Racism for Children

The Master

The Master

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IDK if anyone has ever pointed this out in Pokemon Black/White version... But I would like to address it now...

Pokemon Black version (ONLY):
whimsicott.jpg


Notice how it's brown in color and the cotton on it? Americans used to make black slaves pick cotton...

Pokemon White version (ONLY):
lilligant.jpg


Looks a bit like a high class slave owner, right?

Racism in videogames aimed at children... Are their others? What are your thought on this?

Personally, it doesnt seem like a coinkydink considering Black Version has a black stereotype... and White Version has a white stereotype...


 
Need I remind you this game was made by southeastern asians who could probably care less about American/European history? There are many small coincidences like this in almost anything all throughout the world these days. I highly doubt all of it is racism... Since I've never encountered legit racism in videogames I have no thought on the subject. I'm pretty sure there are things all throughout many videogame series/franchises that can be interpreted that way though.
 
I don't think this is racist, I never even noticed this while playing or even thought about it. Whimsicott is my favourite pokemon, I think it's fucking adorable and i never once connected it to being a black slave and still don't see it haha

The only game I think miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be slightly racist though is RE5, I mean, c'mon hahaha you only shoot black people in that game bar a couple of main characters who are white hahaha :wacky:
 
Squid said:
I don't think this is racist, I never even noticed this while playing or even thought about it. Whimsicott is my favourite pokemon, I think it's fucking adorable and i never once connected it to being a black slave and still don't see it haha

The only game I think miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be slightly racist though is RE5, I mean, c'mon hahaha you only shoot black people in that game bar a couple of main characters who are white hahaha :wacky:
Click to expand...

You are the only person so far that has given another (racist) game as an example (y) Good job on your part! :awesome:
 
Ok how can I put this...

1st. Like Exo said, this was made in japan where they don't give a flying Eff about American/Euro History.

2nd. Its Pokemon for god sake, each god forsaken one has a slew of Pokemon based on the color/gemstone.

3rd. I don't get where you see the Slave owner, ok the Cotton thing and it being black is probably a coinicidence, but the other one looks like a Bellosom but with a bit more style.

4th. Its Bloody Pokemon, I mean come on theres what... 600+ of the little effers running amok across the world now, how many more do you think the devs can pull out of their asses xD they're running out of ideas and making stuff up. (just a reason I won't buy anymore games)

But yeah thats my thoughts on this
 
H0MO$3XUAL said:
You DONT see the controversial racism in making a black version pokemon the color of a black man and then putting cotton on it?

Please tell me why you think this...
Click to expand...

1. It's a pokemon.
2. This thread feels like spam.
3. It's the depiction of a plant monster. The colors of a plant tend to be green and BROWN. :gasp:
4. I mentioned this game was made by japanese people who could probably care less about race. They're more likely to be xenophobic than racist...

And that pokemon is clearly brown, green, orange, and beige. Last I checked the color of a black man's skin varied between browns only. -_- Gurlfran you're thinking too much into this.
 
[Exoskeleton] said:
1. It's a pokemon.
2. This thread feels like spam.
3. It's the depiction of a plant monster. The colors of a plant tend to be green and BROWN. :gasp:
4. I mentioned this game was made by japanese people who could probably care less about race. They're more likely to be xenophobic than racist...

And that pokemon is clearly brown, green, orange, and beige. Last I checked the color of a black man's skin varied between browns only. -_- Gurlfran you're thinking too much into this.
Click to expand...

It wasnt intended to be spam... I just drew the connection and thought it was interesting... But you are probably right... I'm thinking too much :(
 
I can see how it looks racist, in that light.

But I think that they truly went for this image because it is a sheep pokemon (I presume), and I believe that they have a lot of other pokemon that are farm animals that are either white or light pink in colour.

And if the wool of that pokemon is truly suggested to be cotton, that in itself is not racist either. Before cotton was introduced to the West, Europeans in antiquity and in the medieval times used to think that they were trees or plants with wool growing from them (which in a sense, they are in appearance). Some people would get confused and assume that some sheep even grew from the plants as well. The association between sheep and cotton is not a strange thing, therefore, and I do not take it to be a racist thing there. And if we are to take it from an isolated Japanese perspective, and discard all of that background, then it is not racist at all either, but the cotton = wool associations are I think a natural reaction to viewing and touching cotton.

As for the plant pokemon, I consider it to really be a tall white variation of other plant pokemon.


-

I don't think this needs to be moved to spam, unless the thread goes that way. People can discuss the topic in post-length posts. People have brought up racism in Pokemon and other similar media before, so there is room for a discussion here.
 
