Resident Evil 5 Trailers Racist?

[ishakebabies]

So there's been controversy about the Resident Evil 5 trailers that came out a while ago.
According to some, the trailers and possibly the game itself make light of African genocide, and shows a white protagonist butchering Africans.

Here are some links that show one of the blogs, and a video about it, respectively:

http://yourblackwriters.blogspot.com/2008/06/resident-evil-5-travesty-on-all-counts.html

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-21/1263777

Personally I don't think this game is being insensitive or racist, because besides the many spin-offs, all of the games besides 4 have had predominantly white zombies, and 4 had spanish zombies. Plus, this game has a black protagonist as well. Either way, zombies will be zombies in any country or any race, and no matter what color you are, if you're infected with the T-virus, you're getting an axe to the head.

On the other hand, I can see why some people may be offended by this if they don't have much knowledge about the previous Resident Evil games that came before this. But either way, I don't think that Capcom was trying to do anything but make another great RE game.

What do you all think?

[glmclainmovies]

I think anyone who thinks it's racist is a racist.

[BonOfTheDead]

On the other hand, I can see why some people may be offended by this if they don't have much knowledge about the previous Resident Evil games that came before this.
if their are talking bad things about something, the should know about the topic their complaining about. thats like me becoming a professional musician after learning how to play twinkle twinkle little star. and the fact that they didnt take the time to learn more about the topic, makes them stupid.

[ishakebabies]

if their are talking bad things about something, the should know about the topic their complaining about. thats like me becoming a professional musician after learning how to play twinkle twinkle little star. and the fact that they didnt take the time to learn more about the topic, makes them stupid.

Yeah you're right. I guess I was trying to be more sensitive than there need be.
I mean if you showed this game to an African thats never heard of or played Resident Evil, they might get offended, but at the same time it was the bloggers responsibility, as a watchdog of the media and government, to research the subject before crying wolf.

What makes me the most mad is the comments at the end of the article from people offended by the trailer. They were comparing this game to a hypothetical game made about zombies in the WTC building on september 11th. The latter would be more offensive because it is an event that actually happened, with people of different races, not just white, as opposed to the fantastical scenario in RE5, which doesn't depict African genocide, just black AND white zombies being shot because they're infected!! They're zombies and this is a survival horror game.

[Vaughn Whynot]

this is old news
when the 1st trailer was released at on of the e shows
everyone booooo'ed because they thought it was racist
i think its not at all
there are white guys in the game who get killed

[AaronHeld]

What a pointless argument that guy is making, this game looks awesome!

Who cares what color the zombie skin is, some people will see racism in everything.

I bet if that guy picked up that game he'd be blasting them away to...or other wise your dead.

[Kaygee]

So there's been controversy about the Resident Evil 5 trailers that came out a while ago.
According to some, the trailers and possibly the game itself make light of African genocide, and shows a white protagonist butchering Zombies.


Foxed :D

Honestly, if these people spent as much time worrying about real genocide as they do about fiction, we'd all be one happy planet by now.

If Resident Evil 5 is racist then so is Black Hawk Down and Zulu.

[Fisherking]

I'm not really seeing the issue -- it's an interesting change of scenary. The predominantly black zombies is a consequence of the setting. I'm just glad Capcom had the guts to revitalise the series.

As to the question of sensitivity... well, no, it's not sensitive. How could someone possibly make a zombie scenario sensitive? It's about a man killing cannibalistic re-animated corpses. And what council decided sensitivity was such a virtue? In horror, of all things?

I'm not certain the invoking of genocides in Africa and the history of colonism has much strength. I'm not sure there are any settings one could use that wouldn't have a history replete with warfare, disaster and tragedy (every game would be set in Switzerland). American films frequently encourage us to cheer at the destruction of national icons, without consideration that we may draw parallels to September 11th. I'm not sure we should refrain from depicting something that may invoke imagery of former tragedy -- indeed, art should explore such things. And horror, most of all, which prides itself on doing so unflinchingly.

Personally, I'm far more offended by all the Middle-East centric war games. There's an uncomfortable meeting of adolescent revenge fantasy and real-world warfare there that somewhat disquiets me.

I note that most of its critics are not videogame players or fans. The 'blackwriters' blog article mentions that the writer has never even heard of the series, nor even seems to be aware that the enemies are zombies, or that the game is from a Japanese developer. Thankfully, he quickly dismisses the game entirely, and dissolves into a rant on the usual suspects: Don Imus and Micheal Richards, as though the ravings of an aging, trite shock-jock and a shitty, irrelevant comedian really add anything to the discussion.

I see this unfortunate tendancy of self-identified 'black writers,' 'black academics' and so forth to engage in the most base of racial-baiting that they accuse their enemies of, and often the desire to inject racism where there is naught simply leads to comical conclusions (my aunt is a academic feminist, and she does exactly the same with women's issues). And no doubt there are legitimate targets, but, as always, one needs seek first to understand and then to be understood. He evidentally spent more time writing the article than researching this supposed 'genocide' game, if he spent any time researching. Upon seeing this famed video, your first instincts should not be to assume a genocide simulator: The game looks too good. There are racist computer games out there, certainly, the vast majority of which were programmed by three guys in their mother's basement, usually using some free template. I'd be seriously surprised if an openly-racist game had such an obviously large design team and high production-values.

