Resident Evil 5: Racist?

[JJ46]

I've been a fan of Resident Evil since Code Veronica X, and recently finished Resident Evil 4. I've seen trailers of Resident Evil 5 and can't help but feel it's a little racist. I'm also concerned that the game is becoming way too realistic; in the old days we killed Zombies: they were already dead. RE 4, I was a little skeptical, but Leon at least shot people that weren't human and were his own race. Why did they have too take Redfield to Africa? The realism of the game might cause the same old story: a young kid gets his hands on the game and then starts shooting people; but this time people that aren't of his/her race or something stupid like that.

Does anyone agree with me or can help me out here? I really love RE, but I'm really upset about the direction the game is taking.

[Amray]

It is not racist in the slightest.

Resident Evil games have always been based on killing American and European zombies and psychos, so why not make something different?

[GFx]

The game is most likely going to be rated M, it's just a hunch I have, I'm not sure... This game was not meant for kids, I'm not saying that there won't be any kids that'll have their hands on RE but that's the parents responsibility.

You said Leon shot people that weren't and were his own race, I'd like to go on with his own race. It's possible for a human being to dislike his own race, you can be "racist" towards your own race. So it doesn't matter which race you're killing.
Now that the game is set in Africa, you'd have to prove that the creators set the game in Africa for discrimination purposes. But if it's in Africa, what are the chances you won't find any black colored people?
Also, Africa is an interesting location for this game, since voodoo magic originated from there. So my point being, they didn't set the game for their racist purpose but rather because it was an ideal place to have to game in.

[JJ46]

You said Leon shot people that weren't and were his own race, I'd like to go on with his own race. It's possible for a human being to dislike his own race, you can be "racist" towards your own race. So it doesn't matter which race you're killing.

Huh? Please read my post carefiully. Leon shot his own race. Fine. That has nothing to do with racism. But the idea of shooting African villagers, instead of heading back to the U.S or something upsets me. A couple of my friends gave the same immediate comment when they saw the trailer: "that's kinda racist." And yeah, RE4 and RE5 are rated 18+.

Is the story really now about witchcraft? Huh? I don't get it anymore. What happened to the whole Umbrella thing? The problem with RE is they never have proper sequels...

[MomijiTMO]

It is racist because all the zombies are of a darker colour. Have you forgotten where the last few Resident Evil games were set?

I came to the conclusion that it's an annoying yet still amusing game with some clear oppression against Caucasians and Asians. We want Asian and Caucasian zombies. Let's protest lol.

Nah Yahtzee makes the best joke about it in Zero Punctuation.

[Amray]

Well, the only thing that you could possibly do is write a complaint to Capcom. Or just buy the game anyway. It's still going to be awesome. Although I am going to admit, one of the first words that came to my head when watching the trailer was "Racism" But nonthless, what can I do about it? XD

[The Governator]

How is it racist? because your shooting Africans? I don't see how a FICTIONAL game, were your killing crazed black pesants can be racist, now if he starts to wear a KKK uniform and shouts "WHITE POWER!" after killing an enemy, then you can call it racist, but until then, it is just a game, so get over yourselves.

[GFx]

Huh? Please read my post carefiully. Leon shot his own race. Fine. That has nothing to do with racism. But the idea of shooting African villagers, instead of heading back to the U.S or something upsets me. A couple of my friends gave the same immediate comment when they saw the trailer: "that's kinda racist." And yeah, RE4 and RE5 are rated 18+.

Is the story really now about witchcraft? Huh? I don't get it anymore. What happened to the whole Umbrella thing? The problem with RE is they never have proper sequels...

I took this from wiki for the plot of the game

"In an online interview translated and posted by Capcom, Takeuchi revealed that the game's plot will be set in Africa, and will concern "the origins of the virus."

And Leon isn't the main character anymore, it's Chris now.

Voodoo and zombies are linked together, this is just an assumption I'm making, since voodoo magic can be used to ressurect people from the dead then it might be probable that the game set might revolve around that.

