Square Enix Responds to "Racist" Deus Ex Character
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dogstile said:
Agreed. I also loves how he completely ignores the other black female you meet in Detroit, Jenny Alexander. The one that is in deep cover as a prostitute, while working in Internal Affairs and getting Jensen to help her out with her case against O'Malley. You know, a strong and dedicated police officer. Whoops, a crooked cop named O'Malley in Detroit? Good god, hope he isn't Irish, or else STEREOTYPE!
*roll eyes*
I'm leaving out your comments about cultural imperialism as that is a different can of worms.LilithSlave said:
Actually, Square back then did catch some flack for Barrett. There was backlash and defense on both sides. Now, I am not an expert on Japanese culture, but I have a passing familiarity with it. (No, watching anime and playing JRPGs does not make you an expert on Japanese culture, folks.) The Japanese often include stereotypes completely unironically and without even realizing they could be taken as offensively. RE 5 is without a doubt the obvious example. I think almost every American developer would have had a little red flag go up. Even if it isn't racially offensive, the Mighty Whitey protagonist shooting up native Africans with his Not Too Black hottie (braindead) sidekick just has to be handled with kid gloves.
I do not believe the Japanese get that.
American developers aren't much better, to be frank. I just conducted a little informal survey of my current gen games. Of, sure, Louis and Rochelle of L4D are minority characters who don't stumble all over themselves as racial stereotypes. Lots of shooters have the Black Heavy Weapons Guy who plays second fiddle to the white-as-snow commander. Prey was almost stunning in its preachy "native Americans good - and totally a stereotype" vein. I counted that in 33 of 35 games where there was a defined protagonist AND the game isn't in a fantasy 'verse, he was white. (ME, Rockband, sports games, etc all create a protagonist or play a team. A fantasy 'verse might excuse the lack of racial minorities. Etc. I'm counting games where there is one or two clearly defined protagonists.)
This line up is whiter than a 1920's golf course. And females? Doing better than minorities, which should not be mistaken as doing well.
And then, the exceptions: Garcia Fucking Hotspur, a character so disgustingly full of stereotype he comes around again into full parody mode. Tommy, the Cherokee from Prey so hackneyed and forgettable I had to look him up, and the black cop from House of the Dead: Overkill, a character so busy speaking jive and saying ************ I can't be assed to look him up.
Against these stereotypes, what well rounded, non-white, non-Japanese characters can I spot? I can spot a couple of token black guys in shooters. Jacob Taylor may be an annoying character, but at least it's not due to an attempt to portray race. The captain from Dead Space, also so forgettable I don't care to find out his name.
And no, I don't want to hear about Carl from GTA; that series can't clear up its hammy ethnic gangs by having one minority protagonist, especially when he's a criminal.
Yeah. This industry has a long way to go on this. Still, while it seems to me Japanese developers tend to load up on walking stereotypes almost unintentionally (just look at the Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter or Soul Caliber line-ups, OK?), western developers just don't even portray well-written minority characters.
And Gracia Fucking Hotspur? Seriously, did no one on that team decide that making a Mexican character who speaks maybe twelve words of Spanish, eight of them obscene, regains health by drinking tequila, and who speaks with an accent more stereotyped than Speedy Gonzales was a wee bit much?
I HATE it when people declare things like this racist. PEOPLE TALK LIKE THIS IN REAL LIFE. Very, VERY stupid statement. One of the scientists in the game was African-American, there were many different african-american characters in the game, and because ONE talked like she was from the deep south, it is instantly racist? There isn't even anything racist about a southern accent for crying out loud! There was a guy with a strong Irish accent who said 'Lad' and 'Wankers' they must also hate the irish, huh?
The heart of the vast conspiracy of the game is in Montreal! Damn them Canucks!
(slap yourself if you are offended by this, it's a joke, and I AM CANADIAN!)
(slap yourself if you are offended by this, it's a joke, and I AM CANADIAN!)
One of the bad guys is crippled! Damn their not malfunctioning bodies; taking our tax money and killing millions.
The way she talks, I nearly expected him to walk on stage.Sober Thal said:
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going down Adam?"
Whoever thought this was racist is either an idiot or someone looking to make a quick buck from publicity.
