It’s been almost a year since Resident Evil 5’s E3 trailer was released, yet those three minutes of Chris Redfield shooting black zombies are still courting controversy in the media, with accusations of racism abounding. But is this all just politically correct nonsense, or will Capcom’s latest zombie basher land itself in seriously hot water?

First, we’re not here to give you guys a history lesson, there are plenty of text books that can tell you about the host of atrocities that white Europeans have committed in Africa. Resi 5’s trailer may or may not be racist, but the argument that “we’ve shooted white zombies in Spain, why can’t we shoot black zombies in Africa” simply ignores the issue at hand. The depiction of a white man in a Third World country, killing black villagers, rendered as inhuman creatures, carries with it certain connotations that will never manifest in other scenarios.

Of course, we all know Capcom has no racist intentions, but that’s because we all have an intimate knowledge of the Resident Evil franchise. For us, those images of Chris Redfield shooting black villagers have a context, but for other viewers that context simply isn’t there. Is Chris helping these guys? Do we get to see a more humane representation of them before they turn into zombies? BBFC spokesperson Sue Clark tells Play that she’s not surprised at the current furore over Resident Evil 5, not because she thinks it’s racist, but because game and film trailers in general can often spark stronger viewer reactions than the final product.

“People seem to find trailers more problematic than whole works,” she says, “because they’re fairly short, give little background, and you’re not given any context. People find offence in these concentrated, bite-sized lumps that they’re not buying into, so they become far more sensitive. So with Resident Evil 5’s trailer, it [the alleged racism] could come across more strongly than it would in the final game. But it may not. In the game it may also come across very strongly, and we may have to deal with it.”

The BBFC slapped Resi 5’s trailer with a 15 classification, and Clark says that the UK ratings body takes racist content very seriously. If a film or a game contains racist language or imagery then that could mean a higher age rating, but when looking at racist content in games the BBFC’s main concern isn’t to protect individuals from being offended, it’s to ensure that the UK’s recently implemented laws on racial hatred are not breached.

“What we have to do is, as far as incitement to racial hatred is concerned, we’d have to be looking at a game that is actively saying ‘black people are zombies, go out and kill them’, which Resident Evil doesn’t do,” she explains. “You might find it makes your edges curl, and you might think it is offensive, but that is not the test. There’s a difference between being shocked and offended, and it being illegal under the terms of the racial hatred legislation. It has to be a stiff test.”

One worry is that the BBFC may take a similar tact as it did with Manhunt 2. During the Manhunt 2 debacle, Play called the BBFC on charges of double standards, asking why Rockstar’s game got banned while films with similar violent content were released. At the time Clark said one of the reasons was the interactive element of videogames. So, does that mean racist content in a game would receive harsher treatment than if it were in a film, because you’re interacting and playing a part in that racist content? Clark refused to answer the question directly, but said that the interactivity of a game could play a part in assessing potentially racist content, but it would depend on various factors.

“[The interactivity] doesn’t automatically mean that if a game has potentially racist elements that we’ll treat it differently,” she says. “But the likelihood is that if there were elements then we would look at it. We may give it a higher rating, we may intervene more strongly. When it [Resi 5] comes in, we’ll look at it and consider whether or not it needs different treatment.”

Whatever the BBFC’s reaction to the final product, Resident Evil 5’s release is bound to stir up the issue of racism in games like never before. Hopefully Capcom is taking on board some of the comments offered by the more articulate critics of Resident Evil 5’s trailer, and manages to make a great game while remaining sensitive to the delicate issues surrounding the region and peoples it is depicting.