Stereotype anyone? :D

Stereotype anyone? :D

Assalamualaikum and oh hi there :D

 While playing one of your favourite video game, have you ever ponder on the character and  the background of the game. How it was design? How does the designer play around with stereotype to attached that character or scene to a certain identity. How much does stereotype play around in it?

 One of the best example to show my point is the Street Fighter II game by Capcom. A 2D button mashing fighting game. It's a great game and a  great breakthrough in arcade game and in video game in general. Various character from different place and country was put together in one game. Different kind of martial art style, location, not to mention clothing has been shown in the game. In order to differentiate one character from another, stereotype were used to reinforce the character identity. Either way, the stereotype shown in this game presented us with a good way to learn how, at least, the game designers at Capcom view the world. 

 One of the character, Blanka, from Brazil. He's being characterise as a green skin mutant that act more like a monster than a man. He has the power to generate intense amount of electricity. While I doubt that the capcom game designer literally believed that an average Brazilian is a green mutant man that shot out immense amount of electricity, it does show that Brazil is depicted as a wild place fill with wild people. Even the Blanka stage show a seaside village fill with people wearing little clothing and shoe. This give a stereotype impression to the people that Brazil is country of primitive, unrefined society.

Here's a fight scene of Blanka in his stage with another fighter call Ryu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=unL9LHyzCz0&feature=related

 The setting and the character design tell a lot to the people about the stereotype of a certain group and most of the time it's a bad stereotype like this one. Blanka is just one example how media stereotype have been play to provide a quick identity for a person or group that is easily recognized by an audience. A shortcut, that save them the need to write down a long detailed explanation about the character to the audience, but come at a price that often victimised that certain group of people.