Meet "Letitia," an NPC in Deus Ex: Human Revolution that writer Evan Narcisse calls the "The worst thing about Deus Ex: Human Revolution" in an article over at Techland. Narcisse's point is that this particular character represents the worst possible stereotype of a black person. At first you might think that he is overreacting until you watch the video of Letitia interacting with the main character... We encourage you to watch it and draw your own conclusions.
Square Enix responded to the claims with the following statement:
"Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fictional story which reflects the diversity of the world's future population by featuring characters of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. While these characters are meant to portray people living in the year 2027, it has never been our intention to represent any particular ethnic group in a negative light."
The only thing I have to say about that statement is that no one should be talking like the cast members of Amos and Andy in 2027 or 2011.
Comments
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
When I first read the article I just kind of rolled my eyes and assumed people were overreacting again....then I watched the video and I was like "holy shit who let this make it into the final game?"
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
By the way, I'm kind of astonished by the outlook on this site. If it's related to a video game, it "can't be wrong." Sorry, I'm sure it's a fine game and I realize gamers are edgy from all the crap thrown their way, but it doesn't mean developers or voice actors or whomever always get it right.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
I cringed when I listened to this. It's clearly an "Amos and Andy" kind of stereotype. "I don't know da pafisics!" Really? Yeesh.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
rac·ism
noun \ˈrā-ˌsi-zəm also -ˌshi-\
1: racial prejudice or discrimination
2: In mediums of entertainment, to create a character that does not conform to the current accepted standards of normalcy.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
i dont see the problem. had this not been isolated to a single character, i'm certain that the video would actually be a montage and secondly, i have heard a few people talk like that (though in the less savory parts of the city) around the town i live in.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
I just don't see the problem.
Often the ones who are racist are the ones that scream "racist" first.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
That's the dumbest thing I've read in recent memory. If I do a bad racial stereotype and you call me out on it, it means YOU'RE the racist? Huh?
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
First I'd be the one doing the accent, secondly they are called stereotypes because somewhere people really do talk/act like that.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
Why not? People can talk however they talk. It's mainly based on culture. Languages constantly change. Usually quite quickly. Talking about how someone should talk even today, let alone in 16 years, is nonsensical.
Watch some old movies. Notice that American's sounded more British than we do today? Both in accent and choice of words? Would they have said that's how people should talk? Maybe they would have. But we wouldn't say that now.
Look at Jamaica. Jamaican patois is very different from English and it's only really been evolving for a short time. But the other language and cultural influences there have lead to the rapid development of what is essentially a new language.
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Chris Kimberley
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
Apart from being a bit far North (as in completely wrong end of the country) for the accent I don't see the problem, she just sound like she's from somewhere like Louisiana maybe (not American so can't be sure of the accents).
The problem I had was at first I thought she sounded like a guy.
If you click through to the YT vid there's someone even claiming that this is an accurate portrayal of their own way of speaking.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
You obviously don't live somewhere like Louisiana. I go to school in Mississippi, I have family in New Orleans. No one speaks like this. This would be accurate about 50 years ago, though.
Then again, from what I can tell, the voice acting in this game isn't particularly good in general, dude sounds like Bale's Batman.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
I'd have said it was terrible... If I didn't watch so many reality shows recently. What I learned? Some people are as far from any given stereotype you can think up, while other revel in them. My question is, do all people of a given ethnicity are displayed in the same light or is it only one character? If it's one character only, well, it's closer to life to do it so than to avoid stepping on toes. However, if every person of a given ethnicity you meet in a game has the same behavior, that's definitively the light in which you are casting them and you should be evaluated accordingly.
Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
I agree, if this is an isolated character, its totally believable to give them their own personality, whether its a positive or negatively perceived. But if this is game-wide, or the only portrayal of a black character, then there may be a problem. Race issues are just weird, its up to the company how they want to deal with them. There's never going to be a solution that makes everyone happy.
-Austin from Oregon
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Re: Letitia, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Racism
There another character located in the same area as this character, shes black and also working for the police and currently doing an undercover sting opperation.