Either way, they can bugger off, and the game developers should tell them aas such.
Either way, they can bugger off, and the game developers should tell them aas such.
One slum-dwelling black character does not a racist game make. I've met black people like that, and I've met black people who have got their shit more together than I do and will probably go much farther in life than I will, and I've met black people who are just plain people. It would be racist to claim that categories 2 and 3 don't exist, but it's not racist to include an example of the first category.
People are putting so much effort and time into finding things to get offended about that I imagine the time and energy lost to this ridiculousness is causing more harm to humanity than the things they are getting offended by.
To be honest, I'm more shocked at how bad the lip-synching and character movement is. I think 1998 was the last time I saw animation like this, in the original Half-Life. The voice acting is probably meant to be a parody of the action genre but it fails as hard or harder than that of Just Cause 2.
And it's one of the brownest games I've ever seen.
Why was there so much interest in this game?
People are putting so much effort and time into finding things to get offended about that I imagine the time and energy lost to this ridiculousness is causing more harm to humanity than the things they are getting offended by.
To be honest, I'm more shocked at how bad the lip-synching and character movement is. I think 1998 was the last time I saw animation like this, in the original Half-Life. The voice acting is probably meant to be a parody of the action genre but it fails as hard or harder than that of Just Cause 2.
And it's one of the brownest games I've ever seen.
Why was there so much interest in this game?
Ha! Forgot this one!iniudan said:
The IP this was based on stumbled over backwards trying to be progressive, then went with flat out Hollywood versions of so many cultures it included in its games. I really like VtM: Bloodlines and WW - and I still can't think of any non-white characters who aren't a cookie-cutter stereotype. Lessee, there was that one black guy in Nines' bar, oh, and Nines himself.
Other than that, there was the Japanese schoolgirl demonhunter who used gratuitous Japanese even when she spoke English, the crazy Chinese soldier who ran a "herb store" and sold guns, the half-assed Asian mystic, the mysterious Asian businessman working for the zaibatsu, and Ming Xiao, who could have been the Dragon Lady in any given bad pulp bit from the 30's. And LA had, well, one Hispanic character who had a speaking role?
...at least it wasn't a worthless, throw-away character.
I have someone I work with who comes from South Carolina who sounds just like her! It's a called a accent, not racism! Someone could claim "but why is the homeless person black?" and someone could just as easily point out the 30+ white hobos found throughout the same damn level.
It's more sexually discriminatory than racist. How so? That voice acting job could have gone to a woman.
Voice acting gigs,even for bit parts and supporting roles, are just one way to bring more women into the video game industry.
Voice acting gigs,even for bit parts and supporting roles, are just one way to bring more women into the video game industry.
It was racist? I always just through she sounded like that because she's an uneducated homeless bum. You know, one of these days calling things out like that should be racist on itself. You know, like that episode on south Park where Chief noticed the problem but the kids didn't.
It's only racist till you point it out; until then no-one will notice.
It's only racist till you point it out; until then no-one will notice.
I personally coming from Canada figured that she did sound a bit stereotypical for sure, but that's mainly because i'm not living in the south where that is more common in terms of a speech pattern.
To claim she represents centuries of racism though is turn your eyes away from the fact that many folks still speak in this fashion normally and like the OP says it's not entirely uncommon.
To claim she represents centuries of racism though is turn your eyes away from the fact that many folks still speak in this fashion normally and like the OP says it's not entirely uncommon.
Thank you! Finally. Stereotype is not the right way to describe this character. She is a caricature--a woman who has parts of her personality skewed and emphasized for the sake of making a more entertaining character. Just like a caricature you can get at a carnival, it's the most extreme version of a person. The result, which takes the little quirks about the way you look and puts them in their most extreme form, is entertaining.castlewise said:
Exactly. Like someone else posted in his comments, why does he see every person as a symbol of their race? That is what will actually lead to more racism.Sylveria said:
It would if this were Oblivion.Ghengis John said:
Red Dead Redemption. Then again, the guy was a jerk. Oh no! I'm part German so I should be offended by this portrayal. And while I'm at it, since I'm part Irish, I should be offended by Irish for making us all look like drunks!Carlston said: