I've not written very much about the Resident Evil 5 racism thing because, frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I decided that I'd need to play the game with my own two hands and gain some context before I could construct a discussion of any kind around the issue. I mean, let's wait until the game's out before we sincerely talk about what it is and isn't, right?
Now that I've played it a bit, I'm still not sure how I feel about it.
When Capcom first started showing trailers, I was one of those who felt a little bit uncomfortable about it, honestly. N'Gai Croal took a ton of flack for what was actually a pretty reasoned position on the issue -- I perhaps didn't take offense as wholly or as easily as he did back then, but I still do feel a little uncomfortable. And when I get that pang, whether or not I agree with everything he said, I remember the one line: "This imagery has a history." It's true. It doesn't feel good.
Still, I've always stopped short of pegging my discomfort on racism per se. Society's evolved into being so defensive and protective on issues of race that I think there's a tendency to see any specific illustration of race as prejudiced, especially if it's unkind. I'm not sure I think that relying on ideas of cultural "otherness" to create fear is discriminatory or wrong. In fact, it may be archetypal.
A lot of times, when I'm trying to decide if themes or imagery are "okay" with me, I ask, "will this hurt anyone?" And I don't think any of the content or imagery in RE5 encourages or promotes real-world fear of others.
But then, I think about the Disney flick Song of the South. When I was a little girl, I innocently adored it, without realizing that the Uncle Remus character was controversial to anyone until I was a lot older. And in this case, it's not that anything in the film is in and of itself upsetting -- it's a nice cartoon about folk tales and my-oh-my wonderful days, and because it used actors, there was no snafu on how one may or may not draw a black cartoon character.
But the film is considered at least a little insulting, because of its facile naivete, rosy suggestions of slavery, and what the NAACP called the "impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship." Even if the film's content is glossy and cheerful, its symbolism provokes reactions. It brings up bad memories, and so it's not okay -- even if those memories are just memories, even if they've got nothing to do with the way the world really works today, and so we can't condone the film just out of respect for history. Is it that way for RE5 too?
Frankly, I'm even a little bit scared to try and discuss it even to this extent. I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm ignorant; I'm no race scholar. Although I reject the idea that only black people are qualified to discuss racism, I think it's worth noting that while my father is half-black and thus my ethnicity's mixed, I have no firsthand concept of what it means to be black in America, I've very little point of personal reference.
So all you'll get from me is a blog post full of weak-wristed and meandering "I think," "I don't think," "I'm not sure," "a little bit," "somewhat," and "maybe" (Stephen Totilo would put the hammer down all over this post).
I'm ambivalent. I don't know if there's a right answer. I could construct strong arguments on either side (neither would contain the phrase "it's just a game," by the way, so let's just forget that one) and still feel like the truth is somewhere in between.
But the entire purpose of this impotent preamble was to point you to what I think is a well-constructed discussion on the issue; over at GameSetWatch, columnist Tom Cross does a decent job of isolating exactly what the problems are with RE5's imagery -- even though while reading it I alternately nodded, chewed my lip, invoked a few cautious counter-arguments, then nodded again.
And, actually, I did write about "the racism thing" a little bit here last year -- my response to the trailer was a lot more decisive, albeit still cautiously so, than my response to the game. Reading back over what I wrote then, I don't feel quite as comfortable.
Finally, I think it's worth noting that since the game's release, people've written more about the death of survival horror, the dubious partner AI and the $5 versus mode than they have about racism, which means either that audiences are more comfortable with the game now that they've seen it in full or they're sick of the discussion.
As usual, please keep comments respectful on this charged and often personal topic!
20 comments:
What gets me about the whole RE5 racism discuss is it seems weird to taking a game as stupid as Resident Evil so seriously. Don't get me wrong, it's a series I like quite a lot, but it's not substantive in any way. It has some of the worst writing, voice acting, plots, etc. of any mainstream game series (and that's saying a lot).
This doesn't impinge on its ability to be a fun game, in fact it may enhance it, but it does make the game pretty hard to take seriously in any capacity.
Someone (maybe Ben Fritz) said that calling out Resident Evil on racial insensitivity is akin to calling out the Scary Movie series on its questionable portrayals of women. Both are just too stupid to justify the level of offense some people have taken.
At the end of the day, RE5 is a dumb work that might be a bit tasteless. I would love for the community at large to have more serious discussions about the content and meaning of games, but god, it's sorta lame for something as shallow and superficial as Resident Evil to be the flashpoint.
