody complains about those things…
April 10th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
There is obviously a bigger issue at hand here. I personally didn’t find the trailer offensive at all. And truth is, most of the third world countries with blacks aren’t exactly the prettiest of pictures. What’s sad is the fact that a place like portrayed in the trailer really does exsist with it’s run down shanty towns and people who look half starved and not in the best of shape.
What I always found interesting was the fact that the majority of Japaneses developed games do not accurately portray how the Japanese look! Why do they have games like Residents Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry etc were the lead roles are not Japanese. Even their anime characters don’t look Japaneses. The only anime that I know of that even closely resembles what Japanese people look like is the classic Akira. When you do see a Japaneses looking character in an anime, they are usually the comic relief.
Maybe Japan has a big issue with it’s own race and how they portray themselves(or lack of). So having the portrayals of blacks in RE5 might just seem perfectly fine with them. Again I feel the issue is just far deeper than what we presently have here with RE5. Japan maybe needs to start looking at how they feel about themselves as race. Because from the way they portray themselves in one of their biggest mediums, speaks volumes.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Ron,
Thanks for the love, man.
I didn’t say that one race, nationality or religion would be acceptable to use and others would not. In my comment upthread, I gave several examples that people would likely find offensive. But please don’t change the subject because there’s something else that *you* find more offensive. The section of my interview that’s under discussion is the Resident Evil 5 trailer, not pimps and gang members–and by the way, both can be offensive.
I understand that this trailer doesn’t offend you, but please don’t tell me what should or should not disturb me. I described *my* reading of the trailer, and I connected those images to an actual historical record. We can’t wish away the history of the world we live in, and we can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. The issue I raised was not whether Capcom should be allowed to make Resident Evil 5; in this country, the First Amendment gives them that freedom. The issue I raised is about the images they chose to show in their trailer, and the way in which those images can be read. In my opinion, given the weight and history of those kinds of images, they needed to be much, much more careful and thoughtful about the manner in which they chose to introduce the game to the world at large.
Cheers,
N.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
This article is really sad, it truly demostrates how people wont let race issues go. When an article like this is written, it resurrects the race issue from the dead. I think most people that were born within the last 30 years, dont really think or care about the issue. Which by the way is the bulk of people who actually play resident evil games. Race is brought up in politics, economy, news, etc and now video games. This is why race issues will never die, because the media feeds it. As the old bigits die off and the young grow and mature with a new bright view that is not tanted, rasisim will die.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Seriously N’Gai, pick your battles. You are really picking this game, which is clearly not racist,btw, over all of the 50 cent, Saints row, ect ect, urban stereotype games?!? THOSE games dont bother you enough to soapbox them repeatedly, but RE5 is where you will take your stand. In defense of who? Africans? All Africans? African Americans?? Of course a movie like this would not be made in America, but that is only because we have learned to be so subversive in our racism that we no longer even notice. Do you want to protect a small segment of the worlds population (I am not just talking about blacks here) from feeling “uncomfortable”? No matter what races you use, or even if everyone was the same race in RE5, a part of the world, unable to look outside of their own worldview and opinions, will feel offended and uncomfortable. You see it as white on black violence, others will see it as human on human violence, others will be too busy having a blast playing the game. If you truly feel that games are art, then you will have the sense to recognize that sometimes art makes you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes art brings up thoughts from within your own life experiance that dont make you feel warm and fuzzy. Being uncomfortable is good, it makes you question yourself and the world. Enjoy the feeling. Now please go stop the next 50 cent from being released. Pleeeease.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Respect to N’gai and all, but he is way off base this time. I agree with whomever said that the fact that many gamers “did not see it” (whatever ‘it’ is) is a damn good thing. I think we should be able to see a black person in a videogame and not instantly think “black = racist” which seems to happen a lot.
Comparing this five minute trailer to a game that is set in 40’s Europe featuring emaciated Jews is absolutely ridiculous. The leap in logic is astounding and something I wouldn’t expect from N’gai. This game HAS a context — it’s set in Haiti, and there’s a reason it is. I can’t even properly debate the “emaciated European” comment because it’s so off target it’s stunning.
