Ha ha! Racist.

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Uhm, maybe waiting for the full game would answer the question. I can`t call out racism based on a short trailer. At least not this one, since there is almost none info about characters and background.
For what it is now i`m glad FarCry3 shows gameplay instead of a trailer showing nothing game related. The question if there`s racism never poped up while watching it.

Congrats for developing a good strategy to get this thread a high post- and viewing count, with this post you already have my support. I`ll be more carefull when you post something next time since this thread feels pretty pointless.

Edit: Reading some of the posts i think all devs should sit together and discuss a universial color for games with a realistic setting, not to white, not to black, not to red and not to yellow. Racial tropes regarding facial structures are solved by masks. When someone speaks there`s always a double layered voice male and female to hear. Maybe there should be six voices including old and young for both genders.
For avoiding sexism every person is portrayed as genderless and wears always a combination of both gender related clothes. We could solve three really really really really really BIG problems within the gaming industry this way.
Racism,
Sexism and finally there would be a great comeback for the horror genre.

 

[Pegghead]

In all fairness, the clash between ancient tribal mysticism and cold jungle mercenary operations was one of the features of the early Far Cry games (In your post you talked about how this trailer clashed with Far Cry 2 and it's Heart Of Darkness themes, and well, Far Cry 2 clashed with Far Cry) so it does have good reason to be there.

Sure, all the half-naked priestesses and talk of great warriors might seem a little cliched, but I'm sure it won't come off as offensive. Besides, it's a game about shooting people, blowing shit up, commandeering every vehicle known to man and tearing shit up while high on jungle drugs, so it's not like this is some dreaded smear against an otherwise totally straight-faced affair.

 

[DrBonBon]

Aren't white people allowed to join tribes?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, it's supposed to be "exotic", right?

This usually calls for exaggerations.

It's stereotypical as seen in Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Avatar, and John Carter of Mars (probably the first one to do it), but I wouldn't go as far as to call racism.

 

[poxyrom]

Let me get this straight: a sexy "exotic" priestess asks you (a white westerner who only turned up the other day) to use her magic and lead her tribe of chanting natives (the kind with tattoos, bones and loincloths, naturally) against some evil, modernised corperate types? Oh yes indeed. It's only a trailer, so perhaps this won't turn out to be Dances with the Last Avatar 2.

I'm assuming that you were talking about racism against the african people. However, the tribal guys were white. So I'm not really sure what you're referring to. Yeah, the whole "magical chanting natives" thing is a bit cliche, but it's not racist, and it's been done a million times before.

 

[maninahat]

Let me get this straight: a sexy "exotic" priestess asks you (a white westerner who only turned up the other day) to use her magic and lead her tribe of chanting natives (the kind with tattoos, bones and loincloths, naturally) against some evil, modernised corperate types? Oh yes indeed. It's only a trailer, so perhaps this won't turn out to be Dances with the Last Avatar 2.

I'm assuming that you were talking about racism against the african people. However, the tribal guys were white. So I'm not really sure what you're referring to. Yeah, the whole "magical chanting natives" thing is a bit cliche, but it's not racist, and it's been done a million times before.

That part is a little unclear. I guess this is some kind of equal opportunities tribe which employs white people too? That said, the tribe is clearly meant to be ethnically Polynesian/Indonesian/Moari, and the chieftan giving the history lessons about "her people" is ambiguously brown. Still, I don't think it undermines my argument. It's still some foreigner coming along and appropriating someone else's ethnicity and becoming their leader.

And yes, it's racist when it appears in Avatar and Last of the Samurai, though a little more subtle (Avatar thankfully left out cannibalism and rooster blood).

 

[rbstewart7263]

Shamefully, racist and sexist seem to be thrown around a lot lately. The Hitman Absolution trailer was not sexist, and this trailer is not racist. They are not specifically portraying a culture, it is nonspecific tribal. It is rather lazy story-telling, maybe a bit ignorant of that general area if it indeed is supposed to be a general area of the world, but still nonspecific.

My impression is that the island is a sort of cultural mish mash of whoever gets stranded there not something with a real life long standing culture.

 

[maninahat]

That tribes are invariably depicted as childish and in need of a chaperone, falls under that definition. In these stories, it falls to a mighty whitey to lead these people, because they apparently can't do it themselves.

The Rakia are described as having an army and being the only friendlies left.

It also shows them partying and generally living in normal clothing with the warriors being the ones in dress. There also appears to be a Rakia gun vendor, again in normal clothing. So we can assume from that that it's some sort of ceremonial clothing that the warriors wear. They also carry guns and don't looks in any way shape or form childlike.

