April 28, 2008 -
Niko Bellic, the Eastern European protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV, represents a damaging stereotype, according to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, an advocacy group based in the U.K.MCV UK reports:
The JCWI has told The Times that it disagrees with a Balkan being portrayed as being involved in a criminal underworld – and that the game could even make ‘life hard’ for real-life Eastern European immigrants.
A spokesman said: “The figures show that East European immigrants are not proportionately responsible for any increase in crime. This plays on untrue stereotypes.”
UPDATE: Gamasutra presents an alternate opinion from UK game journalist Simon Parkin.
Comments
Depends on your definition of stereotype, really. There's the, probably more common, perception that a stereotype is any kind of negative personality or physical trait associated with a specific group of people (such as black people yelling loudly during movies). But I think there's definite room to argue that there are certain stereotypes that are absolutely true, provided one doesn't go to the extremes in them. Most stereotypes have some element of truth to them.
"Rules" because he's a criminal and a murderer. Point understood. Yes, without sarcasm and as a gamer, that is pretty bad ass.
But negative imagery none the less. Negative image for a guy of a certain race of which you're (the JCWI) trying to turn around negative stereotypes for with regards to immigration.
And please please note that the JCWI just "disagrees" with the portrayal.
There are no boycotts
There are no protests
There is no rage or race war.
Just a disagreement, arguably worth discussion.
Way to think everyone thinks like you.
It's like the RE5 thing, there's an area in Africa (country with a predominantly black population) where an evil corporation has turned the nearby people into vicious zombies. The racism-sniffers leap to the conclusion that "CAPCOM ARE SAYING ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE VICIOUS ZOMBIES! YOU MUST KILL THEMZ!"
If Niko were a nobel-award winning medical researcher and brain surgeon, I wonder if they would complain that games are portraying all people from the Balkans as such...
From what I have read about the game, the character of Niko shows remorse and is more complex than just a criminal thug, but even after the game comes out and they have a chance to see what they're complaining about, they still won't admit they are wrong.
"they are largely ignored by regular Italians because WE DON’T CARE!"
wouldn't an organization concerned prejudices concerning the judicial system as it relates to Italians have a problem with that?
Wouldn't it be cool if they weren't always?
Regarding the courts, who knows?
If they want to make any real change or have any effect on what's in there, yes, I totally agree.
I think alot of groups, not necessarily the JCWI, miss that fact. When outrage is expressed.
@meohfumado
Ah ok. I get where you're coming from.
Your pie has offended my cake sir ;)
People complain about Resident Evil 5 using African people as the enemies and they complain about the use of women and African Americans in games. There's so many white males saving the day and hardly any other types of heroes and all the female heroines have bodies that are out of proportion for realisitic women. Does this matter? Why should it matter? It's not like games are explicitly saying "people of colour are your enemies".
Can it not be fair to say that SOME Eastern European immigrants are involved in crime? Since when does having a couple of characters of 1 race playing into category (such as "involved with organised crime") create a stereotype?
About the only stereotype I have that was created by the media is that most people who are in the mafia are Italian American or Italian. (That does NOT mean I think every Italian person is in the mafia... if the mafia still exists.) But I know that's just a stereotype and probably untrue.
Every society has criminals and saying that it racist to point it out about a specific one IS RACIST...
Obviously it isn't a depiction of real life, in real life, the Russian mafia mostly deals with pot and tax evasion, as the director of the FBI once said, compared to the other mafias, the Russian one is not very violent...
Still I love a game about a person from my part of the world... (eastern Europe and NYC)
Are you including just the mafia proper or are you including all organized crime?
I haven't had time to review all the comments on this, but i would like to pose this to the community:
GTA in its progression from story to story, has been depicting humanity as a a species without any real bounds brought by Racism, at best it is a flavor to each individual in the GTA universe.
GTAIII: White guy, who works for anyone willing to pay him, Mafia, Yardies, Liberty Heights, Yakuza, etc...
San Andreas was a black guy, now we have a European, whose next?
The characters and missions, let alone the feel of the game is supplied by its flavor, which though using stereotypes, that is how people are represented in all medias today.
So in a bizzar way, doesn't that make the universe of the game, very un-racist?
I could probably word this much better, but i hope i have gotten my view across.
This one ethnicity is miffed that one person (that may or may not be of their race) may give them all a bad name.