Frankly, I find it more racist that nobody cared about the Spaniards in RE4 but are all up in arms when their own color is portrayed. It reeks of self-service and is something I think is a huge problem in our society. What if RE6 was set in Japan or China? Would we all scream racism as the Asian zombies? I doubt anybody black would give a #??~, just like N’gai doubts anybody black worked on this game (which, considering it’s developed in Japan, is likely, y’know).
These kinds of “one race is sacred above all else” arguments are a problem. If we want equality in the world, we need to be able to have a videogame set in Haiti without people throwing a hissy fit.
And just to point out, as I have done many times … Chris Redfield is the ethnic minority in this game.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I completely agree with Croal. When I saw that trailer I was like, “Wow, there is obviously no white person working on this game.” It’s not that you can’t have a white protagonist, but there was a lot of imagery in that trailer that was linked with classic, ‘violent white man has a gun and is scared of black people’. When Capcom make a trailer that have to keep in mind what imagery they are trying to portray, and it looks as if they missed the mark on this one in more than one racial and stereotypical way.
I, for one, am white. I also know a lot of white people, and none of them are angry “I wanna shoot black zombies because they’re black”. In fact, none of them even own guns. We have many mutual black friends who we frequently hang out with. None of my black friends are zombies nor are they angry and scary looking. The fact that they portray that in this trailer is offending to me. Capcom, shake your heads.
I also agree with Croal in that Capcom should not have put out that trailer, even if it depicts the setting and premise of the game. They should have kept if vague or misleading so that when the game was released, people would still buy it because they had no clue what it was about (other than what they know from past games which is positive). That way, the millions of dollars they spent making the game would not be wasted because then people would not how much racist imagery there is in the game (both white and black). I think that this obviously non-fictional game should be banned from the USA until they fix their racial obscurities.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Yeah - most of the RE4 games have had undead that reflected the indigenous population where the infection hit. Raccoon City was obviously your standard American-ish city where there’s a mix of different races.
If your game is set in a third-world or LDN, like Haiti or several different nations in Africa, then it stands to reason your undead are going to be the same race as the living people who caught the virus. Obviously, said virus doesn’t discriminate.
Go watch the movie “Outbreak”. Sometimes diseases break out in underdeveloped nations that, OMG, are populated by lots of black people. That doesn’t mean the story is racially motivated.
And it’s exactly this kind of cry-wolf BS that makes it hard to get down to the honest complaints of racism that still exist. This is precisely why no one takes jokers like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton seriously anymore. The more things onto which you slap the label of racism, the less meaning the term has.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
This is probably the most retarded thing to come out of a videogame trailer ever. No, I’m not white and I still don’t see it. I’ve played every RE since it’s inception and because in 5 the zombies are black it becomes this whole issue of racism, which should mean, really that the Japanese devs on this game are severely racist due to the fact you killed white zombie and black zombies in the previous games and then they switched it up to a small Spanish population. Isn’t the point of the game to stop the spread and uncover the truth, unfortunately people are infected along the way. But why stop at the races of people, PETA should be pissed about the zombie dogs, and maybe even Lickers could be considered some form of hybrid animal/human so they should have a rightful say, but why stop there. There’s crows, insects and plants also. There is almost Zero known about the plot of this game and people get their panties in a bunch over shooting black zombies. What if Claire is sent to a reservation in America to fight infection, would Native Americans get this pissed? I don’t know, I hope not, and I know I wouldn’t and I am Natvie American. And they won’t set an RE game that far in the past so you won’t be able to ~#~%# about that one, and they could end up setting the next one in Tokyo or something, you think Japanese people are gonna be pissed about a white protagonist killing Asian zombies? Racism will never die as long as people are making non-racist incidents into something that is.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I can appreciate that the game will be sold in America, but passing judgment on a Japanese game that seemingly takes place in the Caribbean (or at least a different continent) seems ethnocentric on the part of Americans (black or white), no?
April 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Is anyone wondering what Shinji Mikami’s role might be in RE5? He is the creator of the franchise and the director for the more notable games in the franchise, I’d be curious to know what’s on his mind.
He left Capcom as an employee a few years ago, but stayed on as a contractor to direct RE4, and his involvement was probably a huge contributing factor to that zombie masterpiece. While the Spanish village scenario seemed troublesome at first, the seriousness of it was quickly undermined with humor, charm and old school videogame mise-en-scene (dungeons, catapults and hedgemazes, oh my!).
