Zombie Racism: Resident Evil 5 & "Racism"

[Miktar]

http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/08/resident_evil_5801.jpg


For many people the trailer for Resident Evil 5 was seen as an exciting new direction for the definitive survival horror franchise. For others, it's racist hate mongering at its worst. Kym Platt at Black Looks, a blog dedicated to exploring issues concerning African women, expresses her concerns over the trailer which depicts Chris Redfield in what appears to be an African setting, struggling against a horde of black zombies.


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.

This is a really touchy subject. Looking past the mistaken idea that the game is being marketed to children, I can completely see where Platt is coming from to a certain extent. It is a white figure of some authority being attacked by a horde of what appears to be African peoples. This much is true.

On the other hand, zombie stories originated in the Afro-Caribbean Vodoun belief system, so for a series that relies on zombies as its main antagonists, exploring the voodoo origins of zombie mythology seems only natural, and in order to do that you are going to end up exploring villages that just don't happen to have many Caucasians in them.

If the game does anything it bolsters the hatred of black zombies already present in the well-established hatred of zombies in general. It teaches us that no matter what color they are on the outside, flesh-hungry reanimated dead people are really fundamentally the same, and should probably be avoided at all costs. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I'd like to think that mankind will band together regardless of race or nationality in the name of preserving the future of humanity and the safety of our precious brainmeats.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/139587501/black-looks-on-re-5-racism-284725.php

Personally, I can't believe that once again someone has taken something and completely misconstrued it to mean more than it really does. I feel that racism is not an issue unless it is being enacted, or it is being propegated.

Racism is not being enacted in Resident Evil 5, but the fact that someone will allude to it only propagates the idea of racism, and I think all these people bitching that RE5 is racist are doing far more damage than any racist ever has.

[dammit]

I always love that its fine for us [any gamer of any colour] to go around shooting caucasion zombies, but if they're black zombies its rasist.

[Boggle24]

I read about this yesterday on Evil Avatar.

The very fact that it came from someones -blog- should probably allready sound some alarm bells. I wonder if the person even considerred the fact that in general most zombies from the previous games were white and in RE4 primarily spanish becuase of the setting.

The game is set in Africa, Africa has a lot of black people, if they replaced all the black zombies with caucasions, wouldn't that just be politically incorrect in the first place ?
:/

[Vexo]

Cant even say the word "black" these days and you are a racists.

[Miktar]

Recently a woman who writes for a blog called Black Looks stated that Resident Evil 5 is racist. Not only is her argument baseless and without intelligent merit, it is obvious she did not even bother doing any research whatsoever. See the 5 reasons why her arguments are dead wrong.

http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2007/08/5_reasons_why_r.php

A good read and valid points (except the writer kinda messed up the 5th point - Japanese are generally racist against /all/ cultures not their own, as a society).

Not exactly the best argument for RE5 not being racist, but I do agree with the general idea.

[FoX]

funny how no one hade this problem with GTA:SA(a black char killing ppl) :/

[PerVert NexT Door]

?Yes? I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth.?

This is probably one of the most stupid comments I have ever heard.
The fact that she is making such a big deal about this shows that she thinks of Africans as different to other races. The point of racial equality is to treat all people equally, regardless of race.

[dawid22]

I'm not even going to comment on this...

[Turk1sh]

oh no its a minority of zombie slayers oppressing and killing the majority of african zombies - oh the inhumanity - where is the united nations wing for zombie oppressors? Bring on sanctions against these buggers I say!

[Jedi]

Meh, it's all rather being overblown isn't it, and all it does is give some one with obvious insecurities about her own race 15 minutes of fame.

[Cyberninja]

Lol. The writer is an idiot. This statement proves it:

"“Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth.”

If the material suits the subject (as long as it's not overly offensive) then I really don't see a problem with it. A black zombie in a African setting makes perfect sense to me.

[wisp]

Whats the big deal a Zombie is a Zombie Black or White, Set in Africa makes sense to make the Zombie Black...shades of lets Ban Noddy cause he sleeps with Bigears krap.In fact the whole Zombie genre came from the West indies via Africa and they were Black.Uber sensitive and uber stupid.

[Azimuth]

But...but...the game isn't about killing blacks. It's about killing zombies.

Mountains, molehills, etc.

[MrDeVil_909]

I'm not even going to comment on this...

That sums it up perfectly.

[Squirly]

All in all Capcom sure does have a ****ty PR/marketing department.

[Enigma]

Zombies are zombies it does not matter if they are black or white. This is just someone who has nothing better to do with their time.

[CaptainCrunch]

Resident Evil 1-4...kill mostly white zombies = good
Resident Evil 5...kill mostly black zombies = bad
Huh?

[.dB]

In this thread: We are oppressed. LET'S RAWR.

Anyway, this is on the same level of retardation as the whole "I'M NOT PLAYING GTA:SA CUZ THE LEAD CHARACTERS BLACK" thing from a while back.

Everyone really just needs to calm the **** down, and enjoy the product at hand for what it is - That is, entertainment.

[dislekcia]

I'm with Terry Pratchett on this: Black and white should live in perfect harmony, by ganging up on green.

And who, if anyone, is not green but Zombies?

-D

[Q-Man]

lol I can see the picture now...

