Stereotypes for African Americans

When talking about black stereotypes in horror, the one that often comes to mind is “the black guy always dies first” stereotype. While African Americans have been seen more on equal grounds with other white characters in screen (such as Will Smith and the Connor Jordan example), they often still lack roles video games. This can be seen in the 2017 Resident Evil game, where the only African American man, a police, enters the story simply to deny help to the white protagonist, then proceeds to get his head sliced in half ten minutes later with a shovel by the antagonist in the classic “serves you right” fashion. This man’s character reveals nothing about the plot and accomplished nothing besides serving as a plot device to remind the player that he is indeed trapped in the house with no way out. As in previous cases, this example also portrays colored characters in modern visual media as a one dimensional, foil archetype character.

The police’s death scene in Resident Evil 7