After reading all the articles, it all came clear that all of them had one thing in common..and that is that they are against stereotyping against other races(obviously). For example in “Why I Didn't buy GTA: Chinatown Wars by Jaime Kuroiwa“, it talks about how video games as well as movies have identical stereotypes for each race. “Race and Video Games’ is pretty much the same thing except the stereotypes are different depending on what game you play. In the article Opinion: Resident Evil 5- How Does This Make You Feel,” by Tom Cross writes about how a game can cross the line on what its trying to show. As I thought about each article, I noticed something in particular about GTA. Almost in every GTA game I have played, the main character has been a minority(for the most part). Taking this into factor I wonder to myself why would they put a minority as the protagonist? Well for one, most of the races that get associated with trouble are usually Hispanic or Black(Ex gangs in Los Angeles Chicago etc). So Rockstar maybe took this into consideration and said “Well since most are in gangs and they are known for their violent ways so why not put them in like that?”. I mean this is wrong since it is stereotyping that Hispanics and Blacks are troublemakers and are linked to crime. With this I can clearly see why most people are against the GTA series. As with the game Resident evil 5..I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean yes the zombies are dark colored and are infected. Yet it makes sense why the game producers made it like that. I mean first of all it is in Africa..where the majority of people are dark skinned..what did the author want them to be? White? Second of all in the story its not so much that they are degrading the people..after all they are infected and cant function very well( they are zombies after all). I mean yes it’s a poor CONTINENT overall( Africa is not a country..cant tell you how many people get that mixed up) but you cant blame a game for having a story that is good and showing people that are actually native in Africa. So I don’t agree on the fact that there is stereotypes in the game. To conclude, it is obvious that many games such as GTA stereotype on races but unlike from movies where they show it for entertainment, in video games it is a way to attract and make a storyline more interesting. Lets face it…without stereotyping many games and movies would just not be as fun and appealing. I admit stereotypes in games are bad only if they are mean to abuse people. Yet if they are used for amusement purposes( it is used in comedy a lot), than to some extent it is okay. Yet like everything else it need some regulations in order for it not to go out of place or over the line( leading to racism and such).
As you said, without stereotyping, many games and movies would just not be as fun and appealing. This is a good point, and I would add that without stereotyping, games and movies would not even be possible. Character development takes a long time. Some books do it with a series of vignettes. Some books never do it. But it is a difficult process, somewhat akin to getting to know another person "rather well."
ReplyDelete1) This is a little short.
ReplyDelete2) Be sure to introduce the topic...you assume that everyone reading this in the blog-o-verse will know what you're talking about. CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT!
3) Why do you differentiate between the use of race in VGs and movies? As Colleen points out, the different media can only take so much time to develop character. By stereotyping, and by ALLOWING/ AGREEING to be party to that by playing such games, are we subconsciously saying that character is not important?
Just by looking at the GTA cover photo you have on top of the page, it looks to me like there is a Italian mob, Hispanics committing violence, and the African-Americans in a gang (hand gesture and bandanna). I have never played the game but apparently it is so stereotypical, people who haven't played it can already seem to know!
ReplyDelete