Castle Crashers is racist, claims strange interpretation

I just have to say one thing in response to friedfishribs's comment - The characters in the end of the video never threw spears. One of the knights shot a bow and arrow, so maybe you're confusing that with a spear, but you're seeing racist imagery that isn't there.

The bizarre thing here is that I don't see any comments (maybe I missed one) pointing out that these characters are wearing HELMETS. Those aren't their faces and as such any idea that these guys are "pure white" is kind of weird. Maybe I've not seen the images without those helmets on, if they even exist.

The one end part of the video certainly looks like what the lady is describing, though. They appear to be more like monsters, but they're incredibly similar to how blacks were depicted in old black and white cartoons... incredibly dark with odd hairdos.

In all fairness, the first time I saw this video back during PAX, I did notice that there seemed to be a bit of a white supremacy thing going on. It wasn't because of the color of the enemies, it was because of the cross shape on their white faces. But I brushed it of as being a funny coincidence. The cross shape is more likely to be in refernce to the crusades rather than white supremacy.

I'm no history major, but i could'a sworn the KKK nor the Nazis never rode dinosuars. And yes my spelling/grammar is horrible.

There are some games (although not done commonly or by big well known companies) that may slip racism into games, believe me, I've played some obvios ones, not on PS or Xbox that is, but on PC, I heard they were racist and wanted to find out for myself.

However, this does not mean anything that has black and white characters in it could be classified as racist if something happens to one of them.

I'm not going to moan becasue DOA may have made a black person look silly or FF games have no black ppl at all, in fact, I don't even notice until someone who is disturbed by it mentions it to me, I'm a gamer, and unless I see obvious racial issues occuring, you wont find me moaning about it.

"This couldn't be further from the truth. I don't have any malice when I pet my dog and I don't demean him when I give him treats. I think both my dog and I can agree that we're friends, but that doesn't mean I think of us as equals. What matters is power. Who has control of it, and who is subjugated by it. We live in a society that has openly oppressed racial minorities until just 40 years ago - you can choose to believe that a thousand years of xenophobia has been wiped clean in a span of 4 decades, or you can be more conscious of the white privilege that permeates society."

Wait a second...did you just compare the relationship between races to the relationship between you and your dog? I'm not trying to imply anything...

You're right, privilege is a big part of it. It's one of the things I refer to when I talk about demeaning. In order to have privilege, you have to consider yourself better then they are. The only way you can do that is to make your target less than you are. That's what control is.

The exact same thing was done in WWII, in which all of comics depicted the Japanese as having snakes teeth and forked tongues.

I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist. What I'm saying is that it doesn't exist HERE. In this game.

At #43, Im surprised, an intelegent comment.

I don't get why people get so up in arms when something like this hits joystiq? Do you really need to defend it that badly, do you really think the white male is about to lose it's inherent power in America any time soon? Honestly.

I wish people could just take a second to step back and look at both sides of the argument before making "witty" comments about how BET is racist, or your dog is racist. FYI racism is the discrimination against a RACE, cats aren't a race and neither are robots.

Im not sure if you checked but next time your watching prime time television on fox/abc/nbc/etc. count the number of black people you see and count the number of white people. The reason having BET isnt racist is because every other channel is basically WET they just don't call it that.

Now as far as the game goes, I can't wait for it to come out. Fast paced, side scrolling, elemental beat-em ups sound like one of the most fun games I could think of.

But at the same time, look at the clip (with the sound off) and just think about it. Look at the other references people have posted about blackface and birth of a nation. Look at old loony toons cartoons where there were racist themes everwhere. I find it really hard that someone could not at least accept the possiblity that this clip could look racist. If so they are in my mind either 1. Ignorant or 2. not seeing it because they don't want to.

Look at the little white "heros" and tell me it doesnt look like they have a cross on their head? Is it? Probably not, it's a design to seperate the players and show which element you are, but we're talking about out of context here, we're talking about just that clip.

All in all I just feel all of humanity needs to have more of an open mind and better communication without resorting to name calling so fast as the first 10 posters in here did. Take a second to look at things from every point of view before you pass judgement.

Wow...took joystiq long to post this story. I had this up on my blog last week.

But yea, it's amazing what people will see once they're eyes are closed. And who says the players are white...they're obviously green, red, blue, and yellow!