The vid also confirms that Vaas is Citra's brother and therefore a former member of the tribe.

Perhaps you should just do a little more research before jumping off the proverbial deepend.

That is quite enlightening, thank you. Perhaps there is more to this tribe then the other trailer implied. Then again, the clip you showed me didn't say the "Rakia" are the ones partying. These could be non-Rakian inhabitants of "Emanaki" (Emannykee?) village, not the Rakia. Presumably Dennis isn't Rakian either. The video implies they do run the gun shop though, so again, perhaps you're right. I guess there is no choice but to pipe down and wait and see.

 

[JohnDoey]

How is it racist it's not even using the Chosen one thing, the protagonist is just doing grunt work for the tribe.

 

[Something Amyss]

yes, it's racist because it's a white guy. changing the race somehow makes it not racist...

There's no "somehow" in here, and I have to wonder if you're intentionally missing it. The trope smacks of "white Man's Burden," which goes beyond mere skin colour in the first place.

that isn't racist, if anything it's racist towards the white guy because he simple has a lighter skin color.

Oh, I'd like to hear the reasoning behind that spurious claim.

Well, it's supposed to be "exotic", right?

This usually calls for exaggerations.

It's stereotypical as seen in Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Avatar, and John Carter of Mars (probably the first one to do it), but I wouldn't go as far as to call racism.

The pulps were heavily racist. A lot of tropes developed based on the fact that the white man could not comprehend how these primitive negroes could build something more complicated than "pointy stick." You can enjoy them within that context or not, but pretending that they weren't racist is rather silly. I don't know about the John Carter movie, but...Yeah. The source material took the same racist backing and moved it to Mars. In many ways, the setting could have been called "Red Africa." I'm a fan, but I won't play blind.

However, I think you may have missed a pretty obvious difference as far as those other movies went. At least two of them, and maybe all three didn't have the respective coloured folks proclaiming "we need your help." You're trying to equate two different concepts in media with one another, and they don't quite mesh.

That's not to say I'm a fan of the Pocahontas/Dances With Wolves formula, but you're trying to equate it with something it isn't.

CAPTCHA: Marry Me. Sorry, Captcha, I'm taken.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

yes, it's racist because it's a white guy. changing the race somehow makes it not racist...

There's no "somehow" in here, and I have to wonder if you're intentionally missing it. The trope smacks of "white Man's Burden," which goes beyond mere skin colour in the first place.

that isn't racist, if anything it's racist towards the white guy because he simple has a lighter skin color.

Oh, I'd like to hear the reasoning behind that spurious claim.

1) "white man's burden"

please explain what you mean by this.

What I was pointing out was, just because the skin color of the person should not somehow make it "racist", i'm racist towards my own race all the time, it doesn't make it any less racist because i share a similar color with them.

2) that was more of a sarcastic jest, saying that just because he is white, people are claiming racism, if he was any other ethnicity/color it would somehow make things okay.

to be honest, it's been like 3-4 days since i've seen that vid/thought about it, so i can't remember my exact train of thoughts on it, sorry to disappoint.

 

[sunsetspawn]

I can see two problems with your title. First, this does not appear to be racist. Second, if this was racist then why would it be funny?

You don't understand. All black people have to be portrayed as doctors and judges because racism. It's especially racist to portray blacks as criminals because racism.


And racism is never funny, even when it's hilarious, because racism.

So remember, no matter how funny a bit of racism is, it's not funny...

because racism.

 

[Something Amyss]

1) "white man's burden"

please explain what you mean by this.

It's a common term based on a literary reference. For more details, consult your local library or google.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

It's bothersome how flippantly people use the word and make accusations.

This was a dev response to a similar question:

?We?re glad you think that, because no, it?s not as it seems. Everything you see is taking place through Jason?s eyes,? ? eyes which are increasingly unreliable thanks to a varied wash of hallucinogenic effects earned from mushrooms, pills, sleep deprivation, lack of proper food, poison, fever and whatever it is that they put in that tattoo ink ? ?and, well, if it looks like we?re doing one thing we?re probably trying to establish something else. Stories are like verbal optical illusions, and where the player realises that they?re a 100% wrong about something they were previously dead sure of ? that?s where good stories happen.?

It was all just a crazy dream. Nobody shot JR.

 

[Angie7F]

if this was considered racist, "It's a Small World" in disney land is unmentionable.