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Far Cry 4's art is racist and the antagonist is (potentially) gay
- Thread starter KillerIsJed
- Start date
- Status
Strife In a Teacup
Member
Surprised no one posted this yet:
http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/far-cry-4/115113#bonusFeatures
http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/far-cry-4/115113#bonusFeatures
He's probably gay, yes, but I don't see the cover as racist, personally. Probably been said many times already, but I feel like it's supposed to show a racist situation to make you sympathize with the dude and dislike the villain (or love him if he's awesome, but for being awesome, not because of what he does). It's what looks like a rich white asshole treating the poor sad dude you're supposed to feel sorry for like shit.
To be completely honest, my first reaction was that they were even trying too hard to show this situation for you to hate him.
That said, I don't think an evil stereotypical gay character in Far Cry 4 would be so influential as to change people's perceptions or reinforce prejudices at all. I didn't play Far Cry 3 yet, but just from hearing the amount of praise people give to the antagonist, I'm really looking forward to meeting this dude, I'm expecting him to be a gay evil bastard, and I'm expecting him to be awesome and steal the show. If someone thinks less of gay people because a gay character in this game is evil, they just have themselves to blame.
Maybe while I'm kinda accusing you of thinking too much into it, I'm actually being way too positive about the situation and how people actually behave, but that's my first reaction to that art. You hate the situation being displayed because it was supposed to make you feel that way (or at least understand it as such), you're not supposed to say FUCK YEAH WHITE PEOPLE RULE! that's way too silly.
To be completely honest, my first reaction was that they were even trying too hard to show this situation for you to hate him.
That said, I don't think an evil stereotypical gay character in Far Cry 4 would be so influential as to change people's perceptions or reinforce prejudices at all. I didn't play Far Cry 3 yet, but just from hearing the amount of praise people give to the antagonist, I'm really looking forward to meeting this dude, I'm expecting him to be a gay evil bastard, and I'm expecting him to be awesome and steal the show. If someone thinks less of gay people because a gay character in this game is evil, they just have themselves to blame.
Maybe while I'm kinda accusing you of thinking too much into it, I'm actually being way too positive about the situation and how people actually behave, but that's my first reaction to that art. You hate the situation being displayed because it was supposed to make you feel that way (or at least understand it as such), you're not supposed to say FUCK YEAH WHITE PEOPLE RULE! that's way too silly.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
It sounds more like he's trying desperately to justify his sociology major.
KillerIsJed
Member
I don't really have much else to say on the subject. I think I've made it pretty clear how I feel about it. A bunch of hypotheticals and arguing if people are walking stereotypes that should be represented aren't furthering anything. I've replied to enough people to get my point of view across.
Apocryphon
Member
Game is set in Tibet and the guy looks like he could be at least of Asian descent. He certainly doesn't look like a westerner to me.
legacyzero
Banned
I'm all for politically correct...
But this just seems like another one of those thread reaching to generate potential outrage from little to nothing. And this seems to be happening a lot lately. Some people are lunging quickly for their torches and pitchforks at even the slightest hint...
And I don't understand it.
But this just seems like another one of those thread reaching to generate potential outrage from little to nothing. And this seems to be happening a lot lately. Some people are lunging quickly for their torches and pitchforks at even the slightest hint...
And I don't understand it.
ricardo_sousa11
Member
There was a post somewhere here of some developer or something saying we wouldnt be seeing any gay protagonist anytime soon, due to sales fear.
TatteredHat
Member
It's all part of the professional victim routine. Make over the top statements regarding something -> receive criticism -> call everyone who criticizes you racists/homophobes/what have you.
Minimum is one word. Basest is another. Because what can be communicated through a single image is limited, what one should infer from it should be limited. Box arts are not for the NeoGAF demographic. They are for a demographic largely not sympathetic to OP's reservation.
What could you infer from this? America, fuck yea. Shoot the (brown) people maybe, and get the 10/10 girl. Ugh. How offensive and stereotypical. Sure the game was not a success in the end, but that interpretation (totally valid from the still image) is inaccurate. Why? Because the game exists.
But box arts are sometimes like movie trailers. The directors don't always have input. The exist as a disparate entity but can be considered fair game in a holistic analysis. But that can only be done after.
Kadayi
Banned
Indeed. Some ridiculous assumptions to jump to in the absence of anything other than a cover image to go off of. Figure the OP is trying to make some name for himself here by being edgy with the accusations.
DouglasteR
Member
Ohhh please.
This is why we cant have nice things.
This is why we cant have nice things.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Obviously we already achieved a perfect utopia in gaming already right. Did you also thing the Miiquality was also disgusting? Just curious.
"stererotypes" are bad when they have nothing to do with reality and/or are used to discriminate.
Complaining about the art because you think that the guy is a stereotyped gay man means that you are applying the stereotype yourself too.
Apocryphon
Member
Slavic people are Caucasian.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
I generally don't get (that) hyped about video game trailers, and many people in GAF can be pretty desingenious in their hype or overnegative.
I agree with that.
(thought is actually a philosopic/literary debate in how much presentation/content matters. But I like to think that both should matter as much)
I'm so glad you picked this Veerender Jubbal to help you make a point!
https://twitter.com/Veeren_Jubbal
You pretty much torpedoed your whole point with that clown.
https://twitter.com/Veeren_Jubbal
You pretty much torpedoed your whole point with that clown.
Rex Griswold
Member
Does no one see the problem with the fairly intense stereotyping about the character in question? Since when does a pink/purple suit and a designer hair style automatically make a man gay? I better throw out my purple shirts before people get the wrong idea.
This is the very definition of looking too much into nothing.
This is the very definition of looking too much into nothing.
