Square Enix Responds to "Racist" Deus Ex Character

[Deimateos]

I think it has a lot to do with lack of education/research on the subject, and a lot of script writers don't help the situation. I remember auditioning for a era film earlier this year where all the black characters talked that way (You be, I is, etc), but when I asked a fellow actor if his lines for the grand wizard had any similarities in vernacular (which they most likely should), he told me "Nope, perfect English". Needless to say, I turned that movie down. A lot of script writers seem to half-ass their research, and one of the only film scripts I've seen that tried to keep in mind that most southern white and black people of the time spoke about the same is "O Brother, Where Art Thou" by the Coens. Scripts can be social powder kegs if the writers get lazy.

Yes, it's over the top (and strangely tones way down as she keeps speaking), but given that literally every other black person in the game speaks normally (NPC and Main quest), I fail to see it as racist.

But enough of that, how DARE he say is racist! I speeeeel mai dreenk, but he is not care then!

 

[Treblaine]

I wonder would he consider this racist:


Hmm, they're talking in "broken english" therefore Steven Spielberg and Alice Walker are RACISTS!

Seriously? You're using The Color Purple to make that point?

Why not? Is it because it's a big Hollywood production and DXHR is a lowly video game peasantry that should never be compared with film since - as the infallible Roger Ebert said - video games CAN NEVER BE ART!

No, the comparison is fair.

It demonstrates that you can have black characters in a fictional work, speaking the way many real African Americans do, without being branded as racist. It is WHAT they say, not HOW they say it that matters.

Films gets such a free reign while video games are considered an acceptable target for any supposition. Look at how the media reacted to an incredibly tame love scene in Mass Effect. Got the console labelled the "SeX-Box". This double standard stifles creativity in a growing medium.

Wow, way to put words in my mouth; you should get a prize for that. It's frankly a little ridiculous that you would level that accusation at someone who writes about videogames for a living.

But to answer your question: No, it's not because The Color Purple is a film, it's because The Color Purple is a film set in 1930s Georgia that looks at the racism, discrimination, and social repression that African-Americans faced at the time. Yes, it's a work of fiction, just like Deus Ex, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth, I was just being a bit speculative for emphasis.

I hear what you are saying, but do you mean that it's OK to have these accents only if you are making a commentary specifically on racism?

Or are you saying these accents only existed in 1930's Georgia? Because many will testify that residents of Detroit even today speak with such inflections. It's not racist to hear such accents either in real life nor in fiction... PEOPLE ACTUALLY SPEAK THIS WAY!

If a work of fiction is all the similarity there is, I say that is similarity enough.

 

[NickCaligo42]

:\ I never even met this character. Sort of glad, the actress they got to do the black characters' voices sounds oddly masculine. Not that she does a bad job, or anything, but it sure does sound weird--like she's about fifteen years older than the character speaking.

 

[oktalist]

Except Irish isn't a race, it's a nationality. Yes, it would be nice if there were portrayals of Irish people other than Leprechauns and drunkards, but even if you were serious it wouldn't be racism.

What term do you propose instead? Nationalityism? Not a word. Nationalism? Something different. Xenophobia? That's fear of all people of a different nationality to your own, not of one specific nationality. Hiberniphobia? But we're not talking about the fear of the Irish, only their inaccurate characterisation.

I'm happy for racism to refer to the discrimination of more narrowly defined ethnic groups that are not necessarily races, where the discrimination is of the same sort usually referred to as racism. I don't understand the reluctance to allow the meanings of words to change over time, as they have always done; it seems like an apologist move to me.

When anyone makes a point similar to yours ("Islamophobia is not racism" is a common one) it seems to me like their implication is "it's not racism, therefore it's not as bad as racism."

 

[Travza]

I think before anyone can really qualify or make statements about whether or not anything listed here is racist we need to restate what racism actually means.

rac·ism

noun/ˈrāˌsizəm/
The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+racism&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a#hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=iX2&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&q=racism&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=aWhgToC7CMi4tweyzrQS&ved=0CCMQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=fe4d51c11f0a28fa&biw=1024&bih=558

Carry on.

 

[deonte9109]

First thing first Im black and Ive played thru Deus Ex. I remember seeing Letitia and talking to her. I was surprised by the accent of her voice but wasnt offended. Now if she said she was a watermelon eating, Soulja Boy listening, cotton picking black then yes I would feel a little. I find it funny that in society (American as far as I know)the only time somebody is considered racist is if they are white and "discriminate or stereotype" another ethnicity. Prime example, ethnic comedians (almost all of them) have or will make a joke about white people or anybody else that in normal conversation would be considered racist. Yet if a white person was to say something like that (exception of Daniel Tosh I think)they would be considered racist.

 

[Rastrelly]

No, I... I just do not uderstand. Black zombies are offensive? WTF, then white or asian zombies are offensive too, no? Stereotypic black janitor is offensive? Everdrunk aggressive stereotypic russians are no less offensive! People, a simple activation of brain indicates: today offensive is a fear to be offensive, nothing more! There are adequate moral basics, and some things should not be tolerated due to harmful effect, but RACIAL problem must be solved NOT by "defending" someone with removing everythibg that may be "offensive" for him! Racial question is solved by raising tolerant generation, which honor each others culture, religion etc.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth, I was just being a bit speculative for emphasis.

