NOT a bait thread, but Why I Think This Game is (Partly) Woke

[ElfPrince1937]

Like the title says, NOT a trolling/baiting thread. All I ask--from both the moderators as well as everyone else on Steam--is the chance to make my case.

So, Resident Evil 4 Remake. Woke or not woke? Personally, my answer is, "Yes and no." For starters, I'll paraphrase Billy Crystal here:

"See, there's a difference between mostly woke and all woke. With mostly woke, there's still enough non-woke material to keep the game entertaining..."

And that's where I think this game is: much of it is very much entertaining in terms of combat and exploration. Other parts, however...not so much.

So, which parts do I think are woke?

My argument will be framed through the examination and analysis of two of the big baddies, specifically Jack Krauser and Osmund Saddler, and how their characters have been changed from the original 2005 game.

Let's get into it.

1. Jack Krauser

When Leon first "meets" Krauser in the original Resident Evil 4, we already know the two soldiers have a shared history. At that point in time, it's unclear what that history is, though their backstory is later revealed in the "Operation Javier" scenario of the rail shooter Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, released on the Nintendo Wii.

That's an important point, because after finally defeating Krauser in his Plaga form, after shot at, slashed/stabbed, nearly blown up and nearly kicked off a ledge, Leon has this to say upon examining Krauser's "corpse":

"Krauser...what happened to you? You used to be a good guy...

Clearly, Leon knows something about Krauser that we, the player, do not. He's literally reminiscing on a time when Krauser wasn't just an ally, but a fellow soldier, a brother-in-arms.

For those who, like myself, have played Darkside Chronicles, we see for ourselves the bond that these two guys formed as fellow soldiers in the field. Krauser was initially skeptical about Leon's experience--as well as whether Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W.s) even existed--but gradually comes to accept Leon as a competent partner. By the second-to-last chapter, Krauser outright pledges loyalty to Leon's cause of ridding the world of viruses, acknowledging that, "If your orders come from the President, then I'm on your side." This scenario perfectly sets the stage for Leon's shock and disappointment at what his old comrade has become two years later, during the events of the original Resident Evil 4.

Literally all of that gets erased with the Remake, and I mean ALL of it.

For starters, we see during the intro video that "Major" Krauser was actually Leon's training overseer after Leon was recruited by the U.S. Government, rather than his partner in the field. On top of that, what little we know of the Remake version of Operation Javier strongly implies that it, too, has been completely remade.

Gone is the bonding in the field between two brothers-in-arms.
Gone is Krauser's grudging admiration for Leon's skills.

Instead, we only get an incredibly vague mention of Krauser and his "unit" being left for dead by the United States Government, and now he's out for revenge and power because "if they have it, why can't I?"

So now, not only was Leon never even part of the mission, but neither do he and Krauser have nearly as much personal history as their original counterparts. In contrast to the more sympathetic OG-Krauser--who, we learn in Darkside Chronicles, sought out Wesker in order to have his arm healed after sustaining an injury during Operation Javier--Remake Krauser now comes across as a bitter and petty stand-in for everyone screwed over by the American government.

That's important to keep in mind, because of the next point:

2. Osmund Saddler

In the original Resident Evil 4, Saddler is exactly what he appears to be. Telling Leon in a clearly-European accent, "No longer will the United States think they can police the world forever," the very clearly Pagan cult leader outlines his plan to use Ashley, the First Daughter, to launch a terrorist attack on the United States of America.

And right here, a bit of context might help put all this in perspective.

The game takes place in Spain. All the villagers and cultists clearly speak Spanish.
There is also a note from Salazar very clearly designating Los Illuminados as a pre-Christian Pagan cult, even portraying their "oppression" at the hands of the pro-Christian Spanish Inquisition.

On top of all of that, we have two very revealing lines in the original game that show us exactly how Osmund Saddler feels about the United States of America:

Krauser: "I needed her [Ashley] to prove Saddler's trust in me. Like you [Leon], I'm an American."

Saddler: "Did you really think I'd trust an American?"

Clearly, the Euro-Pagan Saddler is prejudiced against Americans. But that's ok; it's consistent with his character, because, well...Saddler's the villain. Leon, the American agent, is the protagonist. It works.

And this is where another important piece of context becomes helpful:

The original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005, just four years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. Just in case you think it's a coincidence, consider also this exchange between Leon and Salazar:

Leon: "This is no ritual, it's terrorism!"
Salazar: "Isn't that a popular word these days?"