You know, as a hispanic, i sick and goddamn tired of minorities hopping up and down screaming racism at everything while we not so quitely spout racism right back at those we claim to be racist.

The comment up above about referring to white people as crackers and shit is a perfect example of this.

It's time to move on folks. Racism remains a topic in life because we keep it that way. I'm not saying that its right to forget what has happened to minorities in the past, but we need to wake up and finally come to the realization that constantly blaming white people for everything that happens to minorities is a cop out.

You know what always tends to make me smile on television? Seeing mixed couples. Doesnt matter if its white black, brown yellow, whatever. Because those types of images treat people as what they really are....people.

This lady is doing her children a major disservice by trying to protray this as racist because all it does is perpetuate the notion that racism is pervasive in every facet of our lives....and frankly that is just not true.

It exists, yes....and i will not deny this having been subject to "racial profiling." But by and large most folks just see each other as people.

End Rant

I'd take the claims of that the enemies at the end of the video are racist caricatures more seriously if they had big lips as well (like all the old racist caricatures did), but they don't. They look more like something out of a Jhonen Vasquez comic to me in their current form.

I'm guessing a lot of people here aren't familiar with the Klan or blackface images and how one might make the connection. I'll make this real simple.

Here is a zoomed in image from the game:
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/4943/characters1iu1.jpg

Here is a picture of a Klansman:
http://kelticklankirk.com/IMG04.JPG

Here is a picture of blackface:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/Picaninny_Freeze.jpg

Now I'm not saying the lady is right, but she didn't pull these things out of her ass. If I was an old lady who didn't know about video games, seeing white knights with crosses on their helmets chopping up darkie looking things might be a cause for concern.

#60 - livefromphiladelphia

I'm not terribly sure many of us are arguing that a lady, who doesn't know about the game or the creators, is stupid for making that connection. Yes, I'm sure some people believe she is, but those people have a whole other set of problems they need to deal with.

What I'm talking about isn't even this game. It's a mindset that we, as Americans, seem to have. That if two sides are divided and one is painted white and the other is painted brown or black, it automatically implies racism.

I feel that there needs to be something behind the reasoning for painting the models that way, in order for it to be racism.

Maybe the makers did mean it. I don't know. I didn't work with them.

But I also know that this game isn't the first time this has been said.

Come on now people. In a time when "experts" on any news station claim that race relations are at an all time low; the gaming industry should be more conscience about these things. Other games and their makers show this race sensitivity when you Rambo style liberate the fictional country of Golumbia or Pankinstan as a elite U.S. uber soldier. This is a no brainer in modern civics 101.

I guess when Sora beats up those black heartless that's racist too, eh?

Racism is an easy subject to call and can raise lots of controversy (see the PSP ads), but it seems like there are those who make a big deal out of nothing.

guess the idiots complaining have never heard of barbarians (who wore furs and were dirty) and knights (who stereotypically wore armor, in this case shiny and/or white armor). They'd have a better argument saying Darth Vader was portrayed in a racist manner because he wore black and used a black man's voice or some other inane argument... I'm altogether not surprised though.

@ 53 "I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist. What I'm saying is that it doesn't exist HERE. In this game."

And what I'm saying is, intentions don't matter as much as the actual result. It's very easy to pay lip-service to egalitarianism. It's much harder to actually force yourself to be conscious of latent racism. Racial iconography in games is something that should always be open for debate - rather than disregarded because of the producer's lack of malicious "intentions".

"What I'm talking about isn't even this game. It's a mindset that we, as Americans, seem to have. That if two sides are divided and one is painted white and the other is painted brown or black, it automatically implies racism."

I've noticed another American mindset. We like to revel in the distinctions we can draw between different races (the aesthetic physical features, the implied cultural upbringing, the "ethnic" heritage). Then we accuse anyone who opposes this "otherizing" as being, themselves, racist, for calling attention to race. But they're only noticing the problem and trying to resolve it. The society at large is guilty for perpetuating racial stereotypes by remaining willfully ignorant.

Mr. Lawton,

I’m not saying that there was racist intent behind the images; like you I have no knowledge of what the devs were trying to do with that. My point is merely that the lady is not up in arms simply because there are white clad good guys fighting brown/black clad villains, but because the good guys closely resemble Klan iconography, while some of the enemies closely resemble racist depictions of blacks.

