Resident Evil 5 producer: 'There is no racial element to it at all'
by Randy Nelson 
{ Feb 24th 2009 at 10:30PM }
"I do think that now that the full game is almost out there and people play the full title for themselves, they will see and understand what it is all about; that there is no racial element to it at all," Takeuchi told us.
We asked Takeuchi if claims that Japan's homogeneous culture had made his team less cognizant of potentially racist content held any weight. "It is a pretty difficult question," he said. "I don't really think that it is applicable, or certainly it is not applicable in the way that you describe it ... I don't think that there is anything particular, because we are Japanese, that becomes a problem."
No matter what, we suspect there will be those who'll "find" something in the game to get into a huff about -- thus netting it a few days of free advertising on countless news broadcasts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Cj @ Feb 24th 2009 10:34PM
If its in an African village the majority of the people will be dark skinned. How is that racist? If Chris says something racist then ok. Look past the race and think like the virus infecting the citizens of Kijuju! It doesnt care what color you are!
Michelobius @ Feb 24th 2009 10:40PM
It's the imagery. It's not racist that there are black people in the game. It's racist that the vast majority of black people portrayed in the game are mindless, over-aggressive savages. Like someone else I read wrote, it would be ridiculous if the game showed skinny disheveled Jews in 1930s Germany. Even if the game has nothing to with the Holocaust, it's irresponsible at best and terribly offensive at worst. The same is true here, where the problems in Africa are very clear and present.
Michelobius @ Feb 24th 2009 10:42PM
Sorry, I meant to say it would be ridiculous if you were SHOOTING skinny disheveled Jews in 1930s Germany. Not if they were shown. My bad.
HippoHero @ Feb 24th 2009 10:43PM
All zombies "are mindless, over-aggressive savages."
Cj @ Feb 24th 2009 10:54PM
I realize that too but its still just skin color. The virus doesnt care!
Michelobius @ Feb 24th 2009 10:58PM
It's not the skin color that's the problem. It's the context. I get that a zombie virus can infect anyone, or any town, including towns in Africa. It's just a poor choice due to real life context. Hits a little too close to home for too many. It's a sensitive context.
Fulluphigh @ Feb 24th 2009 11:29PM
It may be "sensitive", but people need to get over it.
For Christ's sake, if everyone whines about every little thing that could be racist, how do they expect to overcome racism? Suddenly you're not allowed to set a game in Africa, because black people can't be zombie's, because it's to "sensitive," because some people, for some reason, think it hits to close to home.
Deal with it. If you're gonna whine, go watch movies and whine about them, or what's on TV, but don't suddenly break in here and tell me my video games are racist. No.
Michelobius @ Feb 24th 2009 11:42PM
"Getting over it" is beside the point. There are clearly too many people who don't even see it, even when it's pointed out to them. All I want to do is dispel the notion that this game has no racism in it. It may be unintentional, it probably won't affect the quality of the game, but it's irresponsible to dehumanize an entire segment of the population in a game where a white man kills hundreds and hundreds of black people. It's not that hard to see.
mattprime86 @ Feb 25th 2009 12:21AM
how fuckin stupid,
did everyone complain when caucasian zombies were coming after you?
did we complain when spanish zombies were coming after you?
WHY ARE WE COMPLAINING WHEN BLACK ZOMBIES ARE COMING AFTER YOU?
so incredibly stupid.
THIS is why there is racism, because people have to create problems when there was no such thought of it to begin with.
lasersanchez @ Feb 25th 2009 12:44AM
I think one of the problems we're missing is the T-Virus/AIDs parallel. Also the tribesmen with tribal masks, spears, and all that.
Wiizer @ Feb 25th 2009 12:54AM
@ Michelobius
Racism is in context, not in any of the images you've seen so far. And why do you leave out the black woman whose shooting those black zombies right beside that 'white man'?
Seriously, STFU. You're not even going to play the game to find out.
