Without warning, the face of the protagonist of Mr. Black changed from black to orange.
On December 21, 2018, more than half a year after the game's release, developer Amanita Design unveiled a major update to Mr. Black Face, which changed not the game's content, but an adjustment to the protagonist's face.
This is our new Mr. Black Face, and a slight change is that the color of the lips has also become a little lighter
Mr. Black Face is the fourth officially launched game by the Mushroom Society and the second title of Jaronir Plachy, the main designer of Plant Genie. In this puzzle game, the protagonist Churchel needs to think of ways to retrieve the snatched cherry, and the player witnesses its repeated attempts and failures in the process of clicking on the scene interaction, and the game is like an animated comedy that has been split into many scenes.
In the original version, Chuchel was a black ball of hair and wore an orange hat in the shape of an acorn, but in the updated game, the body and the color of the hat were reversed, Chuchel became an orange ball, and the hat became a black ball, so that it now looks like an overly dazzling orange.
Before and after color change
The reason why mushroom society suddenly made such a strange change was because Churchel was accused of racial discrimination.
<h3>Kill a black hairball</h3>
"In response to feedback from players over the past year, we finally decided to change the protagonist's color to orange." This is the explanation given by the Mushroom Society in its official statement "Why We Changed the Shape of Churchel".
"We realized that due to the significant cultural and historical differences between Central Europe (where the Mushroom Society is located in the Czech Republic) and other regions, we failed to consider the possibility that black hairy clumps would be associated with the 'Black Face' that has historically involved racial discrimination."
Not only the color of the game's protagonist has been changed, but also the color of some characters and scenes, and the promotional materials related to the game, from the trailer, pictures to the surroundings, and even the expression based on Churchel, have been fully processed. Following the earliest update of the Steam version, GOG, iOS and Android versions have also followed.
It's hard to imagine that they even changed the memes
This change naturally caused a lot of controversy on the Internet, except for a few people who agreed and understood it, most players appeared to be quite dissatisfied, even angry. They accused the production team of bending the knee to the "SJW" (SJW) and arguing that self-censorship and castration may have set a bad precedent for undermining creative freedom.
"Offended" players began to protest, they modified the original review, turned on bad reviews bombing, or vented their emotions on community forums, many people threatened to refund money, asked for the color to be restored, and some claimed to have completely blocked the Mushroom Society.
Some Chinese bad reviews
Steam bad reviews broke out
An already relatively niche puzzle game, after breaking away from the discussion of the game itself, its recent evaluation quickly fell from "special praise" to "mixed praise", and the reputation of the mushroom club, which has always been a good image in the hearts of fans, was also implicated.
“Make Chuchel Black Again!” Some players have played this slogan, some people have launched a joint petition campaign on the Internet to change back to black, and some people have used technical means to roll back to the original version as a resistance.
How to get back to Chuchel on Steam
The orange version finalized by the Mushroom Society after trying a variety of color schemes has its own likes and dislikes, but the original black hairball that best fits the theme of the game has been completely "killed".
As things stand, it's unlikely that the Mushroom Society will follow the player's advice, and Chuchel won't be able to return to its original color. Switching from black to orange, from orange to black, may not be difficult in terms of technical implementation, but such a painstaking makeover, the Mushroom Society also has its own worries and considerations behind it.
<h3>What happened to the black face? </h3>
What many people can't understand is how a good innocent black hair group can be linked to racial discrimination.
What the Mushroom Society did not explain clearly in its statement was that Chuchel was pointed out not only in color, but more precisely, not just in color, but in the overall effect of its facial features, which unexpectedly bore some resemblance to the "blackface" tradition of American history.
"Blackface" refers to a theatrical racial stereotype born from a popular form of performance in the United States in the 19th century, the Minstrel Show, which is a historical imprint of the black slave trade and racial discrimination. Beginning with "Jump Jim Crow" by Thomas "Daddy" Rice, this form of expression spread from the United States all the way to Europe and even as far away as Australia.
This is the first "blackface" character, Jim Crowe, created by Daddy Rice
Blackface burlesque dramas are mostly set in estates that have not yet been officially abolished, and white actors dressed as blacks, using props such as shoe polish to blacken their faces and hands, wear wool wigs and gloves, wear old tuxedoes or wide ragged shirts, and imitate stereotypical black figures for funny performances.