[hanababy]

I can see how you'd think that it's racist, but I don't think it is..
1.) It just happens to be set in Africa now, but it's not like all the games have been, someone could say the previous ones are racist towards lighter skinned people.
2.) I would like to think the people at capcon are not so naive that they would make a game blatantly racist, and anger an entire demographic of people.

But once again, I do understand where you're coming from, I just don't think the game is racist, or at least not overtly.

[Amray]

"Resident Evil 5's E3 trailer sparked controversy with its depiction of a Caucasian protagonist killing hostile African villagers. N'Gai Croal, a Newsweek editor began the criticism by stating, "There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery." He nonetheless acknowledges that only the preview has been released."

Wikipedia.

[Sanosuke23]

So, I guess now we can't have video games taking place in Africa?

This actually reminds me of the South Park episode where there's huge controversy over the flag, which is a bunch of white stick figures hanging a black stick figure, and the kids just see it as one guy getting killed while all the adults tell them it's racist and they don't understand why.

Capcom needs to take a page from that episode and put in a Rainbow Skin Color cheat.

[bakakame]

I don't think it's racist, or not intended to be racist anyway. My problem is that for all the controversy this is gathering, Capcom hasn't given the public anything else to look at. All we have to go on for this game is RE history and the controvertial trailer. I know Capcom is largly clueless, maybe even borderline retarded, but when they just let things stand as they are despite all of this it doesn't instill faith. Given how lousy the RE series is anyway, I worry that RE5 will only serve as a tasteless lightning rod for more anti-videogame stigma.

For more than one reason, I wanna see this series dropped completely.

[Sanosuke23]

Actually bakakame, I don't think Capcom cares if Americans or Europeans think it's racist, because they don't care about those markets nearly as much as they do Japan. They've built up such a reputation of apathy that I'm surprised Kanye West hasn't been parodied yet in regards to it. But now that I mention it...

CAPCOM DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.

[Shido]

This game is not racist . The only people who should even be questioning the motive behind the game are non gamers and those who've never played any RE game before .

If you have ever played RE before this game is not racist .The zombies ( LOL they aren't even zombies ) are African NOT BLACK . now dispite all of the history of slavery and segregation in the U.S , having a white protagonist in Africa killing African zombies is A .O . K . As fans we know Chris isn't racist . we know capcom has yet to play the race card far as language of the game goes . We also know that the whole back story of RE viruses started with Ebola from AFRICA . So it only makes sense to go back there for the origins of the game .

Now far as killing the African villagers and acting so standoffish toward them , it just makes sense . What military person Is going to be all friendly and buddy buddy with the natives when there is a potential outbreak of some kind ? Not to mention as fans we already know that Chris has been in outbreak scenarios before . Killing them is the same story . What military person do you know who is under attack would not fight back to protect themselves or finish what ever mission they are on ? NONE unless they have a death wish . This game has in noway shape or form demonstrated racism except for the fact you only see Africans dieing (which is due purely to location ) . Where was this cry of racism when Leon was butchering spaniards by the handful ? they weren't zombies either . They were poor townsfolk being controlled by parasites . Sure eventually the lil buggers took full controls and sprouted their ugly lil heads but up until that point , they are just disgruntled villagers .

If you watch the trailer in it's entirety and watch it carefully you see that Chris doesn't attack first . Also unlike Re 4 Chris seems more intent on fighting to escape then to kill every Spaniard err I mean zombie like Leon was . you'll also notice that one of the zombies that he punches appears to be somewhat middle eastern looking , which leads to the fact that they're are not only black Africans but white Africans , Indian Africans etc etc and at least Capcom had the sense to include them instead of making it purely white on black hero vs zombie killing spree .

I guess in the end the game trailer does seems to have racial undertones I will admit . Again though only as A person who has never played an RE game before would I ever think that . Luckily I have , but I'm very disappointed in my fellow gamers who have played one and still yell racist .