While I would hope it isn't intentional, it's hard to imagine that people living in America could be unaware of what these characters resemble.

cross on the the helmets means holy crusader right??or does it mean kkk crusader?? take some time and ask yourself "why the cross or just plain brown bad guys?". did they run out of colors how about pink bad guys???.

when i first saw it i didnt think it was racist until it was suggested as being so. to me it was injected into the game because someone said so. i like the game and my first reaction of the game was correct it not a racist game unless you open your mind to percieve it that way.


america has changed in alot ways just look at saturday morning cartoons. theres asian, spanish, and even black cartoon characters.

i remeber the dayz of the old tom & jerry, tex avery, warner brothers cartoons. NOW THOSE HAVE RACIST ELEMENTS PERIOD

Sarcasim to those claiming BET & XXL is racist

dont forget telemundo tv station and cosmpoltian is racist because all it does is cater to a specific audience thats of spanish and european background. lets just face it racism, facism, symbolism , sexism and all other *ism* are on the the rise.

to: Hiro Protagonist,
all black women dont sound alike you just havent ventured outside your sheltered sperm covered bedroom to meet any black women. so what you are really saying is all black women sound ignorant or something to that effect ??? thats racist,sexist, and sterotyping all rolled into one. it obvious she doesnt know jack about videogames period. notice how she can barely pronouce the game that was offending her..

its borderline racist game because of the crosses on the face at best. if the crosses are removed then potential racist claim will be muted.. by the way castle exist in africa do the research if you dont know.

As mentioned, the white is helmets.

I can see, given the compression, an argument about the final guys killed, though. All black with big white eyes. They do kind of resemble the african americans from old cartoons such as Song of the South. But this is probably just due to compression.



In any case, if they wanted to make a racist game they'd be welcome to make a racist game. It isn't illegal - it can't be illegal. Making it illegal would be awful.
But it would be for the public to avoid the game. Don't reward them with cash.
The outcry, however, would likely make them millionaires, thanks to all the attention.

@63 "guess the idiots complaining have never heard of barbarians (who wore furs and were dirty) and knights (who stereotypically wore armor, in this case shiny and/or white armor). They'd have a better argument saying Darth Vader was portrayed in a racist manner because he wore black and used a black man's voice or some other inane argument... I'm altogether not surprised though."

This also goes into the idea that the game is referencing the Crusades rather than white supremacy. Everyone knows that these wars were based on xenophobia, religious intolerance, and racism right? Drawing the line between "us" and "them" is all I'm talking about, and that can happen despite all the right intentions.

Guys, I think you're all overreacting. Don't rag on the woman just because she thought something was offensive. Different things offend different people, and some people are more sensitive than others. I can understand the idea of it being racist; They DO look like some kind of Clan members or some type of crusaders; And they are killing huge numbers of people. If they're attacking people who look like a mockery of black people, you have to undestand why some might be offended?

NOW, that does not mean that I am saying they should change the game; I'm 100% for free speech, and they have every right to make as racist (or not racist) game they want to. I don't think it was intended to be racist either.

Just lay off the woman...

Racism is something that is embedded in American culture. This country was founded on it and continues to use it to some people's advantage (that is where we get White Privilage from). Though now it isn't so much Black and White (it includes Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterns, etc).

MOST people who have made comments here (see that I said MOST) are probably White and therefore have no true meaning of what racsim is besides what is taught to them for 28 days out of the year (that would be Febuary a.k.a. the shortest month/Black History Month). The caller (as we all can hear) sounds to be older which probably means she has dealt with more racism than an Iraqi pilot (yes they too feel the sting of racism). Her life has probably made her overtly sensitive to racism...

The sad thing is all the people here not even taking the time to try to see the other point of view.

Is the game racist? Probably not... I haven't played it, but I'd have to take an educated guess and say it isn't likely.

Does it have racist imagery? I know my answer, why don't some of you actully take the time to look at some reference sources so that you can try to see where the lady was coming from.