Not to mention the absurdity that he draws broad assumptions about the American game industry and white America in general based on a game by Japanese developers.

The worst part is that he has a point, disguised under all the bullshit and easy point-scoring. The fact is that negros are under-represented in gaming and the gaming industry (so are women, hispanics, gays, transexuals, and so on). But we're speaking of major releases: Companies pander to the biggest audience. If the audience want to see a 'gangsta'-themed game set in the ghetto full of rap music with women depicted as Barbie dolls, they'll do it. This is a reflection on gamers, not the companies who will exploit those desires (I note, ironically, that a lot of these games are actually based around various black celebrities - 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and so forth - who presumably authorised the use of their likeness).

Some people are seriously in danger of becoming 'the boy who cried racism.' Call it confirmation bias. You want to see it and, surprise surprise, it's there. And doubtless the title didn't help, but that's hardly Capcom's fault, is it?

[WesScog]

When I first watched the trailer I was just thinking, "WOW! THIS LOOKS INTENSE! IT'S AWESOME!".

It didn't really even click in my head that the bad guys were black people until someone mentioned it and claimed it was racist.

All I saw was Zombies, I didn't see BLACK Zombies, I just thought, "Neat, it's in Africa, it'll be like Black Hawk Down."

I think it's ridiculous, if people claim that a movie is racist everytime they feature African villains, you'll see less Africans in media, because it's to much risk for the creator, if it's a black hero, they'll get criticized if he's stereotypical like Cole Train from from Gears of War. Or they'll be criticized if the villains are black like in Resident Evil.

Which means people will stop taking risks, and stop featuring diverse characters, only to be called racist again because all of their characters are white.

It's a lose-lose situation because people are going to overreact no matter what.

[TheMightySeamus]

All zombies are equal to me. That is, they all equally deserve a decapitation.

[Vaughn Whynot]

If Resident Evil 5 is racist then so is Black Hawk Down
that is not even in the same boat, BHD happened in real life
and RE5 didn't

[The_Count]

i think the most annoying thing is the fact that no one got pissed off when we were butchering Spaniards in RE4.


If a game is set in Africa... we aren't going to be killing white people. If a game is set in Spain, the majority of people are going to be Spanish. If something is on the internet, its going to get blown way out of proportion.

[BonOfTheDead]

count, you took the exact words out of my mouth.

[Vaughn Whynot]

what about all the white people in the 1st game
i think thats racists
but count
in the game they don't even mention the word Africa
they are just labelling it is
if it looks like Africa
smells like Africa
it must be Africa

[ishakebabies]

I bet people would be offended if this were in still set in Africa, with white zombies. It wouldn't make sense if they were all white zombies. The story is set in Africa to advance the story. The thing that bothers me the most is that they don't see the humanity of it all. The zombie virus that affects humans (and animals) affects EVERYONE. No matter what race you are, or class, or religion or gender, you will become a zombie. The virus in the game ignores all those factors, so it's showing that no one is beyond or above becoming a zombie. The story could be set anywhere with any race as a zombie, they will still be butchered in a violently awesome fashion.

[Vaughn Whynot]

I bet people would be offended if this were in still set in Africa, with white zombies. It wouldn't make sense if they were all white zombies. The story is set in Africa to advance the story. The thing that bothers me the most is that they don't see the humanity of it all. The zombie virus that affects humans (and animals) affects EVERYONE. No matter what race you are, or class, or religion or gender, you will become a zombie. The virus in the game ignores all those factors, so it's showing that no one is beyond or above becoming a zombie. The story could be set anywhere with any race as a zombie, they will still be butchered in a violently awesome fashion.
well i think with obama as prez now people would be more understanding
its a game
leave the racist stuff at the door
its friggin 2008

[anomalie]

i think the most annoying thing is the fact that no one got pissed off when we were butchering Spaniards in RE4.


If a game is set in Africa... we aren't going to be killing white people. If a game is set in Spain, the majority of people are going to be Spanish. If something is on the internet, its going to get blown way out of proportion.

My thoughts exactly!

My opinion... I don't think the game was intended to send a racist message. I think if they set it in an African village with a zombie plague, African people are going to be shown being killed. They used an established character as the player character who happens to be white. So while I don't think any harm was meant, it does look bad. This might just be the lack of black people in the game industry - I think it sounds interesting to track the virus back to the "cradle of life", but due to the circumstances of having a white lead and lots of black enemies... it might have been a bad move.

I'm sure though that the game isn't fully represented in the trailer. Let's hope that the story as least has a few important and intelligent black characters, and I'm sure it will depict some white people being killed.

So I can understand the problem... but again, why has no one made a stink about Spanish people or anyone else being shown as mindless savages? Or not it not matter because they are white? Sigh. But the one person who wrote that article... I'm not sure if they'd heard of the other games, or if they got that it was about zombies (based on what they wrote - I could be wrong).