As a white guy who grew up in Utah, I'm not exactly a scholar of race either, though due to the immense amounts of conservatism seething out of every pore of the state, I know what it's like to see how white people act when there's only other white people around. I heard a lot of racist jokes while growing up, a lot of slurs thrown around carelessly, and a lot of fears and comments about "dangerous" minorities. It's all fairly sad, really.
Because of this, I've tried to be as knowledgeable about the issues surrounding race as possible, and to try and change minds, though sadly it's been a mostly fruitless endeavor.
Ah, but that has little to do with RE5, so let's move on! The game caused me to stop and think about its imagery when I first saw it, and whether or not it was racist, I'm not sure, but I do know it made me feel uncomfortable, and I was sad to see so many people attack N'Gai his opinions. As you said, it was a pretty reasoned position (which I nearly wrote about, and even e-mailed you about for a quote, but sadly it never made it to the light of day).
Playing the game myself, I'm less bothered by it than I thought I would be. Oddly enough, the parts where I'm running around and gunning down zombies isn't much of a problem, and I didn't really have race on my mind during those moments. However, chapter 3 did raise my eyebrows and make me shake my head. Why Capcom thought it would be okay to have zombies suddenly don some "traditional" African garb and start chucking spears is beyond me. Not only is it pretty offensive, it also doesn't make sense to have zombies doing all of these things (they also ride motorcycles, which is ridiculous).
There's also a point in the very beginning of the game where you're walking through a part of the village where what appear to be normal, uninfected Africans are just walking around with you. However, they group together, are beating people up, they give you this look... it was probably one of the more disturbing parts of the game, because these weren't people with tentacles coming out from under their skin or with red eyes or anything like that. They were just regular people, living up to that old stereotype of the dangerous minority. That part of the game bothered me quite a bit.
One thing I wish Capcom would have done with this game (and honestly, it's Resident Evil, so I wasn't expecting some great, grand story and a good message with it, but still) is have some sort of anti-colonial theme here, which they sort of did, but it never really went anywhere. They could have done something amazing with it, brought to light some of the terrible things that our going on in Africa... but they didn't, and that's probably the saddest part of this whole affair.
Oh, and I also grew up with those kinds of offensive cartoons lying around. I had no idea what they all truly meant until I've looked back upon it in the last few years.
Oh x2, you're right about the "it's just a game" arguments. When are people going to stop using that excuse?
It isn't uncommon for horror tales to base themselves in unknown, mysterious, and otherwordly places; think Transylvania. What sets RE5 apart is that its locale is in Africa, and its requisite evil is a zombie(-like) horde -- that combination triggers our overly sensitive antiracist notions, and off we all go, wringing our hands uncomfortably and kneejerking into either justification or admonition mode (whichever better placates your conscience).
I appreciate folks who can adopt a sort of ambivalent middle-ground: I think it's the correct position in this case. Is RE5 deliberately portraying Blacks negatively? Well, no; is it doing so incidentally? Yes, as the uncomfortable reactions to it reveal. Should we try to put a stop to such future portrayals? I really don't think so; I'm not keen on getting political here, but I think that replacing one form of racial keenness (racism) with another (antiracist hypersensitivity) is a juvenile, shortsighted non-solution to the problem. I don't think 'progress' means an end to Resident Evil 5 trailers and "this imagery has history" handwringing; I think progress means treating RE5 with the same racelessness with which we greeted RE4.
Off topic: Whoa, you are mixed Leigh? I don't have a preference but i think I'm in love! lol
Ok, all jokes aside and on topic: As a black man, I wasn't too offended by this at first. I took it as entertainment and I was one of the people who said " well they put us in Spain last time and we shot at Latins in RE4, so no big deal "
But I can see why it would make some feel uncomfortable. On one hand you can say that they are infected and are trying to kill you. Are we suppose to let them win just because the protagonist is white?
On the other hand I can see why someone like my older relatives might take offense by it as it might evoke older memories that they would rather leave buried.
It didn't bother me until i got the game at home and I noticed that capcom made random villagers either white, hispanic, or some other unspecified race, as if to to calm the storm down some. To me, its kinda like saying "yeah, we are kinda guilty, throw some random races in their so it won't offend too many people" Then the random races just seem to stop after you get to the marsh village.
All in all, I don't think it was outright racism, but i do understand if some were offended
What a wonderful article you linked to Leigh. Thanks for that. It really put into crystal clear terms what is beneath the messages that RE5 is communicating.
I found your post somewhat disappointing, particularly after I read the article that you linked. I find it hard to understand how one who is so wonderfully reasoned as yourself could read those arguments but somehow have valid counter arguments that would wave away RE5's very very clear racist undertones?
