Resident Evil Racism
The well-worn script reads like this. A protest group blasts a video game manufacturer, its designers, actors, and writers for dumping a game on the market loaded with racially insulting and demeaning stereotypes. The video game team yelps that the game is pure entertainment, has some blacks or Latinos in on the design and production, and gets high marks from the industry. That script is trotted out so often that it can be recited while counting sleep.
So it was no surprise that Jun Takeuchi yanked out that script to defend his video game brainchild Resident Evil 5 from the charge that it's racist. But what else could one call it? It features a white male (modern day Bawana) mowing down a pack of poor, primitive disease-challenged Africans. The white killer is on a search and destroy mission to stop the spread of a deadly virus. The racist game reinforces the worst of the worst ancient stereotypes against and about Africans.
Yet, the relatively mild protest over the game's racist depictions was just enough to set off a brief scramble in the boardroom of the Osaka-based video game conglomerate Capcom. Company CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto assured that there was no intention to racially demean anyone and simply chalked up the controversy to cultural differences and perceptions. That's a rehash of the popular line that Japanese product manufacturers who have been called on the carpet for pumping out offensive racial items -- dolls, cartoons, and posters -- fall back on. The flap over Resident Evil 5 even caused the brass at Sony a slight twitch. Sony does a lot of business with Capcom.
The video industry flacks gleefully noted that the game has racked up a string of positive reviews including a top rating on the industry's review aggregation site metacritic.com. That's always good for business; in fact, a little controversy always guarantees a louder tingle in the cash registers. But dollars notwithstanding, racist groups have used video and computer games to market racist messages to kids and even more sinister used them as a sneaky organizing ploy. In 2002, the Anti-Defamation League sounded a loud warning that video and computer games could be the cyber tool to bump up recruits.
But racist hate groups that sneak out a few computer games to spread their bile are fairly easily to isolate. The Capcom, Sonys, Microsoft Games, Activision, Nintendo, and Midway are a different matter. They have all been called on the carpet in recent years for churning out such racially offensive video games as Spanish for Everyone, Super Punch Out, Kung Fu Chaos, Freaky Flyers and Hommie Hollerz. But they are big, rich, and industry respected, and they have a legion of PR, media and industry shills to blow off the scattered voices who protest their racially offensive games.
Capcom will make loads of money with Resident Evil 5, all the while assuring that splattering the blood and guts of primitive Africans all over a video screen is just fun and games kid stuff. The scariest part of that is that they and their industry cheerleaders really believe that.
A postscript: I'd like to hear about any other racially offensive video games out there.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is How Obama Won (Middle Passage Press, January 2009).
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Based off of what the game is about, it seems to follow the same plot as every other Resident Evil plot, therefore they did nothing new other than change the country it was in (Africa because that is where the virus was created. So, to make the game seem more realistic, they did not make every zombie/infected white because Africa isn't majority white like the other countries the game was based in. Yes Chris is white but also happens to be a reoccurring character in the franchise. His partner in this game is a Black female named Sheva, which seems to get failed to mention which happens to be bigger proof the game isn't racist.
Chris shoots a Majini (the infected) and kills them. He doesn't shoot any of the other black characters in the game, which happens to be quite a few considering most of the military that comes to help them are black, and his partner is also black. Why doesn't he shoot the other black people in the game? If it was in fact a racist game he was not hold back on a select few, he'd want to take them all out! But wait he doesn't, because the game isn't about killing as many black people as possible, it is about surviving a Resident Evil style biological outbreak, and putting holes in as many infected zombie type heads as possible. I don't see any racism involved.
"racially offensive games such as Spanish for Everyone, Super Punch Out, Kung Fu Chaos, Freaky Flyers and Hommie Hollerz"
Are you serious? I think you're confusing crappy games (except for Super Punch Out, of course) with racist.
One question, if you're so bothered about racism in games, then how come you haven't criticized 50 Cent's new game, which clearly shows stereotypes in America.
