Think About This
Monday, March 16, 2009 at 09:29AM So Resident Evil 5 exposes the perhaps uncomfortable truth that blacks and Arabs can become zombies too, just like anyone else. Blacks and Arabs do not have a secret anti-zombie gene. And just like all the thousands of white, Asian and Hispanic zombies that have been dispatched in innumerable other games before them, the African zombies must also be destroyed, or at least neutralized.
-Seth Schiesel of the New York Times.
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.
-Earl Ofari Hutchinson of Huffingtonpost.
Culture, Think About This, Video games | Print Article
Reader Comments (3)
My biased opinion on this is that these reporters running around with this sort of accusation need to be more thorough with their research. First of all, none have finished the game, which just came out Friday. They also fail to take in the narrative presented by the game, instead focusing on the superficial aspects of the graphic nature of it, giving the setting amiss and ignoring past franchises which have brought the narrative to where it is now.
I don't think I agree that the reporters have to finish the game or even know the whole plot (although that might contextualize things a bit) to understand that the game isn't meant to be racist.
I just think they need to understand that it was developed in Japan, where there isn't four centuries of African-American subjugation under Anglo-American culture. In the U.S., this game will offend (and the offended should avoid it) but, because I'm a long-time gamer, I know no Japanese game developer would intentionally plant this stereotype, unlike, say the racist/homophobic political cartoonist Sean Delonas. So, as a person of color, I'm not offended.
Well said. Some of the guys at area5.tv address the issue on CO-OP 02. It's definite must-watch if you we're a fan of the 1Up Show or are interested in the opinion of former EGMers on the subject.