Netflix’s upcoming Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness television series looks promising. However, reviewers are reportedly told to avoid talking about real-world politics despite obvious political themes in the show.
PC Gamer reports:
From Oval Office meetings to black helicopters coasting over the Middle East, Resident Evil’s latest Netflix adaptation is packed with charged imagery—but please don’t suggest it has any political ideas if you happen to be reviewing it, says Netflix.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’ first season is out now, and by all accounts it sounds like a pretty decent show. But when reviewers examined their embargo materials that clarify when reviews can be posted, they noticed the unusual request from the series’ producers.
Promoting his own review on Twitter, Gizmodo staff writer Charles Pulliam-Moore noted that part of the embargo included not mentioning the show’s pointedly political themes. Having been sent a copy of the embargo email, I can confirm that it does indeed ask that reviewers not link the “fictional” show with any real-world political topics. Capcom and Netflix both declined requests for comment.
Actually thought Resident Evil: Infinite Dark’s story was one of the better entries in the franchise outside of the games. But the studio’s ask that reviews not at all talk about real-world events or politics ended up casting a shadow over the entire movie for me https://t.co/IBsPzLO6tE
— Charles PM (@CharlesPulliam) June 30, 2021
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness premieres as a Netflix exclusive on July 7, 2021.
My Take
Whether it’s Call of Duty or Resident Evil, a lot of video games touch on politics. Some of them are highly political in nature. How do you have a game set during a war without having politics involved? Heck, when developers try to be more inclusive with options for racial diversity or LGBT characters, that often sparks an online backlash from some corners of the gaming community. Which is to say that politics intersects with a lot of things, and to pretend that it doesn’t is just plain silly.
