From: v089l3s3@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeremy B Horwitz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Street Fighter 2 racist ???
Date: 15 Oct 92 21:30:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: acsu.Bw6ME8.H1y
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Oct15.180530.2468@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>, Corby.E.Page@dartmouth.edu (Corby E. Page) writes...
>In article <farant.1w3u@terapin.com>
>farant@terapin.com (Faran Thomason) writes:
> 
>> The most grotesque seems to be
>> Dhalsim, with skulls around his neck and Blanka who is probobly the worst. In
>> fact the Brazil scenerey is probobly the most offensive. There anglo's on the
>> side lines taking pictures while there darker skinned people in a hut who
>> resemble monkeys!!!

"Brazil scenerey (SP) the most offensive". I think not. They are hardly
"anglos" - they look native. Also, the people in the hut look nothing like
monkeys. Your claims sound like cries of desperation from a person who
has tried unsuccessfully to prove everything is anti-minority.
> 
>Soon we will have a wave of postings from wild-eyed Street Fighter II
>fanatics who desperately profer rationalizations for why Street Fighter
>II isn't racist. But you are absolutely correct -- the representations
>of Dhalsim and Blanka (we don't even find out until the end that Blanka
>was once human) are inexcusably derogatory, and these representations
>usually encourage racist comments from white fratboys up here who play
>the game.

Yeah, you know that racist Blanka commentary. What could they say? 
"Look, it's a freakin' mutant! Ha ha! A mutant!". I didn't realize
there were green people in America or anywhere that would be
offended by the heresy. Do they call Blanka a "lousy spic" or something?
There's no reason to believe he's even from Brazil, since his 
"plane crashed" or whatever. What kind of "inexcusably derogatory"
commends are made?

>I play Street Fighter II and enjoy it. And the game does have a large
>cross-cultural appeal (I play mostly with Asian and Black students up
>here). But that doesn't change the fact that the representations in SF
>II are demeaning and uncivilized. The representions may even reflect
>more on US society than Capcom -- if Capcom felt that realistic,
>anti-racist representations of characters would cause the game to sell
>better in the US, they would have put them in.

Let's look at all the horrible racism in SF2. No minorities represented.
OOps. There are three Asians. There is one African American. There is
one confirmed Spaniard, and a possible Brazilian. There's a Thailandese.
There's an Indian. 

Let's look at how Capcom portrayed all of the Japanese as looking "too
white". I guess all Japanese manga artwork is racist, then, because
none of the characters have "typical Asian slanted eyes" or "yellow
skin", right? 

I'm SO SICK of hearing these BS claims of racism whenever a game
uses various countries as a backdrop to the action. I suppose
it doesn't matter how reasonable a company is -- If you use no
ethnic groups, minorities complain about the "typical white hero".
If you use ethnic groups, every group complains that they weren't
given the best character in the game. 

In SF2, each character can win. Each character has an ending worth
seeing. Stop whining, play the game, and enjoy it for what it is.
Newsgroups: rec.games.video