Culture Kotaku: Cuphead is racist - If you don't self-flagellate at every opportunity over racism you're a racost

http://archive.is/3Ui7j

tl;dr: Cuphead is racist because racist stuff happened in the 1930s and the devs didn't insert social commentary into a game about a fucking anthropomorphic cup.

 

[Ichimaru Gin]

I keep hearing this argument of "You can still enjoy these kinds of media while acknowledging they're problematic (No matter how convoluted the logic it is to make them so)", but I honestly don't see its point.

What exactly do I accomplish by acknowledging that this game may be possibly tangentially related to racist tendencies if I squint hard enough?

Because if I accept the premise that this game is somehow racist for it's stylistic presentation, but I buy it anyways, aren't I supporting racism?

Conversely, if I don't believe the game is racist just because it emulates an animation style, why should I acknowledge this nebulous connection to racism, if I just want to play and enjoy the game?

I don't think anyone that makes this argument even thinks that far about what it implies, really, but it's a curious thing to ponder.

 

[Burgers in the ass]

I remember when video game magazines like GamePro and EGM first popped up, and the only thing that the writers had to do was give you a brief summary about what the game was, the good and bad points, and whether the game was worth buying/renting. Now it's all articles about "This game is problematic because tits", "Buy this game because the creator sucked my dick at PAX", and "There are no option to play as a black Muslim lesbian trans woman in this game, therefore the creators are Nazis"

They still had shitty articles back then, I remember a gaming magazine from 2004 that had a good 2 pages dedicated to writing about a vietnam-based shooter was using actual footage, and were concerned about the morality in it, that same page also somehow managed to involve sexism into it.

 

[RockVolnutt]

I keep hearing this argument of "You can still enjoy these kinds of media while acknowledging they're problematic (No matter how convoluted the logic it is to make them so)", but I honestly don't see its point.

What exactly do I accomplish by acknowledging that this game may be possibly tangentially related to racist tendencies if I squint hard enough?

Because if I accept the premise that this game is somehow racist for it's stylistic presentation, but I buy it anyways, aren't I supporting racism?

Conversely, if I don't believe the game is racist just because it emulates an animation style, why should I acknowledge this nebulous connection to racism, if I just want to play and enjoy the game?

I don't think anyone that makes this argument even thinks that far about what it implies, really, but it's a curious thing to ponder.

The argument is generally used as a defense. The idea is "You see this 'problem'? Never do it again". It's so they look more appealing then being direct about wanting it destroyed for offending them. That and so they don't get called out on enjoying the wrong things.

Perhaps not the origin (someone correct me if so) but I first recall Anita using the phrase because it helped the illusion that she wasn't some weird outsider telling people what to think or a con artist.

 

[Water-T]

I keep hearing this argument of "You can still enjoy these kinds of media while acknowledging they're problematic (No matter how convoluted the logic it is to make them so)", but I honestly don't see its point.

It's a passive aggressive bullshit way for them to say, "I hate this and think it should be banned, but I'll get called out as pro-censorship, so i'll just guilt you into not watching/playing this instead".

 

[Solzhenitsyn]

Why didn't the difficulty of Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 trigger massive autistic tantrums like Cuphead did? Is it because the grimdark atmosphere of those games didn't appeal to leftist manchildren like Cuphead does?

They did. Those games spawned tons of articles about how Dark Souls should have an easy mode. Then when they were rightfully mocked by the community, they wrote articles about how toxic the Dark Souls fandom was.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Is it sad I didn't even have to click on this thread to know exactly why they accused it of racism?

 

[Ineedahero]

I keep hearing this argument of "You can still enjoy these kinds of media while acknowledging they're problematic (No matter how convoluted the logic it is to make them so)", but I honestly don't see its point.

What exactly do I accomplish by acknowledging that this game may be possibly tangentially related to racist tendencies if I squint hard enough?

Because if I accept the premise that this game is somehow racist for it's stylistic presentation, but I buy it anyways, aren't I supporting racism?

Conversely, if I don't believe the game is racist just because it emulates an animation style, why should I acknowledge this nebulous connection to racism, if I just want to play and enjoy the game?

I don't think anyone that makes this argument even thinks that far about what it implies, really, but it's a curious thing to ponder.

Like others have said, it's a bullshit argument designed to trick people into not complaining about their bullshit ideas. They frame it as if they are merely looking critically - as in academically - at the subject, when in reality they are passing moral judgement.

 

[A Random]

So wait, are they claiming that Cuphead and Mugman are negros now?

 

[ZehnBoat]

relevent

 

[CWCchange]

Weren't the 1930s considered the golden age of liberalism in the midst of the Great Depression, when people were paid by the government to dig holes and fill them back?

 

[Zoobles]

Judge me not by the color of my cup, but on the contents of my container

 

[Merp slurp]

That Cuphead follows the path of the Fleischers and hides what could have been his likeness behind an anthropomorphic talking dice is historically in line with black representation in animation. Once it became faux-pas to depict black characters as minstrels and racist caricatures, then the solution appears to be not depicting them at all

I-It's racist that the Calloway inspired character didn't appear in a human form in a world where everyone are fantastical creatures and object heads, and where frogs turn into slot machines and you beat the shit out of the devil!