Clearly there's a pro-American theme going on there, and it's not entirely misplaced, given the context of "save the President's daughter from a mind-controlling parasite."

Now, in contrast, let's take a look at Osmund Saddler in the Remake.

Gone completely is his clearly-audible European accent. Like, completely. Instead, Saddler speaks in what is unmistakeably a Southern-American accent better suited to a preacher of the Southern Baptist Convention.

For those of who think I'm making this up, I invite you to either play the game or watch a video of one of Remake-Saddler's appearances, during which you will also note his constant use of the term, "Sacrificial Lamb" in reference to Leon and/or Ashley. This is, again, an unmistakable reference to the Judeo-Christian religion(s).

"But wait Dark, I thought you said Saddler is a Pagan cult leader? And that's he supposed to be European? And that this game takes place in Spain?"

Yes. Yes, I did, which is what makes the Remake especially jarring and, dare I say it, even schizophrenic when you start examining it beneath the surface.

It's still very clearly based in Spain, which is of course in Europe. Los Illuminados is very much still an antagonistic cult. You even have Luis being obsessed with Don Quixote to remind us that the game takes place in Spain.

As stated above, the original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005, and undoubtedly incorporated socio-political themes that were prevalent at its time; it's right up there with, say, 24 with Kiefer Sutherland.

Similarly, the Resident Evil 4 Remake definitely seems to be channeling certain socio-political themes that are now becoming more popular as of this writing, specifically an increasing anti-American sentiment.

This, once again, comes across as schizophrenic and jarring in the Remake for a couple of reasons:

1. Time/Setting

This is, quite frankly, something I've noticed with the original Resident Evil 2 versus that game's Remake, as well. For context, note that the original Resident Evil 2 was released in the exact same year that the game's events take place: 1998. Similarly, the original Resident Evil 4 was released in 2005 and was set in 2004.

The Remakes of both games, being released in 2019 (RE2) and 2023 (RE4), however, ultimately end up feeling less like staples of those eras (the 1990s-era grittiness is completely absent from the RE2 Remake) and more like someone's secondhand interpretation of what those time periods looked like.

2. Hero vs. Villain Roles

This is where the game really gets schizophrenic. Because if we take what I've noted above, we essentially have:

Leon, an American agent, fighting to save the U.S. President's daughter from a Southern-speaking religious leader who name-drops, "Sacrificial Lamb," a term commonly used throughout Western Christianity, while also reluctantly agreeing with his old army buddy, that "Yeah, what the U.S. Government did to you, Krauser, that was pretty bad."

It honestly gets to the point where it almost feels like Capcom--or, more specifically, the particular development team behind this game--forgot and then later remembered that Krauser and Saddler are meant to be the game's villains, but "well, we have to have an anti-American sentiment in there, so we'll just hope the players never notice the contradicting narratives."

I apologize about the length--kudos to anyone who actually bothered to read this all the way through--but I wanted to stress that this isn't just something I'm making up about the game.

And, sure--like I said at the very beginning, I wouldn't go so far as to say the game is entirely "woke."

But I do think a pretty big part of the narrative has been altered in a way that carries some pretty disturbing implications for future games in the series.

[Sledge]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Diposting pertama kali oleh CrunchyDaz:

I'm gonna do you a huge favor OP, this is gonna save you alot of time.

You don't know what woke is or means, stop using it, stop wasting your time trying to understand it.

Would you like to do me a bigger favor and by educating me on what "woke" is, then?

I'm not adverse to being humbled; I welcome open discussion and the opportunity to learn. So if I'm wrong, go ahead.

Make your case.

Good examples of genuine "woke" behaviour would come from PR campaigns by companies like Keurig or Nike.

Keurig pulled advertising from a particular source, loudly mentioned that they were doing so in response to someone telling them that they basically should and bam, suddenly, people were now in support of or buying Keurig machines due to their very obvious moral / social stance on something relevant at the time.

At the same time, people were also upset by the pulling of advertising on the opposite side of the spectrum and took to destroying their Keurig machines for clout on social media.

Other companies took note of this and essentially ran with their own campaigns in a similar vein as any PR is good PR. Nike with the American football player (forgotten his name, sorry) and another good example would be Gilette's ad campaign. Both led to people either in support of buying more or denouncing the company. Nike had people destroying shoes for some silly reason, Gilette, razors.

