Alt+Escape: Ching Chong Beautiful

[Vert]

This is a classic problem scenario when trying to use satire (as I interpret it). The creators of the game seem, to me at least, to be trying to use that well known satirical tool of 'crossing the line twice', that is, to literally go so over the top, using racial slurs and every conceivable and ridiculous stereotype possible, with the intent of ridiculing them. This is always a risky thing to do and can easily come off as supporting what ever you're trying to satirize.

A small example, Swift's brilliant "A Modest Proposal' was deliberately over the top and an obvious attempt at satirizing the treatment of Ireland by the English government during his time by suggesting that people should cook and eat Irish babies as a solution to the problems being faced in Ireland. As ridiculous, offensive and over the top as it was, quite a few people at the time actually thought he was being serious... and that's considered to be one of the most masterful pieces of satire ever written, so even the best of the best risks being misinterpreted.

However, even if that was their intention, and I can't really see how it would be otherwise (given the amount of the offensive material they use), it doesn't mean they succeed. Judging from the reactions here, it seems they weren't sufficiently over the top (in a way that even racist people wouldn't be, though that would risk making the game unplayable), presented a criticism of through their offensiveness (a la Swift) or even gave us a 'wink' in game, so as to say that it was done on purpose, all of which would have dispelled any doubts.

Whats more, there doesn't seem to be a real purpose behind this. I mean, they certainly make fun/satirize Japanese game shows successfully, by showing how hard and frustrating they are for the participants, no matter how amusing they might be to someone outside (the laugh track, in this sense, is perfect), but what purpose do the stereotypes and racist slurs accomplish? It seems to be nothing and that is understandably troubling.

In any case, it should be said that the game itself is excellent and quite fun.

 

[lodo_bear]

It's really inexcusable to highlight this game and quickly pass over the name, the yellowface and the like, especially for a site that traffics in ideas like The Escapist. There shouldn't be an apology because people were offended - there should actually be a serious discussion about why anti-Asian racism is still considered funny or "no big deal".

Even a good and fun game can be problematic.

Excellent point. Now, it does seem that anti-Asian racism is considered "no big deal". Why is this so?

One factor is that it hasn't held back the Asians the way it's held back everyone else. The Chinese and Japanese faced the same kind of racism everyone else faced here in America (calling them ugly, stupid, mean, dishonest and filthy, giving them derogatory nicknames, laws passed against them, forced relocation, etc.) and still managed to thrive, to the point that today, the average Asian-American is richer and smarter than the average Caucasian American. No other minority can claim this. Look to their home countries, and we see more prosperity. Europe raped China much the way it raped Africa, but China still became a world power, and Japan recovered from two nuclear attacks to become another powerhouse. The White man can hold down the Black man, the Brown man, the Red man, and every color of woman, but he can't hold down the Yellow man. In a sense, anti-Asian racism is impotent, and this may be why it is seen as less of a problem.

Another factor is how over the top Asian culture is, especially Japanese culture. Japanese women's underwear that contains a putting green [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.155697]. Japanese man marries videogame girlfriend [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.157514]. Life-size mecha models [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97060-Japans-Life-Sized-Gundam-to-Make-a-Return]. Rape games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92036-Rape-Games-Not-Banned-in-Japan-After-All]. This game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.159353?page=1], whatever it is. And it only gets stranger [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94873-New-Eroge-Game-Introduces-Wang-Recognition-Technology] from here. It's difficult to mock or satirize something that's already this weird. By this theory, anti-Asian racism may be seen as harmless because it's no worse than the way the Asians portray themselves.

I do not wish to excuse racism. I mention the above factors to explain why racism remains, not to justify it, and I think it's worth taking a deeper look at the racism in this (otherwise really fun) game. Why did the game maker put it in there? Intentions aside, what is the effect of the racist elements? I fear that they only serve to call awareness to the difference between Japan and the West, and to mock Japan for that difference.

 

[Flaxy Martin]

I would say that high academic achievements and financial gains are harldy "making it." ever hear of the bamboo ceiling? ever wonder why the suicide rate among Asian Amercian women is higher than any other group? how about why Asian are portrayed in the media as only X ot Y, never any nuance to their human experience.
Part of it is due to assimilation. Many Asians have been taught not to comlpain about unfair treatment and simply work hard and your achievements will be met with reward, and entry into greater society. With the idea that your achievements and assimilation will shield you from you from racism and stereotypes.
their is nothing that greater society love more than a victim that won't/is hesitant to fight back.

