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The Sandbox: "Resident" Racism
By Nick Schager
on 03/27/2009
The use of African zombies raise claims of racism in "Resident Evil 5," Capcom Games, 2009
This wasn't the type of horror "Resident Evil 5" was trying to elicit.
Long-brewing controversy over the latest installment of Capcom's genre-defining survival horror series reached its high point two weeks ago, when the sure-to-be-blockbuster title hit retail shelves and millions were allowed the opportunity to determine for themselves whether, as some pundits had insinuated over the past year, the game was racist. While public opinion on the issue isn't easily measured, those in the mainstream media heartily chimed in with reviews-cum-think-pieces, from the Wall Street Journal's discussion of multiculturalism in gaming to the New York Times' more blunt and simplistic conclusion that "it's not racist." Meanwhile, one of the journalists who ignited the brouhaha upon reviewing a teaser trailer for the game in 2008, MTV Multiplayer blogger Stephen Totilo, softened his stance upon viewing the final build, which he said was "shallow, bearing no sign of the racism some expected."
Allow me to respectfully disagree. At the heart of the matter is Africa, where "Resident Evil"'s Caucasian super-agent Chris Redfield is tasked with investigating and, for all intents and purposes, quelling the franchise's newest zombie outbreak. It's a scenario familiar to those who have played a prior entry, except in this case, it's complicated by an obvious dynamic: a strapping white man violently dispatching ghoulish blacks in tattered clothes, or, in some cases, in grass skirts, tribal war paint and masks, wielding spears. They're "infected" (shades of AIDS), chant and scream in incomprehensible tongues and appear to be performing ritualistic animal and human sacrifices. Sure, they're possessed, there are some lighter-skinned zombies thrown into the mix (including one Arab guy who strongly resembles -- the horror! -- Borat), and Chris is provided an African sidekick named Sheva (although she has lighter skin, straight hair and the body of an L.A. porn star). Despite these transparent efforts to tame the stark racial conflict at play, though, for the 12 to 15 hours it takes to complete, "RE5" is all about making an American avatar put bullets in the heads of grotesque Africans, as well as -- in inappropriately keeping with a trademark series element -- steal gold, jewelry and gems (i.e. blood diamonds) from their corpses to use for weapons purchases.
That game journalists have mounted a hearty defense of a beloved property is neither surprising nor incomprehensible, considering that nothing quite dampens fun like claims that one's eagerly anticipated entertainment is trading in age-old stereotypes. And the fact that a video game warrants a discussion about race in the first place speaks to the medium's rapid technological advances, which now afford a level of realism high enough to spark mature conversations about representation. But that's about the only bright side to the "RE5" debate, given that, having blasted my way through the Africa-set campaign, there's simply no getting around the xenophobia plaguing the game. It's not just minor. It's upfront, rampant and of the most archaic variety. And, moreover, it has a cinematic precedent, as "RE5" is, strictly in terms of terms of imagery and narrative, a clumsy hybridization of two preeminently offensive films, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "The Constant Gardener."
It's with the Haiti-set "Serpent" that "RE5" shares its most significant ties, since both focus on white men who traverse an exotic foreign locale that's malevolent and unnatural, and encounter black inhabitants (many decked out in tribal paint) who've been zombified by mysterious agents -- in "Serpent," it's voodoo powder, and in "RE5," a weaponized biological parasite. Directed by Wes Craven, "Serpent" takes a docudrama approach to its material (based on a nonfiction book about Haitian zombification), while "RE5" is modeled after modern-day action and horror cinema, as well as its franchise precursors. Yet aside from "RE5" benefiting from not having Bill Pullman as its leading man, the imagery promoted by both titles is an offensively stereotypical one of a "dark continent" that's inherently hazardous to light-skinned outsiders, who can't, except via potentially fatal hardship, hope to comprehend the supernatural phenomenon that threatens to engulf them.
Rushing to contradict, some have noted the lack of outcry over "Resident Evil 4"'s depiction of Spanish zombies, and argued that blacks are as fair game for zombiedom as any other ethnic or racial group. What both points fail to recognize, however, is that the specific representations of race in "RE5" have a long, troubled history that still persists today, as recently evidenced, for example, by Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of "King Kong," which dutifully included the 1933 original's portrait of ooga-booga Skull Island savages.
