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Jynx Controversy: Redux

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Nekusagi

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http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=65860


A blogger has kicked up a right old storm of controversy after suggesting that PSP puzzler LocoRoco has racist overtones.

In a post on his 1UP blog, Alejandro Quan-Madrid argued that the Moja enemies in LocoRoco resemble the racist "blackface" caricature adopted by minstrel peformers at the start of the twentieth century. They remained commonplace for many years - in Britain, the BBC's own Black and White Minstrel Show ran until 1978.

"Today in virtually any public sphere in the US, a depiction of a blackface character is not met without much murmurings and harsh criticism," Quan-Madrid wrote.

"In comparison, some countries such as Japan (where LocoRoco was developed) do not have significant black populations and so blackface images can come about without any criticism.

"The images are also then okay to be labelled as the enemy or even serve as representations of black characters in general, despite the racist images they perpetuate. That and I hear that Japanese people (in Japan) at times can be pretty innocently racist."


Quan-Madrid even goes so far as to suggest that "One could also equate the "invasion of the Moja and the fleeing of the LocoRocos to black slaves being brought to American and the very common practice of today of white flight.

"But we're not even going to go there," he added, perhaps a bit too late.

According to Quan-Madrid, he's "not accusing the developers of being racist, nor am I accusing LocoRoco of being a racist game. I simply believe that this is a product of unchecked institutionalised racism that needs calling out."

He went on to suggest that a colour change for the Mojas should be implemented, because "I do feel these racist undertones, whether intentional or not, would stop me as well as others from fully enjoying this game".

So what does Sony have to say about it? Well, "LocoRoco is a fantasy game geared towards a worldwide audience that takes place in a vibrant pastel world with colorful landscapes and characters and is not based on real-life places, people or things." So there.
Click to expand...

...OMFG.

Can this guy get over it? Really, now, between him and the Jynx lady, people these days are way too easily offended. There are also red characters and yellow characters in the game- are Native American and Asian groups going to get offended next?

Seriously, lighten up, everyone.
 
Actually, in a LOT of anime, black characters are represented in VERY unflattering light. Usually they're EXTREMELY stereotypical looking in older anime (by "older" I'm only talking about early 90s). While I STILL don't see Jynx as racist (she had long blonde hair...that's NOT a stereotypical black quality in any way), you DO see characters that look like they just stepped out of early 1900s burlesque shows where blacks were, at best, simple and incapable of being anything other than the idiot sidekick. It IS understandable that Japan has taken so long to come out of that mind frame, but that doesn't change the fact that ESPECIALLY in today's world, that's very wrong. It just gives them a reasonable excuse.

And OF COURSE you're not going to see Asian characters in an unflattering light in an anime. It's like a western where the white guys AREN'T the heroes. No one shows themself in an unflattering light unless it's an obvious joke.
 
This is the third racist related PSP complaint?

1. Oilman in Megaman Powered Up (he did look racist kinda)
2. Dutch billboard for PSP White
3. LaRocco, which is MAKING FUN OF FAT PEOPLE!!

You know, I really cna't blame Japan too much, we sterotype every other country alot nowadays and back then ,Japan didn't enslave black people though.

Yet know one complains about Disney Channel making their karate movie be filled with Asian people, of course. And we always have Mexicans as either sluts or illegal aliens....

I'm just saying, has this guy been to a American High School? I hear the N-bobm dropped every day, and insults against other races without teacher batting an eye.
 
I've never even heard of the game, but the picture in the article looks like various blackened fruits with faces. I see a strawberry, I see a pineapple...etc.
 
They look like crows to me, just like the yellow blobs look like canarys.

As a fellow fat person, I am appaled at this blatant satire of my belly jiggle!
(I'm not really fat.....or am I?:-( )
 
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