I hear what you are saying, but do you mean that it's OK to have these accents only if you are making a commentary specifically on racism?

Or are you saying these accents only existed in 1930's Georgia? Because many will testify that residents of Detroit even today speak with such inflections. It's not racist to hear such accents either in real life nor in fiction... PEOPLE ACTUALLY SPEAK THIS WAY!

If a work of fiction is all the similarity there is, I say that is similarity enough.

And again, you're putting words in my mouth. What I am saying is that there is a world of difference between a work of fiction set eighty years in the past in the real world American South and one set twenty years in the future in a fictional American North, and using one to make a point about the other is disingenous.

Also, I defy you to find anyone who actually speaks that way. I've found people who sound a little bit like that, but no actual, real person who talks like Letitia does. Maybe I'm wrong in this, and I just need to look harder, but I don't think that I am.

 

[oktalist]

"Letitia talks about people losing jobs and homes, going on to say that the city feels likes its going to explode. If things were different, if Letitia was at all recognizably human, you could read those chunks of text as either a reference to the infamous 1967 Detroit Riots or the current discomfort created by the global economic downturn. The potential metaphorical depth that DXHR could hold in that moment gets squandered by the character delivering it."

No need to single out those two examples of socioeconomic problems and unrest. It's reflective of a phenomenon that has been ever present throughout the world since the industrial revolution. The intellectual depth can only be squandered by the person interpreting it.

 

[Deimateos]

It's not like they're all going around eating chicken and watermelon.

Interesting note, that stereotype (and many others) actually originated from misinformation.

 

[neoontime]

What year is this again? 2011? For a second I thought it was 2000, with people bitching about racism.
50 bucks says the critic was black.

You are not really helping.
OT: I first saw the video and it did seem kind of strong at first but sounds way better as she goes along. Besides, this isn't the only black character in the game, so this is the only one that really catches that stereotype.

 

[DustyDrB]

Yeah...I'm echoing the sentiment that it isn't racist. There are many people who speak that way. If you think this is racist, then you haven't been out much. Mind you, I've spent a much larger than average time around low-income communities and the homeless. It was pretty much daily during college, when I was volunteering in almost every way I could.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

Same person who criticised Resi 5's zombies... this person should shut up.

Although that voice actor/actress (I can't tell if its male or female at times) is absolutely insane. What person talks like that?!?

 

[itf cho]

If you listen to the clip you'll notice that her accent is much less pronounced in the middle of the dialogue than at the beginning and very end. To me this comes across as someone who is intentionally magnifying their accent to have a little fun with the person they are speaking with.

The same way as I've done, as I'm from Maine, when speaking to someone and I play up a Downeast accent, that is much exaggerated from my normal accent.

 

[Dr Jones]

When is the last time a GERMAN was in a name and NOT a nazi? Hmmmm?

Gunther Hermann in Deus Ex

 

[Treblaine]

given that literally every other black person in the game speaks normally (NPC and Main quest), I fail to see it as racist.

Normally? What's normal?

You mean speaking like a BBC newsreader? What is "normal english"?

 

[Frostbite3789]

The game has much bigger problems than that. Racism in a videogame is par for the course, anyway.

The industry better watch it though, you're little jabs at African Americans is gonna bite you in the ass one day. And the bigots on the game sites can't keep sweeping it under the rug.

Yeah, every character in games should be gray colored individuals of indiscriminate gender, who talk in computer-y robot voices.

I want you, in depth to explain to me how it's racist. She isn't the only black character to appear in the game. Is it suddenly not racist if she's Asian or white? God forbid we have a homeless person speak in uneducated English!

All the prostitutes sound pretty ridiculous, but some of them aren't black, so I guess that makes it not racist.

 

[harvz]

am i racist for knowing someone who speaks like that? seriously, lately all ive been hearing is "this guy is racist because of some reason" and "this character is racist". dear world, loosen up. i dont get offended when people say that i ride a kangaroo to the market to buy myself a knife.

 

[Atary77]

Typical double standard as usual. If it was a Caucasian character that was say, wearing a trucker's cap , a Nascar half t-shirt with his beer gut exposed, missing teeth, chewing tobacco, and spoke in southern twang that even Larry the Cable Guy would have trouble understanding... then no one would have a problem with it. They'd simply laugh at the White stereo type. Because that's just socially acceptable when really it's just as racist to depict a white person like that.

And for the record I'm east indian myself and I could care less if they had someone like Apu from the Simpsons in this game. Cause I'd find it humorous. Bottom line I have no problem with this. And people often forget that racism is a two way street.

 

[Baneat]

Hey.

The Deus Ex vocal racism is funny as hell to me. Breaks my immersion a bit. But makes me laugh.

I, personally, didn't feel that anyone should be offended, then again...I'm a white male.

Besides, remember the accents from DE1?

Yeah...

IN DA FRESH is much worse than WEELLLL SHEEEEIITT