BananaBoat @ Feb 25th 2009 1:23AM
After playing the demo, I didn't find it to be racist in the slightest. It's set in a run down village in Africa, and as such, there are bound to be Africans. RE4 was set in Spain, and guess what, there were tons of Spanish stereotypes. The game was designed by Japanese people, and you guys are trying to put a white American guilt trip on it. I'll admit that the designers probably should have foreseen an outbreak of oversensitivity, but this is just sad.
I don't want to get very far into this discussion, but I'd like to comment on something that I think (forgive me if I'm mistaken) was contributed to N'Gai. He said something along the lines of "It's not that they are African, but rather that they are portrayed as looking down, with their faces hidden from view" to paraphrase. After playing the demo....you go through poorly lit shanty towns, and the Africans are darkly skinned. Should their faces light up like glow sticks in the dark? When the sun is on them, there is no problem seeing their face. Then again, some people see their face, see the bloodshot eyes, and instantly think the Japanese designers were making some sort of racist drug-related joke, and not just adding to the obvious reality that they are all infected.
Lastly....they are portrayed as mindless savages? Really? The zombies? Mindless and savage? Who would have guessed it.
Charlie_Six @ Feb 25th 2009 2:15AM
+500 Michelobius. You're one of the few people with something meaningful to say in these RE5 topics.
BigD145 @ Feb 25th 2009 4:25AM
Needs more eye worms.
Maverick Saturn @ Feb 25th 2009 5:45AM
'Lastly....they are portrayed as mindless savages? Really? The zombies? Mindless and savage? Who would have guessed it.'
Before they were zombified
James @ Feb 25th 2009 7:06AM
I myself heard complaints about Resident Evil 4 from hispanic coworkers. They understood no offense was made, but they said it was still at least awkward to play this white, true-blue American hero killing poor (and then overly rich) Spaniards. Responsible, intelligent, and capable black heroes are pretty rare in games and whites, Asians, and others have the advantage of being "similar." Look at Cloud Strife for example. White skin, blue eyes- he's a white character. Look at him in Advent Children and he looks somewhat Asian ( http://www.mypspwallpapers.com/uploads/200705/f/1180675129.jpg ). As a white gamer it's not hard for me to project myself onto the character, no matter his race (and please don't be asinine and say there is no "Asia" in FF7's world).
Is it racist to have a game set in a poor area of Africa? No, I think very few people would argue that. The question is, is it racist to have not just a white man, but a steroid-giant white man killing black Africans? Then we have a problem. When you add to that that the black sidekick is a light-skinned black woman, it becomes that much harder to ignore. There's also the straight-up in-game portrayal. In the early images the black characters were almost impossible to see they were so dark. "Darkness" is an insult thrown at many blacks, keep in mind. I took the guess that the Japanese developers did this deliberately because the RE series uses extreme differences to produce tension (the farmers' village in RE4 was rotting, even though it would take probably several years, if not decades, for it to reach that point of decay after they quit maintaining it. In CONTRAST, the castle was overly-giant, elaborate, and expensive. Contrast). My guess seems to be right, that the bright areas and dark characters were meant to be contrasted- the evidence is in the fact that entering dark areas requires Chris' eyes to adjust. Light is obviously used as a theme to heighten tension.
Racism in games is much like racism in language. One could argue that the "N" word is merely a word, that it's just a six-letter combination like so many others. That is little sympathy to people who've had that word carved into their flesh or had it hurled at them as children. Racism is about more than just denying the right to vote to a group- it's about making them feel inferior. I have trouble seeing how RE5 doesn't at least have some issue with that.
Kassu @ Feb 25th 2009 8:53AM
Saying that this game is racist is saying that shooting blacks is racist and shooting whites isn't.
I like me some hypocritical pseudo-problems.
RankHypocrisy @ Feb 25th 2009 9:58AM
@James
It sounds like neither you nor your genius hispanic coworkers know that Spaniards ARE white!