I’m wondering where he’s at because, as Japanese game developers go, he seems to be fairly conscious and aware of the world around him… and I can’t imagine him signing off on this RE5 trailer just like that. As N’Gai has pointed out, the scenario itself is not necessarily the problem, but as it is presented in the trailer it becomes problematic.
Last I heard, Shinji Mikami was long gone from Capcom, working with the crew at SEEDS (or whatever they’re called now). What this suggest to me is that while he may have been involved in the initial conception of the project and scenario, he is probably not in a position to advise the team as they continue development.
I have had the suspicion that Capcom’s development team, as talented artists and designers with a predominantly Japanese (and thus racially homogenous) heritage, are probably not aware of the danger and intensity of the minefield they are wandering into. As I think N’Gai correctly points out, the onus is on Capcom’s US marketing and creative team to instill the proper regard and respect for this explosive issue in the minds of the development team, to avoid or mitigate the likely negative reaction and create a saleable product.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’m sorry, but I just can’t get behind anything N’Gai is saying. First thing, the Spanish reference. People from Spain are white (even if they were dubbed by non-spanish people) so any mention of previous games is moot.
The thing is, this game is made by Japanese, and it doesn’t take place in America. It’s not about white people killing black people, it’s about a character that’s been in the series repeatedly now being in a predominantly black country where the people have been turned into zombies. It’s very likely there will be friendly NPCs in the game that are black.
Step back and stop looking at it in ethnic terms. N’Gai, more than most, should know that Japanese culture has no concept of the race issues that take place in the United States. His analogy relating the Jews is totally off base. If the game were taking place in the US and all the enemies were black, then the analogy would hold. In this case, it’s taking place in a predominantly black country (my guess is Haiti), so it only makes sense.
I understand that black people in America do sometimes get the short end of the stick, and that many times stereotypes play out in games (see FF7, Gears of War), but this is not one of those times.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
BTW, even though this probably will not see the page, a special thanks goes out to the people at MTV who deem it fit to edit my comments before they post them.
2 posts that I made were changed and one magically went away. I dont know if you are trying to start a fight but its not cool and I am not the person to do it too.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Jim,
Respect to you too, but if your characterization of my argument is that I saw a black person in the trailer and said “OMG, racism!” perhaps you should re-read what I’ve said and written.
Let’s go with your argument that the game has a context, and that the context is that it’s set in Haiti. First of all, as far as I know, Capcom hasn’t specifically said that the game is set in Haiti. And second of all, if the game is indeed set in Haiti, why is the voice on the score in the trailer reminiscent of *Senegalese* singers Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal–the latter of whom had his vocals were featured on the score for the movie “Black Hawk Down,” a movie whose imagery is similar to that in Resident Evil 5, from location, to, um, action? I guess any “third world”-sounding music will do, right?
This is why a developer like Capcom–as well as its marketing department–has to be a lot more careful about the imagery it employs. Especially when it’s dealing with imagery as potentially explosive as this. As for my “astounding leap in logic” that you “wouldn’t expect” from me, why is it “so off target it’s stunning”? I was discussing the classically racist imagery of dark, dangerous African and Caribbean countries, which I believe that the Resident Evil 5 trailer evokes, so I raised another historical image to make the point that not all imagery can be divorced from its historical context. I’ll reserve judgement on the game until I actually play it, but as far as the trailer goes, Capcom has stepped into a historical and cultural minefield with all of the grace of a dancing elephant.
Cheers,
N.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I think N’Gai Croal’s analysis is dead on. I did a post on this way back in August and think I may repost that on my blog now, although I don’t really want to update it until I’ve had a chance to play RE4. I don’t have a Wii so maybe I’ll just have to suck it up and play the original version rather than the exciting new one.
Anyways, my argument then as of now is that it does look incredibly racist because it is intentionally invoking the post-colonial occupier-native dynamic.
Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi was interviewed on it back in the day on IGN.