 

[TowinKarz]

You know, if it hadn't been for 30's era cartoons, I would probably have never known who Cab Calloway was.... once SJWs have declared a medium problematic for their own short-sighted and petty reasons (gotta get the maximum number of social entities against you, if you REALLY want to be woke) it can have absolutely NO positives.

The first words of Spanish I ever saw/heard were in a Speedy Gonzales cartoon, so, broadening the cultural knowledge of kids, good right? HA! WRONG! Cartoons can only ever be racist and do bad things, provided white guys drew them.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

You know, if it hadn't been for 30's era cartoons, I would probably have never known who Cab Calloway was.... once SJWs have declared a medium problematic for their own short-sighted and petty reasons (gotta get the maximum number of social entities against you, if you REALLY want to be woke) it can have absolutely NO positives.

The first words of Spanish I ever saw/heard were in a Speedy Gonzales cartoon, so, broadening the cultural knowledge of kids, good right? HA! WRONG! Cartoons can only ever be racist and do bad things, provided white guys drew them.

Oddly enough Speedy Gonzales is actually hugely popular with Mexican viewers. They like how he's quick-witted and outsmarts that dumb gringo cat. His banishment to the Cartoon Hall of Shame is completely the product of self-flagellating whiteboys who took the burden of determining what is and isn't offensive onto themselves.

 

[Polish Hot Dog (spicie)]

Oddly enough Speedy Gonzales is actually hugely popular with Mexican viewers. They like how he's quick-witted and outsmarts that dumb gringo cat. His banishment to the Cartoon Hall of Shame is completely the product of self-flagellating whiteboys who took the burden of determining what is and isn't offensive onto themselves.

:powerlevel: Can confirm, pretty popular with my extended family, especially the little ones. They love him.

 

[AnOminous]

Every game should have a "game journalist" mode where it just shows you this and deletes itself.

 

[Hui]

Kotaku also had a recent article about Xenoblade 2 where people in the comments complained about the boobs. They are basically a less SJW Neogaf tbh. So this article isn't surprising.

 

[Hummingbird]

I-It's racist that the Calloway inspired character didn't appear in a human form in a world where everyone are fantastical creatures and object heads, and where frogs turn into slot machines and you beat the shit out of the devil!

I think Calloway would be proud of King Dice.

 

[Ti-99/4A]

Judge me not by the color of my cup, but on the contents of my container

So if you contain coffee or coke zero I can call you a nigger?

 

[Trilby]

It's not a game about racism. Therefore it's not obligated to go into any sort of detail about the social issues of the 30s. It's just a game about a anthropomorphic cup with 30s style visuals and music. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I wish these assholes saw it that way.

It's like if I made a game styled after the 60s and failed to have civil rights marches and buses full of black school children being overturned on every level. Even if the game was only about the style of the 60s I'd make a huge faux pas by not making it all about civil rights and my white devil tears.

It's like saying anything that involves history or is "period-based" is already poison now thanks to this over-thinking by people who were even around then. I used to love wanting to see the sort of stuff from the past the way it was designed and rendered, but I guess my generation is stuck with these guys who can't shut-up over every little thing that's not even contextually in there.

You can't win anymore.

Why I do this most of the time, nobody likes good ideas anymore...

No one playing this game is thinking about the Chitlin Circuit and lynchings but the SJWs getting triggered by it because Kotaku told them it was triggering.

I hate the internet.

People get so pretentious after they get their fancy social sciences degree. Hell, they are pretentious and insufferable in class as well. It doesn't help that they went to school in a generation that has drilled into their head that everything is racist, ableist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic and every other type of -ist and -phobic out there. Humanity is the cesspool it is right now because we allowed that type of "everything is offensive" rhetoric to take hold in the first place. I hate the "No fun allowed" generation.

I hope it ends soon. That's all I can say.

I keep hearing this argument of "You can still enjoy these kinds of media while acknowledging they're problematic (No matter how convoluted the logic it is to make them so)", but I honestly don't see its point.

What exactly do I accomplish by acknowledging that this game may be possibly tangentially related to racist tendencies if I squint hard enough?

Because if I accept the premise that this game is somehow racist for it's stylistic presentation, but I buy it anyways, aren't I supporting racism?

Conversely, if I don't believe the game is racist just because it emulates an animation style, why should I acknowledge this nebulous connection to racism, if I just want to play and enjoy the game?

I don't think anyone that makes this argument even thinks that far about what it implies, really, but it's a curious thing to ponder.

I still chalk it up to people thinking too hard over something that's meant to be fun to begin with.

It's a passive aggressive bullshit way for them to say, "I hate this and think it should be banned, but I'll get called out as pro-censorship, so i'll just guilt you into not watching/playing this instead".

It's more like being an asshole without being called out like one I suppose.

Weren't the 1930s considered the golden age of liberalism in the midst of the Great Depression, when people were paid by the government to dig holes and fill them back?

At least the WPA gave those people a job.

Oddly enough Speedy Gonzales is actually hugely popular with Mexican viewers. They like how he's quick-witted and outsmarts that dumb gringo cat. His banishment to the Cartoon Hall of Shame is completely the product of self-flagellating whiteboys who took the burden of determining what is and isn't offensive onto themselves.

Mexicans also love this character...