The only conclusion I can come to is that you are afraid to take a stance on the topic, like you mention in your post. Let me just say this. Don't be afraid. While I'm a person of color, I don't feel qualified AT ALL as a race scholar or anything like that. But I think I realize that calling something or someone racist isn't the end of the world as somehow it's made out to be nowadays. It's unfortunate that people in our society react with with such outrage to the term 'racist', when really it's not that big of a deal. Because in the end, the only way we can address racism is by calling it what it is and accepting it. When I say that RE5 is racist, people associate all sorts of baggage with it, thinking that I'm deeply offended by the game, I don't want to play it, I hate the people that made it, etc. I don't feel any of those things- I love this game. But I recognize that some of what it's communicating is racist. That's all, really.
Sometimes I feel like people attack the one saying 'racist' with much more aggression than the whatever or whomever is on the receiving end. At least you've got one commenter who's not going to do that :)
As a young white male, I don't have much of knowledge on actual racism and the effects, I'll be honest about that.
However, this is a Resident Evil game and it's Africa. Yeah, Capcom probably took the short/easy way out and just tossed into stereotypical black people and the stereotypical garb/village, but so what? This isn't Metal Gear Solid, even if Wesker reminds us so much of Liquid. It's not a statement of art, or something created to impress with the plot subtleties. The whole game basically has characters made out of cardboard- just look at Chris and his steroid-fueled body and how he can punch boulders and kick down doors as the strong male lead.
I think the thing that struck me while playing it was that the whole "Oh, they're zombies! But now that they're black it's racist!" defense really didn't describe what was going on at ALL. They don't look like zombies. They're intelligent. They communicate. They give rousing speeches, and work themselves up into a violent frenzy. They use firearms, and take advantage of available cover.
When they come at you, they don't look like a shambling hoard of zombies. They look like a violent mob, replete with pitchforks and scythes waving in the air. And you beat them down with a stun baton.
. . .
@Leetdood: The GameSetWatch article makes a good point against that. The game didn't take the "easy way out;" it's not a sloppy result of a bunch of horror cliches being hacked together that happens to give the result unfortunate implications. There are a bunch of very specific, very deliberate design choices that set things up this way; things they went out of their way to do, that create this effect.
It's not that Capcom just made a zombie game, that happens to have black people in it and thus looks racist. Capcom deliberately set things up to demonize and alienize the inhabitants of the location you're in. It's pretty blatant, and pretty irritating.
. . .
And that's what it is to me, I think. It's irritating. Playing through it didn't make me uncomfortable. It just made me kind of annoyed at how stupid it was. But you know, I think it should've.
I think there's something about playing games, where you aren't confronted by the premise, but become casually implicit in its execution, that does this. I don't think the fact that we can play through the game without really being bothered is a sign that the game isn't really as bad as we thought. Rather, I think it's a sign of how easily we slip into the roles games present for us. And that's kind of worrying.
So first off, long time reader, first time commenter and I love the blog with its myriad insights and witicisms on offer. It's great.
That being said, I don't see why people are so distraught by ambivalence in this situation. I think it's intelligent to take the middle road here. With full disclosure I have not played through the game myself mainly due to what I view as gameplay circa 1995 that has not adjusted well to what our modern standards have become. You can't move and shoot? Give me a break. That being said though, it's a bit of a dilemma taking either side in this muddled mess. If you opt into calling the game racist, perhaps you come off as a little overly sensitive, but if you neglect the blatantly stereotypical imagery, you're being ignorant and pulling the wool over your eyes. There's no real right answer and I think both sides could do worse than to have a fencepost jammed firmly up their asses. I'm basically echoing metallimoose's sentiments here in a far less eloquent manner.
Now, to those of you that claim that RE5 by virtue of its status as a piece of cultural trash should get a pass on any racist overtones it may or may not contain, I think you ought to reconsider that flawed viewpoint. Look back to the early 1900s and into the '30s and '40s and you'll see a trend in the pulps to demonize and misportray cultures from "darkest Africa" etc. The pulps were beholden to similar status then as RE5 is now. They were juvenile, overwrought with male power fantasies, 2-dimensional female roles, and all the tropes that gaming has seemed by and large unable to shake off. I grant you, public oppinion at large could have cared less then, but the comparison still stands. Just some food for thought there.
I'm actually going to touch on my personal feelings about this, for once. I've always that racism is at worst conscious and at best ignorant. People are rarely the former and most often the latter. Should the directors and designers have been a little more sensitive about the potential offense the game might cause? It's pretty obvious that they weren't intentionally trying to be racist, so that must just mean they were thoughtless.
So rather than condemn the game for having racist connotations, shouldn't we instead wonder why such a prestigious developer was so ignorant of the potential for their imagery to be perceived in a negative light? They were probably too busy trying to make a game to see the inherent problems.