@Michelobius
No, this is not like shooting Jewish zombies in WWII Germany. It is more like shooting Jewish zombies in modern Israel.
By the way, getting constantly offended on behalf of other people doesn't make you enlightened. It makes you a moron.
Lord Negatron @ Feb 25th 2009 10:39AM
@Micheaobius
Whats racist is inferring that Africa is so "sensitive" because of poverty/illness stricken portions...Last i recalled the continent has bustling cities that function like any other.
Rudolphe @ Feb 25th 2009 11:32AM
@Michelobius i guess you didn't realize that zombies are "mindless, over-aggressive savages" no matter what race they are....
Maverick Saturn @ Feb 25th 2009 11:47AM
@ Kassu
Actually, when you have a white guy shooting at different race zombies, its okay, when you have a white guy shooting at white zombies, its relativly okay considering its withing the same race, however it can get blown out of propotyion if the white hero is say American and all the zombies are Russian or such, but thats a different issue.
The issue arises when you have a 'white guy' shooting nothing but blacks, but that can be overlooked if the right steps are made to sort out the issue or the plot has a purpose for it, the concerning factors pop up when there is no reason for the white hero to be all the way across the world, however, we don't know why hes there until we play the actual game.
Its easy to sit there and say 'Oh but it was okay to shoot white zombies?', urm ,yeah, thats cos the hero hasn't changed race since, had the hero been black or arab or chinese or mexican etc etc to begin with shooting at nothing but white zombies, it would have been a different matter all together.
@ Lord Negatron
True, but the bustling cities is not what's portrayed in the game either, there are whites and indians in Africa too, but how many of them are zombies in the game to shoot at I wonder.
Theres nothing to kick up a fuss about in reference to the game unless there needs to be, but its difficult to ignore someone when they make a comment without thinking of the factors behind and why it may be causing offence, otherwise I'd take the view that if I went into gaming, I could do whatever the hell I wanted and expect you to accept it, it shouldn't offend you right? All you have to do is not buy the game like you suggested, but how does that look on me and my business?
Lord Negatron @ Feb 25th 2009 12:49PM
@ lasersanchez
When the game was still in early development that did cross my mind as being a mistake on Capcom's behalf. I heard talk that they were saying the "T- Virus" origin can be traced back to Africa for RE5. That would be touchy but since i haven't completed the game, the issue remains stale.
The Baron @ Feb 25th 2009 12:53PM
As discussed in Eurogamer, the game has uninfected black men glaring at you, dragging screaming women away and being violent. Later in the game you fight black guys wearing straw skirts, with spears and Zulu shields.
Sure, the idea of black zombies in Africa isn't racist, nor is shooting them. Even a burly, handsome white guy fighting hordes of black zombies probably isn't that racist in the context.
What is racist is some of the imagery in the game and its plot. If you've only played the demo, and imagined the rest of the game, then of course you've not seen anything racist.
BananaBoat @ Feb 25th 2009 1:52PM
Believe it or not, tribes with straw skirts and spears still exist in Africa. As do unsavory characters that would drag women violently. Heck, Far Cry 2 consisted of little else than Africans being unsavory, and a white guy killing them, and noone said a word. In the same way that Nazi's in video games are capable of abhorrent crap, so to are Africans. I don't find this to be particularly insensitive. I'll admit though, it could get racist later on and I'd have no way of knowing from the two demo levels.
If anything should sink RE5, it's the controls.
Marty @ Feb 24th 2009 10:34PM
How many times are we going to go over this?
Osman @ Feb 24th 2009 10:38PM
3 more?
zuburi @ Feb 24th 2009 10:54PM
It all depends on how much traffic is brought in with the stories!
Markez @ Feb 24th 2009 11:00PM
Seriously, I agree Marty. Cooler heads will not prevail here, and it won't go away. Expect to see this peak @ release.
