posted here from a comment I made in Jim "f-bomb" Sterling's blog post...
[i]"There are several possible etymologies of the word zombie. One possible origin is jumbie, the West Indian term for "ghost".[3] Another is nzambi, the Kongo word meaning "spirit of a dead person."[3] According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word entered English circa 1871; it's derived from the Louisiana Creole or
Haitian Creole zonbi, which in turn is of Bantu origin.[4] A zonbi is a person who is believed to have died and been brought back to life without speech or free will.[5] It is akin to the Kimbundu nzúmbe ghost."[/i]
I'll tell you what's racist. The fact that this game, set closest to the origin of the zombie mythos than ANY OTHER GAME IN THE SERIES doesn't even call the enemies anything close to "zombie" as described above.
Now, what's interesting is this: George Romero, who popularized the undead zombie genre, paving the way for RE, was making a statement on racism in "Night of the Living Dead", and consumerism in "Day of the Dead". WESTERN consumerism. Now, in RE5, a lot of themes come full circle. There are certainly racial undertones in RE5, and why not? Exploitation of race and culture has long been a habit of the power grabbing monsters of our world. The villains of RE have always been about using people and fooling them into believing that they are getting something that will benefit them, but actually screwing them over. (Umbrella = Jobs and Economy for Racoon. Los Illuminados = Religious revival and prosperity for the village) They appeal to peoples' desire to consume and prosper quickly, and turn them into the undead. Or Ganados, or whatever. Nothing but the setting has changed, and with the setting, the cultures (and, necessarily, the characters) portrayed.
The "zombie" genre appeals to Americans because it represents the worst of western complacency in the antagonists met with the best of western ideals in the against-all-odds protagonists. If anything, RE5 is making a statement that the best and worst humanity has to offer can be found anywhere, regardless of color or creed.
Also: I'm very startled that so few defending the game have commented on the co-equal status of Sheva, a very African woman who is trying to save her country from this corruption. She's self-reliant, saves Chris more than he saves her (in single player, anyway) and is far more a pleasure to have at your back than the whiny, weak and very American Ashley from RE4. Sheva is a total badass, and I'd like to see more of her on her own, if anything. Probably one of the coolest females Capcom has created in their series.
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Next in RE 6 look out Jews we are coming for you!
Your formatting is wack, sir. :)
Iiiiiii... I wouldn't call Sheva very African. COnsidering facial features and hair alone... and certainly i"m not African but... yeah, I could disagree.
Further, I've heard things about the AI and Sheva's actual helpfulness that would go against your assertion.
I do like that you mentioned Night of the Living dead taking zombies and actually trying to make some social statement around them.
well shoot... not that anyone can necessarily look African: its a pretty big and diverse continent, really. Egyptians look different from someone from Ghana...
what Tubatic said.
Ahhhh I can't read it anymore. It must be the line breaks.
Hi! Fixed the formatting. Sorry.
As for the African-ness Sheva...interesting. I didn't mention her looks, just that she's very African. Tubatic, you did catch yourself, but I think it's interesting that the knee-jerk reaction is to focus on looks. (I do it all the time, btw)
And I guess that's the point, isn't it? We read a lot into the look of something, especially with race. I'm %50 Arab, but no one would tell by looking at me. And I've been told that my heritage doesn't count because of my lifestyle and standing, so basically, what I get is that I'm not really Arab because I don't look typical or speak typical of the Arab that people decide are "typical" Arabs.
So. Imaginary character aside, Sheva claims she's African. She's concerned for her African "brothers". Do we disregard that based on her looks not being "typical" of what we'd like to perceive?
Just food for thought.
My fiance and I were talking about how amazing Sheva is. She's by far the coolest woman that was ever created by Capcom, you've got that right!
I agree with all of your points and greatly appreciate the format fix on this blog! =)
Nice format fix! Thanks!
And *boink* the fact that I haven't played the game yet is showing, eh?
Safari format had clouded my vision. Very nice article, and a wholly unexpected point of view that I had yet to see up until now!!
George Romero and the producers stated numerous times that Night of the Living Dead wasn't a statement on race relations. They simply hired Duane Jones for the part because he was the best actor. They are actually most proud of being the first movie to cast a black man in a leading role that was written for a white person.
The original character as written was supposed to be a white truck driver. When they chose Duane they rewrote the character to match his personality. I think the great achievement there was recreating the character as an intelligent black intellectual, instead of any current stereotypes. Especially in the horror genre, even today, characters tend to be walking cliches.