Has nobody thought to bring up the point that it could be argued that the United States' larger cities are filled to the brim with crooked cops, hookers, and gang members. Do we see any cities of the States complaining? No. Is it because we can take a joke? Maybe. Or is it because the representation in GTAIV is a bit close to home? Also maybe. >_>
Why the hell does the UK get to have any osrt of say in this?
Surely they would realise how unreasonable it would be for rockstar to change one huge aspect of the game (or any aspect for that matter) in less then 24 hours especially when most stores all ready have their copies sitting and waiting.
I mean Rockstar could delay the game but then again we've known he would be eastern european for how long?
Maybe in GTA V the main character will be a woman, that would piss people off.
That would actually be really interesting. If they pulled it off well, it would be a potentially huge change to the game without changing it's nature, such as the basic gameplay. And while there are plenty of ethnicities they haven't done yet, they've done several now, so that would add far more variety in a sense. I'd love to see it.
If I want to be politicaly correct I wouldn't speak.
oxygen
Yeah. a woman would be cool. Im not saying in the potentially tasteless sense that many people see GTA as a representation of, but in the ever constant balance of the sexes, they are all part of the world in these games, so why not get the chance to be the main character?
Spot on guys.
Does that mean we finally get to kill male prostitutes or does it mean we get treated to lesbian scenes when we pick up a women prostitute?
Or better yet maybe we can be a whore.
Although really I doubt that women get very far in the criminal underworld.
If we're truly trying to abolish stereotypes, then it needs to be accepted fact that any person of any race can fall anywhere in the moral spectrum. The Grand Theft Auto Series has, to date, featured White, Black, Latino, Asian, and Russian villians to name but a few. All of a sudden making the protagonist easter european is unacceptable? What?
Now, am I now led to believe that all Danish are involved in Eastern European criminal gang activities. Of course not. Or am I led to believe, by watching this movie on DVD that all Russians are crime lords or work for them. Of course not.
By playing the GTA IV game, the same applies. The protagonist Niko Bellic is os Eastern European origen as he comes from the Balkans. As I understand the game's story, Niko Bellic, is really trying to clean up Liberty City a little bit. He just uses -ehm- violence to do it.
I didn't know Rockstar was based in Sweden, but let me say this then: In GTA V I think that the protagonist or main character should be a nordic looking man (or woman) trying to make it in Liberty City. Let me also say this: There's a Swedish crime series called 'Beck'. In one of the episodes *the man with the icons' I think it was called?, the main villain was
Russian.
Let's say I made a game (or proposed a game) in which the Chinese Triads were the bad guys. Do this mean that I think that every Chinese is a Triad or that every Chinese is a criminal. Of course not. Just as I don't think that every person from the Balkans is a criminal just because the GTA IV game has Eastern European main character - that is an immigrant? from the Balkans.
As for the figures the JCWI tell us about: This may be true in the UK, but both Sweden as well as Danmark have experienced a great influx of Eastern European criminal gangs that often sadly :( uses children to steal for them. Even if prostitution is legal (sort of) in Denmark, the police still can raid brothels, if they suspect there's been a trading of women. Sadly, I think, many times (or most of the time) the police find out that the people behind all this are people from either Russia or Eastern Europe, and maybe some times, even someone from the Balkans. I don't think any Dane would blame all Russians or all Balkans for being in cahoots with these (shady) types. The same goes for the GTA IV character, Niko Bellic.
He is representing a person from the Balkans. Yes, but that's all he is. And in the end, it is really up to you, the player, to control Niko's actions.
If you don't want Niko to do criminal things, then don't.
"Why doesn't everyone just make nice games about kittens and knitting?"
Rockstar will continue to make these games if they sell 6 million copies its first week (predicted) - Don't blame them for giving us what we want!
Yeah, absolutely! They should have gone with a black guy, like in the last game. Everybody knows the stereotypes about violent black people are totally true.
Come on, seriously? Wouldn't they just be saying this exact same sort of thing about another race/nationality/culture if he had been someone else besides an Eastern European?
Re:
No, Kajex, the problem is the over-representation of a particular type or representing a traditionally mis-stated fact.
If you were a blond, blue-eyed actress, and 19 of every 20 breakdowns you got asked for a blond, blue-eyed bimbo, you might get it.
If you were an actor from a place somewhere between north Africa and eastern India, and 19/20 breakdowns you got were for a "Islamic/terrorist", you might get it (and yes, there are plenty people from that area that are neither"),
If you were a Black male actor and 19/20 of breakdowns you got were for a gangmember/drug dealer/crackhead/car thief, you might get it.
Representation in media is a more powerful thing than most of us give credit to.