Current Events > IGN says Resident Evil 5 can't be remade, only re-written. Because it's racist.

(+) Yeah! (+)

It wasnt racist, but with how conscious and obsessed people are with race nowadays theres no way a game in its setting will ever be made or even rereleased again in modern day. Hell thats probably why we never get any games taking place in africa, or india actually which is a damn same.

We just need some good boulder punching goodness in higher resolution.

I mean you could argue it's racist to some degree, and you'd probably be right. But intent is everything when determining fault. So you have to keep in mind the largely-Japanese devs who made RE5, who are several generations removed from WW2, whose country is not quite as ethnically diverse as ours here in the west, they do not have the same kind of sensitivity to race that we do.

Saying it's racist is one thing, but I would by no means call the people who made the game racist. Misguided, sure. Racist, not without knowing them.

If you don't see how there can at least be the APPEARANCE of racism from these designs, I don't know what to tell you.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3413dff2.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7eb26736.jpg

dummy420 posted...

We just need some good boulder punching goodness in higher resolution.

They should show the boulder punch from multiple different angles and then a large hand drawn still of Chris smashing his fist into the boulder.

People really trying to look for something that isn't there, makes you wonder how these clowns manage to function in life

Bat178 posted...

Serbians, actually.

Thank you. I could never actually figure out which ethnicity Edonia was supposed to represent, but always just assumed it was some part of the former Soviet Union / Russia.

Same people would complain if a game set in Africa only got white characters.

Rosstin316 posted...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Shut the fuck up IGN.

That's not even the right person. You look like a clown lmao

Funnily enough, Id say that the Resident Evil universes version of Africa is much more of a cultural melting pot than America given how many people of varying races and ethnicities are apparently hanging out in that unnamed African country that the game takes place in to the point where Im having to suspend my disbelief just to take the game seriously.

That being said, the airboat segment could do with some updating since I dont get how the Plagas parasite can make an entire village revert back to their tribal ancestry considering how none of the other people infected with the parasite exhibit this kind of drastic change in their behavior, though if I had to hazard a guess, Id assume Capcom wanted some equivalent of the monks you encounter in the castle in 4 since the enemy progression in 5 seems to follow a similar trend in terms of their armament and tactics.

Just replace Kijuju with Wakanda.

Garioshi posted...

If you don't see how there can at least be the APPEARANCE of racism from these designs, I don't know what to tell you.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3413dff2.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7eb26736.jpg

It would kind of make sense if that's how the villagers grew up and they reverted mentally to that state. There are tribes in Africa and South America who wore more traditional clothing not long ago and now wear graphic T's and shit. I remember when documentaries about remote tribes showed them in tribal clothes. Now docs show them in baseball caps and cargo shorts.

The virus made them revert? Gross if that was the rationale for grass skirts. Constructing a grass skirt is a result of limited tools not a primitive mind. It's complicated to make one well.

Drrobotniks posted...

Either everything should be ok, or none of it, and i vote for everything should be kept in and is ok

No, just because it's hard drawing a boundary that's inherently arbitrary that doesn't mean you should slipper slope to green-lighting blatantly racist things. That's like saying either everyone is old enough to consent or no one is. Obviously we should do our best to draw a line somewhere.

Yeah the "Either everything is ok or nothing is" go quiet when something they don't like happens.

LeoRavus posted...

It would kind of make sense if that's how the villagers grew up and they reverted mentally to that state. There are tribes in Africa and South America who wore more traditional clothing not long ago and now wear graphic T's and shit. I remember when documentaries about remote tribes showed them in tribal clothes. Now docs show them in baseball caps and cargo shorts.

they didn't normally dress like that, though, or grow up dressing like that; it was their ancestors.

Garioshi posted...

If you don't see how there can at least be the APPEARANCE of racism from these designs, I don't know what to tell you.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3413dff2.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7eb26736.jpg

The second one is pretty bad. The first one looks like something out of a Legend of Zelda game.

Baron_Ox posted...

they didn't normally dress like that, though, or grow up dressing like that; it was their ancestors.

