Resident Evil 5 Race Controversy Resurfaces
Resident Evil 5 Race Controversy Resurfaces
June 20, 2008
While the issue of race in the trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil 5 has received no small share of attention in recent months, it continues to spark outrage among some members of the black community.
On Your Black Writers today, Tolu Olorunda takes exception to the RE5 trailer:
What I witnessed [in the RE5 trailer] was nerve-wrecking, painful, mind-numbing and heart-racing... It wasted no time in capitalizing upon the long history of blatant depictions of Africans as savages and helpless imbeciles. The trailer featured a Caucasian male mutilating African villages, along with Africans. With the not-so ancient history of colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa, the issue of racial insensitivity and indifference must be brought to the centerfold...
Olorunda also raises the issue of under-representation of African-Americans in the video game industry:
The Video Game industry is one which has profited immensely from the casualty of black on black hostility. Notable products of its faculty include, “50 Cent: Bulletproof,” “Def Jam: Icon” and “Grand Theft Auto.” This $10 billion market owes the majority of its inspiration to the tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers...
A 2005 survey suggests that Blacks constitute 2% of the demographic makeup of Game Developers, with Latinos making 2.5%. How ironic is it, that this reality does very little to punctuate the disproportionate consumption of video game products by Black and Brown teenagers...
Comments
Seriously, GP? Someone with a blog felt offended by something? Stop the presses!
No kidding. Also people like him are why people are racists against blacks in the first place.
Yeah, when I hear people complaining about racism my first response is to whip out the KKK hood and slap on the swastika armband.
No, not complaing, but finding racism where there isn't any and spreading racist sentiments. You know how racism will ceases to exist? When those racist sentiments stop being taught to people. With the world now becoming a global community, as long as people don't learn racist ideals from other people, they likely won't have many, or any at all. This person has likely created more racists by this article then he would have if he had not wrote it at all. How sad is THAT?
Ah yes, we should learn how to ignore everyone's differences and pretend like historical injustices never happened and deny their lasting effects... If we just pretend like racism doesn't exist, it won't! Because you know, denial and wish fulfillment actually change reality.
And of course, in the meantime, any negative generalizations we make about all the members of an entire race is really just their own fault. I mean it's not like our thoughts and actions are our own responsibilities or anything.
How many historical injustices can you name off the top of YOUR head? 100,000? Maybe 2,000,000?
Hypocrite. If you can't be bothered to remember all of them, don't expect anyone to remember the ones you think are important.
And people like you are the reason why people call people like you "fucktards".
I didn't know that people called geniuses "fucktards". Is that common from where you come from?
It's ironic that Africa has Africans in it. Guy was just trying to bring in some food aid. BAM. Zombies.
It would be unusual if Africa was portrayed as having only black people, since much of the continent was conquered and colonized by white Europeans.
Once again, this is a chicken and egg situation.
I do understand how, taken out of context this image could be presented from the trailer, but it's not called Resident Evil 4 for no reason, learning a little of the back-story, and the context of the game, would go a long way into explaining what people believe they are seeing.
It's a sensitive subject, without a doubt, but people are filling in the blanks themselves, rather than realising that what the player is fighting are Zombies, they look only 'half alive' because they are dead.
Damn, I meant 5, not 4 there.
Dude,
Remember when all of those spanish people got really angry at the content in resident evil 4? me neither....
Actually, I thought there was some complaints from Spain. My understanding of why it didn't stick was that Capcom half dodged the bullet by not actually saying that it was Spain that the game was based in, and by shuffling around a few superficial details, like the name of the currency.
With gas prices so high recently, running the whaaaaambulance has gotten expensive. Of course its an election year so everyone is calling for it.
Wow. For one, nobody took 50 Cent: Bulletproof seriously. But as for the other games, this person really needs to do some further research into the subject matter being dealt with here.
agreed, 110%!!!
the author of this blog is a FuckHead, and should be shot for trying to put down a great game, thyre killing ZOMBIES not africans...seriously...what a dumass
and i think video games should be free from racist rules, and ideals. this game is DEFINATELY NOT racist.
go fuck yourself, stupid mindless blog starter.
and maby if the african american says hes looking forwar dot the game, he MIGHT know if its racist or not;P
I am SO sick of race-baiting jerks who claim everyone else is racist when it's THEM who can't see past skin color.
I wonder if these idiots know how much damage they do to race relations in America.
Same, they them selves keep racism alive instead of letting it die a quiet death. These people just want attention, thinking they'll be given some recognition intead of gaining infamousy.
Nobody claimed that at all.
And I'm sick of self-conscious morons like you getting defensive just because someone has the nerve - the NERVE - to suggest that racism has lasting cultural repurcussions and can't just be dismissed away as if it doesn't matter.
Ignoring problems doesn't make them go away. Good life lesson.
And just because someone is interrogating a work of art doesn't mean they are calling you a racist. Chill out.
And away we go!
I'm so sick of this story.
