14 DAY TRIAL // UNICO National, an Italian-American organization in the United States of America, has recently accused Take Two and 2K Czech of racism because of the portrayal of the ethnic group it represents in Mafia II. The chairman of Take-Two Interactive responded that UNICO had never seen the game, so it had no idea what it was actually about.
Andre DiMino, the president of UNICO has named Mafia II a pile of racist non-sense and has demanded that Take-Two Interactive immediately stop the release of the game and remove all offensive references to Italian Americans, according to Gamasutra.
In his own words, “Why would [Take Two] foist a game on their targeted audience of young people wherein they will indoctrinate a new generation into directly associating Italians and Italian-Americans with violent, murderous organized crime, to the exclusion of all of the other 'mafias' run by other ethnic and racial groups?”
He continued to comment in the public statement associated with these accusations that, “Take Two is directly, blatantly and unfairly discriminating and demeaning one group to the exclusion of all others.”
This is not the first time the publisher has faced controversy because of its depictions of crimes and criminal characters in its games. After all, we are dealing with the publisher of Rockstar, the developer of the Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt series here.
I could go on about how DiMino and others like him misunderstand the medium of video-games, the concept of creative freedom and even the meaning of the word racism, but it is better to quote Take-Two's excellent response to these allegations, through the company's chairman, Strauss Zelnick.
Replying to DiMino's claims, Zelnick wrote that, “Mafia II tells a compelling story about organized crime in America -- a subject that for decades has been featured in movies, television shows and novels. Neither UNICO nor any other organization purporting to represent Italian-Americans has seen or played Mafia II.”
“At Take-Two, we balance our right to free expression with what we believe is a thoughtful and responsible approach to creating and marketing our products,” he continued. “Mafia II is M-rated in accordance with our industry's strict standards. It is specifically not targeted toward young people.”
Pushing the point further, Zelnick ended his statement with the following words: “We aim to distinguish creative and compelling story telling that advances artistic expression from subject matter that gratuitously exploits or glorifies violence or stereotypes. I fully and completely stand behind our creative teams and products, including Mafia II.”
Out of all of the games that try to engage the player in a virtual life of crime, it does seem strange to accuse the Mafia series, known for its careful depiction of the period and its powerful character work, of racial stereotyping.
I wonder what is DiMino's opinion about the Godfather series. Are Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo and Al Pacino racist towards Italian Americans as well?