Man, I had a feeling that this was coming when I first saw the trailer!
Kym Platt, activist/media analyst/blogger is furious over the trailer of the new game Resident Evil 5. Platt states that the trailer shown at this years E3 convention was "problematic on so many levels." According to Platt the trailer and game depicts 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."
So what do you think? [G4TV]
11 comments:
First off, let me say that the game rating system is totally ineffective. Parent MUST BE VIGILANT or their children will have that much more of things that Children shouldn't even have to think about.
Second, I don't know the history of Resident Evil. I have no idea where the setting is. Darfur? Haiti? What? I dunno! I've not traveled to any of these places I've mentioned. I don't know if there is a 1000 Black Zombie per every angry white dude with a better weapon.
Third; I think that there are still major wounds for any person who believes in civil rights. At this time in a world full of genocide, war, and terrorism; no-one needs to be experimenting with an idea of, "Will people be upset by this?" If you gotta ask, then the answer is YES!
So regardless of intent, this game will be interpreted as Racist. I think the developers were outright stupid and insensitive at best for pursuing the goal of making a game like this. That's my personal opinion. I will never buy a game in this series; and I just might never buy a game from this development house, or the distributors.
Very irresponsible. Not at all acceptable, PERIOD.
So if it were a black guy in military gear killing white folks it would be okay? If the race of the zombies depicted is accurate for the location specified for the action, it isn't racist, it's just being real. You won't kill swarms of Norwegians in Haiti, right? Then why would you kill swarms of Norwegian zombies? Right?
Besides, I really doubt that zombies have any racial identity. But it's not like I've talked to any lately, so I'm not really sure about that.
Could they have moved the game location to some place more neutral? Maybe. Most of the world has some sort of color to it, so if you want to break out of the white-on-white mold (which can also be considered racist if you don't include other colors of the rainbow) you have to do something different. At least they tried. Perhaps they failed, but at least they tried to do something different than a WWII shooter.
One way out is a selectable race for the shooter, with some sort of character configuration. Perhaps that's what the game allows you to do. I think it deserves further study before shouting about racism.
OK, let's get this straight. They're fucking ZOMBIES!! First thing that should come to your mind is that this is fantasy/sci-fi. I don't care how much voodoo and zombies play into culture in the carribbean and west Africa. IT'S FUCKING ZOMBIES. If you want to make a rant about that, complain when it's set in Washington DC, or Harlem, or Atlanta. Not in West Africa with zombies. Everyone tries to find something to make a soapbox these days about sensitivity of race. There was some woman like this who went on a rampage about a game that hadn't been released yet. Castle Crashers which is coming to XBLM. You play a knight battling evil. Now never mind that the players are Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. This person sent a nasty message talking about how the white hooded characters were killing the black people. I have no idea what she was on, but I think she may have needed to put on her glasses. But needless to say, I'm tired of all this overreaching, overreacting and just over all lunacy of claims like these.
And a couple more points. Gee can you tell this got me kinda riled up. Here's one of Kym Platt's quotes. "The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity…". Listening is a skill. So is ovserving. You notice that he is walking among them helping out against the corporation that they are obviously unhappy with. i.e. chucking rocks at their base of operations. Seems to me that he's been trying to keep these people from getting taken advantage of by the evil corporation (hell, you can even throw white in their if that's your opinion). He says he has a job to do and if you go by the first 4 or so games and couple movies, that means taking down Umbrella Corp.'s plans.
My second point is more political. When is there any of these elections to make these morons the voice of black people. My people. We always get the Sharptons, the Kym Platts, that always say their the voice of the people. But I don't remember electing any of them. Hopefully I'll get the chance to elect Obama, but as I see it, I can speak clearly for myself and what I think is racist.
/steps down from podium
/rant off
Reenforcing my first point: I started off by saying the rating systems don't work and that parents need to be vigilant. Why? because kids are impressionable. I agree with most of what both of you say; but to me, I hoppe that responsible parents use the new built in parental controls for the new generation games.
Also, I said regardless of intent people will interpret this as racist. Certainly not all people, but their are plenty of people who are willing to play the race card.
I am assuming this has to be a West Africa/Voodoo/caribbean, thing. But I don't know for sure.
I will stand by my assertion that I don't think all people have their wounds healed; and therefore sensitivity is in order.
What's next; a sim called Slave Traitor? Oh it's ok; the setting of the game is the Southern U.S. pre Civil war; so take that whip out and kick some black slave ass!!
I did that to make a point. Where do you draw the line?
I can see slavery/cotton as an interesting mod for Railroad Tycoon, actually. No whips involved, but exploring the economics could be interesting, especially with international connections like England and France.
I also think that as an offshoot of our entitlement society, we have a long way to go with race relations. The problem is that people feel wounded for something that happened to their ancestors.
My ancestors were persecuted and kicked out of France because they did not want to convert to Catholicism. I'm not asking for any payments for that, or apologies. I'm over it. If I had not researched it, I wouldn't even have known it happened. I've been to France though, and based on what I've seen there I really have no desire to go back. White flags cost too much....
"White flags cost too much...."
LOL!!!
That was funny!!!
Look, I've bought and played the last couple of Resident Evils. They do take place somewhere different in the world. And I knew that people would be offended by the trailer. The only complaint that I've had about the series is that the controls could be better.
I understand what Fred is getting at, where do you draw the line. But I just don't think that (if you do your research) this game is promoting the killing of black people. The story line and the character isn't structured like that. I absolutely can't stand when people make snap judgments about movies and games BEFORE they even have seen them (i.e. Jack Thompson). So I would ask Kym Platt to wait until the game is released, and then take a hard look at it before denouncing it.
What I also find intriguing is that there is no outcry about 'murder', or violence. They're zombies after all, and that's what you're supposed to do, dammit. They're just opposite colors from the shooter.
Would the racist card have been played if it was ninja's versus zombies? I want that game if they ever make it...... Or ninjas versus pirates - but I digress.
I want the ninjas versus pirates!!!
But the ninjas can't wear black, I would be offended!
Look I don't care what color you are, if you're a Zombie, I'm shoot'n ya in the face.
I don't believe that Parent will 1. follow the rating guide, or 2. sit down with little Timmy (black, white, whatever) and say, Timmy, now we want you to understand the historical importance, and that this game isn't really about white people killing black, it's about killing them zombies before they eat our brains!
Then you get the inevitable call from school saying, "Mr. Smith, uh, your son tried to eat Jimmy's brain today." or "Mr. Jones, We've moved you son to special ed cause he's missing his frontal lobe."
Ok, I'm being silly finally; but I wouldn't buy this for my kid, at least until I knew he was a vegetarian.
I would hope that parents wouldn't buy this type of game for any kid. It's just not a feel good, family orientated game. I hope that people would not buy that for little Timmy, no matter what race the Zombies are.
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