The dancing monkey

[Wood]

SPOILERS

What the ****? How did anyone think the sewer scene would be a good idea? To progress, the gamer must 'sell' a black woman, June, to a man who makes her undress and work as a dancing 'monkey'. Was this funny in Germany? I couldn't believe this ****, and looked for discussions online. I found the game developer defending his view as 'it is anti-racist, because it makes you reflect on racism'. . . . This comes across as incredibly naive. This is not a difficult moral dilemma that requires reflection. No one left this game thinking: 'Gee, I never thought about how wrong it would be to leave a black woman no choice but to work as a dancing MONKEY. Thank goodness this game made me think about that'. The lack of character development makes the whole thing particularly problematic (as well as detracting from the story). This is not a game where the protagonist, who is tiresomely unlikeable, comes to admit to himself that this was a ****y thing to do, which would allow us to see the supposedly 'anti-racist' agenda of the game. Rufus sings in one key, so to speak - he's smug and arrogant, two-dimensional except for very brief and temporary moments of repentance.

I tried to see the other side of things, and explained the whole issue to my girlfriend, who is mixed race. "You see, the game makes you sell a black woman to this creepy guy who dresses her like a stripper and makes her dance like a monkey, which permits the protagonist to progress in the game - in order to show that like, racism is wrong." Her reaction: ". . . What the ****?" Yeah. This still seems like a pretty sensible reaction.

I imagine some people are reading this thinking 'oh no, social justice warrior, political opinions, feminism, race, he shouldn't expect a game to conform to his political views' etc. We're talking about selling a black woman to a man who makes her dance like a 'monkey' - a derogatory term for black people that has a particular history. This is not partisan politics people. Nor am I reading political views INTO the game. According to the developer, the game HAS political views, it HAS a poliitcal agenda. Regarding this particular scene, that agenda is supposedly anti-racism. This alleged political agenda (if we're going to buy that) is expressed so badly that it comes across as the complete opposite, taking away from the pleasure of playing what is otherwise a pretty great game in a compelling and beautifully illustrated world.


Daedalic: What the hell were you thinking?!

[5M0k1N]

the whole game is filled with dark humour. i mean at one point you let 3 kids inside a very suspicious mans house, a man thats heavily suggested likes kid in a sexual way lol. theres ton of jokes like this, the black woman is just one more
also if it was a white woman it wouldnt have been a very good joke IMO. of course if you dont like this sort of humour then its not the right series for you.

personally i dont get this PoV. the point of humour like this is to go against whats considered "correct" (which i also find silly). a white woman would have been fine for this? why? just because black people have a history of slaverism? at which point will we be able to use them for jokes like this? i dont know it doesnt make sense, at some point you gotta let go of the past and theres way more horrible issues happening right now (kids starving? 1 every 3 seconds) to worry about some stuff that happened so long ago that nobody today was even alive

[Soga]

First of all, you're probably a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I see you posted this some time ago and never got back to it. You came here to just stir the pot and then run away.

Second, you really sound like a racebaiter. Most normal people playing this game wouldn't have even made the connection between dancing June and race. Hell, if you want to eliminate racism, you need to stop thinking in terms of race. As long as you think in terms of race, labels will exist based on race, because you are automatically attaching a racial label to things.

It's not that June is a black woman. It's that she's a human being that simply happens to be female and have a dark skin tone.

This thread really shouldn't even exist. It's obvious ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and it's obvious racebaiting. Grow the hell up.

[stefanyajh]

I searched the discussion section looking for people who also thought this was insane! What the hell were they thinking? Yes there is dark humour everywhere, I also thought the child baiter was walking a thin line, but to make the ONLY black woman in the whole game be sold to a guy to then be humiliated by dancing naked with a monkey's hat..I was genuinely shocked and yes I am a white woman. This is not racebaiting (what the hell is that even?). Also goes to show that people defending stuff like this are ALWAYS white people saying that you're being too sensitive, that color doesn't matter (yeah easy to say when your color doesn't limit you in any way) and the 'everyone sold as slaves are long dead, stop pulling the race card'. Racism is still very much present, and even though slavery is long (not that long, mind you) gone, the results of it in structural social behaviour are remaining strong in the present. Don't be ignorant, don't defend offensive stuff just because it doesn't hurt YOU.

[Frankye]

Jesus Christ, it's just a damn game dude, who cares.

[8-bit Ringo]

Lol, way to be racist by being offended at THIS, and literally not anything else in the rest of the games.

[Kiryu]

That's not -by far- the worst thing Rufus has done in the games. It says a lot about you that you only realized it when the victim was a black woman.

[SportyHeadShot]

Im still waiting for someone to start chanting Black Lives Matter