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I don't see this game and being racist. It's a game and only a game. People spend to much time finding ways to make things racist. So the game happens to take place in Africa. Do people not relize that white people live in Africa also. Did anybody say anything when I black game character goes around killing white people? No I think not. You know racism isn't just about whites not liking blacks or whites not like latinoa or any other race. Racism goes both ways or anyway. I think this is all nonsense! By the way and i am white and my wife is black , white and chinese
Really!? I really hope no one paid you for this dime-store analysis of a VIDEOGAME.
This is hilarious. Nowadays, people will look for anything and everything to be offended by and raise a stink about. You only see racism because you want to.
I also had to laugh when this clueless Mr. Schager said Serpent and the Rainbow was "offensive." It's a great movie -- and again, you're only seeing racism because you want to.
All of which makes Mr. Schager more racist than anyone else.
You are neglecting the fact that this game was made by Japanese, not caucasian Americans, as you seem to imply.
I live in a racially charged environment but this is going a bit too far. I've played the game end to end and I didn't find it 'racist'.
If the main character's back story is American, then it stands to reason the main character will be American. I think the writer of this article would be far more comfortable if the main character was black, so then we would have a black central character blowing away other black people. Then that wouldn't be racist right?
But then some other writer would write an article about how video game producers shouldn't be encouraging black people to kill other black people, as this may incite or glorify gang violence that is already prevalent in Africa (and the US) today.
Maybe we should have a white central character kill other white characters. Then I'm sure someone would be complaining that video game producers are being too sensitive or that they are ignoring all other races on the earth, so that would be deemed racist too, as it would be a completely 'white' video game.
So how about a black person killing all white people? Based on the above article, that would be as equally racist, as we have one race killing another.
'Black' and 'White' are only examples too. Any combination of any race killing or hurting each other in any form of media, in this case video games, can be construed as racist.
It makes for a great, never-ending argument though. But at the end of the day, its a video game where it simulates people killing people, and video games like this have been around for decades. Its just that this writer has chosen to stop and identify the races of this one.
Stick to movies IFC. Cause its painfully obvious that you all don't know WTF you are talking about when it comes to games.
Huh. That's an interesting perspective on movies like "The Constant Gardner" (not a great film, in my opinion), where you describe it as racist because the protaganist is shaken out of his complancency and decides to no longer turn his back on the corruption which is evident right in front of his eyes. Not your exact words, since you actually describe him as a "de facto Christ figure". The protaganist (a diplomat, no less) is a westerner, right, and the film isn't made entirely by westerners, but it is for westerners: about awareness and responsibility for the actions by our side of the world. I fail to see how that's racist. I'm for calling a spade a spade, and this article smacks of righteous indignation at times.
All that said, I do agree with your assessment that RE5 "doesn't understand what it's doing" half the time.
As an adult who has been playing video games for all of his life, and seen the steady increase in realism in terms of graphics, I feel qualified to comment on this article.
First, and most obviously, is the inherent assumption that the player is analyzing the ramifications of the storyline. I know very few gamers who care about the story in any way other than how it relates to in-game objectives. As stated in the article, the "big bad" wants to use the local population as "a petri dish". This misuse of people is what makes him the bad guy, regardless of the location or racial composition of the population. The fact that the individual in question and the hero are depicted as Caucasian while most others are not is the only reason this game is being targeted as racist. As has been previously pointed out, the development company is Japanese, and foreigners being the cause and solution to the problem at hand is not new to the series.
Second, having watched friends play every incarnation of this series, and many other similar games, I can assure you that none of them have ever seen the assailants as anything other than computer-controlled zombies and not taken their encounters in the game into real life. I've never heard one of them utter a racial epitaph at the screen when being killed by a character of another ethnicity than their own.
Third, IT'S A GAME! OK, I understand that inappropriate escapism has the potential to bleed into one's behavior, but for as short as the game is, and with the fact that the zombies are indeed zombies and therefore not behaving normally should be enough to make this a non-issue.
Personally, I believe race-awareness to the degree this article takes it is part of what is keeping racism alive today. I feel the same thing about national and religious bigotry as well. People are people, and until we stop looking at the differences and start acting on the similarities, there will always be something for someone to complain about and hate will persist. Stop looking at the details and go kill some zombies--I hear it's cathartic.