Agreed. These people of course jumping to conclusions and saying what will get them press and help push their agenda. This idiot WANTS people to be racist that way he can cry persecution and gets to keep his job.
I guess nobody told him the Resident Evil story hence wont comprehend why the villiage is acting like that. Are eastern europeans crying racism after Resident Evil 4? Gimmie a break.
Yes, black people really like racism and want it to continue. Good logic there pal.
gas prices continue to skyrocket, obese isp companies are trying to place themselves as internet gatekeepers, the american economy is really shaky at best, bush continues to drive this country into record debts. parts of the midwest are flooding under heavy rainfall and all this guy can complain about are black zombies in a game set in africa? *shakes head in disappointment*
I wonder if all the zombies were white males, there would be the same level of OUTRAGE.
Heaven forbid a person take into account the setting and subject matter before kicking the outrage engines into overdrive. -_-
I honestly think this guy would whine either way. If you replace the black zombies with white zombies then he'd cry out you aren't correctly representing African races. The only way THIS GUY will be happy is if the "hero" is black and the zombies are white.
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
If the 'hero' was black and the zombies were white, he'd complain that the game portrays black men as gun-toting crazies who target white folk.
Eh, what can we do? Some people can make themselves angry over the smallest things.
Ok well that concludes it... Can't win with people who have this mindset lol!
Wonder if they visit the same mental places JT does?
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
Yeah smallest things... the world's history of colonialism, slavery, segregation, etc. - just trivial, really. Nothing to go on about.
they mostly were in the original game, because there wasn't enough processing power left over for varying skin colors and female zombies came about because of better programing and compression. but for the most part the zombies looked like they evolved from Caucasians....hmmm does that count as racism?
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
ummm, have you played 4? I'm pretty sure that just about every one of the infected characters in that game is white... where was the outrage there? BTW, out of curiousity, why does the final bad guy in most (if not all) RE games turn out to be a white guy.
While the blogger's heart is in the right place (Racism IS in fact bad) he should understand the history of the story first. The vilagers in this game are getting treated no differently than they were in 4 from what I can see.
But please, I beg of commentors not to blindly bash him. It can make you look just as stupid as you are trying to make the blogger seem. Back up your arguments. Not trying to regulate anyones commenting, just a suggestion.
Nope, no one said anything about Resident 2, 3, Veronica, or 4. Also no one said anything about Dead Rising either.
O crap...I forgot about Dead Rising
How many black people were in Dead Rising? There was Otis, a psycho-escaped-inmate-with-a-giant-gun, and I think that was pretty much it. No survivors or zombies were black, huh.
Actually, the zombies in Hawaiian shirts carrying hunting knives are all black guys. And there are a few black survivors.
Maybe I just didn't notice because the COLOR of a zombie doesn't matter =)
I only played through a couple times, there were black survivors?
Oh yeah, two in a shoe store, ones injured. And there were one or two others that I can't remember.
I'm tired of this story. The person was watching this video with the mindset that he should be offended. You can look at the longest trailer and there is an obvious transition from peaceful to zombie infested people. It doesn't even begin to get violent until halfway through so it does show non-zombie individuals. It also doesn't get violent, aside from the political uprising scene, until the first person is infected and turned into a zombie.
The trailer was well directed but is not racist unless you are specifically trying to make it racist. It is pretty pathetic.
What he fails to mention is that 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Def Jam: Icon were games whose development was driven by African Americans. 50 Cent was heavily involved in Bulletproof, and defended it against outcries from political and parents organizations over the game's violence. Def Jam included the likenesses and voices of many of Def Jam's stable of artists, and the IP (afaik) is licensed to EA, not owned by them.
It seems disingenious to pull the race card and cry foul over a pair of games that were the product of African American involvement on a high level.
And I also find it ironic that the author ridiculous the games industry for only 2.5 % of them being latino, yet makes no mention of "los ganados" from Resident Evil 4, Spaniards who are behaving almost exactly as the Africans are in this trailer. I guess white-on-hispanic violence is acceptable, but not white-on-black?
Ironically, Spaniards aren't classified as "latino" or "hispanic", which is a term often used for Central and South American people that usually speak spanish (or in Brazil's case, Portugese). No... the Spaniards themselves are actually Caucasian.
"I'm not responcabel fer my comuter's spleling errnors." -- Xlorep DarkHelm
Soooooo shooting black zombies is racist, but shooting Arab terrorists isn't? Not that I mind, I love COD4, but doesn't the same logic apply? In fact, there is a stronger argument that COD4 protrays a racial and religious stigma against Muslims and Arabs.
RE:5 -- Not set in Africa. Only inferred symbolic referrence to historical injustices. Nothing in the plot of the game or series is offensive, only the image is. Not killing black people -- killing black zombies; also not because they're black, but because they are zombies. Created by the Japanese.
