Last year
Resident Evil 5 was criticized for being racist due to the trailer depicting African zombies as inhumane savages. The furor eventually calmed down once it was explained why
the game is not intended to be racist.
However, the debate has reared it's head again, due to an interview with gaming journalist N’Gai Croal. This time it's not about the portrayal of African zombies, but rather the racist
imagery that appears in the trailer- involving both the human
and non-human Africans.
Go to the source for the full article. It's quite an in-depth read ...
Croal: I looked at the “Resident Evil 5″ trailer and I was like, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” Because I wonder, and I haven’t sort of really dug into it that much, but I wonder what sort of advice Capcom gave them.
The point isn’t that you can’t have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery.
What was not funny, but sort of interesting, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it. So how could you have a conversation with people who don’t understand what you’re talking about and think that you’re sort of seeing race where nothing exists?
There was stuff like even before the point in the trailer where the crowd turned into zombies.
They're hidden in shadows, you can barely see their eyes, and the perspective of the trailer is not even someone who's coming to help the people. It's like they're all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It's not even like one cute African — or Haitian or Caribbean — child could be saved. They're all dangerous men, women and children. They all have to be killed. And given the history, given the not so distant post-colonial history, you would say to yourself, why would you uncritically put up those images?
It's not as simple as saying, "Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in 'Resident Evil 4,' and now 'black zombies and that's why people are getting upset." The imagery is not the same. It doesn't carry the same history, it doesn't carry the same weight. I don't know how to explain it more clearly than that.
If there were a movie that had those images, I’d question it. I’d really want to know what’s going on in this movie. Like where is this coming from? So we hadn’t seen much of the game... It was just a trailer. If it had been me in that situation, I wouldn’t have put out a trailer like that. I think it’s very easy to misunderstand what that game is about based on that trailer.
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Who said he's there to help them? We don't know the context of why the protagonist is there. If speculations are allowed. Then maybe the villagers see him as a threatening outsider. He may be there to harm them... certainly if that were the case they wouldn't smile and act cute near him.
Fact is that there is nothing racist here unless you make it... Although I'm not surprised This is Why.. People will see racism everywhere.
I remember seeing that cover a few days later and thinking nothing of it... People are just Hyper-sensitive anymore. *sigh* Shame that.
This isn't an instance where Capcom went, "hey, let's find an excuse for a game so we can blow the shit out of black people."
No. This is an instance of, "what if everyone on this continent which is made up of mostly black people got infected by something and the main character had to..." whatever.
I mean we don't know the situation of RE5 but I highly doubt it has anything to do with the methodical extermination of an entire race of people as it seems these people are trying to put on.
That's exactly the plan. They've just brilliantly covered it up with a decade of games set elsewhere.
So why can't zombies be black? Are we discriminating against zombies because clearly, I would be offended and the zombie community, as an equal opportunity employer, should be outraged...
People just suck, thats all.
Please. People just need to let things be. Black people always feel that they have more rights than everyone else for some reason, and cry "racism" every time a black person is depicted wrongly in some way in media, yet whenever a white man is depicted in even worse situations. Why? Because its not a big deal. And neither is this debate. They just need to turn the other way and do what the rest of civilization does - ignore racial discrimination in video games.
Regardless, once again, I am not agreeing with the accusations, but I understand where the argument has its foundation. Is it because I'm black or is it because I'm conscious of the world and society's undertones around me? I think its both.
There's a huge difference between forgetting and moving on. Every creed and every kind in the history of humanity has been enslaved, mistreated or segregated against at one point in time.
"Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.”
That quote is racist, no? Croal is a *bleep*ing tool, though, so I don't expect anything better from him.
I too have experience Racism but you don't see me crying wolf like this tool, especially something in a videogame.
The first thought in my head while watching the trailer was "AWESOME!!" If no one brought this up I'd never, ever, think this was racist.
I very much see his point... The problem is that he's crying racism without looking at the body of work. I'm reminded of Ice T's copkiller. At first glance it sounds as if he's advocating the murder of police...It's actually just pointing out the many innercity cops where, in fact racist.
All you need to do is play RE2. Honestly one of the most memorable characters in RE history is the black cop you meet early on in the police station. He's one of the only kind and caring characters in RE history(most seem to have an agenda of thier own)
I'm from a place where whites are pretty much minorities, so yeah, I know what racism is. SHOCKING, HUH? But do I use that as a tool for judging people of the same race, though? No. Do I pull out that card any time I see blacks treating a person that happens to be white unfairly? No.
I mean, why is the NAACP around? Do you seriously need to rely on such a group to try to justify your own insecurities?
(YOU as in people who do, not iLLmatic directly-- don't write to your paper because of that comment plz)
final blade, just..stop talking. There is racism in the animal kingdom? Please just stop talking.
Racism is due to ignorance.
However, just because racism exists, doesn't mean everyone is trying to hide it...Most people are above racism at this point. Pointing out everything that is remotely racist is ignorant as well.
Trust me, I know racist people. They aren't subtle. If something is truly racist you really won't have to read between the lines. iLL I'm sure you can attest to this...you said you've experienced racism...I bet it wasn't a clever subtle jab.
Now in this game it could be racist but to me i think its just realistic seeing as what country theyre in.
It's definitely a *bleep*ed article and I completely disagree with the man's views (and I'm Black). However, to the people who are making comments to the article saying stuff like "so its ok to shoot white and hispanic zombies and not black?" You guys have obviosuly not read the article or you completely misunderstood the guy's point. His argument is not about having Black zombies, he's actually perfectly ok with Black zombies. His argument was the trailer itself and how it depicted the Black citizens of the town.
However, I completely disagree with his argument. I really did not see this trailer depict anybody negatively. Personally, I did not see how it depicted black people as a negative crowd, but whatever. His argument proves nothing and it won't do anything to stop the game from releasing.
I originally posted up this article because it was a different perspective in the "RE5 is racist" debate. The author wasn't talking about the portrayal of black people - He didn't care whether the zombies were black or not ... but clearly that went over the heads of most people who have commented here.
It's nice to know that at least one person read and understood the article. Thanks Raziel. You deserve a thumbs-up for that.
Its not a problem to me, I mean, EVERYONE is always trying to shoot down games because of crap like this. Old news. Jack thompson blues.
I'll tell you why, because its not racist. You just are making it racist. Sometimes i wonder if these people inside are actually racist.
I thought the last paragraph was interesting: "I think it’s very easy to misunderstand what that game is about based on that trailer".
He's right. We know that the game isn't racist because we are familiar with the series - We know that the enemies are zombies and we know that the game isn't intending on being racist.
But to anyone that hasn't played the games - It does look like an anti-black game. It's not evident the villagers are zombies - But it is evident that there is a white man going into Africe to shoot them. Croal makes a good point when he said that it's an odd choice to release such a trailer, because the theme of the game isn't 100% obvious (especially to people who have no idea about the series).