African women's blog upset over Resident Evil 5
OK, where to begin? As for the "marketed to children" thing, it's going to be an M rated game, kids shouldn't be playing it. It is rather interesting to note that more than a few people, including The Village Voice, have noticed the setting of the new RE5 and found it a little jarring. Although that could simply be because the average video game may only have one random black character (typically a hero or anti-hero), so more than two on the screen at any one time is revolutionary. The African issue aside, the Japanese developed Resident Evil series has been killing white people for its entire run so far -- how did white people not catch on to this and get upset? Because it's not white killing, it's zombie killing. You're killing them because they want to eat or infect you, not because of their skin color. But now we have black zombie-like people getting killed in RE5 and gay aliens in Halo 3 ... what is this industry coming to? The sins of diversity.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
Grindstone @ Aug 1st 2007 2:08PM
Jack, I think you need a ban. You're part of the problem. And I'd prefer you not stating your opinion and inciting more problems.
EihBeir @ Aug 1st 2007 1:27PM
Wow, this was predictable.
Randy @ Aug 1st 2007 5:06PM
These are clearly the order of events:
-Saw a picture of a white man pointing a gun at black people.
-Got up in arms over the image.
Steps they skipped:
-Looking into the context of the image, finding out the general plot of the game or even the series.
-Look into who the game is actually being marketed to rather than make a guess.
The1 @ Aug 1st 2007 5:18PM
Since I am one of the few African American's on this Blog, I knew these comments were coming from the bloggers. How many African women you know of have seen the Resident evil games of the past? As more under developed countries gain access to information things change. Maybe, they are just getting to the Web and have no history of the Resident Evil series. You must always put yourselves in someone else's shoes before making statements.
Maybe they were taught that white people were killers and evil from past generations and thus when they see these games think, HERE IT IS again.
Is this the same as most white people always have learned racism from their parents as they were taught hatred. So, give people a break.
I will hold judgment on this game until I see more African's in the game that are also playing a more productive supporting role.
Anam @ Aug 1st 2007 5:24PM
No, I won't give her a break. As a white man, no one would give me a break for being racist just because "that's what I was taught."
Look, she has access to the internet and looked up a trailer for Resident Evil 5. The number 5 in the title might give away the fact that there has been more in the series.
I don't care who you are or what country you're from, if you post a racist blog without doing your research, you deserve to be attacked.
I don't give exceptions to black people.
john @ Aug 1st 2007 6:10PM
I would tend to give her a break. It's more likely that she's freaking out because she comes from a place where these atrocities were rampant are still happening, not because someone told her that whites are evil. If you're a white racist, I doubt it's because you're in danger of genocide.
The1 @ Aug 1st 2007 6:27PM
Giving black people a break...!!!!!!! OMFG, you are crazy. By the mere fact of you being White you feel as though you own the world and are given privileges that are too ignorant to be aware of. Furthermore, white people always assume that others are getting over when it is they themselves. Wow, it's always a matter of time before you this route.
Ezira @ Aug 1st 2007 6:47PM
Well, the key difference here is that it is a white man killing black people. I don't know this for a fact, but I imagine that the previous RE games was a white man killing white people, no?.
I don't think it is racist myself, but thought that should be pointed out. For the sake of universal appeal, perhaps the main character should be black?
whosmav @ Aug 1st 2007 7:27PM
WHAT THE HELL KINDA ZOMBIES WOULD YOU EXPECT TO FIND IN AFRICA, STUPID!
WILL A BLACK PERSON PLEASE VOUCH FOR THIS GAME? ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CATER TO RACIAL TENSION IN EVERY WAY CONCEIVABLE? WHAT SHOULD CAP DO? PUT WHITE ZOMBIES IN AFRICA?
GEEZ....SOME PEOPLE WILL POST JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO GET HITS....DOES HER SITE HAVE ADS?
whosmav @ Aug 1st 2007 7:30PM
AND SHE'S WHITE! WHAT THE HELL?!!!!
Avaloner @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:59AM
In the block the author writes in response to the comments she got:
5. Kym Platt
Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth.
Racism goes two ways...
Midvalley @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:59PM
Wow. The zombies happen to be black and the whole world decides to freak out? We already know there is racism EVERYWHERE, it isn't just the whites, I know for a fact that black people are just as racist as any other colored skin.
You all just think black people get an exception because of slavery, well, guess what. Black people weren't the only fucking slaves in the world. Way back when, Yugoslavians were faced with even worst slavery and stuff like it than the blacks. Do some research. I think this game will be a HUGE success and I don't give a crap what color skin any character has in the game, it's a game.