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
Are you trolling? Do you go on twitter? Racism and Homophobia funneled to these guys and gals is a given mate. Unless OP is talking about on neogaf. Then yeah I don't think so.
nah dude, hes a PHD Candidate. His word is law
keltickennedy
Member
There is the thing. You are already assuming that the dude on the cover is gay. We know nothing about him.
EdibleKnife
Member
We can only hope. Never seen an OP talk himself into corners so much.
Dark Octave
Banned
Without seeing the main character, I already know he's white, I'd bet money on it. So why can't the main character and/or dude in pink be whatever race the nameless cannon fodder holding the grenade is?
Only white men can either save or destroy this island. Everyone else must be too stupid and are simply sheep that populate it, I guess.
Only white men can either save or destroy this island. Everyone else must be too stupid and are simply sheep that populate it, I guess.
Bluekaveli
Member
Why did you even make this thread?
We know what happened when gaf got upset about the drm thing.
We know what happened when gaf got upset about the drm thing.
LGBT people have classically been antagonists and villains in different things for a long time. Not always overtly, because of censors and stuff. There's probably nothing inherently wrong with it, except for ignoring the context of why people like that have been placed as roles as villains (much like how there were lots of German, Japanese, and Russian villains in stuff throughout the 20th century).
Tinfoilhatsron
Banned
I love the people screaming 'No, YOU are sterotyping!' I'm just rolling in the aisles. False equivalency guys. If Bay creates racist characters, and people point it out, are people on both side sterotyping?
Edit: While I do believe this is a tad of an over reaction, its like today is 'stop da PCSJW' offended crowd day.
Edit: While I do believe this is a tad of an over reaction, its like today is 'stop da PCSJW' offended crowd day.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
keltickennedy
Member
Oh just you wait till we find out this purple wearing mofo is being rendered in 900p!!
notoccupanther
Member
But but ... isn't the baddie (Mr Pink) supposed to be defeated so the minority (captured native) rises from the ashes to claim his rightful throne yadda yadda yadda ?
So justice's journey dressed in the guise of racism as a precursor to the Far Cry 4 adventure, (or something), no?
So justice's journey dressed in the guise of racism as a precursor to the Far Cry 4 adventure, (or something), no?
I'm reading too far into how people have read too far into this ... seesh
cpp_is_king
Member
Sometimes I really feel embarrassed to come from a country where every single person gets so goddamned sensitive over everything. Look, every time you have a good guy and a bad guy, that good guy and that bad guy are going to look like someone. It doesn't mean that people who look like that in real life are bad. Why does this even need to be stated in this day and age? Seriously, what do people want? Every model in the game to use the the exact same asset? Should we just go back to the 8-bit era where everything was so damn pixellated you can't tell who or what it was supposed to look like?
These so called "equality warriors", who go around fighting for everything to be treated equally, end up having exactly the opposite effect. Why *can't* a gay guy be a villain? Straight people are villains all the time. If it's equality they want, then allowing a gay person to be a villain (assuming the person in the image is even gay to begin with, which is certainly not clear at all) is the definition of equality.
I'm really interested in hearing these peoples' opinions about what a villain is "supposed" to look like. What rules should we impose on the creation of villains, to satisfy them? How about victims? Do we need a rule that says "Victims cannot appear brown, black, middle eastern, asian, or native american?" Freaking ridiculous. Stories are stories, they're not real.
These so called "equality warriors", who go around fighting for everything to be treated equally, end up having exactly the opposite effect. Why *can't* a gay guy be a villain? Straight people are villains all the time. If it's equality they want, then allowing a gay person to be a villain (assuming the person in the image is even gay to begin with, which is certainly not clear at all) is the definition of equality.
I'm really interested in hearing these peoples' opinions about what a villain is "supposed" to look like. What rules should we impose on the creation of villains, to satisfy them? How about victims? Do we need a rule that says "Victims cannot appear brown, black, middle eastern, asian, or native american?" Freaking ridiculous. Stories are stories, they're not real.
We don't know his sexual preferences yet and we have no other material about him that that cover, therefore these people are applying a stereotype.
SocksForWoks
Banned
Just realized the man in purple is holding the pin to that grenade.. he has a lot of faith that his prisoner won't try to kill him with it...
It's a really cool boxart, hope they don't change it.
It's a really cool boxart, hope they don't change it.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Why the hell Micheal Bay is in this particular discussion?
The only one invoking his name is you without much context or argument.
Probably not unfortunately.
I was on a movie forum earlier and someone posted a gif that had the 'N' word in it, i asked if we could have none of those kind of gifs because its wrong to use the 'N' word on a forum. I was then attacked by a couple of users playing the whole 'PC Brigade' card, i then said that i hate all the rampant PC Brigade shite but its simply wrong to use the 'N' word.
I was then attacked again by another user who said that if i hate PC Brigade shite, i also hate blacks, gays and women and that i must be a racist!.
This ladies and gentlemen is the world we live in today!. Bonkers.
I never said they were bad simply that tropes that portray homosexual or even effeminate men as villains are not uncommon.
What damage and why does the existence of a particular fictional character represent something other than the character itself? If a gay game developer created a flamboyantly gay character, does that somehow make it better or okay? Is there is some line of dialogue a gay writer could write that a straight one could not? If so, fiction wouldn't work, no? What's worse, no gay characters or one you don't approve of? Is the idea of a flamboyantly gay character you disapprove of but one that is memorable, compelling, and liked by fans an impossibility? I'm not trying to gish gallop you, just curious.
the only problematic thing is your warped views and this thread. Would probably best for all involved if you deleted it.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Just pointing out, as even tv tropes forgets about that at times.
BrokenEchelon
Banned
If that's the villain or protagonist, I'm down either way. I hope he's rul cray.
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