Josh.

One of Sheva Alomar’s African BSAA contacts. Captain Joshua Stone is darker, has a thicker accent and, in my evaluation, fit better with the African location. The Resident Evil games have a habit of playing with a familiar cast but this isn’t necessary. Josh could have easily been centre of attention, with Sheva as companion, meeting Chris somewhere along the way. Throwing him into leading role may have easily side-stepped many of the issues people are referring to with race, predominantely that we have a big, burly white poster-boy shooting poor black people, with little visible motive.

Chris Redfield is not key to the storyline, save for his connection to Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine but none of these two characters is essential to the story regardless. They’ve simply been thrown in for nostalgia’s sake. Shorty Napolean, Salazar from Resident Evil 4, and his large broodish, bald-headed insect pal, Mendez, were brilliant villains without introducing the validation of nostalgia.

And my take on the whole “race” thing?

To be frank, I wasn’t really concerned at all with the imagery. When the first trailer was released, I thought, wicked, more stuff to shoot. That the stuff happens to be black isn’t really of any consequence.

Play any war game, where people are screaming “f***** Nips” or “German dogs!” Does it make people squemish? Maybe. Not me. Context is everything.

Then again, I don’t tend to care much for issues of race. Maybe I’m biased. That’s possible. It might have something to do with location.

Australia is a “multi-cultural” society, in so far as we have people of many cultures living here, including the original inhabitants, the Australian Aboriginies.

However, while we are often referred to as “accepting” or “tolerant”, in recent years this has been called into question. What is a “genuine Aussie”? Many drunken youngsters mingling together might have you believe it’s the white guy sporting a Southern Cross tattoo, wearing the Colonial Australian flag as a cape, beating in the front windows of an established Asian grocery store owned by migrants that have been Australian citizens for more than thirty years. Others might point and say the Aboriginal now destitute, sucking from an alcoholic teat on the side of the road, asking for spare change. Maybe it’s the white lawyer that doesn’t hand them that money, happy that the Government has apologised on his behalf leaving him with no further responsibility to those on the streets. Or, the Sudanese refugee that stabs another 15 year old boy black boy who came to Australia under similar conditions.

Basically I’m saying everything is well screwed up in society at large, no matter how you try to dress it up. That a game comes along, set in Africa, with “upsetting” imagery should be of no consequence. It’s a game and it’s still not half as bad as the real-world. Maybe, as I said earlier, our issue is simply a matter of casting but even then, whoever takes lead will still be aiming for head-shots.

Double-take

On closer examination, the opening chapter of the game confronts me the most. As Chris wanders through the village streets, he passes through a number of locals partaking in a range of intimidating activities. One sits holding a machete, picking at his nails, while a group gather to watch another two beat and kick the shit out of a woven sack, which lays writhing on the ground. They stop and watch Chris as he walks by. Their leering gaze is threatening. In the world of Resident Evil, this is an ominous form as we are unsure whether they will snap and assault us. Then, they disappear.

The locals in this opening scene are hostile in appearance and posture even before we understand they have been infected. They resemble, in fact, the models of villagers we fight later in the game. If there is anything to complain about regarding Resident Evil 5’s portrayal and imagery, this should be the scene under examination.

At least when you’re shooting villagers in grass skirts they have the decency to explode into insects.