The enemies are meant to come after players in great numbers, conveying the sense of insanity of hoards of natives that Takeuchi took away from Black Hawk Down. We can apparently expect something along the lines of the primary enemy in Resident Evil 4, who spoke a language that you were unable to understand and were more advanced than the zombies that have appeared in previous survival horror games. Takeuchi and crew are actually working on ways to make the enemy even more expressive this time around.
Essentially Capcom took the Blackhawk down premise and did three things to it. 1) Went from free-willed natives to mind controlled locals. 2) Removed civilians. 3) Took away the native’s guns.
I did some quick searches on Blackhawk down the movie and the game. The trailers for both had guns and civilians. Removing civilians (from the trailer) and removing guns take it from being a fair if asymmetrical fight to being a massacre.
Obviously, the mind control mitigates against this. The trouble is, zombies do a pretty good job of making this situation less problematic, mind control does not. Zombies are not expressive, they do not speak their own language (aside from ‘brains!’), and they’re pretty dang hard to mistake for the living. When you switch from zombie to mind control suddenly you take away the safety net. It stops looking like a metaphor for post-colonialism or that sort of thing and starts looking exactly like post-colonialism.
As is widely known, those changes kicked in during RE4. That’s why I want to play the game before making further comment on that. But there is one key difference. As far as I know, RE4 wasn’t inspired by the Spanish civil war or some other real world incident. RE5 was and the producer has explicitly said so,
April 10th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ah, html doesn’t work here either. Anyways, the paragraph starting “The enemies” should be in quotes.
Here’s the source article: http://cube.ign.com/articles/635/635139p1.html
April 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Wow, I really feel like people are missing out on a huge point here. It almost feels like no one actually read the article and just assumed it was another race card being played. N’gai is running around, flailing his arms and calling “RACIST!” at anything remotely portraying Black people.
… right.
There are two main points to be derived from this interview:
1. That there is a double standard for gamer’s relationship with video games–they want it to be taken seriously but at the same time will refuse to allow the genre to become something culturally, politically, economically and socially symbolic;
2. Given the history of racism and its CURRENT place in our present history, the choice images in the trailer were either ignorant, insensitive, unthoughtful or otherwise.
It seems silly to me, reading these comments of people saying how irrelevant racism in video games is and how we’re simply LOOKING for it. If you watch old Hollywood classics in which white folk would either put tape on their eyes and magically become Chinese or rub paint on their faces and magically become Black, maybe back then they would say, “You guys are just LOOKING for racism in these portrayals! You need to loosen up and just CHILL.” Is it any different from what us gamers are doing today? Absolutely not. Just because you can’t see it because you’re unaware of the historical context of racism doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
And to the people who say we need to put this in the past and move onward, because Vikings or whatever once pillaged the Irish–I can’t see the relevant connection here because you know what? Racism and sentiment and egos STILL exist and boil from those days past. What do we achieve by “forgetting” about it or “moving on” from it? The only things that are achieved is that it gives people an excuse to look lightly at racism and say, “Feh! That existed before my grandmother was born. This is of no concern to me.”
It’s like saying that history is irrelevant.
I think, the most important thing to take away from all this, is that some people feel that ignorance is an excuse, when in reality, ignorance is the root of racism. Just as those classic Hollywood directors might not really genuinely have known better doesn’t necessarily mean that the depictions were racist in nature.
You want video games to be taken as seriously as film and art. So why don’t you actually take it seriously?
Why DON’T we have these discussions on the discourse of race and gender in video games? Why DON’T we challenge developers to rethink the way they portray certain characters or tell a story?
Why DON’T we talk about what is symbolic, what is metaphorical, what is meant to be interpreted, what is personally interpreted, by a character, situation, action in a video game?
Why DON’T we try to see N’gai’s points here and actually think about it? And I don’t mean read his stuff and comment right away with your initial gut reaction; I mean, seriously sit there, in front of your computer, and think about the things they taught you in school, and think about the headlines you’ve seen in newspapers/news sites lately (and if you don’t even read the news, well, it’s about time you start catching up!) and actually just THINK about why this is important and relevant to all of us.
In order to reach a universal understanding of suffering, racism, human rights violations, we need to actually THINK about it. We are so cold and desensitized to the horrible things around us that we do not actually think about the injustices in the world and challenge them anymore; we simply accept it as fact, as a part of the way things work, when the one thing that separates us from animals, our ability to think rational thought, is the one thing that could actually PREVENT us from accepting this as the norm.
