![]() Storefronts have ‘No Colored Permitted’, citizens casually sling slurs, police prioritise crimes in white neighbourhoods. This setting is important: it’s a tumultuous time in history, particularly for Americans of colour, and the systemic racism is showcased throughout Mafia III. Until the weird, drastic pushback-like Luke Cage being labelled racist for a ‘lack’ of white characters-ceases, this hope may take time to become reality.īut we have this narrative: Lincoln Clay, a black man in the Deep South in 1968, dismantles the local Italian mob by violently stabbing or shooting scores of men in the face. But is this the only black narrative that we have? The angry black man driven to revenge is not the sole story to be told and while I appreciate that we have any black narratives, I would like to have variety. The most tragic of these is that the existence of a measly two black narratives is apparently a cause for joy it should not be noteworthy that we have diverse characters on screen or in our games.īut perhaps the more harrowing: these two tales share a great many similarities. I am thrilled to see two prominent, black narratives published at similar times-though this raises other points of note. From here, each sets out to dismantle the criminal organisation by first hitting minor targets. Luke Cage is caught in the crossfire at Pop’s barber shop, where his friend and mentor is slain Lincoln Clay narrowly escapes death when the Italian mob betrays the black mob in the de facto headquarters. Both star a man driven to vengeance after having tragedy inflicted upon them in a place of safety. It is impossible for me to discuss Mafia III without also acknowledging its similarities to the Luke Cage TV series. Instead, I will do the logical thing: articulate both the positives and negatives of my time as Lincoln Clay. But that solves nothing: to do the opposite-to suggest Mafia III is superb based purely on premise-only contributes to the unhealthy, arbitrary dichotomy. If I do not, then it might seem easy for people to dismiss what is a (minor) victory for diverse videogames as some kind of “evidence” that diversity is an obstacle to the success of videogames. Because of this, I feel a kind of moral obligation to defend the merits of Mafia III-even despite numerous personal issues with the game. There will be Mafia III detractors who conflate legitimate issues with the decision to portray a black protagonist, making it a debate about non-white protagonists when it should be about the game’s other issues. ![]() Mafia III ostensibly represents the past, but the parallels with our present are stark and demoralising. Ironically, this is an issue tangentially touched on within Mafia III: is black culture of equal value to white culture? It seems that some five decades has not been enough to equalise the playing field. We exist in a tenuous period where the validity of certain types of cultural work (among other things, like basic human rights) is, unfortunately, still being debated.
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