Shadowblind said: I can't remember exactly; was this game considered racist again?

Nobody considered it racist, they were too busy considering it crap.

OT: I knew this would happen. Yahtzee put it perfectly, Spanish zombies = enemies, African zombies = victims. Sad, really.

HoodFigga said: Although I'm not offended, there is underlying racism in this game. People will deny it left and right but its right there in front of your eyes. You say since the game is located in Africa we must give an accurate depiction of the African's skin color. Thats strange, Sheva looks like Beyonce instead of the people from her location. So why is she of the lighter variety? Is Capcom saying that a dark skinned female is not good enough? Yes they are.       Thats one example, thats not even the end of it though.

 

The only racist themes in the game are the ones that Capcom had to implement to avoid being called racist.

There are all shades of people in Africa, btw, and there are tons of white people.  The ratio is way off in the game, but that also depends on what country you are in because they aren't all the same.

Carlos was Spanish and he killed zombies in RE.  Spanish "infected" were killed in RE4, and you know what?  Most people were Spanish in the game because it was in Spain!

If you are in Africa you shuld be kiling a majority of black "infected" in this game.  That's just how it should be.  It's unfortunate that capcom had to deal with this retarded notion that their first preview was racist in some way.  N'Gai Croal made me very upset when he said it was racist, and many white poeple are too subconcious about this crap.

I have to say, I did find it strange that the female lead was light-skinned black when I first saw her. Killing black zombies, not so much, it is set in Africa. On the face of it, she is the only indication of racism (and there is an alternative explanation that is more sexist than racist).

Honestly, the whole thing smacks more of cultural unawareness than anything else. RE4 had much of this too, it's just that nobody would accuse Capcom of being racist against the Spanish (there were characters speaking with Mexican accents, and some of the games premises can only be accepted if you think Spain is not a developed country).

^ I thought it was more like that was the hillbilly part of Spain. I'm sure there are parts of the US that you would not guess was a developed country. And the final level did take place on some sort of industrial structure.

Or maybe there's something I'm missing -- what premises exactly are you talking about?

The US is a massive country with a far more varied landscape. There are places far more remote in the US than anywhere in Spain. It's not about being industrialized, it's about the fact that the Spanish authorities were doing nothing about the situation. For most of the game your American character has contact with the outside world, at one point they call in an American helicopter to give you fire support. Considering it's a rescue operation, and once you have Ashley it's no longer a delicate situation, there is absolutely no reason why the Spanish police and military couldn't have been on the scene alot faster and with alot more force than an American helicopter. You even arrived with Spanish police so it's not like you were hiding something from the Spanish government.

Here's a fix, set a game in Africa, make absolutely EVERYBODY white, all the tribes and everything - if you come across a black leopard, make him pink too.

"THAT" won't be considered racist at all.

This is so fucking lame anymore. I thought it was retarded in the demo how they sprinkled in way too many different types of people. I saw a straight up white trashy looking white dude and a gang bangin' lookin' hispanic, in this little village in mother fucking Africa? Yeah right. That actually bothered me more than the fact that I was doing shitty at the game. And I agree with whoever said it's probably white people bitching about this in the first place.

Hello, I've been lurking this site for over a year, enjoying reading the discussions and various opinions of the members. This site is one of the more intelligent forums on the internet, and although I almost never participate in forums, I feel compelled to throw my opinion into the pile.

I've been closely following the reactions to Resident Evil 5's controversy since the first few images of the game were released.

First of all, I agree-- it's hypocritical that it seems OK for a white to kill white, or black to kill white, but not white to kill black. In an ideal world, race wouldn't matter at all, and people would just be individuals.

That said, we don't live in an ideal world, and images can carry strong historical and social connotations. Video games are a highly visual medium, and even though they're meant to be fun, they can also provoke thought and provide us with images that make us happy, sad, embarrassed etc. I think we can all agree that images can be powerful.

So why would people be upset about the images in RE5? Why can't we all just get along? Well, I really don't think it's that hard to understand why it's potentially upsetting. The images in it are highly symbolic, whether it's intentional or not. It's a white American, killing (savage) diseased Africans.

There is a history to this, one that still affects and hurts many people, white, black, or otherwise. It would be nice if we could just put all that behind us, but that's easier for some than others.

For the sake of argument: what if RE5 took place in a prison complex in Poland, and it was implied that the game's enemies were Polish Jews? And what if the easiest way to kill a large amount of the enemies was to herd them into a gas chamber?

It's not hard to see how that could be an upsetting image. RE5's images are comparatively and equally upsetting. Canadian politician and diplomat Stephen Lewis, has called the fact that we have not yet resolved the AIDS pandemic in Africa a form of "subterranean racism" -- that is, racism that may not take the form of hanging or lynching, but is more quiet and subtle; equally dangerous and damaging.

RE5 may not be intentionally racist, but the images do reflect and perpetuate centuries of fear and hatred.

Saying "it's just a game" is no longer good enough. Games are beginning to make aesthetic choices analogous to literature and film, and many are regarding it as a medium meant to be more than a child's time waster. We can't simply take the artistic praise for games like Bioshock, and brush off the criticism for games like Resident Evil 5. It's a valid discussion, and one that I think is too quickly ignored by gamers.

Thanks for posting IGN's article, it was a great exploration of the issue.

And sorry for the big-ass first post.

@ Demotruk: You have a decent point about the fact that the military should have been able to intervene, but I think the point would be equally valid probably anywhere in the contiguous USA, and certainly the eastern half & west coast. Basically this flaw could be found in any number of similar video games, not just RE4 that happens to be set in an unusual country.

@ foont: No, please don't apologize for a big first post. Any new voice that makes such a thoughtful contribution is welcome.

Having said that, I don't have the experience that your quote source does but I would be surprised if that wasn't a very unfair way to put it. AIDS may be less well controlled there than elsewhere, but that is IMO more due to the sheer amount (and kind) of problems facing that area of the world, and cultural problems (affecting prevention), and possibly the fact that it originated there, than it is due to racism.

Secondly, I hope you would agree that your holocaust-analogous example would be a much more extreme case, due both to the severity of the compared situations, and the contrivance required to create that situation in the hypothetical game (i.e. killing them in that particular way).

The history is very real, and must be considered, but I think it's very debatable whether it is "on point" to what RE5 does to the extent that the game needs to avoid the setting entirely or only have black characters go there.

IMO, the way the storytelling is handled will greatly affect how this issue is perceived in the game, and that is not available in the demo.

Not this crap again. IMO its only racist if the person who makes the product IS racist. But i guess all the content that was on shows like looney tunes is still considerd racist when a non-racist person uses it. I dont recall mexicans and spaniards bitching about RE4 when Leon was shootin latinos.