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In The Line Of Fire: Part One
In hindsight, I should have known that the comments that I made to MTV News would set off a firestorm. But at the time, I was seated across from the reporter in what was then my office at Newsweek, answering question after question for her series on black people in and around the videogame industry as honestly and as thoughtfully as I could. As I prepared to answer her newest question – “I wanted to ask you about the Resident Evil trailer” – I flashed back to Microsoft’s E3 2007 press conference where the clip debuted, where I was seated next to a co-founder of the studio responsible for one of this generation’s biggest hits, and midway through the trailer we both turned to look at each other as if to say: “Can you believe this?” So when I told the MTV News reporter: “I looked at the Resident Evil 5 trailer and I was like: ‘Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game,’” it stemmed from my reliving the shock of seeing something I went on to describe as follows:
“There was stuff like even before the point in the trailer where the crowd turned into zombies. They’re sort of being – in rather postmodern parlance – ‘othered’. They’re hidden in shadows, you can barely see their eyes, and the perspective of the trailer is not even [that of] someone who’s coming to help the people. It’s like they’re all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It’s not even like one cute African – or Haitian or Caribbean – child could be saved. They’re all dangerous men, women and children. They all have to be killed. And given the history, given the not so distant post-colonial history, you would say to yourself, why would you uncritically put up those images? It’s not as simple as saying: ‘Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in Resident Evil 4, and now [they’re shooting] black zombies and that’s why people are getting upset.’ The imagery is not the same. It doesn’t carry the same history, it doesn’t carry the same weight. I don’t know how to explain it more clearly than that.”
Part of the reason that I wasn’t expecting there to be a furore over my statements is that I wasn’t the first to express profound unease with the imagery in the Resident Evil 5 trailer. Well before my remarks were published, there were posts from Kym Platt at the blog Black Looks, Jason Ellis at Microscopiq and MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo, among others. Each one spurred a flurry of comments on their sites as well as others that picked up their remarks.
Still, when the interview was posted on MTV News’ Multiplayer blog, its comments section lit up along with those on several other sites and forums, to say nothing of my own inbox. I responded to some of the commenters on MTV’s blog, but I quickly realised that further explanation wasn’t leading to further comprehension – which may have been the most valuable lesson that this entire experience has taught me – so I simply stepped away from the fray, preferring to lurk instead.
My inbox was another matter entirely. To this day, I’ve responded to every critical email that I was sent with a form letter derived from my first couple of responses, tinkering with each slightly to reflect something specific that each emailer had written. Here’s the most salient part of the email:
“The poster I cited above also implies that a white American protagonist killing Spanish zombies is the same as a white American protagonist killing African zombies. I maintain that it is not. Since Resident Evil 4 was set in Spain, I can guarantee you that had Capcom made the protagonist resemble a fascist soldier and the zombies resemble nationalist rebels, there would have been an outcry in Spain – given that country’s history. Similarly, if Capcom made a Resident Evil game in which a Japanese protagonist was killing Chinese or Korean zombies, there would be an outcry in China or Korea – given Japan’s imperial history. The reason I use these examples is to show that certain imagery is historically problematic, and the imagery from the Resident Evil 5 trailer falls into that category, especially since Capcom has provided precious little context in the trailer.
“Perhaps a better way to explain it without using race, ethnicity or country of origin would be this: Imagine a sequel to the 1999 movie Fight Club, in which a woman was throwing punches and getting beaten up by men. We could say: “Well, it’s the same thing: Fight Club showed Edward Norton getting beaten up; now we’re showing a woman getting beaten up.” But the history and imagery surrounding women being beaten by men is not the same. You cannot simply say that they’re equivalent.”
Most of my critics didn’t write back after receiving my form letter. Perhaps it was enough for them to vent; perhaps my reply was too densely argued. In any case, apart from the odd podcast appearance, I chose to restrict my comments about the Resident Evil 5 trailer to these email exchanges until I’d had a chance to play the finished game – and to speak directly with its producer, Jun Takeuchi. I’ll recount my experiences with both in my next column.
N’Gai Croal is a writer and videogame design consultant. You can follow him online at ncroal.tumblr.com.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
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Well said.