It is generally believed that the biggest problem with this form of performance is that "plantation slavery is portrayed as a normal community ecology, even playful and interesting". That is, "this popular cultural form masked the cruelty and injustice of plantation slavery."
In the later stages of development, this kind of burlesque drama, which was originally used as an entertainment effect, also became an accomplice to reinforcing racial discrimination. Although burlesque has withdrawn from the stage of history, it has become an important foundation of modern American culture, and its influence has even continued to the present, directly spreading to music, film and television and many other fields.
The black-faced cloth doll Golliwog, born from comic books, has become a childhood memory of a generation, and Zwarte Piet, the traditional Santa Claus assistant in the Netherlands and other Low Countries, also has a "blackface" shape from that history. Whether these discriminatory traditions should continue to be used, some people support it, some people oppose it, and there is still controversy and inconclusive.
The black-faced cloth doll Golliwog
Santa Claus assistant Black Peter
Perhaps even more surprising is the animation style established by Disney, Felesjö, Triton and other companies, in which the costumes and shapes of the characters, the humor and funnyness of the story, and the character images from Mickey Mouse to Bugs Rabbit have the shadow of burlesque, and after the release of "Teacuphead" in the old animation style, it was also accused of having a remnant of the "racist ghost".
In the process, a typical image of black people was gradually established—blackface, teeth, bulging eyes, and broad lips, representing an ugly, stupid, and inferior race, and an object of condescension ridicule and ridicule.
This is the most typical "blackface" style, and in that era of the folk song "Oh Suzanne", the movie "The Birth of a Nation", and the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", from Broadway posters, sheet music covers, ice ads to movie posters, the "blackface" image created by white people is almost everywhere
Chuchel's characteristics are not only a black mess, but also messy hair, as well as large white eyes and thick lips, and more coincidentally, it plays a clown image that bears comedic effects, grumpy, irritable, and always engages in some clown-like funny behavior.
In the current American society where political correctness is rife, "blackface" is one of the most sensitive topics, and Chuchel is unfortunate to hit the muzzle of the gun.
<h3>Who was offended? </h3>
In the Steam platform discussion, the most replied post topic was: "Does Chuchel look like 'blackface' to you?" Even if we recognize Churchel's resemblance to "blackface," does that constitute substantial discrimination? Is it necessary for us to convict a fictional game cartoon character for such an unintentional innuendo?
In fact, in the period from the game's release and release to the present, there have been few protests against blackface styling, the only information that can be gathered online is that only three or two players who claim to be black have expressed their discomfort, and two websites have published critical articles on the topic, both of which point out that the game may be unconsciously affected by burlesque and may also unconsciously hurt the black community.
Dissatisfaction with part of the blackface modeling
We don't know how many protest emails the Mushroom Society received, what wording was used in them, and what kind of personal harm was expressed in order to finally make the Mushroom Society decide to make such a special change. After being caught in the storm of being surrounded and suppressed by players, the Mushroom Society rarely came forward to make further responses, but the creator borrowed the way of retweeting and liking other tweets, and low-key expressed his recognition of supporting black people and opposing bad reviews bombing.
The only more formal response was that Mushroom Society founder Jakub Dvorský replied in an outrageous post: "Let's take it easy, it's just a new hair color, and people seem to be a little too sensitive." “
"Take it easy!"
Such a response naturally cannot be recognized by the player, and since it is not a big deal, why must it be changed? Besides, does such a seemingly minor change really have no effect on the game?
When it comes to influence, the most important of these is the color change and the departure from the original intention of the creation. Officially, "Chuchel", which means a ball of hair, dust and dirt in Czech, is based on this that makes such an irritable, grumpy, and atypical stupid character.
Some players had comments about blackface before the game's release, and Jaromir Plachy responded at the time that the blackface image was not related to black people, but was more inspired by comedies, and Chuchel mixed the personalities of Jaronir Plachy himself and his dog Anca. In a sense, Chuchel is also the embodiment of Jaronir Plachy's personal style.
Jaromir Plachy has repeatedly explained where Churchel was inspired
The game's overall art style is also influenced by this, the game simplifies the background as much as possible, creates blank space, and places everything in it in vivid bright colors, which contrasts with the black Churchel, so the protagonist is always at the center of the farce.