San people says hi.

Foppe posted...

San people says hi.

I'm not talking about real life people, but the enemies in RE5.

megamanfreakXD posted...

Sounds about right. Everything is racist nowadays.

No, we only address racism in terms of media and sometimes over-correct while racism continues to fester in our real world institutions like the justice system.

Baron_Ox posted...

I'm not talking about real life people, but the enemies in RE5.

We got a source that they didnt grew up keeping old traditions and their heritage alive?

Foppe posted...

We got a source that they didnt grew up keeping old traditions and their heritage alive?

Wasn't there an in-game journal that implied that the tribal gear was used for festivals?

LeoRavus posted...

It would kind of make sense if that's how the villagers grew up and they reverted mentally to that state. There are tribes in Africa and South America who wore more traditional clothing not long ago and now wear graphic T's and shit. I remember when documentaries about remote tribes showed them in tribal clothes. Now docs show them in baseball caps and cargo shorts.

I dont understand this explanation. If my mind reverted I wouldnt construct and wear a fedora or Victorian dresses.

we have a source saying it's what the ancestors wore, and them wearing stuff like the war paint standing out because it wasn't a festival:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80722926/979397610

edit: at post 70

megamanfreakXD posted...

Sounds about right. Everything is racist nowadays.

People were calling RE5 racist before it came out. This is not a "nowadays" thing.

A reminder that shooting poor Spanish farmers isn't racist, however.

Games use stereotypes to drive home themes constantly, but if anything RE5 would benefit thematically by making it less hamfisted as they likely wouldn't copy designs 1 to 1, if at all.

Garioshi posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7eb26736.jpg

Imagine how racist it would've been if they had long black willies hanging beneath the grass skirt. Like just straight jumping the shark about it.

In RE6 they go to a Chinese city and kill mostly Chinese infected zombies. Is that racist?

VeggetaX posted...

In RE6 they go to a Chinese city and kill mostly Chinese infected zombies. Is that racist?

Were they wearing straw hats and you were in a rice paddy?

TotallyNotAGirl posted...

Were they wearing straw hats and you were in a rice paddy?

I imagine if they were to go deep into the mountains of mainland China they would be met with these kind of Chinese zombies, yes. Would that still be considered racist?

VeggetaX posted...

I imagine if they were to go deep into the mountains of mainland China they would be met with these kind of Chinese zombies, yes. Would that still be considered racist?

If they walked up to the main character talking like this, then deff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqMie92LuZY

bfslick50 posted...

I dont understand this explanation. If my mind reverted I wouldnt construct and wear a fedora or Victorian dresses.

I'm not talking about 100+ years ago. There are actual displaced tribes today who lost access to their resources and wear whatever shit the government gives them now.

There are also current tribes who wear traditional clothing who will be wearing modern clothes in the near future as they're pushed out of their lands and have to live on scraps.

VeggetaX posted...

I imagine if they were to go deep into the mountains of mainland China they would be met with these kind of Chinese zombies, yes. Would that still be considered racist?

I mean, if the people only dressed like that on special occasions, and then the zombies started dressing like that because they were infected, then yea.

TotallyNotAGirl posted...

Imagine how racist it would've been if they had long black willies hanging beneath the grass skirt. Like just straight jumping the shark about it.

The cyclops in God of War was supposed to have a massive dong swinging around but they had to remove it to appease censors.

Poor cyclops.

Gwynevere posted...

That's not even the right person. You look like a clown lmao

Show me the right person.

Foppe posted...

Same people would complain if a game set in Africa only got white characters.

What if a game set in Africa had an African protagonist? Who would complain then? I suspect itd be different people.

bfslick50 posted...

slipper slope to green-lighting blatantly racist things.

thank god i didnt say that, and your other comparison is garbo

and nothing about the game is racist, so whats your point

bfslick50 posted...

I dont understand this explanation. If my mind reverted I wouldnt construct and wear a fedora or Victorian dresses.

here's one for you, its a video game, there you go

UnfairRepresent posted...