N'Gai, I applaud you for trying to explain why the imagery in RE5 is offensive and problematic. It's really an uphill struggle on all points. Most of people, never mind gamers, don't understand oppression, don't understand the concept of privilege, and therefore don't actually understand what racism is. Consequently, they just don't get what all the fuss was about. The blind knee-jerk defensiveness, honed through years of trying to defend the hobby from the moral panic of politicians and parents, was again brought out to defend RE5. Many of the comments to this post as well as in almost every single post or article related to RE5 and its imagery bear this blind ignorance out.
I look forward to the further installments of this series.
It's important that you did speak your mind though, if somebody really feels about something, they should discuss it. I disagree with some of your points, but this is a discussion that has to be had.
N'gai, do you remember the intro to Street Fighter 2? It's a blond haired blue eyed man punching a black man right in the face, KO. The background is made up of light skinned folk.
Did you know that in later versions of SF2, they lightened the 'punched in the face' guy? And added darker skin tones to the crowd in the back? Capcom responds to these issues, they do listen.
I feel you spoke too soon on RE5 though, the storyline has a good reason to be set in Africa. It's the origin of humanity.
But the important thing is, you SPOKE! I praise you for that!
>>I chose to restrict my comments about the Resident Evil 5 trailer to these email exchanges until I’d had a chance to play the finished game – and to speak directly with its producer, Jun Takeuchi. I’ll recount my experiences with both in my next column.
I look forward to reading that.
Dear N'Gai,
it would be a gross oversimplification saying certain types of people may not interact with other people, while invoking certain emotions, for fear of racist imagery.
The main concern in all of your posts seems to be the idea of black people being portrayed as something to fear. But did you step in the trap provided by the media in the U.S. yourself? Stranger danger (esp. black stranger danger) is one of the most basic plays U.S. media do all the time. But in the rest of the world, such an 'imagery' does not exist. These types of trash TV shows do not exist. Nobody on my TV screen tells me each night that a six foot average built black person is roaming the neighborhood after eating a baby at McDonalds.
By calling the imagery of the trailer racist, N'Gai basically says this: I, the viewer, am afraid of the person looking angry at me from the shadow, not because of the emotional range of his expression, but because of the simple fact of him being black! This reaction of mine based on his color would really be racist. N'Gai would be right, but he missed one thing. 90% of all games are driven by conflict. So should we impose a flowchart onto the industry detailing which shades of skincolor get to interact which way? Conflict breeds bad emotions, display of bad emotions, according to N'Gai, invokes racist imagery. Therefore we cannot have any of that. Scrap all games, except for Wii Fit please.
We certainly should not invoke the "racial imagery" clause. N'Gai is old enough to know all the muscle packed action movies from the 80ies, all the Stallone and Schwarzenegger classics. But do we reject those as well? In their portrayal of the protagonist, all those 80ies action movies use the techniques and camera angles most famously first used by Leni Riefenstahl in 1936. Those were hardcore Nazi propaganda movies about the superiority and elegance of white people doing sports, displaying their Ubermensch-Bodies. Nobody ever complained about that imagery which is very obviously reminiscent of the most racist movies ever made.
Resident Evil 5 has its fair share of racism. But not when a few black people lurk in the shadows, not when a few tribal villagers roam around zombiefied. There is hardly any character who is not a total stereotype; black or white, good or bad. This is not some sort of racism though, it is merely an inability to portray humans in a non-demeaning fashion. As good as the people are at programming, they really suck at portraying humans and coming up with decent stories. But they can code, so they call the shots and that will hurt the quality of the product when it really gets picked apart in a literary fashion.
When I go to the store in Germany, I see ten to twenty fps games in which some guy shoots up Nazis. In these games, all Germans are ultra-evil by birth, liberation of Germany is the process of killing 100% of its inhabitants, while some American voice actor rapes the German language with prejudice based inflections, horrible pronunciation and nonsensical writing (oh the grammar!) . Nobody took the time to even check their 'facts'. It is the same with any other game. Where is your outrage there N'Gai? That is the same racism right there in front of your nose. For the sake of providing entertainment, a situation is simplified to the point where it becomes a plain black and white painting in which it is ok to shoot everybody and feel good about it.
