u/Animefreak54

As a lifelong fan of marvel comics and the video games and movies that come with them , i'm not shocked at the state of marvel rivals.

Netease the company that makes the game is a Korean based company and on a whole. This is not an issue they are a great company that makes great games, but Korean culture is extremely racist and we really need to stop pretending it's not.

As an american , I understand that there is a deep cultural divide over racism and theSystems in place that perpetuate it.But we forget that we are not the only country with these issues, in my professional life, I have trained under multiple Eastern Asian chefs and have seen first-hand the deep cultural racism that lives within Eastern Asian culture. I cannot speak first-hand on it as I am a white American, so my view is skewed. In that favor but from standard observation , it is deep. The mishandling of particularly black characters and Marvel rivals is just surface level of how deep that divide is in Korean culture. Now, it's not just Korean culture, Chinese culture, Mongolian culture and Japanese culture all have the same, if not similar issues. In fact, in Eastern Asian culture, it is not uncommon for racial issues to be from Eastern Asian to Eastern Asian cultures. Japanese to Koreans koreans to Chinese to vitamin E to Thailand these issues. Deeply deeply penetrate the culture of Eastern Asia. Now, this is not to call out or particularly hate on any one of these cultures as an American, I know first-hand how deeply rooted this type of hate and racism can be taught and learned. And normalized, to the point that you don't even see it as an issue anymore. But to just complain at Marvel studios or Marvel and to just cherry pick who we're going to blame as the issue as a lot of creators are doing is a problem. We need to admit that racism is not just one shade of color and 1 shade of system or country. Korea's racism problem is very deep-rooted and very, very evident. In all of its media, be it books, games, dramas, music or other forms of consumable media produced. The K-Pop industry has spent decades copying hip-hop And culturally appropriating it to Korea, and I mean culturally appropriate, not as what most people use it for anymore, not as the watered down regurgitated slop that people have used it for they have taken hip-hop and black culture. Reflavored, it packaged it and sold it. We've done that in the United States. It is nothing new, but we need to start emitting as a society that these issues exist. And we need to start vocalizing it to the people that have the ability to change it. If we want stuff like this to stop happening , we have to admit that the faults go deeper than just one culture , one country and one system of oppression. I admit that this is a bit rambly and lacking of real deep point or meaning, but it is something that has been on my mind. Recently, with a lot of the coverage of the disappointment in characters to have been chosen to be in Marvel rivals, such as moon girl. When we received devil dinosaur's a character and left her completely to the wind even know, they are both integral to each other's characters now also the lack of skins, charms and other things for black characters in the game, not just the lack of black characters. Also to the ones we have being weird in certain aspects such as certain blade emotes, and stickers.Having a weird undertone to them. To place this all into a nice, neat little package. I have spent a good couple years unpacking, who I am how I view the world and the things I have been taught and learned so that I can better understand them, not just through my view. But other people's views. I understand the disappointment in how the game has been handled. And how the characters have been handled? It is obvious now that there is a slant that there is a issue. I cannot provide a solution. The easiest one is to just add more characters of color. And give them better skins, emotes, stickers and charms, but the biggest issue with that is the creators of the game. Don't see it as an issue. They don't care about these characters, they don't see putting them in the game as profitable, because unfortunately. They don't see they don't see people of color as a market , and it all stems from a very , very deeply rooted racism.

This is not to say that everyone from south korea or japan or china or any of the other countries in eastern asia are racist , it's never a direct hatred.It's usually a system of learned behavior that slowly over time teaches people to value other people less based off of color skin, outward appearance, amount of money earned job position, life position and a host of other small unnoticeable, things that are used to judge your value as a person. It is not uncommon, especially on the internet to have places like South Korea and Japan. Be idolized and seen as some utopia. When, in fact, it is just a country of people Who are just living their lives? The best they can, and in that forget that these people and societies are just as flawed as our own too often places like them are given a pass for bad behavior be it racism. Pedophilia , sexual harassment and other behavior that dehumanizes other people.Marvel rivals is just a symptom of a broader system of a larger society that has to be addressed and worked on.

Now to say that I a random american who enjoys comic books , collect them loves to play video games and has spent time trying to look inwards and address behaviors that I have learned. Be it from growing up in the south or the adults that have been around me, checking those behaviors and trying to grow from them, listening to those who have experiences outside of my own . And learning from them , I don't have much sway , I can't just walk in and say , hey , this has to change , so do it . But I can, at the very least listen to those whose life experiences have taught them a perspective on the issue that I do not have. And balm in addressing the issue hopefully 1 day there can be a middle ground to fix the problem. S, not just in Marvel rivals, the game, but society is a whole again. This is more of just a rambly rant that I had off the top of my head for a while now. I'm not trying to call out anyone.Culture.I'm not trying to demonize any culture, it would be ignorant and stupid of me to ignore any of the flaws within my own culture related to this issue. But to ignore that, these issues also insist in other countries and other places in the world is also stupid. I don't have the answers, unfortunately. I don't know if this problem can be fixed. I don't know if there will be a fix. I could just keep trying to do better at every turn and listen to those who have different life perspectives and point of view from my own, thank you for reading and taking the time I love each and every one of you, I hope your day is as wonderful as you deserve. And that life is able to give you all of its wonder and gifts.It is an occasion so I hope you are able to rise to it.