The Brainy Gamer: On face value images

The Brainy Gamer: On face value images.

I don’t know if RE5 is a racist game. I’m not even sure it’s possible for a game, by itself, to be racist. What I do know is that RE5 contains historically and socially charged imagery that seems irresponsible to me and makes me feel very uncomfortable. Frankly, I doubt if anyone cares whether or not I think RE5 is a racist game, but when I look at the contextual images RE5 communicates, I see offensive cultural and racial stereotypes, and I have a difficult time thinking of that experience as fun.

Willful disregard of one’s own privilege or prejudice is one possible explanation for an indifferent reaction to RE5, but it is by no means the only explanation. Some people can look at RE5 and simply see a screen full of zombies. “All those things are what they are.” None of us owns the meaning of these images.


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