Once in a while, the wrong two ethnicities have a go at each other and we then call that racists and create an outrage. But the game in question is more demeaning to humans in general, than really racist. It is more a disgrace to our own culture and its state of enlightenment, than an intentional disgracing of another culture for racist reasons.
Sincerely,
>>Those were hardcore Nazi propaganda movies about the superiority and elegance of white people doing sports, displaying their Ubermensch-Bodies. Nobody ever complained about that imagery which is very obviously reminiscent of the most racist movies ever made.
But the film covers German crowds cheering and chanting black American athlete Jesse Owens name, and shows Germany's long jump silver medalist Luz Long hugging him in congratulations. Even Asian athletes are given the spotlight, Japan comes in 3rd total medal count.
The last shot of the film is Germany, America, and Japan's flags waving in the sky together.
If you haven't seen Leni Reifenstahl's documentary on the 1936 olympics, you really should when you have the chance. You have to genuinely hate Germany or Leni to get any inkling of racism out of it on Germany's part.
The fact that people could dismiss it as racist without ever watching it is an interesting issue though. It's the creation of a scapegoat. By painting Hitler's Germany as the ultimate evil of fascism, racism and war it lets other countries ignore their own issues.
Jesse Owens loved his stay in Germany. He said Hitler waved to him, he waved back. The only man who snubbed him was the President of America
"Hitler didn't snub me—it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."
Even back in the day, people criticized the movies for its "omissions". It was hard to cut out Jesse Owens, so he stayed in, but not longer as necessary. If you watch the hockey sequence of the Germany-India final, you get the impression Germany won 1:0, when in fact they lost 1:8. The goals scored by the Indians were simply cut. The same is true for most other athletes that did not fit the ideology. The movie was in part a strategy of promoting the 3rf Reich to the Americans. Hitler was of the opinion that the war could only be won if "the American become like us". The movies reflect that strategy before the quote was even made.
Same is true for the second Olympic movie, Riefenstahl did not just show athletic people, she showed people who looked like the ideal promoted by the Nazi party and nobody else. So for all its groundbreaking artistic merits, the movie is also poisoned on some level. You just have to look how the Nazi party used the movies to know what they were also intended to do.
Context is everything and no topic or subject matter should from be immune from the context it's placed in.
Resident Evil is a horror series that has started to take its act on the road. No matter what country you place the game in the setting will be filled with menace and unease. The franchises stock and trade is ugly - usually compromised or corrupted - looking humans lurking in the shadows with sinister intent in their eyes. I think it's clear that Capcom wasn't actively engaging in racism when they made this game, merely following their clearly established style guide. If they can't do this in an African setting due to sensitivity then what is being sacrificed is the concept of racial equality. The treatment any race or culture will receive when Capcom's 'evil' takes 'residence' will never be nice but thus far it has proven to be equal and I think moving forward that is something they should never be chastised for.
I also think you, N'Gai, said too much after merely seeing the trailer. Your academics began to run away with you and stood in place of context. After playing the game I had a great deal of sympathy for our opponents, who are clearly the victims of this particular story. Their violation is written clearly on their bodies and ending their misery was a surprisingly bitter experience at times. The research notes uncovered in the game clearly label the western company's (read: white people) culpability in these crimes and this I found to be a timely statement on how the rest of the world is hungrily eyeing Africa's resources.
In conclusion I would point out that horror entertainment is designed to shock, revolt, and make you feel uneasy and uncomfortable in addition to the jumps of outright fright. In provoking this within you Capcom did their job. Horror commonly takes the familiar and turns it into something unreal. That said I'm quite certain that after playing Resident Evil 5 the vast majority of gamers didn't have their opinions of Africa or black people altered in the slightest. The game is obviously a work of twisted imagination and our community should let them stand as they are because their context is well in mind.
Context is everything and no topic or subject matter should from be immune from the context it's placed in.
That's exactly what N'Gai did. He placed the imagery in RE5 within the greater context of imagery historically (see: http://microscopiq.com/2007/07/blackface-goes-hd/) used to depict black people in the media we consume (films, games, etc.).