In the original yellow-based scene, the orange Churchel is less prominent
Perhaps worse, such a group of creators who identify themselves as "artists" enjoy nature and create freely, and after experiencing this color change event, it is difficult to ensure that this consciousness will not interfere with subsequent creations, which in turn will affect the integrity of artistic creation and expression.
Many players pointed out that after the black turned orange, Chuchel seemed to have no original aura. In fact, whether the game appears with black face or orange face, it has no impact on the integrity of the game. Players are not so much angry about the color change as they are about the innocent involvement of their favorite works in the wave of political correctness, disappointed that the Mushroom Society has made changes without prior notice, and think that they have not considered the views of the wider player community, which is the source of anger.
<h3>What's the problem? </h3>
In response to "offending and being offended", Touch has discussed this topic, "How do Africans see the "African" in the game? The article discusses the statements of "black face", "white face" and "European" and "African", as well as the political and economic system hidden behind this discourse.
The article concluded that these joke-style terms were certainly not "racist," but they weren't that simple. Because behind the discourse system stands the real historical reality. If language can have some subtle effect on one's own consciousness, then one should try to stay awake.
Pushing from language to the field of games, as an entertainment product that cannot be completely separated from reality, games also contain the political and economic systems and ideologies of a certain era. To think about it a little, there were many stereotypes of Asians in the early years of European and American games, and not all players could accept the way they were presented.
Human history is full of oppression and struggle, bloody violence, our language, culture, traditions, and all aspects of our lives are constructed through this process, how to deal with these inherited things, establish mutual consensus and taboos, and implement the protection of equality in the system, which may be a topic we need to care about.
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN) stated in 2015 that "discriminatory practices and stereotypes cannot be justified on the grounds of time-honored cultural traditions." ”
Whether this view is reasonable or not is not discussed for the time being, but from the Spring Festival Gala sketch "Happy together", which is intended to promote Sino-African friendship and present the image of Africans with black skin, it can be found that the discussion on discrimination and stereotypes is still strong (this image is actually not the same thing as "blackface"). Opposing stereotypes and opposing discrimination is the proper meaning of society, but the question now is where the boundaries lie.
In the pursuit of equality, the American film and television industry has been committed to ensuring the fairness of the appearance of actors of different skin colors, but when race and sexual orientation replaced acting itself as the primary criteria for selection, things began to go astray.
The danger of such a cross-line is that the overcorrection of the pursuit of formal equality, far from making different groups understand each other, has widened their distance. Just as people use the superficial equality of political correctness to cover up the actual inequality, some people begin to use the slogan of anti-political correctness as a shield for discrimination, and the real inequality is covered up and erased.
No, some players have labeled the Mushroom Society and said they would draw a complete line with it.
Far from being a matter of changing black to orange, the danger of this change is that it will not only solve the problem but may even exacerbate the contradictions.
<h3>Innocent face mr. black</h3>
At a time when political correctness movements in Europe and the United States are still popular and racial barriers are still in place, the controversy related to them will not stop. It seems that the game industry is also continuing to be involved in this chaotic situation, and there is no shortage of game media in Europe and the United States that have taken the initiative to participate in it. For example, in Overwatch, Blizzard's marketing design for Soldier 76 and the forced addition of female soldiers against history in Battlefield 5.
Character Mr. In "Nintendo Smash Bros. Brawl" Game & Watch, also criticized for allegedly shooting at indians, was quickly announced that it would remove the character's Native Headdress
"As a group of peace-seeking creatives, we just don't want any game, no character, any connection to racism or any form of hatred, crime, even if it's a very faint distant connection." The Mushroom Society said in a statement.
The mushroom society's move to change Churchel's colors is part of a wave of "political correctness" among game makers. It can be seen as a soft act of goodwill by a small manufacturer, or it can be seen as a business consideration to avoid public opinion risks and face the global market.
Similarly, it can be seen as a concrete manifestation of how pervasive political correctness can ripple to a black ball in a remote corner.
The mushroom society's previous official Chinese translation of "Chuchel" is "Mr. Face Black", borrowing the special semantics of "face black" in the context of the Chinese Internet, which is very much in line with the comedic effect of the protagonist seeking cherries in the game. At a mushroom club visit to China, I asked them if they knew what the word meant, and they laughed and replied that of course they knew that the word had an ulterior motive.
This tentative official Chinese translated name, and I don't think they will adopt it. Sure enough, in the recently updated game trailer, they changed their name to Mr. Yarn.
"Mr. Yarn"