N’gai, kudos to you for this powerful interview. We need more discussion like this in the video game world.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Blake,
I really don’t understand what you’re trying to say. I’m Canadian by birth, but my parents are from Guyana, South America, which is part of CARICOM, the Caribbean Community and Common Market pact among several countries in that part of the world. Does this give me the standing to talk about the Resident Evil 5 trailer? Will I lose my standing to do so if Capcom announces tomorrow that the game is set in Somalia or Senegal?
There’s nothing ethnocentric about this discussion. There *might* be if we were talking about Yakuza or Onimusha. But we’re talking about a game made by a Japanese development team with an American protagonist set in an African or Caribbean country. If anyone needs to be concerned about ethnocentrism and the impact thereof, it’s Capcom’s development team and its marketing department. Because if they’re going to mix together all of these elements, it’s on them to properly educate themselves about the history and culture upon which they’re going to be signifying. The game may do so perfectly. The trailer fell far, far short.
Cheers,
N.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
@Ron Workman
We’ve definitely not been editing your comments. Our comments software does block certain words which is why you’ll see a #$@! sometimes in a place where someone was trying to write the F-word. And our system does flag some other words that require us to manually approve the comments those words appear in.
But we have not blocked or changed any of your comments. I’m certain of that.
If anything else like that happens, or if you have a copy of a comment that was deleted, e-mail me and I’ll try to get things restored to the way they were: stephen.totiloATmtvstaff.com
-Stephen Totilo
Editor, MTV Multiplayer
April 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
at Stephen.
The line “This is a joke to ease the drama” or something to that effect was taken out completely.
Also, “Ngai the front page of Destructoid is yours anytime you want to talk about this” was taken out.
I didnt say it was you. I got an email from another person saying the exact same thing. It wasnt language. It was content. deleted.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
@Greg: Great find on the IGN article about where Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi is drawing inspiration. That dovetails perfectly with my observation about the music, and raises questions anew about whether the game is set in Haiti or an unspecified African country.
@Rafael: You stated that “Japanese culture has no concept of the race issues that take place in the United States.” Isn’t that an argument for Capcom educating itself about the cultural history of the countries in which it chooses to do business? They have an entire sales, marketing and PR team in the United States, most of whom are American-born. It’s really not that hard to figure out.
@Melloncollie: Thanks for your praise and for the defense. And kudos for your taste in music–Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was one of my favorite albums of the ’90s.
Cheers,
N.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
As a white middle-class male, I have to admit, I did not “see it”. I fell into the catergory of “AWESOME, a new RE game!!”, and it wasn’t until reading this article that I felt ‘blind’ for not noticing the setting of the trailer.
Getting away from the “Wipe out the poor black village” argument for a moment, I do agree, that “Black” protagonists in games seem to be far and inbetween, and what there is of them, they do fall into a “thug” stereotype (”Thats what I’m talkin’bout baby!!” that was a little Cole Train humor). The only game in recent memory that did not involve said stereotype was “Crackdown”, but there was no ’story’ to speak of. The avatar could have just as easily been ET, and nothing would change. You could customize your appearence in “Mass Effect”, but that doesn’t change the story, again, you are just changing the ’skins’.
As gamers, what would make you happy? Given that games aren’t movies, and there has to be some kind of “Player controlled action” to drive the story. What can developers do to appease the masses?
My thought (as of 2:40pm) is there are two kinds of characters in games. There’s the “Stereotype” then there’s “Vanilla”. I use the term “Vanilla” not in the color sense, but in the “This is our hero. No accent, no slang, no heritage to speak of, just a person on the screen whos pixel colors are white”. Plain. Nobody gets offended, nobody is insulted. Lets look at the different ways that trailer could have gone:
A) Black guy shooting black zombies: Black on Black crime?
B) Black guy shooting white zombies: Angry black man taking his anger out on society?
C) White guy shooting black zombies: See artcile.