Why couldn't the hero be a black person in res 5 ? why is every game that comes out the hero is only white males. Why are there not alot indian heros in games? funny thing huh
That is something I would like the gaming Industry. You know the world plays these games too, right! I wonder how people in south afirica would feel about this game, I am sure it's baned there or will be.
You know in canada killzone 2 pictures were taken down, do you know why ?
I think you are mistaking "indivisual imapct" with "societal impact." No matter what the subject matter, there will always be individuals who find something offensive/distateful/etc. Think of it like Elvis - when he came on the scene, parents across the nation were offended by his hip swinging gyrations and kids were thinking "time to move on Mom and Dad." If you put that sort of display on TV today, it wouldn't even create a drop of outrage, though there would still no doubt be individuals who found it distateful.
I look at N'Gai's response the same way. Yes, he may have found the imagery offensive, but the vast majority of society is thinking "Really, it's time to move on from petty things you think are racist and really focus on true racism in soceity." To put it bluntly, it's crying wolf.
"Really, it's time to move on from petty things you think are racist and really focus on true racism in soceity."
Those "petty" things are the "true" racism in society. Little things add up and up and up. If you think that racism only comes in the form of overt violence or blatant verbal abuse, you're sadly mistaken.
>>"Really, it's time to move on from petty things you think are racist and really focus on true racism in soceity."
That's N'Gai's point! Just because YOU don't think it's racist doesn't mean it's not! Racism isn't just lynchings and segregation, it can be as subtle as a glance or a change of tone, or just simply feeling outcast from your own society.
Lol, fascist protagonist killing nationalist rebels, that would be funny and kind of enjoyable. The fascists (Hitler and Mussolini) were helping out the nationalists led by Francisco Franco to overthrow the democratically elected Republican government putting Spain back into the political dark ages until the 80's (When he died). I think many Spaniards would rather enjoy mowing down Nationalists, although it would be more appropriate if the protagonist was a Republican not a Fascist. It would be akin to an American protagonist killing Nazis, well not quite, but similar. Diversion from the point of the blog, but a point none the less. However I agree with what N'gai's saying. To make a similar ethically moribund example, it's like if an English protagonist came over here to take out a bunch of Maori zombies holed up in Tuhoi country. Definitely not cool, where's the sensitivity Capcom. Sheesh. In fact I think the New Zealand government would ban that game from our country if it was made, such is the sensitivity of the matter which is still resolving itself concerning our indigenous population.
N'Gai - Sorry, cou'dn't find your email to respond directly, but I think it finally hit me what the backlash has been from your initial response to the RE5 trailer. I don't begrudge anybody for their reaction to anything, but I think that in the context of today, the imagery is not meaningful in that, it probably has no influence on anyone's reactions going forward to African-Americans/Haitians/etc.
Now, had the RE5 instead been a trailer for a movie back in the 40's or 50's when actual lychings were prevalent and the predominant mindset in white America was fear about the black population, then yes, the trailer would feed sterotypes and possibly foment more fear among whites toward blacks. Today, outside of certain racists who will always exist in society no matter how advanced we become, the imagery has no societal impact.
Saying "the imagery has no societal impact." is, to be polite, ridiculous. N'Gai has clearly stated, as have a number of people that the imagery INDEED had an impact on him when he first saw it. I count myself as one of the people who were put-off by the imagery and presentation in the original trailer.
Just because it didn't have an impact on YOU, doesn't mean that "the imagery has no societal impact.".
It's funny in a sad sort of way that people like you are still reading all kinds of mysterious things into what N'Gai said. He never said that RE5 was racist. Nor did he say that it would "foment fear", encourage white people to start eating little black babies, or any other ridiculous red herring you, or anyone else would like to throw into the fray...
All he said was that it would probably offend quite a few "black" people. And it did. What's so hard to understand about that?
I still haven't bought the game because I'm still upset with them and their marketing department for such an amateur oversight. Which helps to illustrate some of the other comments that N'Gai made, which were that a) it was painfully obvious that they didn't have any "black people" involved with the trailer and b) that it might hurt their sales.