Shadow1980 said:
This. I mean, how often do you see people of African, Latino, or Mideast/North African ancestry in anime, manga, or Japanese video games? Not very. And of the very few non-Asian minorities in Japan, the one they're probably most familiar with are white people, considering that in their media most non-Asian characters are of European ancestry. They've had a lot of contact with Europe and the U.S. over the last 150 years, including U.S. military bases in the present, and considering the demographics of Europe and the U.S. black or Latino people are probably not a common sight in Japan. It probably just never occurred to Miyamoto to put non-Caucasian characters into the Mario universe. Japan is a different culture and a very racially homogeneous nation, and thus one cannot complain about them not applying American standards of racial diversity to their games, even if they do release their games in the West. The reviewer is just making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides, you can play as a Mii, which last I checked can be whatever race you want it to be. |
Very good post. Spot on!
There is no international standard of 'appropriate' racial/cultural diversity, it is a regional thing. Otherwise we would be obliged to represent all cultures and races at all times in all media.
This complaint makes about as much sense as me complaining about the lack of Australian Aborigines or Uyghurs in US TV shows.
