“The Legend of Zelda” is classist, sexist and racist

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/05/the_legend_of_zelda_is_classist_sexist_and_racist/

by somedude99 • 13 years ago

6 14 13 years ago

salon.com

guiomie• 13 years ago

lol

maaku2• 13 years ago

WTF? More like “The Legend of Zelda does not conform with my neo-Marxist and radical feminist [sic] world view.”

Maybe the problem is with you, not the game?

nathan_long• 13 years ago

"By focusing on the greed of individuals, the game ignores how private property incentivizes and even mandates such behavior."

This is where I quit reading.

Without private property, the state owns everything. And some of the animals always end up being a lot more equal than the others.

Greedy humans will always exist. Giving a few of them control of all property is very unwise and has always worked out poorly.

vinceguidry• 13 years ago

I didn't finish either. The idea of using culture as a battleground for class struggle is admittedly tempting, but ultimately it just means more ways for the non-creative to tell the creative how to do their jobs. If Mad Men had to be politically correct for the current time, it wouldn't be worth watching.

clarky07• 13 years ago

This article is so bad I don't even know where to begin. Having a man save a women in a video game isn't sexist. This is a case of looking for a problem where there isn't one to get pageviews and clicks.

mcphilip• 13 years ago

Gaming narratives often jingoistic. News at 11...

No one's claiming the Zelda series gives Dostoyevsky-esque insights into societal structures.

krapp2• 13 years ago

The racial, ethnic and religious traits of the “good characters” and the “bad characters” within the game also demonstrate a certain xenophobia. All of the good characters, such as the Hylians and Kokiri, are white. In contrast, all of the bad characters, such as the thieving Gerudo and their king, Ganondorf, have brown skin.

That seems to happen a lot in fantasy. I think I remember reading somewhere that it was pointed out to J.R.R. Tolkien once that all of the heroes of his stories were essentially white and all of his villainous monsters were "creatures of color" and he remarked he'd never considered the unfortunate consequences.

Nevertheless, i think this guy is reading way, way too much into what is, essentially, running around a maze stabbing monsters and collecting loot.

maaku2• 13 years ago

Also, middle-earth was supposed to be a mythology for England... naturally the 'men of the west' would be English (white)?

Anyway, I always thought 'mysterious dark-skinned bad guys from the south' was cultural legacy from the Moorish invasion & Christian reconquest of Spain.

EDIT: Then again, we're talking about a Japanese video game (albeit with the trappings of traditional European fantasy) so I'm not sure how much of the above applies.

krapp2• 13 years ago

I've played the Japanese version of the original as a ROM for what it's worth and they didn't change the character design for export so far as I can remember. Probably "European fantasy" explains that...

mamcx• 13 years ago

I wonder why some people read a radical viewpoint on everything.

Seriously they think that a author wake up in the morning, then think:

"I will create a racist story".

Instead of:

"I imagine a cool game!". I bet the majority not think about the unfortunate implications of everything they do, and more than that, not even imagine that someday in the future some kind-of-a-expert will look for a serious philosophical undertone in his work, then create it.

omonra• 13 years ago

Great parody.

dccoolgai• 13 years ago

We are all dumber for having read this... I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul....

Seriously, though...this is offensive...there is real racism and sexism in media...you don't need to go fishing this far for it, and doing so distracts and dilutes the legitimate efforts to point it out and criticize where necessary...

olgeni• 13 years ago

At least it's not ageist.

Suro• 13 years ago

Someone need to read some Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, an hilarious book.

“The Legend of Zelda” is classist, sexist and racist

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