Resident Racism

Resident Evil 5 has come under a lot of criticism lately, particularly on the racist front, with people claiming that mowing down black zombies leaves them shuddering with guilt. Now gamers are not just murderers in training, but racists as well, according to the media.

In fact, Resident Evil 5 has come under fire since it was first previewed at E3 in 2007.

Capcom should have thought this one through first. 

You saw what they did with Far Cry 2, right? They had black enemies, as well as white and people from different ethnic backgrounds. Did you hear anyone complain about Far Cry 2? No. There might have been some, but they were likely in the minority since I didn’t hear anything about it. Nobody complained of racism as far as the other games in the Resident Evil series are concerned either. Those games took place in America and Europe where there is a mixed bunch of people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

The story of Umbrella and the T-virus spreading meant that sooner or later it would reach Africa, and indeed, Resident Evil 5 is set in a fictional country in Africa that happens to contain a lot of black people. Big surprise there; people of ethnic origin make up most of the population in Africa and so Capcom had to be demographically correct. They certainly couldn’t have all white, or pink or purple people running around.

Well, the game is out there, and you have people in different camps. There are those who claim it’s racist, there are those who claim it isn’t, and there are those who claim it isn’t, but still get an uneasy feeling when they play it, and sort of sit on the fence and hum and ha, before going in for another session to 'investigate'.

Well, Capcom didn’t intend to make a racist game, I’m sure. They meant to continue the story of Resident Evil and its spread throughout the world, and the player having to contend with the real enemy behind it all- the Umbrella Corporation.

The only way to go now is to make the virus spread to Asia, and infect Japanese people, and have Japanese zombie ninjas and killer Koi. It would make sense since Capcom is Japanese. 

Remember folks, it’s just a game.

Just do us a favour and don’t venture into the Middle East. That is pushing it a bit, and we don’t want them getting upset…

Resident Racism