COD4 -- Set in 'unspecified Islamic Arab state' (implying that all Arabs/Muslims are radical Islamic Terrorists); involves the triggering of a nuclear weapon obtained from the Russians by the leader of a terrorist organisation when the Americans are poised to complete their invasion (Saddam/Osama reference here -- remember the speculation during the invasion that Saddam might trigger a nuke in a last ditch effort to repell the US invasion?? Of course, the leader then goes into hiding and a massive search is conducted by special forces and intelligence personnel, only this time they find him). Could also be an allusion to Iran.
Does not referrence the long and complex history of radical Islam extremism, nor the history of US/Western foreign policy during the Cold War. Reduces the conflict to merely one of the evil Muslim/Arab terrorist along with the evil Russian 'soviet throwback' nationalist hating the west (which has done nothing wrong and stands for the good and 'freedom') and throwing off nukes.
But then again, IT'S JUST A FUCKING GAME.
You appear to have no idea what Terrorists actually are. In CoD4, the Arabs aren't Terrorists. They are, or were, a state Army. You know, like the Iraqi Army was before we made the mistake of invading.
You could call them Terrorists if they actually attacked US Soil with intent to kill civilians, but they didn't. So, they're not Terrorists.
No, that is the old meaning for "Terrorists". The new one is "anyone we want to kill".
so only people who attack America are considered terrorists?
I'm pretty sure it's not what you meant, but it is what you said
I am nerve-wrecked, pained, mind-numbed and my heart is racing that this person is trying to perpetuate hate and race-mongering by writing the article.
I'm just so tired of everyone looking for a reason to be offended. The world isn't perfect, get over it.
I love the "they took no time capitalizing" line. So... the first 4 games... plus all the spinoffs, was all just a precurser for the japanese developers to spew radical racial hatred. Perhaps GP should start adding 'Conspiracy Theory' tags.
The Tolu Olorunda!?
My sentiments exactly. This comment is made of win.
I can understand a certian amount of outrage on this honestly, though it would be nice if these people would bother to read in a little on these sort of things than just see "WHITE MAN SHOOTING A BLACK MAN! IT'S RACISM!!!!!". For goodness sake, the game is in africa and about "zombies" it's not portraying all african amercians as being zombies. It's a game about killing ZOMBIES which are trying to eat your face off. It has nothing to do with the color of their damn skin. And I agree with JimK, some of these 'activists' are so pronouncedly towards their side that they are indeed being racist towards white people. I'm not saying white people didn't do bad things in the past mind you but for god sake but just continuing the cycle of hate and hurt doesn't solve a damn thing.
Wow, we almost made it three months before another "random guy with a blog who missed the boat the first 3 or 4 times around" posts the same kneejerk reaction with little thought or research beforehand.
Say GP, any chance of getting next and previous story buttons on the article pages like before?
Does anybody know the episode of South Park when there was a debate about changing the South Park flag? The flag was racist because it's a bunch of white stick people watching a black stick figure being hanged. Many kids were so not racist that they didn't see that it was a black stick person being hang, all they see is just a person being hanged.
The message of the episode was that many people became so anti-racist that themselves are racist by making a image look racist. That's how I fell about this topic.
When we play Def Jam, or Grand Theft Auto, we don't care that we are playing as a black criminal, we just want to play as a criminal. I hate his choose of racist game examples.
Def Jam: Icon is full of black people because Def Jam is a hip-hop label company, which is full of black artists. Grand Theft Auto is full of white people. There are italian, russian, cuban, american, etc. It wasn't till San Andreas there really started to use black people as criminals. If anything GTA is pro-black.
The problem that really boils my blood is not the bloggers that calls RE5 racist, it's some of the gamers response. Some of them are using such strong racist terms against bloggers which in the end, proves their point.
The blog doesn't mention a source for the 2005 survey of game developer demographics, but I'm curious whether that survey involved the world wide game industry, or just North America. Cause if it was world wide, Japan would kind of skew the results a bit. Not that the number of Black or Hispanic developers would be very high even if that was the case, but it would make something of a difference.
Kind of? Also, Europe would likely schew (sp?) the results to. Not as badly as Japan, but still.
It's all BS. Where was the controversey from the Spanish Community for RE4. And I'd be lynched if I complained that you can only kill white people in the first 3 RE games. From what we've seen The game takes place in Africa tribal villages , Surprisngly enough most of the zombies(or whatever they're calling them in this one) are of African decent. It would look a bit ridiculous if we run into these villages and there's a bunch of rich looking caucasion guys sitting around drinking tea.
I feel the people calling it racist are in fact being a little bit racist themselves. I didn't see it as me killing white people in 0-3 + spinoffs, or killing Spaniads in 4 and I won't see it as killing African's in 5. I see it as there's a crud load of zombies trying to kill me and it's me or them. They could be white,black,yellow, purple, orange, gray, I don't care. If someone is trying to kill me I'm going to fight back.
I didn't think the Africans displayed in the RE5 trailers were portrayed as dumb. Also, there have been non-white characters in Resident Evil before. Ada Wong, Carlos Oliveira, these characters were shooting white zombies.