Neebs @ Aug 1st 2007 1:29PM
WHAT IS RACIST: Killing black people because they're black
WHAT IS NOT RACIST: Killing black people because they're zombies.
WHAT IS NOT RACIST: The fact we're been killing white zombies this whole time.
WHAT IS CLEARLY NOW RACIST: The fact we're killing black zombies now.
Bloo @ Aug 1st 2007 1:38PM
How did you know what I was going to say?!
Night Elve @ Aug 1st 2007 2:24PM
I totally agree with you. I'm getting tired of this kind of things.
kevinski @ Aug 1st 2007 2:52PM
My thoughts exactly. The zombies have been white for ages, and they've spanned plenty of locales. These African women need to just stop whining and appreciate the fact that Capcom has single-handedly answered a lot of peoples' concerns that there aren't enough black people in video games.
The Wicker Man @ Aug 1st 2007 3:03PM
THIS IS RASCIST!!! Everyone knows we Zombies do not run. Grouping us together with "the infected" from 28 days later or the return of the LIVING dead zombies. They are inferior to us slow walking shambling Romero zombies.
NickMJacobs @ Aug 1st 2007 5:51PM
This game is made by the Japanese, NOT whitey. Call them the racists please, they obviously have the love for whites over blacks in japan, not us.
Matt B @ Aug 1st 2007 3:35PM
What is not racist: All Black Colleges
What is racist(and illegal): All White Colleges
Jouten @ Aug 1st 2007 4:24PM
Your sentiments could not have been worded more clearly and accurately. I agree totally, 100%.
Anam @ Aug 1st 2007 4:32PM
I can't believe this is in the 250s when it was all so perfectly summed up in post #2.
Nicely done.
DESU @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:46PM
and prople say reverse racism dosnt exist.
Abscissa @ Aug 1st 2007 5:06PM
That blogger pretty much admitted to being a racist in her own comment (#5):
"R_N,
Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth." - Kym Platt
Wow. Just...wow. What a filthy hippocritical racist bitch.
Ryuukuro @ Aug 1st 2007 6:24PM
@ Matt B:
I'm assuming you're an American like me so, just so you know, there aren't any all Black colleges. Historically black colleges can't refuse anyone based on ethnicity, just like all other colleges. Of course, very few whites choose to go to these schools but there are a few that have student bodies that are over 40% non-black.
Aberu @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:12AM
@Ryuukuro:
From infoplease.com's almanac section. The most black populated college is....
Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga. 95.2% Black population.
There are "black" colleges. Most of the 50 in that listing had over 80%.
Chris @ Aug 1st 2007 1:29PM
its not killing its self defense XD.
Screw her. re4 you killed spanish people (all white)nobody complained about that. o'well shes a moron, her loss if she chooses not to play it.
Shagittarius @ Aug 1st 2007 1:29PM
So if a black dude is playing the game will he be swayed to thinking all black people are evil?
The writer of this blog is a racist. Can't she just see that we're all human. Its the zombies we need to fear.
GRANTED @ Aug 1st 2007 2:04PM
all this squabbling is exactly what the zombies want.
Captain Jody Anthony XVIII @ Aug 1st 2007 2:16PM
i bet she is secretly a zombie posing as a black woman to try and fool everyone.
Phranctoast @ Aug 1st 2007 5:54PM
nice granted. Made me laugh hard.
Brad Lee @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:15PM
@ GRANTED
Hilarious.
vidGuy @ Aug 1st 2007 1:29PM
It's official, we have to go back to playing as non-descript blocks so that nobody can take offense to a video game. And no voice-acting either, that would give the race away. Oh, and they can't be black or white blocks either, that's racist.
Yes, I can't wait for "Resident Block 5", where you get to play a gray block standing in a room, doing absolutely nothing offensive. Media gold, I say!
Uncle Red @ Aug 1st 2007 1:34PM
That offends us Gray blocks.
Chris @ Aug 1st 2007 1:31PM
LOL vid guy, Darwinia FTW!!!
Kye @ Aug 1st 2007 2:04PM
Isn't Spanish a race? I think it is.
If your from Spain, apart from the Portugese, you don't look like many other people in Europe at all.
To me, thats a race.
I had a Greek friend at school who would punch you for calling him white.
Yes there are bigger race groups: Oriental, Latino, Black, White etc. But tell a Japanese person they are the same race as a Chinese person or vise versa and watch half of hell open up in front of you.
