“Deus Ex: Human Revolution” sure loves the spotlight a little too much. Last time, it was a mishap with GameStop and the Onlive codes that caught journalists’ eyes and ears. Now “Deus Ex: Human Revolution,” developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix, jumps into the racial caricature hot seat. When playing “Deus Ex: Human Revolution,” I, and hundreds of thousands of other gamers, encountered a character in Detroit who is now referred to as Letitia the Trash Lady. This African American woman, existing in the year 2027, refers to the main character as “Cap’n” and comments on his augmentation by saying “Serif done fixed you up good, ain’t he?”
The only African American character that speaks like this is Letitia and all the other African American characters are not racial stereotypes and exist in the world as average Joe’s and Jane’s. This does not make the character and how she talks, her status as “The Trash Lady” and occupation of nothing any less offensive. How she talks harkens back to a movie character that appeared on the screen in the early 1900s: Stepin Fetchit. For those who are unfamiliar with early cinema history, Stepin Fetchit was a character played by Lincoln Theodore Monroe and his portrayal of African Americans was, and still is, seen as negative. This same linguistic controversy appeared when Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in 1999 and Jar-Jar Binks was constantly compared to Monroe’s portrayal of African Americans.
Square Enix, once again, had to release a statement to quell any sort of confusion about something that involved their published game. They said, and I quote from newstopics, “’Deus Ex: Human Revolution’ is a fictional story, which reflects the future of the world’s population, character features a variety of cultural and socio-economic background of diversity, it has never been intended to represent any particular ethnic group negative.” That’s all well and good Square Enix but the implications of the racial caricatures are still present in how Letitia The Trash Lady speaks.
Sam H., from gamingsrapture.com, commented on these events as, “another example of people being offended and completely misunderstanding what racism actually means. This is an NPC (Non Player Character) who happens to be black, and there are countless others in the game, from a variety of racial backgrounds, who are in a similar position to Letitia. She has one of a number of different accents used in the game.”
To me, it’s less about racism in “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” and more about the racial connotations a character that speaks like a racial character from the early 1900s has. Leave a comment below about your views on the subject.