I sure would like to see a yellow or purple zombie =)
The Video Game industry is one which has profited immensely from the casualty of black on black hostility. Notable products of its faculty include, “50 Cent: Bulletproof,” “Def Jam: Icon” and “Grand Theft Auto.” This $10 billion market owes the majority of its inspiration to the tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers...
wow.. ok correct me if im wrong but isnt the only one being racist here the writer of the article. Surely suggesting GTA and those other games, and hence crime, guns, murder are results of 'the tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers ' is like somehow trying to say those criminal situations are uniquely 'black' which lets face it, they arent. ANYONE can shoot a gun. The colour of your skin doesnt affect your ability to pull a trigger.
The only things in RE5 he picks up on are that 'The trailer featured a Caucasian male mutilating African villages, along with Africans' . THATS WHAT HE SELECTIVELY CHOOSES TO SEE! again, who is the racist? The creators for making a ZOMBIE GAME (thats already had 5 previous iterations (including Zero) set in spain, and america filled with hispanics, and whites and other races), or the journalist who sees it as a 'Caucasian male mutilating African villages, along with Africans' . He is not KILLING 'AFRICANS' he is KILLING ZOMBIES AND MUTANTS.
In THIS iteration of the resident evil series the virus/parasites just HAPPEN to be inhabiting the bodies of african males, WHICH IS A GOOD AND JUSTIFIED DESIGN CHOICE IF THE GAME IS SET IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE! how absolutely STUPID would it look if the majority of the inhabitants of the african village were made white? seriously. IT would look completely stupid and make ooh ZERO sense. Oh and then of course the designers would be accused of not wanting to portray black in a video game and replacing them with whites as blacks 'are second class' or something. God this gets me SO mad.
FFS if the trailer showed a white zombie and a black zombie, and the protagonist shakes hand with the white zombie and pats him on the back and then shoots the black zombie, in every encounter of the trailer, then fair enough, he may have a point. but im PRETTY DAMNED SURE chris redfield would shoot ANY RACE of zombie/mutant equally quickly if it was lurching forward to take a chunk out of him. In fact if it ever happened to me you can be DAMNED sure id do the SAME THING.
It cant be discrimination if every race of zombie (through 5 games) has been treated equally. how can that POSSIBLY be discrimination against 'black' zombies. GEEZ this whole idea is completely ridiculous.
Finally...
"With the not-so ancient history of colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa, the issue of racial insensitivity and indifference must be brought to the centerfold..."
NO IT MUSTN'T AT ALL! I cannot disagree any more with this statement. WHY must it be brought to the centrefold??? seriously.WHY?
Im not trivialising black history here but this ISNT a black history lesson in a game box, its a GAME. Its not meant to be anything about 'black people' as a race, or a comment on 'black people' being savages or whatever. Its meant to be a GAME about hordes of zombies and trying to survive the horror. THATS WHY ITS CALLED SURVIVAL HORROR. T
he only stereotyping is that you are a human who wants to survive, and THEY arent and want to kill you( and for the record when i say THEY i mean Zombies, not black people/africans/ whatever. Just so no1can misread what im saying, because apparently it has to be written in BIG WRITING like a disclaimer for some people who are obsessed with skin colour, perhaps they should stamop it over everything in big red ink stamps just to make it clear. Or is choosing red Colourist to green and blue and would they get bad press for that?)
Just because a game CONTAINS something, doesnt mean its promoting or degrading it. Havent we learned that with the video game violence debate? A game can contain any race it wants to it doesnt necessarily MEAN anything. Why cant it just be a zombie game that happens to be set in africa and therefore features the indigenous race of that country. Seems reasonable to me.
But then again, i see people first then skin colour second. Shame the journalist cannot.
oops... that was me posting btw! need login sorted
The racism charge is rather uncalled for, but he has a point: "It wasted no time in capitalizing upon the long history of blatant depictions of Africans as savages and helpless imbeciles."
Both this game and Far Cry 2 are set in Africa, which I am excited about, but they don't present the best picture of Africa. Of course, I dont' think any video game makes the place it is set look good...
More so then any other form of media, video games are based on conflict so they're either going to be set in areas where conflict makes sense - like Africa or the Middle East - or where we have a cultural expectation of conflict even if reality contradicts it - like New York.
*sigh*
The activist parade marches again, adding much in the way of dis-information and hysteria, and adding nothing in the way of dealing with real race issues that exist.
~~All Knowledge is Worth Having~~
These days, I have more sympathy for the racist cause then for the victums-of-racism cause. I'm sick of this shit.
LOL awesome point some1 on the article made:
Actually, due to the parasite causing the zombification rather than the traditional virus, the spanish and african "zombies" in the latest resident evil games have been smarter than the white ones in the earlier Resident Evil's. Is Capcom being racist against whites by saying that they are dumber?
Hahaha. Totally true, and a good point considering that one of the writers main objections is the africans being portrayed as 'imbeciles'.
I wonder if once he finds this out he will write another article asking capcom to dumb down the african zombies as its not fair to discriminate against the other races by saying blacks are cleverer. I think not.
