Asking for proof of that is like asking for proof that the sun is bright.  All you have to do is look, stfu.

So now tribal warring and raping virgin girls to cure your self of AIDS is culture? Lolwut? Its a shithole, and there is nothing positive about it. No one from a developed country would want to live there, that should say what it is.

So now every African person does this?  Lolwut...lolwut indeed.

Just to be clear this isn't about shooting Africans in Africa or the fact that everyone should be an individual and shun our fears of racism, right?  Its about certain probably innocent imagery in RE5 on Capcom's part, but that can dredge up discriminatory assertions that do exist in real-life whether we like it or not.   

I guess the reason why some of you guys (dan, zara, emo...) dont see a problem is because its how you actually view people in Africa to be??   I suppose its a little useless arguing the subtleties of these scenes with someone who thinks the whole of Africa is a shithole.

In respect to the game and that scene in particular I am actually really glad its there. Even if it exists for no other reason that to bring about a controversy and arouse discussion on the inherent bigotry of the medium towards different ethnicities, demographics, and genders. We stand at the infancy of games as a storytelling medium and we are seeing the pulp novels of this new art form. This is, however, the modern world and as such brash tales of machismo aren't exactly the at the peak of interest for most people. If we aren't allowing ourselves to be offended by weak scripting and laughably achatypal characterization then how can we expect to receive anything else or have the medium progress?

I relate to this.  Nice first post.   Although its not about being offended by content like this as such, rather how much you would enjoy it.  Its no big deal, but I can't wait until the games industry as a whole moves on to more mature, intelligently directed content, that we tend to get more of in our other forms of entertainment.

choupolo

 I suppose its a little useless arguing the subtleties of these scenes with someone who thinks the whole of Africa is a shithole.

To prove me wrong all you have to do is show me a country in Africa with a less than 50% AIDS rate, a democratically elected gov't, and the people arent uneducated and starving.

There you go -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria#Politics

That took me all of ten seconds to find. I'm no expert on the continent, but characterising it as one big steaming cesspool with no redeeming qualities whatsoever is ludicrous.

Edwin


Do you two have some proof for those claims besides a cartoon?

Do you watch the news? I know you britfags have BBC.
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=Zimbabwe&ei=UTF-8&sado=1

Again, Zimbabwe =/= Africa.

I'm not denying that the 53 countries that make up the continent have some hefty problems, what I'm objecting to is your attitude that they're all, without exception, beyond redemption. Shitting on the rest of Africa for Zimbabwe's sake is like shitting on Virginia because Wall Street flushed the US economy down the toilet.

Edwin


Again, Zimbabwe =/= Africa.

I'm not denying that the 53 countries that make up the continent have some hefty problems, what I'm objecting to is your attitude that they're all, without exception, beyond redemption. Shitting on the rest of Africa for Zimbabwe's sake is like shitting on Virginia because Wall Street flushed the US economy down the toilet.

But Virginia is pretty shitty. Then again, we dont have a higher than 75% AIDS rate, less than 25% literacy rate, and large famine problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria#Politics

That took me all of ten seconds to find. I'm no expert on the continent, but characterising it as one big steaming cesspool with no redeeming qualities whatsoever is ludicrous.

Find one that isn't named Algeria or Egypt.

Find one that isn't named Algeria or Egypt.

Edwin


Do you two have some proof for those claims besides a cartoon?

In any case, Zimbabwe isn't Africa.

The tale of racism in RE5 is about to take yet another twist - keep your eyes on the front page...

Yeah, actually we do. Just google: "White Genocide in Africa". Hell, even youtube: "South Africa Genocide".

blacks bring out the racist in me

Zarathustra

Edwin


Do you two have some proof for those claims besides a cartoon?

In any case, Zimbabwe isn't Africa.

The tale of racism in RE5 is about to take yet another twist - keep your eyes on the front page...

Yeah, actually we do. Just google: "White Genocide in Africa". Hell, even youtube: "South Africa Genocide".

I wasn't asking for proof that Mugabe had orchestrated crackdowns on white farmers, I was asking for proof that the absence of those farmers is the chief cause of the country's present economic problems.

Dan:

I'm not sure where you got that 75% AIDS figure from, but the highest percentages in African countries according to AVERT are 26.1% (Swaziland) and 23.9% (Botswana).

http://www.avert.org/aafrica.htm

I haven't come across an overall figure for literacy, but your 25% figure is pretty dubious too. According to a survey conducted last year, for instance, Zimbabwe has an 85% literacy rate. There seems to be strong variance between countries and sexes.

http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/05/literacy.aspx

Again, I'm not denying that the continent has serious problems, but let's not write 900,000,000 people off on the strength of a few headlines and two-minute news reports. Africa has supplied the world with Booker Prize winning novelists, a United Nations secretary general and a US President, for starters. It doesn't deserve to be portrayed as a place of formless barbarism.

I guess the reason why some of you guys (dan, zara, emo...) dont see a problem is because its how you actually view people in Africa to be??   I suppose its a little useless arguing the subtleties of these scenes with someone who thinks the whole of Africa is a shithole.

I have to admit that I've misrepresented the scene in question, actually - replayed it just now to check, and the man who drags the woman off the balcony is not, in fact, black. You can expect a news item on the subject next week.

I still think racial and social contrasts are crucial to dramatic impact here - the attacker may be white, but he isn't an eye-catchingly pallid, blonde, English-speaking westerner - but I'm going to retract my argument that the game dips into a history of racist imagery at this stage.

Here's a Famitsu scan which includes a couple of shots of the woman before and after she's infected. Quality isn't good but it should give you some idea:

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm60/XzN-Staff/RE5_Scan_Pics_15.jpg

If anybody wants to call me a hand-wringing PC ****, now's your chance...

that link is broken edwin

Which link?

Google image search "resident evil 5 scans" if you can't open the one in my last post.

Agent Ghost

Find one that isn't named Algeria or Egypt.

You can hardly count a country that was under Portuguese control for the longest time and hasn't controlled itself for very long. Also, didn't they just recently get out of a 30 something year civil war? lol

Edwin

a United Nations secretary general

Please tell me youre kidding? The United Nations is a joke who cant enforce any of their rulings.

Africa has supplied the world with Booker Prize winning novelists, a United Nations secretary general and a US President, for starters. It doesn't deserve to be portrayed as a place of formless barbarism.

Lol, president? You mean the same genius who wants to build an black American museum as part of a stimulus plan for a falling economy?

mastachefbkw

Africa has supplied the world with Booker Prize winning novelists, a United Nations secretary general and a US President, for starters. It doesn't deserve to be portrayed as a place of formless barbarism.

Lol, president? You mean the same genius who wants to build an black American museum as part of a stimulus plan for a falling economy?

It'll create a construction job for a couple of months, and hire maybe 100 people. Of course, no white people will be hired, so in a way it'll be the extreme of affirmative action. Either way, there are better things to do with the money, like education, medicare, medicaid, and infrastructure.

EDIT: Also, what is the point in a Black American Museum? When will people get the fuck over what race they are and just be "Americans" (or whatever country you are from).

Uh huh, and just how many of you fucks have actually been to Africa?