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James Ransom-Wiley of Joystiq has written a rather interesting opinion piece on Call of Duty: World at War, it's portrayal of the Japanese Empire, and why he does not feel comfortable playing the game.
(Go to the source for the full article)
While not the first game to portray the Pacific-side of WWII, World At War is the most prominent. One could argue for Medal of Honor's pair of entries, but those came as the franchise was dwindling (not to mention, before and during Joystiq's infancy). World At War follows the overwhelming reception of Call of Duty 4 and benefits from a massive marketing campaign from its publisher, Activision. In short, it's in my face and on my mind.
This morning I watched the first five minutes of gameplay, which promised "disturbing" game content and historical footage (read: real-life executions). The video made my stomach bubble. My knees a little wobbly. My breath short, and my face hot. It made me think about my grandmother, who as a little girl was shipped with her family from their farm in California to an internment camp in Arizona. It made me think of her brother and brothers-in-law who were drafted into the United States military and fought, with pride, in the war in Europe. It reminded me of the shame I felt as a child when teased. An inheritance of lingering hatred.
I have a very personal problem with demonizing the Japanese. I don't feel that way about the Nazis. I draw a disconnect between Nazis and Germans as large as the divide between "alien" and human. The Nazis have been transformed into monsters, which does not need to be justified in my gaming. But the Japanese Empire that bombed Pearl Harbor and the Japanese today, even Japanese-Americans, are very much intertwined in my perception. Those people are connected for me -- a part of me -- and I see them in World at War.
I don't know what attempts Treyarch has made or not made to humanize the Japanese, or to tell the story of a Japanese-American whose family is locked away while he fights in Europe. I would hope for some contrast to the ruthless "*bleep*ers" who use your fellow soldier's face as an ashtray and then slit his throat. I'm not looking to excuse the cruelty of the Japanese Empire, especially toward the Chinese and Koreans, but I would hope for parts of the experience to not be so black and white. A last level, perhaps, set on Monday, August 6, 1945. A view through the eyes of a civilian on the streets of Hiroshima at 8:15 am.
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Most recently commented on by on Nov 13, 2008
Most recently commented on by on Nov 13, 2008
Comments
I wasn't really interested in the game until this article, unfortunately my morals won't let me buy it.
I understand that this person respects Japanese-Americans but what is portrayed in the game is generally what actually happened and what it was like. The Japanese then and the Japanese now are different and that's a good thing but you can't change what happened, and the game is just telling what happened.
I don't like white people being shown as "white devils" either when other cultures look back on our slavery era.....I had absolutely nothing to do with it and it still makes me cringe watching a movie or reading a book about slavery.
But the reality is that it DID happen. None of us can take back what has already been done. I'm not going to go around bitching about censoring slavery portrayals just because I don't want to see the truth about how cruel we were back in the day. The truth hurts, and during World War II no one liked anyone.
Kudos... if we had more people with your sensibilities, we may just be able to move on from lessons of the past.
I think this guy is really misguided. I don't see why he has no problems killing people of other ethnic groups, but he has a problem killing Japanese people. The Japanese were arguably just as depraved and deadly as the German Nazi's in WW.2. The Russians weren't any better; it was a terrible war.
I really don't think Treyarch should have used actual footage of people getting killed in their game though. That seems to be crossing the line. Rambo the movie had footage of Polpot's mass executions in Cambodia, and I thought that was really tasteless as well.
I have a German background myself, but when playing games, I don't differentiate between plugging zombies, capping African zombies in Resident Evil 5, slaughtering Germans in Wolfenstein, killing Koreans in Crysis, or zapping aliens in Gears of War, or any other group or culture.
If the guy is uncomfortable with the game, then I that's fine if he doesn't want to play it... but I don't think he should call out World at War for being any more insensitive than any other game just because it depicts Japanese people as the enemy.
"I have a very personal problem with demonizing the Japanese. I don't feel that way about the Nazis. I draw a disconnect between Nazis and Germans as large as the divide between "alien" and human."
It sort of bothers me that this guy thinks that the Japanese don't deserve to be made a villain, but other countries do. That does not seem fair to me. Second only to Russia, China had the most causalities in World War 2 at the hand of the Japanese. Not even to mention the sex slave camps and all the other stuff.
If a movie or game has a substantive message and reason to use footage of people getting shot then the artists behind it should do what they feel is right, but entertainment shouldn't be the main reason for showing footage of actual people dying IMHO.
Like showing gas chamber footage in Schindler's List is appropriate in my opinion, but showing footage of an actual prisoner getting shot in Rambo is in really poor taste.
That's what I mean by tastefully..they should do it for reasons far beyond mere entertainment..to really communicate something. Just wondering if WaW is this or not.
Seriously, the whole thing is very hypocritical. If you read history, you know that Japanese were very ruthless, more so than even the Germans in battle during WW2.
At least he's not asking to change it like that *bleep*head over at CNN games or whatever who was bitching about Resident Evil 5.
Still if this dude has such a problem with the game, why make an article? Just say you can't review it for personal reasons, and have someone else do it. What would have been so wrong with that?
He's being very ethno-centric to say that and not say anything about how Muslims are depicted in many American movies, or how ...well I could go on and on.
"As a descendant of a Japanese Giant Crab, I am gravely offended by games in which my heritage is portrayed as having a weak point that can be attacked for massive damage..."
But that stuff did happen. If Treyarch wants to make a game about war more real, they have to get their hands dirty. That doesn't mean they're racist. I mean, I acknowledge everything that happened during WWII, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take it out on the Japanese NOW.
What I want to know is how he can even compare the Japanese bombers of WWII to Japanese-Americans of today? Isn't that its own brand of demonization? Even the Japanese-Americans during WWII weren't like the Japanese of Nippon who were brainwashed into thinking other Asians were inferior and deserved to be purged/raped. That's just ******* preposterous!
I think his feelings about this game really are a shame. It's political sensitivity gone wrong, and that manner of thinking only means history will be forgotten, buried, for the sake of weak stomachs and the possibility of offending the ignorant.
Seriously, this guy makes me so mad.
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