For me, something being defined as woke would need it's creators, corporations or various types of celebrities to take a loud and visible stance on something, typically via social media in some way.

Take The Last of Us show as an example. The writers, directors, actors and actresses to my knowledge did nothing to advertise the show in any way as taking a stance for or against anything, or with any particular group. There was no apparent virtue signalling or anything of the sort. Just a show made based on a popular game that decided to flesh out it's characters. That STILL upset people under the notion of things being "woke".

As for RE4, I do not see a stance being taken based on real world social / cultural politics. I suppose you do, and our perspectives do not align there.

My current issue with "woke" as a term is it's often used as an escape tool for people to hide behind in regards to their prejudices. The simple act of leads being female, homosexual relationships in any form of media, the inclusion of people of different racial origin or background etc. There's an argument to made how those things can have a negative effect on media with established characters, behaviours etc and sometimes I think people do a good job of conveying concern over that, but many don't care about that and simply latch onto "woke" as a means to escape potential criticism over nothing but hard-boiled prejudice.

Anyway, I disagree with your take in your OP but I respect your perspective. I'm already expecting jester awards from somewhere / someone in this thread but thank you for the interesting read nonetheless.

[Karma]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Karma:

I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to say here.

You can go back and read for yourself in the OP that I don't mention Ashley at all; I literally don't care about the changes they made to her--she's irrelevant.

My argument was specifically about Krauser and Saddler being changed so drastically.

Yeah well there you have it why should other people care for this?

[Harris]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Diposting pertama kali oleh KiLL ScreeN:

Middle aged men complaining the games woke because they can't look up a teenage girls skirt is pretty pathetic to be honest.

Agreed; glad I deliberately avoided talking about that at all in my OP ;)

Oh wow. So that's your true colors.

You claim the game being woke for fundamentally misrepresenting one character, but at the same time you're perfectly fine with the same being done to another one. You're such a hypocrite.

Sterilizing every single line of flirtatious dialogue as well as any fan service and generally any implication that a woman could be "sexualized" from the remake is the wokism much more egregious than some fine details of Krauser's biography. Now I understand why you "avoided talking about that".

[ElfPrince1937]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Karma:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

My argument was specifically about Krauser and Saddler being changed so drastically.

Yeah well there you have it why should other people care for this?

Well, I'm guessing that if other people, it's for the same reason I do:

Namely, that two of the most memorable villains from the OG were changed so unbelievably in the Remake.

Whether or not that does qualify as "woke," it's still not a good narrative change, imho.

[MonkeyBone]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Anywhere Butt There:

Diposting pertama kali oleh MonkeyBone:

Very well put and I absolutely agree. After completing it the first time I had similar thoughts in regards to Krauser and Saddler. A different narrative isn't a bad thing but the replacement really isn't up to scratch. What'e even more amazing is the plot for RE4 was written in just a few weeks, and yet, is more coherent than the plot of REmake 4. An issue that has been plaguing the REmakes. (Leon and Claire having scenes that shouldn't be possible in REmake 2 for example)
It's a shame as the structure of REmake 4 is a lot better, but it's riddled with issues that stop it surpassing the original. Still, at the very least, it's the best of the REmakes in my opinion.

These C-lister Western scenario writers that Capcom has been hiring since RE7 clearly are not good at nuanced writing. Capcom's old writing talent from the main Japanese branch, Noboru Sugimura especially, and the Western localization team were just a different breed. These people undeniably helped to craft some of the most iconic and defining games of the 90s and 00s.

You're cetainly not wrong and it's not exclusive to Capcom either. Team Silent for example are absolute legends of the business and the tale behind them and the development of the first title is mind blowing. And lets not forget Pokemon Gold and Silver, absolute next-level compression techniques that are lost to time because modern devs don't know what the word "compression" even means.
I'm just glad these guys and girls were around at all so we got to, and still get to, enjoy the absolute gold they made. And I do lament younger generations that writing like we see in the REmakes will be what they first experience.

[ElfPrince1937]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Harris:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Agreed; glad I deliberately avoided talking about that at all in my OP ;)

Oh wow. So that's your true colors.

You claim the game being woke for fundamentally misrepresenting one character, but at the same time you're perfectly fine with the same being done to another one. You're such a hypocrite.

There's no need for this level of antagonism.

I would also advise you to consider that I was potentially joking with Kill Screen up there, hence the emoji.