Quinton wipes the sweat from his forehead.
Surrounded.
Great job, Quinton; now you've really done it. He quickly checks his ammo supplies. ****. Only 2 bullets left. Make them count.
Suddenly the window in the room next door shatters, and Quinton hears the muffled moaning of the undead, looking to fill their insatiable desire for living human flesh.
Quinton holds his gun at his side.
This is it.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The door is shaking.
"uuuhhnnn" comes the sound from the other side. There's only one of them. Don't hesitate. just shoot.
With one swift action, Quinton raises his gun and takes aim at where the zombie's head is most likely to be.
Bang. Thud. Silence.
Direct hit.
Quinton slowly moves across the room and opens the door.
Oh ****.
I just killed a black zombie.
Suddenly some crazy white woman breaks the door down and runs into the room; "RACIST" the crazy bitch shouts, "YOU KILLED A BLACK ZOMBIE! YOU RACIST!"
Quinton looks at the crazy white woman with half-closed eyes.
He has one bullet left.
One dead black zombie, and one dead stupid, crazy white woman. Boy, he's doing the world a favour tonight...

<the end>

[Ruandre]

Agreed, this is just stupid. If the game was set in japan, most of the zombies would be Asian. That's, like, logical. The game will likely only be racist if perceived as such. So, blame the player not the game. Anyhow, I hope they push the Voodoo theme, it's sorely missed in games.

[Toi]

Racism
-The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
-Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Why, oh why dear God can't people get this right? Racism is NOT just when a white man shoots, curses, beats or whatevers a black man. Racism is a two edged sword. It goes both ways. Why is it cool to shoot white people but wrong to shoot black people? Why is it cool to have an ALL black soccer team but wrong if you have a ALL white rugby team? Why if a boer shoots a black man its a act of racism but if a black man shoots a white man its either self defence, the black man was opressed and was forced to do so or he gets reconciliation?

If anyone here is a racist its the writer of that article. According to her ONLY white zombies should be used in games. Why not all races. Black, white, pink, brown, red you name it.

So, if a zombie invasion ever occurs we would only see white zombies, what BS is that?

I say make them black, its set in Africa after all. If it wasn't then don't make them black. I just want to shoot zombies.

I swear, if this game gets banned or censored because of this I will stone the person responsible to death.

Sorry for going off about this guys, I'm just really sick and tired of people blaming everything on racism. The same blood goes through my veins as the black man next to me.

[Cyberninja]

Bugger that! I say we attack the Swiss. Think about it? FETA FOR ALL! REJOICE!!

[Toi]

^^ Hell yeah. I'll bring out the guns as long as I can have some low fat feta.

[wisp]

@ Qman..that was brillant , can't stop laughing:):):):):):)

[DeMoN]

There are like only 3min of footage of the game. Im sure there will be other lacations were you can shoot white zombies, because that is okay to do.??????!!!!

People are ****in idiots!!!

[dislekcia]

I suggest a radical new direction for RE games to avoid slurs of racism in future: Instead of weapons, provide reconciliation tools! No more headshots, rather invite the hordes of mixed-race undead to a negotiation table so that we can all sort out our differences in a civilized manner! Molotov ****tails are for violent revolutionaries! We're trying to set up a unified Zombie state with international trade agreements and a democratically elected government...

Finally we'd have somewhere to send all those orphans.

-D

[wisp]

I suggest a radical new direction for RE games to avoid slurs of racism in future: Instead of weapons, provide reconciliation tools! No more headshots, rather invite the hordes of mixed-race undead to a negotiation table so that we can all sort out our differences in a civilized manner! Molotov ****tails are for violent revolutionaries! We're trying to set up a unified Zombie state with international trade agreements and a democratically elected government...

Finally we'd have somewhere to send all those orphans.

-D

I vote we send Mugabe there as president ,he is the biggest Zombie in Africa:)

[wisp]

LOOK WHITE ZOMBIES

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/2311/shawnofthedeadmp6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[.dB]

... cocaine?

[Miktar]

... cocaine?

... fail to see relevance?

[Chevron]

LOOK WHITE ZOMBIES

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/2311/shawnofthedeadmp6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Shawn of the dead is made of win.

.db you really need to see Shawn of the dead.

If you do you'll get the pic.

[Miktar]

Shawn of the dead is made of win.

.db you really need to see Shawn of the dead.

If you do you'll get the pic.

Why do you assume .db has not seen Shawn of the Dead?

[Chevron]

The cocaine reference. He assumed the people in the pic were zombies because they were high.
Hence your "fail to see relevance" comment. You get the pic. He doesn't.

[Miktar]

I think you're assuming a bit too much there. I assumed .db's cocaine reference was more to do with the writer of the original racism argument. Then again, I might be assuming too much.

.db?

[wisp]

@db...they are Zombies , no coke promise :)

[X-Ploding_Shoes]

The sad thing is that if there had been NO black people, zombie or human, the game would have been called racist.
It's not racism, its artistic direction. The developers have set their game in Africa, which has black people gasp! And they decided that their lead character will be white! GASP! It must be racism.
I for one hate those adds that float around our primetime viewing, you know, the Spur add where one white family groups just happens to be friends with a black and asian family! The waiter is Mexican and the voice is Spanish.
If I want to make a movie or game that has no Black people, does that make me racist? Do I have to have a white, black, coloured, asian, indian, latin, mexican lead character or Im a racist?

This is just sad...