Capcom's Resident Evil 5 Drawing Fire

Joystiq has written about the fact that a blogger over at Black Looks has taken offense to the trailer for Capcom's upcoming Resident Evil 5 (and the setting of the game itself). RE5 appears to take place in an African country this time Chris Redfield is back and killing African zombies.

The trailer starts off with chanting and progresses with driving tribal beats. Ok, I get it. It's atmosphere. As Alexander points out over at joystiq, the zombies in previous REs have been largely white (loosely defined) and have been shot by white men and no one has raised an eyebrow, but what Alex (and the developers on this project) have failed to see is the fact that nothing, video games included, happens in a vacuum.

This isn't just a white soldier shooting African zombies. There is too much cultural baggage associated with this pairing both here in the US and on the African continent. Soldiers participating in what looks like genocide? One white man winning out over hordes of Africans? There is too much tied up in this situation for it to be benign. How can you not expect folks not to get upset? Looking over the comments at Joystiq and those that have spilled over to Black Looks one can see that these nuances are truly lost on the general public. The comments themselves are racist, the ignorance abounds.

When you consider the rhetorical and cultural contexts of the military and African countries this game becomes no more than another racist simulation like those used to recruit for and entertain white supremicist groups. It feels oddly like Border Patrol or Ethnic Cleansing. I'm sure that there are folks who are going to disagree vehemently with m, but I ask that ya'll keep it respectful.

Soon to be cross-posted at Joystick 101.