So, no, I don't think RE5 is racist in the least. I think it can be perceived as racist but really, it's just frighteningly ignorant.
Meh. Do people pay attention when they play? No. You're more concerned with shooting the head off of that fucking zombie, not the shade of its melanin.
Here is the thing I don't get in this discussion. We are supposed to look at the imagery and the game and then think about those images in a historical context.
Why do we not also think about these images in terms of a Resident Evil context?
In RE4, the main character shows up in a foreign land and stumbles upon a poor village, where the villagers, who are infected with a virus, begin to attack the main character.
Nobody cared at all about the implications that had on poor Spaniards.
In RE5, the main character shows up in a foreign land and stumbles upon a poor village, where the villagers, who are infected with a virus, begin to attack the main character.
There is an important discussion needed to dissect the implications it has on poor Africans.
I don't get the difference.
Hell even in terms of control RE4 and RE5 are the same, so I don't even get the "1995 gameplay" comments. When RE4 came out it was heralded as a classic and probably the best game on gamecube. Now RE5 offering almost identical gameplay is annoying because of its "1995 gameplay".
I don't get the difference.
I don't see the problem with being ignorant of the stereotypes. Isn't that what we want. To reach a point where our gut reaction isn't to cry racism or offensive. It seems like we can all agree that Capcom's intent was not racist in nature, so shouldn't that be the end of it?
When a black comedian tells a white joke, or a white comedian tells a black joke, don't we just laugh because we realize that the intent is humor and not racism?
Why can't we do that here. We have the 7th entry in a series of zombie killing games. It started out in Racoon City, and has sense moved to other locales around the world including Spain and now Africa. The game is meant to entertain those who enjoy horror and zombies. It was not intended as some sort of fantasy game for angry white people to gun down black people.
I still can't understand what this fuss is about. Events took place in Africa and why I met there a bunch of indian-asian dudes is beyond me! It's ridicoulous, they all should've been black, there is nothing wrong or offensive about it. If we kill some american white guys in some american megapolis (The Darkness, for example) it's ok. But if we move to Africa and kill black-skinned zombies of people who naturally live there then it becomes a racism thing.
I don't know, my country doesn't have this black-white thing history that USA does, but sometimes this kind of things get really annoying and intrusive to the point where they affect atmosphere and authenticity of a game.
Hope I didn't offend anyone with this post :)
I should say right out the door that I wasn't a Resident Evil fan before this game. I played this game initially as pure research to benefit my career as a game designer, and was going to do my best to stomach it in hopes of learning some tricks of the trade. To my surprise, I ended up having a great time. That should give you an idea of where I was coming from before playing.
As I played through the game, I didn't really feel bad about killing these people. After all, they were zombies, and they were trying to kill me! There were, however, a lot of eye-rolling moments.
"They really roll out the red carpet for Americans here," Chris says sarcastically. I can't believe that line got through. Of the countries in the world, how many love America? And how many would be really upset to see American commandos walking through their small village? The line ignorantly sets the stage so that equally ignorant players think these people are "bad guys".
And when I saw the men in traditional tribal gear...well, that's so racist, so ridiculous, that it's almost not racist at all, isn't it? It makes me want to pat the developers on the head, tell them "there there, you didn't know any better."
I played through the game once, and had a good time. When I started my second play through, I had more time to notice all the subtleties...and I started to feel a bit uncomfortable in my own skin. I wasn't able to really say why before reading the linked article, as I think I was so caught up in the actual zombies themselves. As I said before, they were zombies, they were trying to kill me, and because of that there was no reason to feel bad about killing them.
I think that Cross opened my eyes to a bit of what had slipped by me and was invading my subconscious. I agree with most of what he said, although I think he may have been reading in a bit too deep on certain aspects (such as the white woman being considered "no longer pure").
Throughout the game, you only see two kinds of black people, which can easily be put into two categories: you see proper English-speaking, trim, "American-looking" black people who are animated to smile, and there are those with super dark skin, beady eyes, jutting jaws, distinct noses, and permanent snarls on their faces. Even before you see your first "zombie", this is how the people of the area are portrayed.
I think perhaps the best thing I can add is that once my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to "shoot African zombies" with her after work. She said it jokingly, but it really hits home now. Because when you play Resident Evil 5, you're not just shooting zombies. You're not shooting members of your own populous who have turned into dangerous monsters.
You're shooting African zombies. They aren't you and me...they're them.
@Nels Anderson: It may be a "stupid game", but that doesn't excuse it. Any group or individual, whether they like it or not, is responsible for the media they create and the effect it has on others and society.