The cyclops in God of War was supposed to have a massive dong swinging around but they had to remove it to appease censors.

Poor cyclops.

Zaddy cyclops

My idea to excuse the tribal enemies in the remake: See them performing in the playable intro before shit hits the fan and have Sheva mention it's for a festival they do. As for the straw huts existence, have her say that it's a historical preservation site. I have no idea if those kinds of historical preservations exist, but if we can have biological horrors, we can have preserved huts.

Also, have a run-in with an uninfected performer who's hiding out, showing that they're normal, civilized people when off the clock.

FortuneCookie posted...

Just replace Kijuju with Wakanda.

Oh yeah. Didn't the depiction of wakanda get praise despite featuring an advanced society going to war with spears lol. That was very stupid.

So I guess it just depends who makes the thing.

lilORANG posted...

Oh yeah. Didn't the depiction of wakanda get praise despite featuring an advanced society going to war with spears lol. That was very stupid.

So I guess it just depends who makes the thing.

it depends on how the iconography is used.

in Wakandan, they sometimes use spears, but they're also high-tech, and can do stuff like have mini force fields.

they take traditional African imagery, and combine it with a futuristic, high tech aesthetic.

contrast that with how RE5 uses the imagery, with making look savage and primitive.

of course one is going to come off more racist than the other.

Baron_Ox posted...

it depends on how the iconography is used.

in Wakandan, they sometimes use spears, but they're also high-tech, and can do stuff like have mini force fields.

they take traditional African imagery, and combine it with a futuristic, high tech aesthetic.

contrast that with how RE5 uses the imagery, with making look savage and primitive.

of course one is going to come off more racist than the other.

Yeah, the one implying that despite exponential technological growth, the best they can come up with is spears. That's way dumber than a virus that melts someone's brain so they resort to using more primitive tools.

except they're not using "just spears", when they're superior to any weapon we might have now, with the technology they house.

in RE5, they have the cognizance to specifically choose to wear and dress that way despite having more clothes and tools at their disposal.

How come in RE7, the women didn't show their boobs and become passified by beads even though it wasn't Mardi Gras? Go rewrite that one, Capcom

Jiek_Fafn posted...

How come in RE7, the women didn't show their boobs and become passified by beads even though it wasn't Mardi Gras? Go rewrite that one, Capcom

Because it takes place in a family household, obviously.

CARRRNE_ASADA posted...

How is it racist? LOCAL villagers are infected and they happen to be black. By that logic wouldnt RE4 be racist since protagonist is American and ganado are all spaniards? Sure, the optics are problematic since you have an all white, American hero killing Africans, but that stems from our own real world racial problems through history. The real problematic thing were the native guys.

At the end they added people of every color to the game and Capcom bowed to never make decisions like this again without consulting Capcom of America.

RE5 is one of my favorite games. Nothing about it is inherently racist. there are no racial stereotypes that i encountered where i thought damn, das racist. IGN are simply a bunch of weak minded journos with little to no real world experience besides their feelings to guide them.

However RE5 should be tweaked to make it more survival horror than action-based.

WalkingPlague posted...

RE5 is one of my favorite games. Nothing about it is inherently racist. there are no racial stereotypes that i encountered where i thought damn, das racist. IGN are simply a bunch of weak minded journos with little to no real world experience besides their feelings to guide them.

However RE5 should be tweaked to make it more survival horror than action-based.

Narratively the switch to action just makes sense. Its not what many fans want to hear but the whole zombie stuff was always just a side effect, the true goal is what we see in RE6: global warfare with every army and their mother buying BOWs and even regular humans getting power ups. 7 and partly 8 just seemed like a return to the roots because its a small setting but even that game is the result of a fuck up of one of many biotech companies. Post-3 is action and I dont think that will ever change.

lol I remember this controversy

Something can be racist without it being intentionally racist. Like the season one episode of Star Trek TNG Code of Honor. Sometimes things can give a different impression than intended.

creativerealms posted...

Something can be racist without it being intentionally racist

just like anything can be racist to somebody