Diposting pertama kali oleh Harris:

Sterilizing every single line of flirtatious dialogue as well as any fan service and generally any implication that a woman could be "sexualized" from the remake is the wokism much more egregious than some fine details of Krauser's biography. Now I understand why you "avoided talking about that".

I "avoided talking about it" because, frankly, it's irrelevant. My OP was about Krauser's and Saddler's characters being changed, not Ashley's.

And no, it goes far beyond merely "some fine details."

Though if I'm being honest, then yes--I also have a big issue with Ada being desexualized, as the "femme fatale" trope is very much central to her character.

Though the problems with her and Leon's relationship began back in the Resident Evil 2 Remake, well before this game.

[lieutenantduran]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Karma:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to say here.

You can go back and read for yourself in the OP that I don't mention Ashley at all; I literally don't care about the changes they made to her--she's irrelevant.

My argument was specifically about Krauser and Saddler being changed so drastically.

Yeah well there you have it why should other people care for this?

maybe because the game is getting un-warranted 10/10's and 100 scores. for a game that objectively has less content. less story telling, less voice acting, based on the original which got a 94.

[lieutenantduran]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Harris:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Agreed; glad I deliberately avoided talking about that at all in my OP ;)

Oh wow. So that's your true colors.

You claim the game being woke for fundamentally misrepresenting one character, but at the same time you're perfectly fine with the same being done to another one. You're such a hypocrite.

Sterilizing every single line of flirtatious dialogue as well as any fan service and generally any implication that a woman could be "sexualized" from the remake is the wokism much more egregious than some fine details of Krauser's biography. Now I understand why you "avoided talking about that".

ashley was never a big character in re4, she never had mastermind plans, or an interesting backstory, the other characters did.

[Karma]

Diposting pertama kali oleh lieutenantduran:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Karma:

Yeah well there you have it why should other people care for this?

maybe because the game is getting un-warranted 10/10's and 100 scores. for a game that objectively has less content. less story telling, less voice acting, based on the original which got a 94.

Dont think it has less content i had more hours on it after playing main story than after playing RE4 OG story, mercenaries, assignment Ada and Separate ways , yes they cut few things but made some sections longer or added new sections.

[ElfPrince1937]

Diposting pertama kali oleh lieutenantduran:

ashley was never a big character in re4, she never had mastermind plans

UNLESS...

"Mr. President, we have an urgent situation involving your daughter!" 0_0'

[Chillermaschine]

Oh my, how horrible indeed.
Still not as bad as the skirt-situation.
THAT is something that will RUIN the men of the future, mark my words.

[Karma]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Chillermaschine:

Oh my, how horrible indeed.
Still not as bad as the skirt-situation.
THAT is something that will RUIN the men of the future, mark my words.

+

[ElfPrince1937]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Chillermaschine:

Oh my, how horrible indeed.
Still not as bad as the skirt-situation.
THAT is something that will RUIN the men of the future, mark my words.

Nah, as a literary book-worm, I was ruined already by Luis' choice of stories.

Don Quixote? Really, Luis?

No wonder you died by way of knife to the back.

[Flan]

Diposting pertama kali oleh King Arthur:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Would you like to do me a bigger favor and by educating me on what "woke" is, then?

I'm not adverse to being humbled; I welcome open discussion and the opportunity to learn. So if I'm wrong, go ahead.

Make your case.

Good examples of genuine "woke" behaviour would come from PR campaigns by companies like Keurig or Nike.

They wouldn't keep doing it if the people who still say woke unironically weren't so eager to step on that rake for them.

Companies care about exactly one thing, profit and more of it.

Loudspeakers that broadcast things as woke also care about one thing too, views and the delicious ad bucks they bring.

[Agentti Kiivi]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Darkgamester301:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Agentti Kiivi:

Krauser: "You remember the fight in the jungle? We barely made it out alive."
Leon " "Go with your gut! Don't think!" That was the first thing you taught me."

That was the talk about operation javier.
Not the talk about Krausers unit at the start.

Actually, it's both.

During the first knife duel:

Krauser: "Have you forgotten what happened two years ago?"

Leon: "Operation Javier?"

Krauser: "Operation Javier. My entire unit wiped out. And our own government let it happen."

So yes--they changed the original story of Operation: Javier for the Remake.

And you said that leon wasn't there, that they had no history outside of the training.
"So now, not only was Leon never even part of the mission,"