Capcom's Views On Stereotypes

Stereotypical traits of characters exist in just about every TV show in 2016 but people don’t really talk about stereotypes within the realm of gaming and simulation. You’ll be surprised once you actually think about how much racism and stereotypical thoughts goes to making a lot of these modern day games. Capcom, a Japanese publisher and developer implemented a lot of fixed stereotypes within their games. Many believed that Capcom used stereotypes to help average people relate to characters more some think elsewise. Street fighter is Capcom’s best fighting game franchise. If anyone know a thing or two about street fighter is that Ryu and Ken is the face of the series they are the protagonist while the antagonist being villains like Bison, Akuma and Seth. The huge stereotype characters aren’t really visible with the primary characters besides Ken being a rich spoiled Caucasian that lives in a mansion. The secondary characters is where things start to get interesting. Dhalsim the only India character in the game is designed with stretch limbs that could reach about 5 times the average human length. Addition to his
super long arms and legs which used in combat he also breathes fire. E.Honda is another stereotyped character within street fighter a sumo wrestler from japan and we can’t forget about the famous Native American character in street fighter T. Hawk. Does Capcom really implement stereotypes to help the fan base connect to character or offend them? Jennifer Ponzer an executive director of woman in Media & News.
She wrote the article titled “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, Cha Cha Divas” in which she discussed stereotypes in America next top model which was somewhat similar to the stereotypes in Street fighter. April wilkner a contestant in the show was only half Japanese but the show “framed her as uncomfortable with her cultural identity” (Ponzer 398) . The show production team even placed Asian symbols on her body to represent her culture more. Capcom does something very similar with cultural identities and characters. Capcom make sure you could tell a character whole background from just looking at their street fighters. Apart from Dhalsim physical stereotype representation in the video games and the television series he repeatedly mentions Yoga which is a famous ancient spiritual science in
India. Sumo wrestlers aren’t really popular at all in America but sure is in Japan. It’s not surprising that they made E.honda a sumo wrestler in the game when Capcom ties is within japan. E.Honda character design is a big strong man with a stomach that looks similar to an enlarged human growth hormone patient’s gut. At the time this character was made sumo wrestling was more popular than today times so I could see how they could create this character to relate to others who participate or likes sumo wrestling. A Native American in a Japanese fighting game? Seems like a pretty strange idea but nothing surprising when it comes with Capcom character development. T.Hawk is Mexico born Native American who is also a street fighter. Like every other stereotyped Native American he loves nature and use it to his advantage within his battles. Within the television series he is seen communicating with animals to gain Intel on who and what his enemies doing. If you ask me I don’t know why Capcom wanted to appeal to the Native American fans with this character but his centrality has a great roll in the show. I could see how and why Capcom would make their characters of many nationality’s it appears to them that if you’re from a similar background as a character in the series you could relate to them better but in actuality many fans of Capcom felted insulted by the most basic stereotypes they put into the characters.