*sigh* He's not even watching the most recent trailer.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34647.html
Why exactly does race matter when you have tentacles coming out of your neck?
That's damn right, sir. Tentacles out of your neck seems like a much more pressing issue.
Their were more white guys in this trailer then the origional, which had only one. I don't think we need to complain anymore, because it looks like it will be hard to not run into a white zombie in this game. Better yet, we have a black woman a main character! these guys will not have to worry about racism being in the game.
I didn't see any more white people, lol
But that other chick was kinda cute..
I don't know if anybody has mentioned this but the main character in RE5 has a partner who is a BLACK WOMAN! I guess they'll claim next that the partner shooting black zombies perpetuates "black on black violence".
All the journalist has proved here that HE is in fact the racist one.
Everyone here has seen past the skin colour on show, he's the one placing such importance on it and demanding that it be brought to the fore.
Resident Evil 2 had blakc zombies. That alone should make his arugment invalid.
-kurisu7885
That doesn't make sense, since he's talkign about depictions of the trailer,and how that made him feel/react. Previous context or not, the trailer shows what it shows, and people see it however their personal context affords them to.
Nowadays I just say "Shut up, stop being a pussy, don't pay your next internet bill.
how stupid is it to pick apart zombies by race.
I mean look at it this way. Take this similar scenario:
-Your in a field.
-A wild lion runs toward you agressively growling with a sign on it saying 'not been fed in 2 weeks, wil eat you'
- you have a loaded gun.
Do you:
a) shoot at the lion, its dangerous, because ITS A LION (you dont need to think any further than that) and you need to protect yourself
b) put the gun down, and forget that this is a lion, and instead sit and ponder what particular SPECIES(race) of lion this is, as that may somehow change your opinion of the lion running toward you with its jaws inches away from your head, and rather than shoot sit there and cover yourself in bbq sauce and lay on a dish whilst you sit and think.
C: Dodge and smack it with my butt stock to discourage it and make it go away because I'm a badass. Lions are not zombies so they can be reasoned without killing them. A hungrey lion will give up if it figures your to tough to other with.
You would require training and a hell of a reaction time/reflexes, because a pouncing lion is gonna be really really fast.. Or failing which, immense luck...
Hehe
A single lioness can take down a fully grown cape buffalo, hungry or not. So I'd like to see any human being (badass or not) try to "smack" an +500 pound lion running at full speed toward them and "discourage" the lion without becoming dinner for the lion.
Chuck and/or J.T. could.
"The Video Game industry is one which has profited immensely from the casualty of black on black hostility. Notable products of its faculty include, “50 Cent: Bulletproof,” “Def Jam: Icon” and “Grand Theft Auto.” This $10 billion market owes the majority of its inspiration to the tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers..."
so wait... its racist to depict the people in the games as young black and brown people, but its also racist to base games off violent situations that black and brown people commit to?
isn't it also racist to assume its ONLY black and brown people making these "tragic Decisions"?
whelp, i'm convinced this persons another uninformed idiot looking for a cheap 5 minute fame moment...
"Damn the video game industry for victimizing white people by making games about the tragic decisions of other white people."
That pretty much covers the entire history of video games up until someone decided it would be OK to put people of color in the games ... as either heroes or villains.
As far as the composition of the video game industry by race. Well ... so? There is no race barrier in game development. But there is and always has been an ability and passion for the craft barrier. Everyone regardless of age, gender, race, preferences, etc. has to get past that. No one in the industry says "You're black or brown, you're not working for my company." But you do have to be smart, motivated, clever, talented, trained, and tried under fire to work and stay working in games.
I think the only games this author plays are ones with "race cards" in them (as in "he played the race card.").
"he played the race card."
what does that even mean?
Typically, it's the use of race to gain some advantage or to disadvantage an opponent. For instance, many of Obama's supporters use racism to justify people going against Obama or use his race to justify voting for him (in my experience, the Europeans and the New York Times are the most guilty).
Ah ok.
How does that relate to this writer's comments?
In this case he's crying racism to get attention and make himself feel important.
oh.
So in a blog where he regularly talks about race, "he's pulling the race card " when he discusses race as perceived in a video game trailer?
Pulling the 'race card' when it is uncalled for is much like pulling a 'godwin' when the comparison is uncalled for, it's such an extremist and weak way to make an argument that it makes a person sound silly for making the argument in the first place.
So, It isn't that the issue of race is being brought up on a blog dedicated to racial bias (imagined or not). It has much more to do with dramatic finger-pointing toward race (pulling the race card) as a sole reason for outrage in a context where it is irrelevant (videogames), with the single purpose to charge an argument that is fundamentally flawed (because white zombies in an African setting just doesn't make any sense, among other issues).
Not just because race is normally discussed on that blog.
