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Or Was it Just Andy Serkis in Motion Capture?

Apr 14, 2008
By .
Politics & Current Events

Bill Harris has another interesting post on the ever readable Dubious Quality. He talks about race in the Resident Evil 5 trailer, and the historical implications of the Brute. As soon as I read it, I thought of one thing, the Vogue cover with Lebron James.

Lebron is the first African American male to be on the cover of Vogue, and that is trailblazing, but one cannot help but think of the Brute stereotype when they see this cover. It also evokes a good deal of King Kong to me, with the savage beast clutching the fair maid.

Annie Leibowitz (the photographer for this cover) is too smart an artist not to get these connections. Perhaps she is trying to play off of them, or comment on the incipient racism, but it all seems a little ham handed to me. I think we would be better off with an image of Lebron as the stylish black man, cultured and well dressed (as he always is off the court) or something showcasing his impish sense of humor. We really didn't need to go all "where the white women at" on this one.

To continue the idea from Ken's entry on speech, just because some people are denying there is a racial connotation to that cover, doesn't mean there isn't one.

Oh, and if anyone is offended.. well, I think you know the rest…

Last 5 posts by Ezra

6 Comments
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6 Comments

  1. Kelric  •  Apr 14, 2008 @11:50 pm

    I'm sorry, but I just don't see it with the RE5 trailer. I see it with the James cover, have since that first got plastered on the internet. King Kong, easy enough image to connect it to. All I see with the RE5 trailer is a bunch of bad guys attacking the good guy. Those bad guys just happen to be black this time – were all four previous Resident Evils filled only with white zombies (and zombie dogs)?

    Bill Harris wrote, "Anyone with an understanding of our own history will be repelled by what the trailer methodically evokes."

    Honestly, it made me think of Blackhawk Down. Which was black mobs attacking white soldiers, in parts. Not the Black Man As The Devil imagery.

  2. Ken  •  Apr 15, 2008 @6:34 am

    There was a post someplace with comparison pictures that suggested the cover was a very specific allusion to a wartime propaganda poster. I will see if I can find it.

  3. Kelric  •  Apr 15, 2008 @9:27 am

    http://withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=5405

    Destroy this mad brute!

  4. Ezra  •  Apr 15, 2008 @10:12 am

    To be fair, Kelric, there were some pretty awful racial connotations (especially from the Brute perspective) about Blackhawk Down (despite the dearth of females.. I guess Josh Hartnett will have to do..)

  5. Kelric  •  Apr 15, 2008 @10:17 am

    I can understand it, I suppose, but it doesn't smack of racism at all to me in a case like this. It's a bunch of zombies attacking the player. They happen to be black. Oh noes.

    Maybe I've just never been oppressed enough. Damn those cafeteria ladies and their keeping chocolate milk away from me. (Wait, is it okay that I said chocolate milk?)

  6. RobF  •  Apr 15, 2008 @12:16 pm

    "Maybe I’ve just never been oppressed enough."

    Yep. With some topics, it's just like clockwork.