Also, thanks to political correctness, the game has a balance of white and black residents. So your argument is invalid.
Resident evil 5 is set in Africa with a white male blowing their heads off but he also has an african woman helping him......The plot is about a secret organisation who are experimenting with various drugs to make the 'ultimate super weapon' which isn't that far from the truth(and i know most of you will agree the rich and the government use Africa as the root off all our problems which i am strongly against).
Before people start brandashing CAPCOM for being racist maybe they should play Resident Evil 1,2,3 and various spin offs of the game.If you haven't then don't put your view across until you have even looked them up.They're set in America killing American people and blowing up American land.....Did any Americans write to CAPCOM pointing the racist stick NO did you?......Thought not!
I live in England where Political correctness has gone mad in the last decade and any hint of racism would be stamped out which i strongly agree to but to complain about this game is not only pointless due to all the suffering,rape,murder,poverty and terrorism in the world but is very sad......INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING ABOUT A GAME THAT CLEARLY IS NOT RACIST START ACTUALLY TRYING TO SAVE AFRICA.....I sent 20 pounds to comic relief last week to help African school children what did you do? I will still play the game and i think you should too.
Well, the Japanese being a fairly homogenous society is not exactly known for cultural sensitivity. I am not sure if the developers are intentionally injecting the white kill black zombie theme because they are racist.
But you did bring up an interesting observation about stereotypes in videogames. Almost all of the videogame heros are white regardless the origins of the game creators :)
Why do people have to look at other people by their skin color and not as actual human beings? I can't really put it more simply than that.
there is another point. third world countries such as mine has a colonial past.The imagery brings up memories of the atrocities the local population has experienced in recent history
there are too many 3rd world villages which exist in the impoverished state shown in the game, What would you do in case viral infection breaks out in such place? go there and machine gun infected village after village?drop napalm?
Do you know of any game which shows a black guy from africa mowing down "infected" white suburbs in the US of A?Is there a video game which shows dropping nuclear bombs on japan, just to kill the aliens who have landed there ?
I can go on, but the audience for video games is Caucasian self absorbed kids/young men who are hidden from what is going on in the world beyond the hedge fence of their sanitized suburban home. As long as they remain unaware and uneducated such cultural statements will continue to be made.
A justification that has been put forward is the previous iteration was set in Spain. Let me remind people that Spain is a country with a predominantly white population, which was a colonial power a few decades ago. I am sure you would have heard a lot if there was a video game depicting a Moroccan man killing infected Spaniards in the streets of Barcelona.
This game is offensive and buying it is racist there are no two ways about it.
Your own post shows more ignorance than the game, from your absurd stereotyping of video game players to your loony double standards.
This is not some simple "infection". This is essentially a ZOMBIE game. To try and equate zombies and similar creatures to those who merely have some sort of normal disease is absurd. Apparently, you are of the opinion that a zombie-style game can't be set in Africa. Or do you believe that simply changing the color of Chris's skin so that are the main characters are black would magically make the game no longer racist?
Fornewswithvalue, you are incredibly two faced. You spend the first three paragraphs of your post talking about the atrocities that stereotypes perpetuate, and then immediately stereotype white gamers as self-absorbed rich mommy's boys who are completely oblivious to the outside world. Not only is the blatantly racist as well, but extremely hypocritical. On top of that, it's also WRONG. This game was made by Japanese developers, and released in Japan before coming to the states.
Also, your comment about there being no games where black people kill white people, but that's just wrong. The main character of San Andreas, MJ from MJ's Moonwalker, Barret from FF7, 50 Cent from both Bulletproof and Blood on the Sand, Freeze from 25 to Life, Black Main Characters (Redguards) in the Elder Scrolls Games, Black Boxers in any Boxing Game or Fighting Game, and countless other black characters do commit acts of violence (and even murder) against white people. But how many of these games have been declared racist? A resounding none. I don't even know where you got the napalm thing from, but that's completely irrelevant. Is a Japanese developer supposed to recreate a bomb being dropped on Japan? I'm pretty sure that no one has.