Gamevidoes is lucky the lady doesn't sue for deformation of charter by replaying her voice for the whole interweb to hear... and flame

Heaven/Angels are mainly light colors (White especially)
Hell/Devil are main dark colors (Black and Red especially)

Wouldn't it make since the enemeys are darker toned, representing evil?

I must be one of the only people who thinks she has a point. The portion of the game shown does, in my mind, evokes thoughts of white power and colonial domination. That doesn't mean I have any problem with the game being on the market, or that I think the developers did it on purpose.

Notice the first enemy is wearing hoods and beneath that they are actually "white". Now when the second enemy comes I can definetely see a racist attribute.

But I think she is getting too carried away and is misunderstanding the idea of the game. There a lot more games out there that are far more racist.

Hey, Ray here, a similar situation arose this summer over Loco Roco and Next-Gen wanted people to send in their opinions. You can find that debate here -> http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3343&Itemid=2
(Sorry to the Joystiq staff if I'm not supposed to provide such things).

I think a lot of the same stuff applies.

"and i'm glad none of my kids got to see it 'cause they're black."

racist bitch. if they were white could they watch it then? hahah.

this hooker is the type that sets off the alarm at Best Buy and comes apart at the seams when she gets stopped, throwing around the whole race thing and whatnot. a nice bout of cancer ought to take care of her. it'd make me feel better, anyway.

I sent you guys this a week ago :)

it's good to see a stream of the latter comments which speak to another perspective rather than quickly shooting that woman down as "crazy'.

was it intended to be racist? probably not. do i think it's racist? no. does it use iconography which mirrors racist conventions of the past? yes.

that woman was certainly not a wacko or crazy as some of you put it. everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. without knowing anything about the details of the game, it is quite possible to interpret it as racist. i just watched the clip while not knowing anything about castle crashers so i can understand her perspective.

like an earlier poster said, the developers should just quickly address this and then move on. to many of the younger posters on joystiq: just because you aren't racist, doesn't automatically mean it doesn't exist latently among others.

that's why discussion like this is good.

"but why can black people call white people "whitey", "cracka" and such things, and no one cares, but when a white person says the dreaded "word" everyone goes to get the firewood and torches?"

Because until relatively recently, white people who said those things were backed up with the power of government. Brown people of all sorts were powerless. Combine that with the fact that people are still alive today who were not allowed to drink out of the same water fountain as whites, etc. and you have a culture that is going to play a bit of payback.

You white people are just going to have to live with it for a while. Just be glad the brown people don't have the force of government as some of you, or your parents, did.

What is amazing is that white people experiencing just a tiny bit of what they served up over the ages has them all aghast and outraged.

To them I say tough. It will be a few generations before this all evens out, when those who experienced directly the sting of institutionalized racism have passed on and our children mellow things out. If you're white and are angry about so-called "reverse" racism, you only have your ancestors to blame.

The more I look at it, the more I start to see it from the woman's perspective. I think most of the cavalier dismissal exhibited in these comments is depressing.

I don't think castle crashers portrays racism.

If you want racist characters, watch Dragon Ball z for a character named Mr. Popo. That is a tryly racist black faced character. (Big red lips included).

Here's a link: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/newforms/

While I may not agree with that woman, I do understand!

Holy F that's funny, Morder (#38)! WTG quoting Chasing Amy into this discussion!

that game looks really fun actually.

that lady sounded like an idiot btw. Not accomplishing anything..... making things worse by being so ignorant.
how do you expect the racism to stop?

Id play the game in her face. W00T, Im killing our fellow brothers! looka dem bleEd!!

I usually have given up on these online debates, but I feel like I should throw a few cents in:

Someone mentioned Final Fantasy not having any black characters, but they're wrong - Barret in Final Fantasy VII, leader of the terrorist group Avalanche.

I actually wrote about this a few years ago - the same argument from mostly whites and a few token blacks/latins screamed at the idea that this game could be racist - the comments were almost the same as the ones posted here. I jumped in on a few of these conversations and posed the following question (which I'll pose here - and I doubt any of the whiny "I don't see color" bitches will be able to refute it).

Barret and Tifa come from and grew up in the same town, and we see many other characters from that town and see the way they speak - so why does Barrett speak in such a stereotypical, ebonics and profanity laden manner? If Tifa and the others that grew up with him spoke in the same "ghettospeak", then fine, no problem.