D) White guy shooting white zombies: A boring video game.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Some of the comments here are way off-base. N’Gai has done a superb job discussing this issue, but the way people dismiss him is depressing. He’s not ranting and raving, throwing around “racists! racists!” He’s presented a very strong, very logical basis for why he feels this way based on the way the game has been present thus far. And it’s pretty damn convincing.
The idea that something is only racist if you look for it, or that we need to stop pointing out racist imagery for it to go away is naive at best, dangerous at worse. While I personally believe race problems in America are more of an economic issue than a social one, I wouldn’t go so far as to deny their existence.
The Japanese don’t get a free pass on this issue, particularly when the US and the rest of the world represents a larger share of their market for games like Resident Evil. And saying “it’s just a game” is to say that games say nothing about our culture, which is another way to say they’re not expression and therefore not protected by the first amendment.
Also, for anyone to even mention the word “censorship” is disingenuous. Censorship can only occur at a government level; Target or Wal-Mart is under no obligation to carry any product, regardless of their reasons.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Despite all the back and forth with the question of whether or not this game is “racist”, I’m seeing a startling amount of contradictory banter which leads me to believe that many people haven’t decided what THEIR definition of racism is. To hopefully help spur some internal dialogue, I would like to pose two questions. Your answers to these questions will determine what you consider racism, or “racist”:
Question 1:
A “white” person tells a “black” person that he won’t hire him, rent an apartment to him, or even consider socializing with him because he’s “black” and because he knows “how you people are”. Is he a racist?
Question 2:
A little “white” boy, who happens to have lots of “black” friends is asked to draw a picture of what he thinks a birthday party that only had “black people” would look like. He then proceeds to draw a picture where all the people at this fictional party are eating fried chicken, and watermelon, and drink beer out of forty ounce glass bottles. Is the little boy racist?
Here’s a bonus question:
I don’t believe many people would necessarily call the little boy in question 2 racist himself, he’s just buying into, and passing on ideas that are generally seen as racist. So the new question is: If I buy into the argument that racism in the US “died” a long time ago, how do you explain the fact that these racial stereotypes still have social currency?
If racism is truly dead, shouldn’t this stuff have disappeared already on it’s own?
Even if it hasn’t disappeared on it’s own, since racism is “dead”, are we obligated, as a society, to “sunset” these historically racist notions and stereotypes?
In my personal opinion, N’Gai hit the nail on the head with his “WWII Jewish Zombie” comparison. People the world over have been saturated with information about the “Jewish” perspective of WWII, so it’s really easy for people to identify with how Jewish people might be, “uncomfortable” with a similar type of game.
People of African descent, on the other hand haven’t had nearly as effective of a PR campaign, therefore you get the situation that we are in now: The racist undertones are pretty easy to spot for “black” people, but anyone else thinks it’s just another attempt to play the “Race Card”.
They can’t identify with it, they don’t see it, so it’s not there.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
What I dislike is that it appears that Croal is suggesting that Capcom should have to change their plans to take into account those who may have an increased emotional or physical connection to racism against black people. As time goes by more and more people will simply be born without any physical connection to the decades of black oppression, and I would like to think that people should not have to compensate if you yourself sense (or “insert”) racial undercurrents into scenarios where they may be none. I’m not saying that the developers should not acknowledge that these opinions exist, and I’m not saying that they should set out to deliberately offend people, but if the intention is earnest it’s your onus if you choose to be offended - if you make the connection.
Croal commented on the way shadow was used in the trailer, implying that it added to the racism within it. However, at what point does an artistic representation or light and darkness become a representation racism? I believe that a while ago the director of the game stated that he wanted light and darkness to play an important part in the game, and should he have to curb his representation of this in case you get offended?
April 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
When discussing the images, I can’t but feel that it speaks more to the character of the person rather than the Capcom. In this case, why are we getting upset at Capcom? What fault should be placed at the feet of those who were offended? One thing I am getting tired of is the complainer getting away scot-free.
I certainly understand Croal’s point that, if also considering the context of early (and I mean early) movies about going into Africa, and it being a mysterious and dark place filled with dangerous inhabitants. But why go there to begin with. Why is it that an image of Black people being shot, we should instantly think within our minds “What makes this racist?”