It's one thing for a person to say that they have a problem with the depiction of a race in a videogame trailer without any exterior context, and share their concerns in a rational and level headed manner, etc... but to immediately cry 'omg racists!' and condemn not only the game, but its creators and all those who aren't equally offended as well, is ridiculous to say the least.
ed: fixed sp/formating
"dramatic finger-pointing toward race (pulling the race card)"
That changes the definition a little. Is it realyl for gain, or it just pointing out the racial contexts of an item? :)
Further, I think saying that race is irrelevant in video games is like saying race is irrelevant in movies, or Television. I think any storytelling medium can be considered in terms of racial content, which is a matter of being right or wrong, good or bad. Just another level of analysis.
Now certainly, he errors on indicating some level of disdain for the game without full game experience (which no one has). But the issues he has with the trailer are very tangible, given context.
I think that's the issue I've had here. The argument from many detractors seems to be that race shouldn't be an issue with this trailer at all. But given what happens in the trailer, (one can't say for the game), but the indications from the trailer lean toward the ideas of othering and some racially uneasy imagery.
Sure, to condemn all parties is ridiculous. But to discount this guy because he's "pulling the race card" seems like a quick way to say "he's talking about race where i don't see it, he can't be right, so I won't try to understand it and see where he's coming from". Which I think would happen regardless of the topic he's discussing.
"Playing the race card" means someone going for an emotional, rather than rational reaction from the audience. It is typically played when someone's position may be strengthened by making someone look like a victim of racism or racist motives ... when in fact race has nothing to do with the situation ... only that one person involved is of one race and the other is of another.
Classic recent examples: The O.J. Simpson trial. The outcome had nothing to do with his guilt or innocence, just that he was a black man being victimized by a racist white judicial system. The Duke rape case is a more recent case. The student athletes were rich and white. The alleged victim was black and poor. The District Attorney and the media played the race card to convince the public ... for a while, that these young men had raped a girl working her way through college.
Actually, "Playing the (whatever) card" is an expression that a person uses a certain situation or condition to get the "trump" on others. It comes from card games. It usually means you are going for an easy victory instead of actually playing a winning hand because of some quirk of fate in your favor. It can be anything, age (old or young), race, nationality, disability, lack of disability, association or any combination of personal issues.
"As far as the composition of the video game industry by race. Well ... so? There is no race barrier in game development. But there is and always has been an ability and passion for the craft barrier. Everyone regardless of age, gender, race, preferences, etc. has to get past that. No one in the industry says "You're black or brown, you're not working for my company." But you do have to be smart, motivated, clever, talented, trained, and tried under fire to work and stay working in games."
There may be no race barrier in game development as an industry but the underlying issue is access to the education, technology and opportunties required to break into the industry. To that end I would love to see inner city schools or schools in poor neighbourhoods offering more computer programming or computer art classes to allow people who might not otherwise have access to the tools the opportunity to get started in the industry. The Hollywood, mass-media version of the inner city is, I would imagine, very different from the reality and it would be a good thing to give people more tools to tell the real story.
The inner city has cultural problems. Funding them just won't help all that much. A little, sure, but not all thta much.
BIG cultural problems. They can't keep kids in the inner cities from burning the goddamned building down, let alone not destroying expensive equipment. The problem with inner city schools is and always was bad parenting. Men knock up their girlfriends then run for the hills. Girls want to be able to go out and get drunk and get hair extensions and nail jobs, so the kid ends up at home unparented. Then everyone is surprised when it doesn't know how to behave in polite public.
All of this is somehow white people's fault. Go figure.
Well, one could point a finger to years of institutional racism.
But, ultimately personal accountability *is* pretty important.
I would say that your sweeping generalizations don't bode well for anyone respecting your opinion though.
Honey/vinegar/etc
So, because of Jim Crowe laws, I'm justified in running away from my family?
Sounds like a piss-poor excuse to me. In fact, if I thought the government was cracking down on me for the color of my skin, I'd probably be forced closer to my family, you know, strength in solidarity, and all that?
While I don't believe that every person of color is a family deserter, and every deserted parent is a deadbeat, the generalization solely serves to illustrate an all too common scenario. Polite suggestions that men of all colors need to accept the responsibility of where they put their penises generally go unheard.
I live near Detroit...those "sweeping generalizations" are almost spot on. It's sad, that most of Detroit is black, and most of Detroit is desolate, "gangsta" and just plain bad. If I went strolling through Detroit by myself, odds are I'd be at least yelled at for being white, but there's a chance I'd be mugged (or worse).
My dad grew up in Detroit, went to school in the uptown. He got threatened fairly often, sometimes at knifepoint, all for being white.
Just saying
First, this issue is dead and buried. Second, the blogger (please don't call them a journalist) who wrote that post is being an idiot and being so sensationalistic that it would bring a tear of pride to Rupert Murdoch's evil red eye.
Let's look at the shining beacon of stupidity:
"The Video Game industry is one which has profited immensely from the casualty of black on black hostility. Notable products of its faculty include, “50 Cent: Bulletproof,” “Def Jam: Icon” and “Grand Theft Auto.” This $10 billion market owes the majority of its inspiration to the tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers..."