If this game is offensive for the reasons you say it is, then every game that has a black person committing acts of violence towards any white person is equally racist and offensive.
Where was your outcry, Mr. Hutchison, when RE4 came out? Or do you only decry racism when it concerns a certain race? Isn't that a form of racism in itself? Wouldn't it be more worthy to pursue racism without preferences attached? Wouldn't that be more noble than only speaking up when it concerns blacks? I question you sincerity.
While I have seen enough demo footage and read and listened to enough analysis of the game to feel there certainly is some questionable imagery, I don't believe the game is intentionally/maliciously racist. At best I could call some of the imagery naive in its ignorance to past depictions of blacks and particularly Africans. I wouldn't argue that people shouldn't play this game, but I would call on the developers to take more consideration when designing one of the few games to feature multiple black characters.
I don't have a problem with a zombie outbreak in Africa any more than I do with one in America - people and diseases both exist in Africa too. I don't even care that the character charged with disposing of the zombies is ostensibly white - he's a recurring character in the series, and his partner herself is black. And I'm more disturbed by other depictions of characters that intentionally play on stupid stereotypes like the Mario Bros series, or Grand Theft Auto, or Punch Out. Resident Evil 5 walks a fine line at points, but is just a very small symptom of a much larger problem - the lack of non-white male voices in the video game community.
This game is made by a Japanese developer, and most of the people involved in the development aren't white: they are Japanese.
It's not at all surprising that someone in Japan wouldn't be as aware of the types of imagery that can be considered racist in the US as someone from the US. Do you know the types of racist stereotypes and images that would be considered offensive in Japan? For example, because of events involving World War II, there is a bad history between Japan and China, and a fair amount of hatred and racism between some of their citizens, but I couldn't begin to tell you what the racial and offensive stereotypes related to that are.
Of course, Resident Evil is a series that is very popular in the US, so one would expect someone familiar with the US to at some point say "Hey, be careful here, this could be considered offensive." But at the same time, you have to understand that the premise of Resident Evil involves an infection that turns people into insane killers and/or zombies... how can a game like that be set in Africa and NOT have images that could be considered offensive? There's just no feasable way to set a game like that in Africa without causing at least a little controversy. Maybe Capcom could have done better, but I think the whole thing is being blown out of proportion.
The game is, as you point out, indeed made by a Japanese developer, Capcom, but like most major developers Capcom has headquarters in the United States as well as other countries. At some point in the development timeline, American representatives of Capcom get their hands on the game pre-release in order to translate dialogue, edit game content, and craft their marketing strategy, among many other obligations. So, not only are the themes in the game shaped by japanese developers, they are reviewed by Americans who should be a little more sensitive to the depictions of blacks in the game.
Japan has a long history of insensitive imagery regarding blacks. In fact, Huffington Post has run numerous articles about recent images of the Obamas on Japanese television that traffic in old stereotypes. This is no excuse for a Japanese developer as they are/should be aware that their top market, North America, has a significant number of black residents, and just as Japanese citizens would be offended by racist imagery as you point out, they should assume that we could be put off by the same.
Mr. Hutchinson,
While the issue of racism should never be ignored on any level whatsoever, this is the kind of journalism that skews public perception of on the issue of racism. Have you done your research, sir? Was this subject, or more specifically, this game’s script released to you that you were able to read it through without bias and you can firmly conclude that this really revolves around a white man going around in Africa killing Africans? It just seems to me, good sir, that while you are against racism, which I duly applaud, your post remind me of an extremist, who would twist ideas to get their points across.