In terms of memory recollection, we need to understand why people will refer to these images. Since ethnicities react differently, it seems to be more nurture than nature. Or another way to think about it is like this, how many of the people complaining have seen the images (the original movie, not RE5 trailer), yet claimed to be offended. Why is it only Blacks that seem to be offended, and not the majority of Asian, Hispanic, White, etc. I can’t help but feel that we are breeding people to be offended by this. Croal, for all your talk about past images, can you say that you were born during that time? Have you witnessed these images? How did you come upon the images to compare this to?
What I’m getting at is this. Without the reference point, this isn’t racist in any way shape or form. Because we are taught this is racist, therefore it is. Without the ability to say “Oh this is racist, not because of itself, but because it is similar to something of 50 years ago.” Then it isn’t racist. If it wasn’t for the fact that people make artificial comparisons, then it would be okay. It is the artificial comparisons that create issues.
Finally, we need boundaries. Racism in today’s society is not what the creator intended, but how it is received (typically by those who claim racism). We need a clearer definition. We need an independent authority to decide if it is racist or not. Racism needs to be defined, not as what an offended person says, but whether it is truly racist.
Case in point is the minor league baseball mascot formerly known as “Pork Chop”. Now you probably think that a warthog themed mascot named “Pork Chop” is perfectly okay. But a Puerto Rican claimed that it was racist and so it was changed. Now tell me who is wrong, naming a pig mascot “Pork Chop”, or the people who automatically took offense to it. This is the same situation. A 5 minute trailer uses a heavily populated Black location, racist. A pig shaped mascot given a food related name, racist.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
More like N’GAY. Personally I think this man is more racist then the trailer is. I saw nothing but a dude with a gun killing some zombies.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“Let’s go with your argument that the game has a context, and that the context is that it’s set in Haiti. First of all, as far as I know, Capcom hasn’t specifically said that the game is set in Haiti.”
No, insider sources are never confirmation, officially, I do grant you.
“And second of all, if the game is indeed set in Haiti, why is the voice on the score in the trailer reminiscent of *Senegalese* singers Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal–the latter of whom had his vocals were featured on the score for the movie “Black Hawk Down,” a movie whose imagery is similar to that in Resident Evil 5, from location, to, um, action? I guess any “third world”-sounding music will do, right?”
Because it sounded good? Hitler never rode around in a mech, either, but he did so in Wolfenstein. I’m not saying games shouldn’t strive for accuracy, but again, it’s a trailer, and they used a sound that works. Either way, being “reminiscent” isn’t the same as “being.” It’s a five minute trailer, and I think if it’s music that evokes the feel of what they want, then yes, it will do.
“This is why a developer like Capcom–as well as its marketing department–has to be a lot more careful about the imagery it employs.”
Why? What does a Japanese developer really owe you, or anybody else, in the US? For that matter, what does ANY developer owe you? What does anyone owe anybody? Nobody, ever, should have to restrain what they want to say or create because it might upset somebody far away. As a Brit, I don’t demand that TV and games be more accurate about their representations of Britain as Jolly ol’ England.
“As for my “astounding leap in logic” that you “wouldn’t expect” from me, why is it “so off target it’s stunning”? I was discussing the classically racist imagery of dark, dangerous African and Caribbean countries, which I believe that the Resident Evil 5 trailer evokes, so I raised another historical image to make the point that not all imagery can be divorced from its historical context.”
Ah, but just like you said that “the history of African and Caribbean countries are different enough that they cannot be seen as equivalent,” from Spanish history (to defend RE4) and what I am saying to you is exACTly the same: A game set in modern day Haiti/Africa/Wherever can in no way, shape or form be seen equivalent to the actual Holocaust. That’s the leap in logic I was talking about. You have taken modern day “Africa” and directly compared it to 1940’s Europe. That’s what I find ridiculous.
This is NOT a historical game. You can say that the location has history all day long, but that’s not what the game is about. It’s about zombies in a modern day African/Haitian/Whatever country, and it is as simple as that. It’s just. That. Simple.
“I’ll reserve judgement on the game until I actually play it, but as far as the trailer goes, Capcom has stepped into a historical and cultural minefield with all of the grace of a dancing elephant.”
Well it’s about as graceful as assuming that “no one black worked on this game” as if every single black person would have an issue with it (and for the record, two of our black staff members on Destructoid seem to have zero issue with the trailer). I think you’re dancing in that minefield too, man.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Very interesting topic.