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Now that you've told me, I suppose I can sort of see where you're coming from, but that's only because I've had it clearly pointed out to me (and not to mention I don't like Pokémon, so I have no clue who the heck these ones are!). Otherwise, I probably wouldn't really bat an eyelid and infer that HOLY CRAP, THEY'RE PERPETUATING RACIST STEREOTYPES! BAN THIS SICK FILTH!!!

I really don't think that most people - especially kids - will look at these and think much about them, let alone connect this to something shamefully racist. I highly doubt this was what the designer(s) was/were going for and that they were just desperate to churn out any design for their latest zoo after the rubbish bag and ice cream Pokémon designs. It's really only a minority that actively looks at this sort of thing, stretches it and loudly turns it into an outrageous racism case.

You want something that blatantly looked racist in relation to the video game industry no matter how you look at it? Google the PSP White commercial poster.

[Exoskeleton] said:
Need I remind you this game was made by southeastern asians who could probably care less about American/European history?
Click to expand...

Wait, Pokémon is developed in Vietnam now, or is Japan now considered to be part of Southeast Asia all of a sudden?
 
I really don't think this was at all meant to be racist, and I don't think the second one looks like a high class slave owner. Women had very little rights then as well in America. :lew: She'd likely be considered to be as much an object as the slave back then, just a high maintenance one.

Squid said:
I don't think this is racist, I never even noticed this while playing or even thought about it. Whimsicott is my favourite pokemon, I think it's fucking adorable and i never once connected it to being a black slave and still don't see it haha

The only game I think miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be slightly racist though is RE5, I mean, c'mon hahaha you only shoot black people in that game bar a couple of main characters who are white hahaha :wacky:
Click to expand...


....well...considering it's in, you know....Africa..... :hmmm: It would be less racist but more inaccurate to shoot even amounts of different races.
 
I thought it looked like colonel sanders actually. Anyway it's pokemon. They could be racists but not that kind of racist. Think about it.. slavery of that kind was only in Europe and America.

These tools/games are manufactured in the East.

It would be REAAAACCHING to claim this as racist.
 
Shu said:
I thought it looked like colonel sanders actually. Anyway it's pokemon. They could be racists but not that kind of racist. Think about it.. slavery of that kind was only in Europe and America.

These tools/games are manufactured in the East.

It would be REAAAACCHING to claim this as racist.
Click to expand...

This may be true, but what about a game like Earthbound and the controversy with the Blues Brothers? That was a Japanese game but it still got a lot of people riled up over here in America...
 
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C a l i said:
what makes you think it's cotton? :wacky: not everything black/brown is supposed to be a reference to blacks. it's just the color of the pokemon. if I have black sneakers with laces made from cotton is that somehow racist? :hmmm:

I think it's just people's imaginations getting the best of them about this sort of thing. no offense or nothin
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Oh, I dont know, maybe because it evolves from a pokemon called COTTONee:
220px-546Cottonee.png
 
Pockets said:
....well...considering it's in, you know....Africa..... :hmmm: It would be less racist but more inaccurate to shoot even amounts of different races.
Click to expand...

Yeah true but I still think its a little racist, not that it bothers me haha
 
At second glance, Mr. I-apparently-look-like-a-black-cotton-picker could also just as easily look like an Arab with cotton all over him to me. And for the second one, if I look at it on its own without the first picture above it, I just picture an upper class 19th century posh snot woman, not a woman slave owner, if there were even that many.

I reiterate: most ordinary people aren't going to take quick glances at these and think: OH CHRIST, RACIST CARICATURES! especially children. It may only become that apparent to you when you're scouring it looking for anything, no matter how much you stretch it out and push it to make a mountain out of whatever molehill there even was, assuming it was even there.
 
Let me just be clear that if I am being perceived to be worked up about this, I am not. I'm just trying to make a point that this is what I drew my connections to and I thought it would make an interesting topic to debate about since there are a lot of controversial things (such as this) in videogames.
 
If there was no intention to offend I don't really see a point in trying to discuss something that wasn't intended. Pokemon is the most child friendly game out there. There are probably other games that would have been better suited as an example. I see where you were going with this as a discussion though. ^_^

RE5 took place in Africa, so that's pretty understandable(Besides when there were white zombies nobody complained). I can't really think of any games to use in place of this one though. I imagine game developers would want to try to stay away from controversy. I feel as long as it wasn't intended there's really no point for me to get worked up about it.
 
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