First off, "profited immensely" is a questionable phrase at best, something he would know if he did a modicum of research. The only game mentioned that would fall into the category of "immensely profitable" would be GTA. Anyone with any knowledge of video games would know that the GTA games take satirical aim at all segments of the population, not just the "tragic decisions of young black and brown teenagers." Then suggesting that the market is inspired by the culture of gang violence? That's not only ignorant, it's willfully disregarding facts and reality.
Tolu Olorunda is, on this matter, completely divorced from reality.
There is legitimacy to the claims that the image of a white man gunning down an African village echoes realities that are, for some Africans, not far in the past however for the gamer generation white on black African violence is almost unknown when compared to black on black violence. While colonialism created scars that may never heal it is disengenous to propogate the "white devil" stereotype as the source of all ill when the violence currently occuring in Africa is black on black
Well, that and the fact that no one complained when Black fiddy'cen' guns down dozens upon dozens of white police officers.
Remember, it's only racism if the perpetrator is white.
I think its unfortunate that, even after many people approaching the issue in different ways, and most of the high profile critics of the
**trailer**
coming at the issue from differnet angles, people, at least in comments, do not take the time to re-evaluate the issue, or try to understand what the concern is.
What people also often do not appreciate is that the often dismissed form of storytelling found in video games, is now getting some attention for its capacity to express and utilize more adult, serious, and even painful issues. Games ahve definitely come a long way, and have more or less earned the right to fall under this sort of criticism.
If someone isn't calling for the game to be stopped or otherwise banned (I didn't check the course for that, did you?), is criticism of subject matter really that bad?
The concern is well known. It's legitimacy is suspect. People who constantly bring up racism "prime" those who deal with them to start evaluating situations based on race. The effect doesn't last long, but it doesn't help race relations either. Most Americans nowadays don't care about the race of people in their entertainment, so long as it's not a blatant stereotype. When you declare a product racist, the people who formerly didn't care about race start to pay more attention to it and react differently based on race, setting race relations back a few decades.
One could argue that not talking about race has set us back, since it sjust this elephant in the closet that we yell at if it ever comes out.
There is, however, a vast difference between unwaranted accusation and a rational discussion.
Also, since when has race not been discussed? I guess I just don't see where the argument could be made. Its been plenty discussed almost every time this issue has been brought up, here and in other forums all across the net, and likely discussed any other time race has been brought up. Sure, there will always be the initial group of people who will make a kneejerk reaction or cover up their ears/eyes, but there is always rational discussion amoungst the crowds, you just have to be willing to look for it.
The point of "post-racialism" is supposed to be that all people are treated equally. To quote King "judging by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin". Race simply doesn't need to be discussed unless there is any proof for institutionalized racism. The white community by and large moved pass race, and, from my experience, so has the Asian community. The black community, and, to a large extent, the Latino community, hold everyone back from the post-racial dream. The black community declares any kind of movement against black criminals to be racist, regardless of the fact that the reason blacks are imprisoned more often is because they commit more crimes. The Latinos regard any kind of enforcement of our borders against illegal immigration as racism. These are generalizations, of course, and do not apply to all of either community. However, the problem is so widespread that I regard the use of these generalizations as justified.
That's King's dream, for sure. And for the time, great, that's the extremity necessary.
But doesn't not talking about race preclude that sense of history, self pride and heritage? I think a world where we don't discuss race just serves to homogenize people into something less facetous. Boring even, right?
And the difficulty always is that race is so often tied to visual perception. Everyone draws an opinion on past experience, which I think predisposes everyone to prejudice. Most people may have squashed that, arguably, but everyone still has eyes, opinions and past experiences.
Further, how about the old saying "Those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"? If there isn't reasonable discourse, aren't we leaving the world open to repetition?
Granted, once you get past the initial knee-jerk reactions, good discourse comes. But its those first responders that probably woudl benefit most from the discussion. :/
"Further, how about the old saying "Those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"? If there isn't reasonable discourse, aren't we leaving the world open to repetition?"
So true. The problem is that we can't talk about race. I'm white, and I'm not allowed to talk about race to non-whites. If I do, I'm a racist. If I suggest for a minute, as several Black leaders already have, that the problem with modern black culture and society is that Black fathers desert their children more than three times as often as non-blacks, I'm a racist.
We can't talk about racism because black America can't accept that it may be to blame for it's own problems.
Well with inlammatory statistics like that I can see why. Jerk. :)
I kid. I kid. I kid.
But I think registering comparitive statistics can turn a conversation very easily into further comparisons, driving a conversation easily toward superiority connotations. When in fact, you've got a topic of discussion that indicates "a" problem (and heatedly arguably "the" problem) with the black community.
While I would discourage opening a discussion abotu race with "This is THE problem", no matter what answer you have, I wouldn't disuade you from attempting to have discourse with people on the topic when it arises. You're coming as an outsider voice, which will always be problematic for you, but it sounds like you're coming from a place of actually wanting to work (or at least theorize) toward problem solving.
Though then its potentially a matter of implying that outsider help is needed . . .
. . . its tough. :) But I would encourage you to try to maintain the dialog.
