Resident Evil 5 has come under attack. Certain people in the gaming media have accused the yet to be released game of being racially insensitive. These claims are made based off of a few teaser trailers that have been released since the game’s announcement. The videos show Chris Redfield both walking through what appears to be a backwater African village, and defending himself against what are presumably the natives of said village who seem to be under the influence of something we are not yet made aware of. Redfield is an overly muscular, white American. The villagers are gaunt, black men, women and children.

The trailers show the villagers, acting as a mob, in battle with Redfield. They have greater numbers but he is better trained and equipped. A well armed white man shoots at many destitute black people. Capcom has obviously made a grave racist remark.

Get over yourselves.

The concept of zombies, for which the Resident Evil series revolves around, and the word itself, originates in the Afro-Caribbean. The series is just taking a logical turn to the roots of the zombies, both in real life and presumably in the game’s story world. So the game takes place in Africa. As the conversation from Dusk ‘Til Dawn goes,

“What’s in Mexico?”
“Mexicans.”

So imagine the surprise when the trailer shows Africans in Africa. My god. The villagers are shown to be down-trodden. That must be racist. No, that’s reality, unless all those commercials I’ve seen growing up are lies. I’m sure there must be at least one village in Africa that closely resembles what is presented. They are shown as a mindless attacking mob, no better than zombies. Well shut dufus, they are obviously inflicted or influenced by something similar to a zombie virus, for our purpose, let’s call them zombies. The white man is shooting them. It’s a survival horror game, if they weren’t attacking him and he not shooting them, it wouldn’t be very fun would it. White Americans just want to see the blacks put down. Tell that to the Japanese that are making the game.

I think the biggest racist factor of this game is its emphasis on light and dark. And that’s got nothing to do with race, just your eyes adjusting going into and coming out of brightness and dimness. Read metaphorically into to that all you want, there’s nothing there. And I don’t even know these things for sure. The game is a long way away, and I think it’s totally unfair to condescendingly judge it now with regards to its racial sensitivity or its merits as an enjoyable gaming experience.

Racism is in the eye of the beholder. If you see racism in Resident Evil 5, then it is you who is putting it there, you who are empowering the hate. Would you rather the makes deny reality? Make the villagers white? Move the origin of zombies to the mean streets of LA? Turn Chris Redfield black, or Asian, or better yet, make him an android with all colors accounted for to represent the evils of all men? At what point will you put racial tolerance above realism? Why should the game developers sacrifice the integrity of their story, and themselves, by deciding not to make the game they want to make because it happens to have a white man killing black men? They shouldn’t have to.

Take a stand!

Commenting is closed for this article.