I may be a little off the bat here, but I think this kind of racial/racist discussion is very specific to each country and culture. Generalizing is very dangerous.
Different social groups were/are oppressed around the world since the beginning of human civilization, and it goes on today. There’s a lot of resentment there, and maybe this can’t be helped. But I’m with friend Doctor Proctor up there: why can’t people let go?
Isn’t everyone preaching peace all around? Why keep the hatred? Racial oppression existed and still exists, but why does someone have to bring this up at every moment possible? It’s not like japanese (or oriental) culture is depicted correctly in the west anyway.
I personally don’t think that Resident Evil 5 contributes the propagation of the imagery of racism against black people at all. The glorification of the so called “gangsta life” does. Telling people that “getting rich or dying trying” is a good life model does.
Anyway, sorry for possible bad English, it is not my first language.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Who gives?
You wouldn’t exactly shoot barrages of white men in Africa. Last time I checked, there weren’t that many.
Also, you were shooting religious ‘Catholics’ in RE4. No one seemed to be bothered about that.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I never saw Spanish people saying Resident Evil 4 was racist.
I never saw people in America complaining Resident Evil 1-3 was Racist.
I never saw any racist contraversy over Resident Evil Veronica.
However, set a game in Africa and add black people, because if you DIDNT then that would be racist, and in doing so you ARE racist.
A hypothetical zombie virus that doesn’t discriminate on age, sex or colour? Should it avoid black people and only infect white? Would that be okay? Or should the game be set in Austria and have a black protagonist shooting blonde haired, blue eyed people who are infected with a zombie virus? Oh no, we couldn’t do the latter because everybody would complain about it being racist.
Oh wait, no they wouldn’t.
Some people just want to make trouble
April 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Well, N’gai, when Blake says your opinions are ethnocentric, he is referring to the fact that YOU are putting the game in the context of YOUR history, which is of course natural but narrowminded. Of course, we are all narrow minded and ignorant to the cultures of the world to some degree. So you say CAPCOM is required to study Americas history and ideas of racism, so as not to be “insensitive” to our ideals. Of course that would confuse them even more as our own racism is still as prevalent as ever, but much more complicated and convoluted than the ol’ glory days of the blatant and in your face racism of the past. And, if you dont want to be accused of being ethnocentric, you would of course want CAPCOM to educate themselves on the history of every culture in the world, just for good measure. All for the purpose of not offending anyone, anywhere in the world, with their fantasy-zombie-killing video game. What really smacks of hypocrisy with all the bleeding heart posts (this coming from a uber liberal obama supporter) is that intelligensia of video game world have no problem with the “glorifacation” of gun violence. Shouldnt CAPCOM have the sense to know that the US is wracked with rampant gun violence. Dont they know that we are in need of stricter gun control? That some teenager can pick one up at Wal-Mart with a copy of RE5? How dare they. The onus (most overly used word of the internet intelligensia) is on them.
And Meloncollie: Why DONT you assume that you are not the only one that can take the time to think before you post?
Why DONT you just not play ANY game that has violence in it?Because I think we can all agree that violence is at least as bad as, if not worse than, racism.
PS. I love you on the 1up, N’Gai. You are a great mind in the vacuum that is video game journalism. I would love to hear your ideas on what CAPCOM could do to make you happy. I cant seem to think of any on my own that dont seem PC for the sake of being PC. I accept and respect the fact that it makes you uncomfortable, but I accept and respect the fact that no one else cares.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I agree with N’Gai. I am afraid, his critique, will fall on deaf ears. People are just afraid of the historical truth and revelance it has on todays’ current issues.
juan
April 10th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
This is no way of moving forward with society. If a game cannot set in Africa then where?
Capcom developers probably decided to choose Africa because it is area not explored in many games. NY has been overkilled along with any major cities in the US. I’m tired of fighting in the Middle East, World War 2 cities, HALO…. it is the right time to pick a different location.
As a gamer with no political background, all I want to do is have a great time and shoot the baddies because it is a part of an interactive imagination. A story taking place in Africa is new and fresh for me and I can’t wait to play it.