Simply put - there's no reason for him to speak like that. Nevermind the imagery of having a gun ATTACHED to his hand...that I can forgive/look past. I'm not saying we can't have a headstrong, brutish looking black man portrayed and automatically call it racist (although for years this has seemed to be the norm, but thankfully games like Half Life 2 break those stereotypes)... but the speech and minstrel like characture? All of that ROLLED TOGETHER amounts to modern day blackface - that I can't. And as Americans - as Americans that should well know the history and blood shed against African Americans since this country's inception - in this day and age and in 2006, none of us should accept that, and it's almost our responsibility to question it.

I see the same thing here - the first section of the clip I honestly didn't see it - but the second section? That's definitely blackface. It's definitely intentional, and it didn't get pulled out of someone's ass. Nobody would be pissed off if they were

As ingrained as race is in our culture, and the fact that so many people (as evidenced by the responses here) are definitely AWARE of it - I honestly cannot imagine how something like this "slipped by" or was created without malicious intent.

All of you saying that we should just "stop talking about racism" - you don't erase a 400 year injustice in 40 years. It's American to question, to rebel, and to strive for equality and respect regardless of creed or religion, and if we had this "ignore and it'll take care of itself" attitude that many of you have, then King and Malcolm's efforts would never have even come to fruition.

"to: Hiro Protagonist,
all black women dont sound alike you just havent ventured outside your sheltered sperm covered bedroom to meet any black women. so what you are really saying is all black women sound ignorant or something to that effect ??? thats racist,sexist, and sterotyping all rolled into one. it obvious she doesnt know jack about videogames period. notice how she can barely pronouce the game that was offending her.."

Try reading the whole post next time, I was being sarcastic.
Hell, I even SAID I was being sarcastic, how could you miss that?

Go back to school mate, learn to read and write while you're there.

Black and white are and have always been used as symbols of good and evil.

This does not stem from racial issues in any way, in fact I would argue that racial terms of black and white stem from this usage of archetypes.

When forming terms for the color of peoples skin, white and black could have easily been labeled brown and peach. It could have much more easily been labeled as nothing important at all. However, because of the tensions between people of different races, those in power (likely older white men) chose the terms white and black, both because they can be easily applied to a wide range of light or dark skinned peoples and because calling themselves white implied purity and moral superiority, and black implies base and evil.

The color archetypes are still used, and people should be allowed to use them in books, movies, games, whatever, without it being connected to race.
If anything, there is something terribly wrong with the fact that such vague words referring to two colors are used to classify so many people and create assumptions about their culture, their intelligence, everything about them.

With that said, there are only racial undertones to the coloring in this game because of the connection to the black/white archetypes. Under that logic, you would have to say that this game makes subtle references star wars, monty python skits (actually, it might at some point, I wouldnt know), and the wizard of OZ, and that all of these are also racist because of the color distinction they make to denote good and evil forces.

You will only find racism here is you go looking for it, and in doing so, you are only increasing racial tensions. Some people just feel the need to make themselves into a victim, even when they are most definitely not being hurt or insulted in any way. I can see how someone would look at this game ans see racism, but only if they are predisposed to racism in other things as well. In that case, that person really needs to work on the way in which they see the world, because picking out opposing colors in a video game trailer you found online and being offended enough to leave such a message reflects a disturbing level of pessimism and even paranoia.

The only race issue here is that the issue of race itself drives people to see racism in this game. That is sad.

Good gracious Pince, you completely failed to address the fact that the objection to this game isn't based purely on the color. If it had been, your reference to Star Wars or whatever may have some bearing. Instead, it's the use in this game of color in addition to other racist iconography (i.e., the white knights, the saucer eyed bad guys). Consequently, your post misses the point.

Some of the comments on this thread are troubling.

Not one of you has seemingly offered up any kind of constructive action that could be taken to help this woman understand that this game is based in a fantasy setting and has no actual connection to real life.

How bout someone get her a 360 and find out if she has any school age kids that can come over and play the damn game to show that there's no racial tones in it.

I don't think anyone here can form an unbiased opinion. We were all assuming that we were going to see something that might be considered racist by some, so we couldn't help but see it ourselves. How many people would have thought that was racist if it hadn't been pointed out to them in the first place?