Half-Masked

Much ado was made about the racially insensitive overtones in Resident Evil 5. The biggest complaint I’ve heard regards Sheva’s alternate costume, which is a tribal bikini ensemble. It was thought of as demeaning and objectifying towards women, which is so uncommon for video games aimed at horny men about girls with big tits shooting zombies.

But is it -racist-? I don’t think anyone at Capcom has a strong dislike for people of darker-hued skin. I think they went out to make something stupid, and overshot the mark just a tad. Maddox mentioned on his guest appearance on Doc Mock’s Movie Mausoleum that “Capcom really loves their fans.” This does not seem like an act of love, but neither does giving the most prominent, well-endowed female character in the game designed for young men a bikini become a statement against the black community.

Nonetheless, here are the new costumes for Sheva and Chris that PC owners get exclusively. Sheva can now be a professionally-dressed, intelligent, hard-working businesswoman. You might say that would be some means of alleviating the tension made by her bone-necklace/leopard print bikini set-up. But Capcom decided it wasn’t enough to merely try and bring her back to the level of dignity. Just to show there’s no hard feelings, now Chris is the one with the humiliating costume, looking like the gayest Kiss Soldier in a zombie-infested Africa.

Among the many ways I have seen companies attempt to make penance for their controversies, this is one of the more interesting. This doesn’t absolve the imagery of tribal zombies in grass-skirts that literally chuck spears at the player, but it’s about time Whitey got knocked down a peg.

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~A.H.