Let me ask you some questions, Mr. Hutchinson. If the protagonist in this game was of the same origin, or race as those of the locals in Africa, would it have lessened your concern regarding race? Had the setting been China, instead of Africa, again, would you have raised the same amount of concern? While I understand that first impressions of this game can lead understanding of a white killer killing blacks, this is what professional journalism should be answering in full. I apologize at this point; this is your opinion, no matter how narrow-minded it is (in my opinion of course) and you probably are not even a professional journalist (or you would have done your research prior to posting).
"continued.."
Mr. Hutchinson, I strongly admonish you to reconsider the breadth and scope of the impact of your actions and to treat your position (and those who are affected by it) with the respect it deserves.
Do some research, first.
Please do not drop your standards to those of FOX News (Mass Effect). Don't drag the name of journalism or video games through the mud any more than they already have been.
I beg you and beseech you, almost on my knees: Fight the crushing tide of knee-jerk journalism, especially in regards to video games. Don't demonize them because it's what all the cool kids are doing.
Wow, "disease challenged"? Congratulations for coming up with a politically correct term for zombies. The fact that you don't mean it as a joke is kind of scary though. (Though technically speaking, the guys in RE5 are the new type of enemy introduced in RE4, and aren't exactly normal zombies, though they are very similar.) Still, "disease challenged" is a pretty poor term, even for PC nonsense. Call them "life challenged" or "those with alternative eating habits".
Honestly, you seem to be of the belief that if a zombie-style game is set in Africa, the people should all be... white? Or maybe you just think any zombie game set in Africa is automatically racist?
Or is it the fact that Chris is white that makes it racist? I suppose the fact that some of the other main characters are black isn't enough, maybe if they made every main character black it would help? Or would that still be racist?
"features a white male (modern day Bawana) mowing down a pack of poor, primitive disease challenged Africans."
Its not like the main character (white male) was made just for this game. Chris is one of the main characters of series, and hes there because of that. So their main char is white, and a virus like others that have spread to multiple areas of the world has now spread to Africa. So what? Just because this particluar game takes place in a country inhabited by people with a different skin color you want them to ditch one of the bigest characters of the series and come up with a whole new one? They can't explor that characters story unless they keep him in a country with simular looking people? And disease challenged? Yeaaah. Disease/virus. Whole point of the the series. People from all over, diffrent places in different games, get infected by a virus that some insane scientists let loose. Nothing special about the ones in Africa. Except they did a couple new designs so it wouldn't be repetitive.
1) Earl. Why don't you drop down a few generations and actually play the game. Go back to the first game and then work your way up.
2) The game is set in Africa. Per NatGeo, MTV, and encyclopedia... lotsa dark complected people in Africa.
3) The last time I saw a person with AIDS. They're head wasn't trying to split open to crush my skull. Nor were they trying to kill me. The day a person with AIDS is doing that be it African, White, Asian, or Pink with Purple polka-dots. I'm blowing its head off.
4) Sheva is African? South African no? Or does she not count?
Earl,
writing about a game you haven't played is yellow journalism, especially when you get a lot of the facts wrong. Firstly, as many people have said, the infected in previous games have always been white, so this isn't aimed at Africans, secondly, the infected in this game aren't all black, despite the African setting, and thirdly one of the player characters is black anyway so the 'modern day Bwana' thing is a load of bull. this sort of sensationalism doesn't do anyone any favours, and considering there's no basis for it its even worse.
Homie Rollerz IS racist, (note that its Rollerz not Hollerz), in that all the characters are stereotypes (not just the black ones), its also rubbish and no one bought or played it but you'd be still better off writing an article about that game rather than Resident Evil. HR was condemned by the gaming press for its content (by journalists how actually know something about video games) but the same writers are defending RE5 which should tell you something.
This article is an ill-informed knee-jerk reaction and smacks of bandwagon jumping, cashing in on born-out-of-ignorance fear that videogames are corrupting the youth that seems to be so popular at the moment. You're a better writer than this, so act like one.
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