A little while ago, you may have heard the article on Resident Evil 5 being racist. Richard Windsor of Aeropause has written a little article on why the reasonings are pointless and wrong.
First of all, it's developed by the Japanese and the Japanese are not racist to black people. Second, there are white zombies and the woman that wrote the article said that killing white zombies is fine. Third, zombies are not civilized, so obviously, they need variety. Fourth, the game is set in Africa, a perfect setting with beautiful viewpoints for the game, so there can't exactly be a ton of white people in that area. Africans are Africans and Africans are black. And finally, Resident Evil has always had white people as zombies. WHen black people get killed in movies, do you hear complaints? Will certain groups come to defend their situation when white people get killed, when woman get killed, etc.?
So there you have it, the 5 reasons why Resident Evil 5, is not racist.
I have always tried to stay out of discussions about racism, not because they make me uncomfortable, but because two sides can rarely agree on the topic. The debate over whether Resident Evil 5 is racist or not is one that I don’t mind chiming in about. Recently a woman who writes for a blog called Black Looks wrote a small article that stated the following:
“This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people.”
Not only is her argument baseless and without intelligent merit, it is obvious she did not even bother doing any research whatsoever. So here are 5 reasons why her arguments are dead wrong.
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While I agree it's stupid to say RE5 is prejudice towards blacks, surely it's equally as ignorant to say that the Japanese are incapable of being prejudice?
This article is far more understandable than the other. The one claiming it is racist is a load of shit, to be honest. The person sounded quite ignorant, and the part about killing white zombies being better is quite racist itself.
Resident Evil isn't marketed to children anyway, its parent who have to buy it for the children.
It's the demographic that has Power that has the ability to be racist. Control of media is Power. Capcom is creating a game that will be distributed worldwide to affluent countries that enjoy these games on high end consoles.
Additionally, some people in another site mention good points in the distinction between RE4 and the RE5 trailer. The RE4 hispanic "zombies" were more easily recognizable as such. Whereas, these african "zombies" do not appear to be so infected at first glance... They are made out to look like black people you may meet on the street, just - with a lot of violent energy (remind you of any stereotypical portrayals in everyday TV and Hollywood anyone??). There is not clarity in the fact that they are posessed.
But more importantly, the distinction lies in the fact that Africa holds strong symbolic meaning as a third world, impoverished country with a history of being colonized by western white military influence and dominance. The imagery in the RE5 trailer and the connotations provoked by it are very prone to being blamed for racism. There is obviously the "American White Muscular Male Hero" fighting a horde of "Black Savages." The pattern is all too recognizable. If you compare it side by side with the eugenic practices that happened in the history of the western world, you might be shocked. It is stuff like this that either consciously or unconsciously perpetuate racism, whether it intended to or not. Especailly kids, but even adults cannot scrub away the influence this game will have on their accumulated perceptions.
Add on top of this: the kind of shows like COPS, where they emphasize black people getting arrested repeatedly, while white collar crimes by rich white men get underplayed on television. And the movies that cannot imagine casting black people other than the gangster or the dark skinned creatures as the monsters.
The RE5 trailer fit within these patterns of racist propoganda. It did not shed any light on how it would respond to these sensitive issues. So it seems like a fair response to the trailer that the game Seems to have so far, blatantly racist tones.
Sure, the game is set in Africa, Duh! There are black Africans living in Africa. But Why Even Go THere Capcom!? Especially if you're going to keep your antagonist as the white american savior in a black land!!!??? The problem is in the fact that this kind of game is set in Africa in the first place! There is an obvious imbalance of power between the western white world the American represents Vs. the poorer southern black world the Africans will convey. When you set the former as the hero over the enemies of the latter, IT WILL BE RACIST!
With all that said.. uh- the game still looks gorgeous from a purely gaming perspective and looks absolutely exhilerating. It's just unfortunate that they couldn't be more sensitive to the sociopolitical issues. It's not just a matter of racism in the image, but about how it fits into the context of the world's history of ongoing racism, oppression, and colonization of both the poor and the non-western.
After all, Japan isn't the most racially-diverse country... But rather than staying in "safe ground" and basing RE5 in a typical city/mansion area, Capcom have gone out on a limnb and introduced the RE series to a completely new type of location - the African jungle.
So I think it's pretty brave of them to base the game around Africa and Africans, with the risk of being deemed as "stereotyping black people" or "being racist".
And if they were racist, wouldn't they make a JAPANESE man kill the Africans, as opposed to a white person?
"Africans are Africans and Africans are black."
*krktktktt* Captain we seem to have an incoming message from Stupidity Island, should we accept? Over. *krktktktkt*