[JJ46]

What? The T-Virus came from Ebola?! I didn't know that. That changes things slightly I guess. Also, I think that Shido, you had some good points, and some, err, not so good points.

And to reply on some things other ppl said:
1) I know Chris is the protagonist (some ppl aren't reading my post)
1) How is being an African not black? That's a little dum.
3) I didn't say Chris was racist, never did. The "idea" seems racist.
4) When Leon was killing the Spaniards the first thing I said to my friend was: I miss the zombies. The second thing I said was; this is bad. Capcom must have something against Spanish people, LOL, and then we laughed about it and forgot about it. I guess because the plot was good and yes, it's simply fiction, and he is killing white ppl...

But now that I've read your post Shido, I'm gonna take a closer look at the trailer. If it's not only southern Africans, and more a mixture, than that already softens the whole racist thing. And yes, if Capcom had the sense of putting that in, then my respect might come back.

I guess I'm having these feelings coz I'm living in Africa.

In the end, did I judge the game too quickly because of the trailer? I hope so. Because I've always been a fan of RE, and trying something different is what makes their games unique and unpredictable.

[Dogmat]

If it's not ok to shoot Africans, but ok to shoot at everyone else, then THAT's racist. Like previous posters have said, Capcom doesn't intend for this game to be inferred as racist. It just happens to take place in Africa.

[JJ46]

If it's not ok to shoot Africans, but ok to shoot at everyone else, then THAT's racist. Like previous posters have said, Capcom doesn't intend for this game to be inferred as racist. It just happens to take place in Africa.

Dude, if it were an African shooting Africans, then it would seem less racist. Similarly, if it were a Spaniard shooting Spaniards it would seem less racist. Damn. No one said it's not okay to shoot Africans. Seariously.

[Dogmat]

Dude, if it were an African shooting Africans, then it would seem less racist. Similarly, if it were a Spaniard shooting Spaniards it would seem less racist. Damn. No one said it's not okay to shoot Africans. Seariously.

It's not okay to shoot at anybody, unless it's for self defense.

But also remember, they're zombies. Race is completely removed from the equation once someone's a zombie, they're still gonna want to eat you.

[Sanosuke23]

Alright, I went and watched the trailer WITH THE IDEA THAT IS WAS RACIST IN MY MIND.

Unfortunately Capcom, those tricky bastards, threw distraction goats at me in the opening moments and after that I was sold on whatever they were putting out there.

In all seriousness though, I failed to see any racism in it. I mean yeah he killed black people, after they were apparently changed into zombies or something similar(I did notice they had communication skills and cognizance similar to the rank-and-file enemies in RE4, HMMM...), but it was one village. Apparently they were protesting some kind of military action or some crap first, and then were zombimafied.

PLUS nobody mentioned all those black people in the opening he totally didn't kill, he just kind of walked around them. Eh, he probably killed them after they became zombies/mind controlled drones/insurgents, but that's self defense and like Dogmat said once you're a zombie your race is completely irrelevant.

[JJ46]

All right. I think I'll buy the game now. Right after I save up for that PS3 that is. Thanks everyone!!! Oooh... I get to play Chris again!

[Datenshi]

Look at it this way: imagine if the game took place in Africa and all the zombies were white. In any case, you could say the same thing about any American WWII movie/game that focuses around killing Germans or Japanese, like Windtalkers or Medal of Honor.

Anyhow, it's just another instance where Japanese gamemakers cannot wrap their heads around how shielded Japan is from issues like race and religion.

