Ha ha! Racist.
- Thread starter maninahat
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I totally get why this could be considered racist, but I also see how people can say it isn't. If you want a tribal race like this in your game, you don't really have many options that wouldn't have someone calling out "RACIST!"maninahat said:
I think the reason they aren't usually white people when we see this, is that in our pop culture, history, and media (NatGeo) they are almost always people of some type of color other than pasty white like myself.
I am not in any sense saying that white people never were, or are not now, part of any tribal culture, I'm just saying what the general public is shown about various tribes throughout history. Trying to make something people can relate to isn't racist in and of itself, but it certainly can be handled in a way that comes off as racist, if it isn't blatantly racist on purpose.
Games have gotten this all throughout their creation. When any game takes place in Africa, someone gets called a racist for it having so many black people to kill. I think setting a game there and having only whites would be more racist.
It's a sensitive issue, and one that's open to a lot of interpretation and that everyone will have a different opinion on based on their own experiences with race. You can dig deep enough into almost anything and come up with something that someone somewhere is going to call racist. It's too early to pass judgement on this, I think.
tl;dr: I don't think it's racist just because of this, but I'd need to see more of a final product and how it was actually handled to come to a final opinion.
Well obviously the creators weren't trying to be racist - they probably thought they were being quite positive by featuring a prominent tribal character. This was almost certainly an unintentional bi-product of careless writing.Bobic said:
Most games cast you as the hero and expect you to save everyone. That isn't problematic when you are saving your "own people", or saving generic people, or saving a fictional race of people that lacks any resemblance to a real world culture. The problem comes when you feature stereotypes of real cultures, and cast them in shitty roles. In the case of natives, they almost always get portrayed as undeveloped, magical and childlike in nature. Even if they are noble and warrior like, they are still shown as incompetant and in need of a benevolant white man to show them the way. That's when the "save the people" narrative becomes culturally condescending, and starts to sound like those pro-Imperialistic justifications which were once the vogue.
The thing is, you can still do "the rescue natives" in a good way. Far Cry 2 does it right. The whole point of the game is to criticise foreign involvement and the exploitation of the locals. The mecenaries and the Jackal are clearly making things worse for everyone, acting in their own interests and destroying the society in the process. In the end, the only way to help the locals involves killing yourself - it's the final confirmation that you are a blight on these people, and not their hero. That's how you undermine the "Mighty Whitey" aspect.
NB, the protagonist isn't interchangeable in FC3 - white American is the only choice.
Yes, I see the problem here; a leader who dresses very unprofessionally, like you caught her on her way to a dance club.
So what's the racism thing? Is it because the leader is supposed to be a purebred native whom looks half white, like Storm?
So what's the racism thing? Is it because the leader is supposed to be a purebred native whom looks half white, like Storm?
Facial expressions while talking seemed...off...slightly. At least to me. Guess they still have trouble with that from time to time.
The problem with using a real ethnic group is that they sort of expect you to do a bit of research on them and get a bit pissed when you get obvious things wrong.blindthrall said:
THe only thing wrong with this trailer is it seems to be falling on the Mighty Whitey [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MightyWhitey]* trope, but it certainly isn't racist, or even that offensive.
* Yeah, I TVtroped you, that's what you get for having such a misleading and inflammatory title.
* Yeah, I TVtroped you, that's what you get for having such a misleading and inflammatory title.
Okay... do you have a say in what tribes normally look like? Don't they all have their own style, and that's what connects them as a tribe? Can tribes be superstitious like these guys appear to be? Maybe the guy that they've watched murdering dozens of dudes seems like a good savior, regardless of if he was white or not.NightowlM said:
If they were whiter than they were in that trailer, would it be ok? If the main character was black instead of white?
I don't get this issue. At all. What would you have them look like?
I dont really see whats so racist about this. I would call it stereotypical but not racist. However to be fair there are still tribes all over the world that currently practice cannibalism, shamanism, and tattooing like whats shown in the trailer.maninahat said:
Some cultures have a firm belief in things being decided by the gods. When I was in Africa many years ago I caught a tiger fish and people swore it was a blessing from the gods. Seeing as it fed an entire village and how the fish is seen as more of a spirit then an animal I can see why catching one would be seen as a miracle to them. Its also a fact that European explorers were first seen as gods among most African tribes when people first started exploring Africa.
All that said, I dont see how this is racist or how this is uncharacteristic given past history
When the trope is used poorly or overdone, yes. In the case presented, the main character is white, yes, but nowhere in that trailer is it ever implied that he was chosen or he will succeed -because- he's white. He was simply chosen by the 'chief' of tribe to be their avatar, even though he is an outsider, as a convenient plot mechanic.peruvianskys said:
And actually in many cases elsewhere, the "Mighty Whitey" trope is used to subvert the idea of racism by painting the 'native' culture as a utopia, where the foreigner comes not only to learn their ways, but actually despise his old ways. Granted this is most often done as a preventative measure so people won't start screaming 'racism' at something before they actually know the intent of the author.
But at least several tribes have done pretty much exactly that towards random white guys:maninahat said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
(Just a random info dump, relevant to this discussion)
I just don't see it as racism, personally. It doesn't at all seem to be suggesting that these people are inherently stupid/illogical because of their race, considering the BROTHER of the tribal girl appears to be the greedy pro-modernization-ish bad guy. There's nothing *racial* about it at all, from what I see.
I feel others have said this much better, though.
The flaw in that is that most racism, malicious or otherwise, is based upon laziness.Bobic said:
I did not see anything I would call racism, though it is riddled with cliches...
Still seems that it could be a good game.
Still seems that it could be a good game.