 

[Troy Goodfellow]

One factor is that it hasn't held back the Asians the way it's held back everyone else. The Chinese and Japanese faced the same kind of racism everyone else faced here in America (calling them ugly, stupid, mean, dishonest and filthy, giving them derogatory nicknames, laws passed against them, forced relocation, etc.) and still managed to thrive, to the point that today, the average Asian-American is richer and smarter than the average Caucasian American. No other minority can claim this. Look to their home countries, and we see more prosperity. Europe raped China much the way it raped Africa, but China still became a world power, and Japan recovered from two nuclear attacks to become another powerhouse. The White man can hold down the Black man, the Brown man, the Red man, and every color of woman, but he can't hold down the Yellow man. In a sense, anti-Asian racism is impotent, and this may be why it is seen as less of a problem.

Not quite impotent because it still has a lot of power. Most of the Asian immigrant success stories in the United States have been post-war; descendants of those who were discriminated against, forcibly relocated, lynched, driven out in race riots and the like do not have the same achievement levels, or did not for generations. The post war Asian immigrants were largely middle class Asians or already educated and therefore had the cultural capital to succeed in a modern society. You'll note that the major Asian immigrant "group successes" have been Koreans, Japanese and recent Chinese immigrants and not Vietnamese, Hmong or Filipino; this is because of the class from which these groups are drawn.

Also, the "model minority" myth is insidious, implying that because Asians have, as a population succeeded, it is because they are quiet, studious people who don't complain. They just put their nose to the grindstone and work hard at math or science or music.

And pointing out how outrageous Japanese culture is is not a defense of this game with yellowface and a name with a slur.

 

[Eric the Orange]

EDIT: oh, he got banned, never mind.

 

[atlasien]

It's interesting to see who got banned on this thread. It's not the people who are spewing anti-Asian racism and defending anti-Asian racism. Not the people who think a nuclear atrocity is OK to laugh at, because all the people who died in it weren't white. I can only agree with FatCatAttack's assessment. You people who run this site feel you can afford to laugh at racist jokes and ban anyone who spoils your pathetic smirking juvenile fun.

 

[Flaxy Martin]

i can't speak for FatCatAttack, but i can guess why he/she returns, it may be for the hope that someone finally "gets it", and explains it to others in a language they can understand.

 

[Eric the Orange]

It's interesting to see who got banned on this thread.

well there was only one person, and I'm pretty sure he got banned because he insinuated that people should shoot themselves.

 

[lodo_bear]

First, I want to make something clear. I do not approve of racism, and I do not approve of the racism in Ching Chong Beautiful. I never meant to imply support for racism or racists, and I am sorry that it seemed like I did. I just wished to explain why it is that our society continues to be racist towards Asians.

However, someone else said it better than me:

I would say that high academic achievements and financial gains are harldy "making it." ever hear of the bamboo ceiling? ever wonder why the suicide rate among Asian Amercian women is higher than any other group? how about why Asian are portrayed in the media as only X ot Y, never any nuance to their human experience.
Part of it is due to assimilation. Many Asians have been taught not to comlpain about unfair treatment and simply work hard and your achievements will be met with reward, and entry into greater society. With the idea that your achievements and assimilation will shield you from you from racism and stereotypes.
their is nothing that greater society love more than a victim that won't/is hesitant to fight back.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disregard my last post, because a superior theory has come forward. Thank you, Flaxy Martin. Now then, what did Troy have to say?

In a sense, anti-Asian racism is impotent, and this may be why it is seen as less of a problem.

Not quite impotent because it still has a lot of power. Most of the Asian immigrant success stories in the United States have been post-war; descendants of those who were discriminated against, forcibly relocated, lynched, driven out in race riots and the like do not have the same achievement levels, or did not for generations. The post war Asian immigrants were largely middle class Asians or already educated and therefore had the cultural capital to succeed in a modern society. You'll note that the major Asian immigrant "group successes" have been Koreans, Japanese and recent Chinese immigrants and not Vietnamese, Hmong or Filipino; this is because of the class from which these groups are drawn.

Ah, I should have known better. I met Filipinos on three different continents, and they've never done as well as the Big Three. They're just not born into the same level of wealth as the Koreans, Japanese and Chinese.

Also, the "model minority" myth is insidious, implying that because Asians have, as a population succeeded, it is because they are quiet, studious people who don't complain. They just put their nose to the grindstone and work hard at math or science or music.

True story: during California's gold rush, Chinese gold diggers would get kicked off the good sites and forced to work abandoned claims, but they worked hard enough that they got more gold out of the bad sites than the white men could get out of the good sites, so the white men kicked the Chinese off the bad sites, too (more on the Gold Rush and Chinese immigrants here [http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/chinhate.html]).

And pointing out how outrageous Japanese culture is is not a defense of this game with yellowface and a name with a slur.

Again, I never meant to defend or excuse, only to explain.

 

[WhyDoI]

they got more gold out of the bad sites than the white men could get out of the good sites, so the white men kicked the Chinese off the bad sites, too (more on the Gold Rush and Chinese immigrants here [http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/chinhate.html]).