Here in Europe The Dutch are a different race to the Swedes, who look different (all be it on minor levels) to The Bavarians, who look different to the Saxons...
john @ Aug 1st 2007 2:09PM
So are southerners a different race from New Englanders?
adium @ Aug 1st 2007 2:12PM
KYE
try calling a scottish (irish or welsh) english. some effect
Blizz4l9 @ Aug 1st 2007 2:18PM
yes john fsome of them are not all, us new englanders are atleast different race from the southerners that live deep in the woods and have only a few teeth and look a lil different from the rest of humanity lol but those are the only ones lol.
Megaqwerty @ Aug 1st 2007 4:02PM
Asian.
I kill friends who say it: I don't like being lumped in with people from Russia and India. Caucasian is really bad, too: there are black people who are technically Caucasian!
viewtiful dru @ Aug 8th 2007 10:28PM
-Kye
"Spanish" isn't a race, it's a nationality. People from Spain are white. Simple as that. Dutch, Swede, and what have you, are white too. Some may feel strongly about their nationality to the point that they feel peoples with regional differences such as facial structure and slight skin tone differences count as different races but they do not.
Even if someone prefers to exclude himself from his own race because he dislikes other members said race does not change the truth. If a Chinese woman doesn't want to lump herself in the same racial pool as a Japanese woman that's fine, becuase in spite of what she says, both her and the Japanese woman are still Asian.
Misquito @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:01PM
@ kye
Wow, just wow. You haven't looked at Spanish people have you? Even though I'm not only Spanish; having ancestors directly from Spain i can tell you that we are white and not another other race. I have no idea where you got that idea from. But please take it out of your head. Spanish people are white just like most other Europeans, this whole different race BS started when they began to inter marry with the Mayans and Aztecs.
If i have black hair, brown eyes, and a good tan; does that make me a different race from my blood related cousin who's blond hair and blue eyes with snow white skin?
In summation, Spanish people are white.
Truepatriot @ Aug 1st 2007 1:32PM
the lady knows nothing about RE.lets all ignore her PLEASE!
im hispanic and i had 0 problem with spanish zombies in RE4.i liked that they spoke my tongue!it was cool imo.
according to this lady there should be no black people in games?it would be racist if RE5 was set in africa and the zombies werent africans.
remember shes just one lady, she only represent herself not anyone else.
non gamers ftl.
john @ Aug 1st 2007 1:39PM
It's worth pointing out that 'Spanish" isn't a race, it's a nationality. Also, the people in RE4 weren't zombies, they were purposely infected with a virus.
We hardly know anything about RE5, but if you want to take RE4 as the example, it's even worse. You've got a secret agency infecting Africans with a disease, and a white military man slaughtering them all. Why is this worse when it's Africans? Because many of these things are still going on in Africa right now, and it's been a while since the Spanish inquisition.
Truepatriot @ Aug 1st 2007 1:48PM
i know spanish isnt a race but alot of people equate language with race so by looking at the first post in this thread i dint want to confuse him =)
so if things like this are actually happening in africa we should avoid any similar situations right?
then cod4 shouldnt be based in the middle east or BF2,because similar things are happening there too.
john @ Aug 1st 2007 1:59PM
I'm not saying that, or that this game shouldn't be made. It just seems like a thick headed move on Capcom's part. The imagery in the trailer dove right into the some of the basest stereotypes of blacks, and fed off issues of both black and white paranoia. This is something they are going to have to deal with. Maybe they'll do a great job of handling it in the game, but even then they're going to have to do a lot of PR work with the mainstream media.
Jose @ Aug 1st 2007 2:00PM
Well, considering your killing Spanish in RE4, and I'm Mexican; I felt quite good slaughtering them :P
All kidding aside, it is true that this game may be a bit insensitive about the problems in Africa (just watch The Constant Gardener, because god knows we can't be bothered to read any news that isn't game related), but the Japanese couldn't be bothered with those Gaijin troubles. The Japanese culture is incredibly xenophobic, we don't have to lie, it's just how they are.
RE5 culturally insensitive: YES!
RE5 racist: NO!
john @ Aug 1st 2007 2:36PM
Yeah, it seems less racist and more clueless. Like a white guy walking into a the ghetto and addressing everyone as "my ni***er." He may not be racist, but he's still going to get his ass beat.
bean @ Aug 1st 2007 1:33PM
lets make the white guy black, slap some tats on him, some bling - especially a sweet ass grill ala flavor flav, dress him in all red or blue, give him bullet scars, make him say things like "fo shizzle my zizzle nizzle" or take that BIOTCH and give him a glock and have him hold it out on it's side when he's shooting...I think that'll clear this up in a second.
Jacob P. @ Aug 1st 2007 1:43PM
They've already done that...It's called San Andreas
KingOfGods @ Aug 1st 2007 1:48PM
Now you're being racist