In a discussion of race, I feel compelled to have some hard fact behind the statements I make. If I just said "Black Fathers leaving the family puts the children and the mother at such a disadvantage that she cannot raise them to properly respect social mores and disciplinary systems, and they end up lacking the structure that they need to establish a reasonable internal censor," without basing it in fact, then I'm just being a racist. It turns into He Said/She Said, and as soon as someone points the finger and shouts "Racist" everyone else in the room looks to try and figure out how that racist was allowed to speak in the first place.
I do really believe that parenting is the problem. Not just with black america, but with "we have a credit problem" america, and "we have a youth violence problem" america (even though that's patently false), too. If new parents consulted books, web sites and organizations like www.oneparentfamilies.org, Crosswalk, and the rest of the gamut of free parents services, maybe they'd be able to teach their child how to behave in school/take responsibility/ do the right thing. Of course, this is all pinned on the idea that it takes two (at least) to raise a child. If Dad runs off to do . . . whatever, mom doesn't have time to raise kids; she has to work. This also illustrates a problem in child welfare laws, but throwing legislation at this problem has done nothing. Child support law does nothing if Dad chooses not to pay it. Yeah, if they catch him, and if they convict him, mom and son can get control of a percentage of his assets, but if he had plenty of asset, do you think he'd be running from his family?
Leave it at this: does a properly raised child spit and swear at her second grade teacher? Does a properly raised child resort to petty violence as means to an end (or even just for fun)? No matter what you believe about HOW to parent a child, the end result of every method tends to be of the non-violent and societally constructive type. If we all raised our children to be kind, open-minded, polite and responsible, we wouldn't have a race problem. We probably wouldn't have a debt problem, or an oil crisis either, because kids wouldn't be getting and maxing out credit cards as soon as they leave the nest, and we'd see far fewer gas-guzzling SUVtards which drive the price up for the rest of us. Personal responsibility goes a long long way, people, and the only way to get it is to be properly taught.
I bow to you kind and wise sir
*Bow*
I don't think that anyone's complaining about criticism - if they are then they are being foolish - but rather that the criticism is of an incomplete product. Unless these critics have a leaked alpha that they've played through they really don't know what's being said about Africa. There are many very valid points to be raised about the situation in many parts of Africa and none of the critics seem to be considering that a zombie story could address some of these issues.
For example, couldn't the use of zombies be a metaphor for the aspects of strong tribal loyalties that have led to so much violence and death? Could it similarly be a metaphor for the rampant mindset in some places that says that the way to cure AIDS is to have sex with a virgin? They could also be using zombies as a way to show the plight of Africans who have been abused by western pharmacutical companies or used as guinnea pigs by multinational companies. The issues that they're dealing with in the game could go much deeper then "shewt teh zombeez!!!111" but we can't know that yet.
What they're doing is paramount to refusing to watch American History X because it starts off with a Neo-Nazi curb-stomping a black man.
I agree with alot of what you say. It feels that alot of reaction from this topic comes out of disinterest in accepting that someone could have an issue with the discussion of race in the trailer.
The writer seems to go in a lot of directions, with the trailer as a jumping point. His concerns appear to go beyond an indictment of RE and into a voicing of a larger concern of black presence and representation in that game industry. Which I think also, easily gets lost when this topic is brought up with fair and minimal comentary, as GP does fairly consistantly.
Questions of black representation in the industry should be raised but the writer does it wrong. His implication that the video game industry is a success because it is inspired by the actions of black youths is completely false and dismissive of thousands of titles that have nothing to do with black culture that were created by hundreds of thousands of people working hard for many, many hours. The writer has clearly done no research whatsoever and is making grandious claims based on his ignorance.
Black representation in the games industry isn't due to racism on the part of the industry or industry professionals but it's an unfortunate result of social factors. In order to get into the games industry you need to have experience programming or creating 3d artwork - both of those fields have a relatively high barrier of entry because they require expensive tools to practice on and years of expensive schooling. Unfortunately that makes it a difficult proposition for people from poor neighbourhoods because it is more difficult for them to get access to the required tools. Blacks and hispanics have a higher percentage of low wage earners living in poor neighbourhoods compared to whites and so are afforded less opportunities to meet the requirements to break into the game industry.
It's also important to note that oftentimes when people do move from a poor environment they choose to do so by embracing more traditionaly prestigious social roles - businessmen, doctors, lawyers, etc. It's the next generation that generally entertain artistic or alternative ambitions.
It's not a fault of the game industry, it's a reflection of our society and the faults therein. You want to see more blacks and hispanics designing games, then offer the tools to poor neighbourhoods.
"You want to see more blacks and hispanics designing games, then offer the tools to poor neighbourhoods."
Because that's the only place you'll find Black or Hispanic people interested in the games industry? :) jk
You make an understandable point about generational introduction to art career, which I also agree with.
But one can easily harbor some fear/fanatacism for having a group of people interested in centralizing a people that are, more or less, catching up. I get a feeling thats at least where his fervor its coming from.