It isn't so simple that you can categorize everything as either racist or not. Racism, like most things, exists on a continuum. And, not surprisingly, it may be the things towards the center of the continuum, the more subtle acts, that permeate our subconscious and hence affect us without even allowing us to realize it.
Games are a learning experience; game designers specifically set up all sorts of scenarios to teach players how to act, how to think, and how to feel. Resident Evil 5 uses the uneducated, ethnocentric mentality of American and Japanese players to evoke fear from things that they really shouldn't feel fear from. What is this knife doing in this butcher shop, and why is this animal dead? How brutal! Atrocities!
As the article by Cross said, there would have been ways to portray the residents of Kijuju as humans...as people trying to survive, people who cared about their families and friends, people capable of feeling the same emotions that we do.
Never once in the game presented with an opportunity to think about how tragic this all is for these villagers. The only time you ever see a black villager attacking another black villager is in a scripted scene, and even then you don't really see an attack - just a person being held down and fed an object.
As I said before, it's very much "them" versus "us".
Few points:
1. This was made by a Japanese company.
2. No one was up in arms when the designated bad guys were Spanish or WASP.
3. History? This game isn't about the slave trade or segregation. Though neither are technically "history" in Africa.
4. At least 1/4th of the bad guys in the game had been changed to white people before the game was released in order to pacify those who thought this game was racist.
People should stop trying to politicize games which aren't trying to send a message.
People should stop trying to politicize games which aren't trying to send a message.It doesn't matter whether a game is trying to send a message or not; it still sends a message. And I think game designers - and people in general - have a responsibility to think about what messages they are putting out.
Deucaon:
The fact that the company is Japanese is highly irrelevant to the discussion. Also, I agree with Emily in regards to games not being politicized. The same thing occurs when controvercial films, books, and television shows are released to the public at large. It is a little presumptuous to infer that people should not be offended by something. No offense meant, but I'm calling it as I see it here. Also, the Hispanic and Latin cultures, broad and distinct though they may be have not seen the sorts of oppression that African cultures have. Granted, I'm no history buff, but to my knowledge there have been no circumstances in which Latin culture has been oppressed by another race at large. That's very real baggage to carry. Understand I'm neither with or against Capcom on this one. I think they showed a remarkable lack of foresight in the artistic decisions which were made pre-release, and I think their pitiful attempts at damage control (i.e. including mixed ethnicities early on in the game) was weak for a few reasons. First off, if they want to send a message they ought to stick to their guns whether I agree with it or not. Secondly, it's clear corporate pandering and it's disgusting to watch.
But you see, by the same token, I personally am not offended by the game itself. It's just that I can understand why someone might be. There's no clear-cut answer, like I said above. Honestly, I think the game, unremarkable as it is, will eventually be forgotten. The unfortunate reality though is that much like Mortal Kombat (also an unremarkable game and series I might add) the game will be remembered not for its own achievements or lack thereof, but for the controversy surrounding it.
Also, Resident Evil as a series has barely evolved in terms of its control scheme since the beginning. I've never really been a fan to clarify. If anything, it's gotten worse because of the way in which it blatantly mimics recent blockbuster successes like Gears of War etc. Like I said, unremarkable game, remarkable uproar. Sorry to drift off topic.
@Emily: I agree with this statement entirely! =)
We're not talking about the weird rasta-enemies in Loco Roco here. This is not just something that can just be perceived as racist. It is racist, just unintentionally so. The fact that Capcom were willing to make an attempt to rectify the problem by adding more "white folk" only serves to highlight this.
I don't think anyone but the most extreme activists are going to actively take offense at RE5, but I think that the issue it's brought up will make people think about this and other such issues, which is always a good thing.
I'm not saying we should tread lightly or that we shouldn't broach subject matter such as this in games, just that we should not be blinkered by the "it's just a game" attitude.
Freedom without
*Spoilarz*
An interesting RE5 intepretation would be that Wesker and Excella, white bourgeoisie, are trying to take over the world via the black African proles. In which case, killing the infected proles is in self-defense and a necessary evil to get to Wesker and Excella. By killing them, we, through our avatars Chris and Sheva, are killing the white, racist bourgeoisie, and thereby set free the poor, black proles; thus, RE5 is not racist, but a tale of anti-racisim.
i'm honestly starting to think some take it waaay too seriously.
Like i said, although i can see why some would feel a bit uncomfortable, to say the game is racist, whether its intentional or not, is a rather big ass stretch. No offense to anyone but i find it funny when someone looks too deeply into a game, searching for hidden messages and metaphors, just play the game
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