"The white man" didn't kick anyone off of any sites, you hypocrite racist. Greedy prospectors who happened to be white did it, and they did it for explicit personal gain, not out of a holy jihad against Chinese immigrants.

 

[kyosuke75]

Yes, "ching chong" is a racial slur as I know as a kid growing up in Pennsylvania in a predominately white neighborhood. Yes, it brings back memories of the pain and suffering I endured growing up there being harassed, beaten by caucasian kids while they called me "ching chong" or "gook" even though I am not even Chinese.

The sad thing is that people have the notion that its ok to mock or, dare I say, offend the Asian-American community because it is the least vocal about it in the media or politically as compared to other minority groups.

Most often it is the "subtle" racism that hurts the most or causes the most damage and inflicted by people who aren't racist and fall back on the excuse of ignorance.

Of course most people involved in this discussion are not Asian, so when someone like myself "overreacts" to a game that is widely creative by calling their game "Ching Chong Beautiful", I would be considered a "minority".

This is America and everyone has the right to free speech and to create games (even with the name Ching Chong Beautiful) but everyone has to be responsible for their speech and for their actions and even face consequences for those actions.

@St Waldo: Thank you for your posts...at least someone understands.

Also, this post is all over racialicious. You might want to read the article to understand why the name "Ching Chong Beautiful" is not carrying all too well among the Asian-American Community.

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/12/30/ching-chong-beautiful-exposes-racism-in-video-game-design/


Knowledge is Power.

 

[kyosuke75]

@atlasien: I hear ya man... i know exactly what you went through...

 

[lodo_bear]

they got more gold out of the bad sites than the white men could get out of the good sites, so the white men kicked the Chinese off the bad sites, too (more on the Gold Rush and Chinese immigrants here [http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/chinhate.html]).

"The white man" didn't kick anyone off of any sites, you hypocrite racist. Greedy prospectors who happened to be white did it, and they did it for explicit personal gain, not out of a holy jihad against Chinese immigrants.

Ha! Your ignorance of Time Cube [http://www.timecube.com/] leaves you blind to the massive Aryan conspiracy that even now resists the advances of the lesser races! But they shall not succeed, for my white brethren do not realize that I am a mole, selling out our secrets to the Yellow Peril! Soon my Mongoloid allies will conquer the world! Ah ha ha ha ha!

Now that that's out of the way, let's re-examine what went on. The whites and the Chinese all came looking for gold. The various prospectors were naturally antagonistic, being in competition for the same gold, but the white folks were especially antagonistic towards the Chinese [http://immigrants.harpweek.com/chineseamericans/1Introduction/BillWeiIntro.htm]. Miners would naturally compete with each other, but white miners would join together to push out the Chinese. While there was not a jihad to exterminate the Chinese, there was a campaign to exclude them (see The People vs. Hall [http://www.cetel.org/1854_hall.html] and the Geary Act [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geary_Act]). Greed and racism often go together, and both were a factor in the treatment of Chinese gold miners.

Of course, now the Chinese are farming gold [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gold-trading-exposed-the-sellers-article] instead of mining it, so perhaps they have the last laugh.

Yes, "ching chong" is a racial slur as I know as a kid growing up in Pennsylvania in a predominately white neighborhood. Yes, it brings back memories of the pain and suffering I endured growing up there being harassed, beaten by caucasian kids while they called me "ching chong" or "gook" even though I am not even Chinese.

The sad thing is that people have the notion that its ok to mock or, dare I say, offend the Asian-American community because it is the least vocal about it in the media or politically as compared to other minority groups.

Most often it is the "subtle" racism that hurts the most or causes the most damage and inflicted by people who aren't racist and fall back on the excuse of ignorance.

Of course most people involved in this discussion are not Asian, so when someone like myself "overreacts" to a game that is widely creative by calling their game "Ching Chong Beautiful", I would be considered a "minority".

This is America and everyone has the right to free speech and to create games (even with the name Ching Chong Beautiful) but everyone has to be responsible for their speech and for their actions and even face consequences for those actions.

@St Waldo: Thank you for your posts...at least someone understands.

Also, this post is all over racialicious. You might want to read the article to understand why the name "Ching Chong Beautiful" is not carrying all too well among the Asian-American Community.

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/12/30/ching-chong-beautiful-exposes-racism-in-video-game-design/


Knowledge is Power.

Thank you very much; that was an excellent post overall, and I especially thank you for bringing Racialicious [http://www.racialicious.com/] to my attention.

By the way, what ethnicity are you?

 

[Blt3200]

awww man theres a little racist debate over a game how origanly quaint

 

[FallingSkywards]

I know this thread is dead but, I just wanted to point out that on Newgrounds one of the tags on the game reads racist. Considering the fact that the only person/people (on Newgrounds) that can add tags are the creators.
This proves most of this whole thread to be bullshit.