Race, Nationality, Language Gripes

I know this has probably been done to death and half of you don't want to talk about this kind of storyline crap in here, but i just wanted to get this off your chest so if you hate threads like this just skip it.
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How come the Chinese characters are Chinese, but the Japanese characters are obviously white? Aoi is the only one that could pass for Japanese. Goh and Akira are white guys. Kage has a mask.

Is Wolf supposed to be a Native American? He's white too.

I know nobody would understand it, but IMO the game's realistic feel would only be heightened if Lion spoke French, Brad spoke Italian, and the Chinese characters spoke Cantonese.

 

Actually, wolf's facial structure looks pretty native american to me, very similar to 50% n.a. person I know. Goh's not white, he's just a zombie; and although it's hard to tell, it looks to me like he's got epicanthic folds. I do have to agree with you on Akira, though, he just looks like a whiteguy jock.

What's weirder to me is that the chinese folks speak japanese but the "americans" speak english.

 

Yeah, and why do the Japanese people in anime all have weird colored hair and pale skin and big eyes like that? We all know those aren't realistic traits, but we still regard their characters seriously. (Well, most of the time.)

My point: IT'S A DAMN VIDEO GAME. Enjoy the character designs for what they are. Anyone who expects some sort of accurate national representation off of them is stupid.

Personally, I'll gripe more over Vanessa's unrealistic weight than any ethnic crap, because that DOES affect gameplay.

 

I think he has a point about the way they look. Language may be a hassle but making them look remotely like their nationality is not. It's one thing making people look wacky and it's another making them look like their from a different race from the one their supposed to be representing. It's a bit dodgy.

Apart from Lau and Lei all the oriental characters look white or close to it. Aoi looked oriental in VF3 but not anymore. It's the same thing in Tekken and SC. In Tekken only Heihachi, Law and Lei and in SC Taki (maybe) and Mitsurugi look like their from the orient. How many characters are listed as oriental in those games but are given white features?

 

I think the character designs are fine, but I agree that having them speak their native tongues would be top tier production value. (no big deal, it just would)

The thing is my friend that you're gonna get responses like Zero's from people who are way too occupied with the game itself to even bother with anything cosmetic. i.e: the people skipping the pre-fight and winner quotes half the time to get to the action.

 

Tired of vanessa getting floated? What, you don't know any 5'9" women with muscles like tree trunks that only weigh 120lbs? I see them all the time.

Not that fighting game characters getting floated is any more in line with physics than representations of females are in line with physiology. I bet the lighter characters also fall slower in addition to getting floated higher. Next thing you know, sega will be telling us the earth's flat.

Oh, and VF3 aoi looked like elvis more than anything, at least now she looks female (and asian, imo).

 

Well, part of it are held stereo-types...I mean Jeffry, he is what most Japanese peolpe think Black people are....it is pretty racist...

 

Well actualy theres a wallpaper showing Kage's entire face and he looks chinese,and Jefry's a fisherman so gets a lot of sun esposure thats why hes brown(dont know the name of the color), tough vanesas weigh bothers me a litle,shes atleast the size as wolf. <font color="red"> </font> <font color="red"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="red"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font> <font color="blue"> </font>

 

Though I don't have it on me, check the manual for the character's weights and heights...the proportions are so innacurate, it's just hysterical!

I think all characters are like 6'2" and under, and Wolf and Jeff barely break 200, though this is just off the top of my head. /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

Here's the thing about that: as a black person you just kinda get used to it and forget it.

When you're young and learning, you react to everything, and have a heart attack every time prejudice rears its ugly head. You've just come into the knowledge of your people's history, and every perceived transgression against them seems like the end of civilization.

Then you get older, and maybe a little wiser, and you gain a some perspective. You see that almost every culture has suffered grevious injustices - some more than others - but that decent people are too few and far between for you to be disliking or dismissing them based on arbitrary crap.

You also learn that you don't have to have a reaction to everything, even if it seems wrong or you don't agree. Some stuff is innocent. Some stuff is malicious... the portrayal of Jeffry is simply the way these guys think. I wouldn't go so far as to call them racist (even if they are), but it's disappointing that Bob Sapp and Mike Tyson are basically all the Japanese have been exposed to.

So you accept it, and play the game because the game is fun. Sure Jeff is a big, hulking moron, but his front back breaker takes off 65 pts and TKoD just looks wicked. So it all evens out in the end. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

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Kain said:



I know nobody would understand it, but IMO the game's realistic feel would only be heightened if Lion spoke French, Brad spoke Italian, and the Chinese characters spoke Cantonese.

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The chinese characters should speak mandarine if there would be any real changes. Not Cantonese.

 

*Seconding that*

Aeon, that's probably one of the most intelligent and common-sense discussions of race and prejudice I've ever read. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I think it's an incredible shame that many people don't share this point of view. /versus/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

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Shadowdean said:

Well, part of it are held stereo-types...I mean Jeffry, he is what most Japanese peolpe think Black people are....it is pretty racist...

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Calling the game "racist" is a tad strong. I see it as cultural stereotyping, nothing more. And we're guilty of it just as much as the Japanese. You should check out some of the Western attempts at making Japanese characters. That terrible game "Hunter The Gathering" springs to mind, where they have the stock brightly-dressed coloured-hair asian girl, complete with kung foo moves ripped straight from a Jacky Chang movie. I'm sure our Japanese friends had a laugh over that character.

I think you also have to remember that VF is predominately aimed at an Eastern audiance. Therefore the character design will tend to go for idealised stereotypes that gameplayers over there will like. Apparently the Western look is still a huge fashion force with the youth in Japan - so the character design kind of makes sense in that context.

 

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Calling the game "racist" is a tad strong. I see it as cultural stereotyping, nothing more.

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hahaha. I love coming here for gems like this.

GE

 

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GodEater said:

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Calling the game "racist" is a tad strong. I see it as cultural stereotyping, nothing more.

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hahaha. I love coming here for gems like this.

GE

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At least in the UK, calling someone a "racist" means they're prone to make derogatory references to a particular race. Wheras cutural stereotrpes are commonly held assumptions about people of different race. I think there's a big difference there.

I was basically trying to say VF4's character design isn't intentionally negative, which is what calling it "racist" seems to suggest.

 

I don't think Jeff looks black enough, he needs some fried chicken and some kool-aid.

 

This is like in a lots chinese movies japanese males are either evil or short and goofy. Asian stereotypes. It's like non-asians think asians males all have small penis. How many asian dicks have you seen anyways Jerky and GLC?

 

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Shang said:

This is like in a lots chinese movies japanese males are either evil or short and goofy. Asian stereotypes. It's like non-asians think asians males all have small penis. How many asian dicks have you seen anyways Jerky and GLC?

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Whatever. I still don't think Sega intentionally designed characters with negative cultural references.

I find it hard to understand how anybody could feel offended by Jeff's character in VF4. If AM2 decided to add a new character in VF5 who was a 4 foot tall bagpipe-playing-kilt-wearing Scottish boxer, I'd probably:

1. Laugh allot.

2. Never play VF series again /versus/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

Goh and Akira are white guys? Give me a break, Akira looks just like he is 100000% Japanese. As for Goh, I don't think he looks like any exsiting race...

 

I haven't seen many, but I'm forced to by japanese condoms when my import stash runs out (you have to have someone send them to you as they don't sell them here). They're noticeably smaller when compared to the western ones, and ridiculously smaller in practice.

Can't speak for Korean, Chinese, or other asian products.