Is Resident Evil 5 Racist?

In a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Jamin Brophy-Warren tackles the racial implications that many are claiming to see in Capcom's upcoming shooter, Resident Evil 5. The game's producer Jun Takeuchi recently said, "There is no racial element to it all," and Capcom's Chris Kramer expands on that point, stating to the WSJ that the game adopts an "anti-colonialist" stance. Mr. Kramer is referring to white protagonist Chris Redfield, shooting his way through RE5's African non-zombies, and the imagery it represents with regards to traditional Western colonialism on the continent.

The theme of the article is one of finding out if whether or not the game is racist, rather than starting with a condemnation and then going forward like we've seen so many times in mainstream video game coverage. Jamin speaks to an array of major game developers (including Fallout 3's Todd Howard) and even broaches the topic of racism in American society being perpetuated by a largely Caucasian game industry.

RE5 begins with Chris Redfield walking through an African village that appears uninfected. He sees some men kicking something in a sack. The implication here is that even before the infection, these people are portrayed as bad people. If RE5 were set on another continent and these characters had white skin, no one would give it a second thought. Typical “village full of bad guys” gaming cliché? Possibly, but these characters are black and such an imagery can be perceived to have racist undertones.

Does this image and the fact that the core gameplay has you shooting black men and women make RE5 racist? The answer is going to vary greatly from one person to the next and, perhaps more significantly, from one region to the next.

In Japan, for example, it’s unlikely that the events depicted in Resident Evil 5 will be viewed as racist in any way. Japan and other Asian nations never experienced centuries of racist oppression against blacks.

In Europe and America, where racism continues to be an issue to this day, and where, less than two centuries ago, slavery was legal, the imagery will likely resonate more substantially.

I’ve played the first half of RE5 and through those three chapters gamers spend a good majority of time shooting people with dark skin. There are moments that some will never connect with racism, but some others will definitely see a clear use of racist iconography.