This reminds me of awhile ago when a few morons got into a huge ongoing argument over whether zombies could run or not, or just walk. It was really one of the more asinine back and forths I've ever seen on this site, and I question whether anyone as vocal as they were in that argument can actually serve any useful function in society. That is all kthx
NoughtSoClever @ Feb 25th 2009 10:08AM
Takeuchi: "It's not really racist."
Joystiq: "Maybe you just didn't realize it's racist because you are all a bunch of japs."
Takeuchi: "..."
Overgauss @ Feb 25th 2009 3:01PM
As many times as it takes to get it white.
TheLightSide @ Feb 24th 2009 10:35PM
Good. I hope this game isn't screwed over by this fake controversy....
I have faith in Capcom though and I am all excited for this game. The demo while not very scary was very tense in gameplay and was a small sample of what's to come.
atrimus @ Feb 24th 2009 10:45PM
"Good. I hope this game isn't screwed over by this fake controversy...."
naw, it'll just be screwed by a very un-fake control set-up.
lasersanchez @ Feb 25th 2009 12:42AM
So atrimus are you saying the controls are the real deal and awesome?
Charlie_Six @ Feb 25th 2009 2:21AM
Is it really a fake controversy? Tom Chick, Eurogamer.com, and Penny Arcade's Tycho have all commented on the racial imagery of the full game as something that should definitely raise eyebrows.
NoughtSoClever @ Feb 25th 2009 10:11AM
Since when as game controversy done anything other than boost sales? Even a poor game like Manhunt 2 probably did better because of it's 'controversy'.
HippoHero @ Feb 24th 2009 10:36PM
Zombism knows no race.
JL @ Feb 24th 2009 10:36PM
...doesn't mean we go around committing hate criiiiiiimes
Avenue Q ftw
doc j @ Feb 25th 2009 1:38AM
ethnic jokes might be uncouth - but you laugh because they're based on truth. don't take them as personal attaaaaaaacks... everyone enjoys them *bink ba dink ba dink*... so relax!
please @ Feb 24th 2009 10:37PM
If you were shooting monkeys then it would be racist- NAACP
WRE @ Feb 24th 2009 10:39PM
If you were shooting trees then it would be racist. - Liberals
Longhorn4Life (PSN MariusElijah) @ Feb 24th 2009 10:40PM
if you were not shooting wolves from a plane then it would be racist- Republicans
WRE @ Feb 24th 2009 10:56PM
lol @ Longhorn
Brodo @ Feb 24th 2009 10:38PM
This is Barack Obama, and quite frankly I think that it is an absolute travesty that you would shoot black people in Africa.
I will amptly remove this terribly racist game off the shelves as soon at it delivers on March 13.
Black Zombies are not allowed to be shot. Case closed, it sickens me and makes me vomit
Jeff @ Feb 24th 2009 10:42PM
Jeez, Mr. President, didn't they teach you grammar and spelling at Harvard?
JuanDHexen @ Feb 24th 2009 11:03PM
I really hope you where trying to say something interesting if not then you are racist.
goldeneyesoldier ( noble prophet of rant and ownage ) @ Feb 25th 2009 5:50AM
sarcasm backfired
TheKarmaPolice @ Feb 25th 2009 11:11AM
Man I hope this game delivers!
Longhorn4Life (PSN MariusElijah) @ Feb 24th 2009 10:42PM
If i play this game, all im gonna say when playing it is DIE [insert racist word]!!!!!!
The_Punisher @ Feb 24th 2009 10:42PM
Wow, why is RE5 getting so much pointless press coverage? I could've sworn i've see nthe racial article 20 times, and the controls article 15 times. We get it already. Shut up about your damn game Capcom, we obviously stopped caring.
TheLightSide @ Feb 24th 2009 10:50PM
It's not Capcom that's writing the articles...
If you want to bitch at someone bitch at Joystiq. They're the ones who are regurgitating the same 2 stories over and over again....
It's almost like LBP again except that they're not on Capcom's dick like they were on MM's...