Oh Lord Capcom accused of Racism for RE5

[foont]

@ Final-Fan

Yeah, Stephen Lewis and AIDS pandemic are a whole other topic, but I just wanted to point out that sometimes racism takes more subtle forms than we typically think. It's a bit off topic, but Lewis has spent a lot of time in Africa, and has some very thought-provoking words about how to remedy many of the problems there.

On topic, I stand by my analogy. The history of white European relations with Africa is long, violent, and just as offensive as the holocaust. The fact that African people were captured and enslaved is a history that we still feel the repercussions of today.

That said, you're absolutely right. It's impossible to fully judge the content of a game that isn't even out yet. Though the Resident Evil series has never exactly been a work of great literature, maybe this game will end up having something important to say.

I think this all just comes down to cultural misunderstandings. Perhaps RE5's developers are simply oblivious to the fact that the images in the game carry such weight. Judging by a lot of the stuff that comes out of Japan (commercials, manga, games etc.), it's not uncommon for Japanese media to contain elements that would be considered racist in other countries. Racism by obliviousness?

I actually really liked N'Gai Croal's words about the whole issue. I think he's one of the most intelligent, well-read voices in the gaming world right now. Croal refers to RE5's early screenshots as "classic racist imagery", and out of the context of the game storyline, I tend to agree. Croal goes on to point out that "this imagery has a history. It has a history and you can't pretend otherwise."

(Whoa! I just re-read his article, and he used the holocaust example too.)

Anyway, a few walls of text later, thanks for the welcome, Final-Fan! :)