[nosfarartu]

to me who ever thinks its racist is so wrong and it people like you who in the country i live in the uk we cant sing the nursery rhym ba ba black sheep becoz some how thats racist, i dont see how because you do get them you know. and also you can no longer call a black board a black board because you can know longer state the obviouse its now called a chalk board but we have white boards how retarded even tho that would be racist to white people, anyway back to the game, its not racist because hate to say it spidey fans but its a fricken game its all fiction, its not racist in GTA san andreas when you kill a white guys, no its normal for that to happen, how stupid so your basically saying that because its a white guy killing loads of black zombies its racist, if the guy was black would that make it a little easier to swallow. no because then people would say 'are you trying to depict life through a black mans eyes, showing black on black crime' its stupid, but i bet if the hero was a black guy and it was set in south afirca, italy, spain where theres more white people no one would say anything, sorry if im ranting but the subject of racist to me has gotten out of hand these days when any reference to black people is seen as racism and any reference to white people is seen as ok as long as every one else is happy

[Amarhyllis]

Wow, I didn't actually expect to see this kind of thread. Everytime someone brings the topic up to me, about Resident Evil 5 being racist, I'm sorry to have to say this or should this offend you, but I find it stupid. How is it racist? Because the main character (a white guy) is shooting zombies (black zombies)? Wow, that's racism all right. I'm not trying to make this into a black-white thing, believe me. There are games where other races shoot other races but they're not considered racist games. Have you ever thought about WHY he has to go to Africa? I haven't researched it lately, all I hear about Resident Evil 5 is what you're saying now, how it's RACIST. Maybe he goes to Africa to kill more zombies since obviously it's dominated the freakin' globe, or MAYBE they need more information to combat the virus, which probably lies in AFRICA, where life began. I don't really understand why people have to make things into stuff like this, pointing fingers and saying "that's racist! i'm telling!" Again, I apologize, but it's just my opinion and it angers me to see people act this way over a FICTIONAL game. Lord forbid we have to shoot black zombies...

to me who ever thinks its racist is so wrong and it people like you who in the country i live in the uk we cant sing the nursery rhym ba ba black sheep becoz some how thats racist, i dont see how because you do get them you know. and also you can no longer call a black board a black board because you can know longer state the obviouse its now called a chalk board but we have white boards how retarded even tho that would be racist to white people, anyway back to the game, its not racist because hate to say it spidey fans but its a fricken game its all fiction, its not racist in GTA san andreas when you kill a white guys, no its normal for that to happen, how stupid so your basically saying that because its a white guy killing loads of black zombies its racist, if the guy was black would that make it a little easier to swallow. no because then people would say 'are you trying to depict life through a black mans eyes, showing black on black crime' its stupid, but i bet if the hero was a black guy and it was set in south afirca, italy, spain where theres more white people no one would say anything, sorry if im ranting but the subject of racist to me has gotten out of hand these days when any reference to black people is seen as racism and any reference to white people is seen as ok as long as every one else is happy

good points btw, you'll be getting reps from me.

[BK_201]

It doesn´t matter to me if the zombies are white, yellow, red, black...whatever...
THEY ARE ZOMBIES lol

[Shido]

Again, I apologize, but it's just my opinion and it angers me to see people act this way over a FICTIONAL game.

Me personally even though I disagree with the people who say it is racist , I am very happy to have this kind of debate over a fictional game . It means we have come a long way as gamers , as an industry to finally start having some real life issues being questioned about our genre just like any other media forum .

only diffrence is when a game has anything that seems out of place it gets over exaggerated because games "are for kids" . Even as gamers we fall into that same stigma when it's convenient . If this was a movie then some eye brows would get raised but then we would all move along . If the movie then had turned out to be racist it would get hailed as some inspirational thought provoking piece of art and the director would win awards and who ever played chris would get tons of fame for portraying such a unique and racist character :P . But it's not movie it's a game . So even with no racism we have to make it seem that way . we Have to fight it and degrade it and degrade capcom (which as a fan of re series they degraded themselves with re4 -.- ) .

As gamers if we want to pick a game to be racist about lets start with GTA . A series I love dearly . now lets face it that game has racism from all sides XD hell it basicly takes every stereotype known to man to make it a success . now if anyone wanted to question gta I would right long side them (still playing it :P ) saying " ya I agree this game is racist .... BUT I can't help but love the fact I can run around and shoot people . SOOOO much fun " lol . That will never happen though .