Resident Evil 5 Producer Denies Making Any Changes Following Racist Controversy

[Logan Westbrook]

Resident Evil 5 Producer Denies Making Any Changes Following Racist Controversy

Masachika Kawata, producer of Resident Evil 5, has denied that Capcom has made any changes to the game, following the controversy that the trailer caused.

The trailer for Resident Evil 5 sparked a flurry of dissent amongst gaming journalists about the racist and outdated depictions of black Africans, a claim perhaps summed up best by N'Gai Croal, an African-American himself, when he spoke to MTV Multiplayer [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/10/newsweeks-ngai-croal-on-the-resident-evil-5-trailer-this-imagery-has-a-history/] in April last year.

In an interview Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/the-eurogamer-tv-show-resident-evil-5?size=med], Kawata expressed surprise at the reaction and went on to say "I don't recall modifying the game in any way following the controversy of racism." Kawata was confident however, that Sheva, Chris Redfield's half-African sidekick, will be enough to assuage fears that the game is racist. Unfortunately, Kawata's confidence may be a little misplaced, as further [http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/02/sometimes_its_just_racist.php] criticism [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/resident-evil-5-hands-on-chapter1to3?page=3] has sprung up following a preview version of the game that contained the first three chapters.

Most gamers seem to be unwilling to engage in the debate about Resident Evil 5, and many will take Kawata's comments as definitive proof that the game does not discriminate against black Africans, even unintentionally.

Me, I'm not so sure.



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[Pseudonym2]

Are they aiming for an increase in sales due to controversy? That's the only reason I can think of for this.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

Are they aiming for an increase in sales due to controversy? That's the only reason I can think of for this.

It's game, any press for it at this point just says...HEY, buy me to see what the fuss is about.

 

[shadow skill]

He would have to be a moron to be surprised at the reaction (especially in America) and I do not think he is. They are definitely going for controversy based publicity here. His being surprised is as believeable as Illusion being surprised that Rapelay cause a firestorm had they been stupid enough to actually try and release the game in the west. Would this guy wear a hitler outfit on a trip to Israel? He's not stupid and he is not surprised.

 

[RetiarySword]

But resident evil 5 isn't racist! So why should the guy change a perfectly good game?

 

[shadow skill]

But resident evil 5 isn't racist! So why should the guy change a perfectly good game?

It's not racist by definition no, yes people who call it racist do not understand what the word really means; however none of that changes the fact that some will find this game offensive because of the imagery involved.

 

[RetiarySword]

But resident evil 5 isn't racist! So why should the guy change a perfectly good game?

It's not racist by definition no, yes people who call it racist do not understand what the word really means; however none of that changes the fact that some will find this game offensive because of the imagery involved.

Well if they can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Resident evil 1-4 had many people killed and no one said anything about that, even RE4 where they wern't really infected and hispanic.

 

[shadow skill]

Being an Spainsh American I can only wonder why people care, in Resident Evil 1-3 they killed hordes of White People. In RE4 you were a white guy and kill Spanish Citizens, and we didn't really care that much. But when, they go to Africa and kill Africans they've suddenly gone over the line.

If you even barly hung onto the story while you could you would understand that the survivors of Racoon City are fixing to make sure nothing like that ever happens again (or to destroy Umbrella). And seeing as all evidence points to that Humans originated in Africa, it is only common sense that the virus might have originated there too.

Why do you care? It's just a video game, Capcom didn't ask you to like it.

Much of it has to do with how Africans have been characterized in history by Europeans. Something while not necessarily unique to Africans has been going on for a very long time, and even after all of this time they still have to deal with being looked down on by others in ways white people (Which actually includes the Spanish.) have not had to deal with as a group. You think there would not be a shitstorm of an even greater level if the next COD had you playing as Nazis?

 

[Nunka]

His being surprised is as believeable as Illusion being surprised that Rapelay cause a firestorm had they been stupid enough to actually try and release the game in the west.

You'd be surprised... (no pun)

 

[jdnoth]

The gameplay was shit. Racism might have spiced it up a little.

 

[shadow skill]

You think there would not be a shitstorm of an even greater level if the next COD had you playing as Nazis?

We had a nice debate here, if you're interested http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.86062

Also can someone explain why people claim that RE5 is racist if it's not only because you shoot black people? Is it because they show Africans living in huts made of grass and mud or what?

Violent Negro motif, Rape the white woman motif. You kind of have to know the history here to see what the problem is for some people.

 

[Pseudonym2]

You think there would not be a shitstorm of an even greater level if the next COD had you playing as Nazis?

We had a nice debate here, if you're interested http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.86062

Also can someone explain why people claim that RE5 is racist if it's not only because you shoot black people? Is it because they show Africans living in huts made of grass and mud or what?

It's because you play as a white American. There's an entire population full of black people and the protagonist is white. The zombies themselves are evocative of old racist stereotypes. (savage,dumb,belligerent, obsessed with white women, ect.)This type of propaganda was more popular about 80 years ago and is used to justify western imperialism by saying only whites can save/kill them.

See if you can find Titin in the Congo, some of the old Tarzan, some of H. P. Lovecraft's work, or the movie Birth of a Nation to see what I'm talking about.

Since these stereotypes don't apply Spaniards, there wasn't as a big a fuss about Resident Evil 4. Though the zombies spoke in a Mexican Accent.

 

[shadow skill]

At one point you and Sheva glimpse a woman struggling with a group of Majini on a balcony overlooking a street. She's a white westerner - prominently, unmistakeably so, with waist-length platinum blonde hair, idealised Anglo-Saxon facial features and a skimpy black lace night dress. She screams for aid, but is overpowered and dragged back into the building. When you eventually reach her, she has been impregnated with the Los Plagos virus and must be destroyed. As our chums at Eurogamer have pointed out, the scene dovetails smoothly with that classic racist trope of the brutal black male 'corrupting' the white man's womenfolk. There's zero justification for the woman's appearance in the plot - the scene exists, as far as I can see, purely to outrage and titillate players whose cultural background is saturated with such unwholesome ideas.

http://games.kikizo.com/features/resident-evil-5-final-build-hands-on-preview-p3.asp

 

[Jeronus]

If someone comes at you screaming and insane out of their mind, does it really matter what their skin color is?