Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article is from the official account of Wechat: game Research Society (ID:yysaag), author: Zhaoyue

It was only after the launch of the Atomic Heart that it was criticized for the first time, which is very strange.

The Heart of the Atomic depicts an overhead world line on which the Soviet Union has become stronger than in history because of the rapid development of science and technology. In the 1950s, Soviet scientists developed a quantum computer and used it to predict future music styles and move future music to the present.

But quantum computers can predict not only music, but also future cartoons.

The main scene of the Atomic Heart is a scientific facility with a recreation room. The recreation room is similar to the "biochemical crisis" safe house, which can be archived by players, and most recreation rooms are equipped with a TV.

The content shown on television is the premiere of the Soviet animated short film "Rabbit wait and see" in 1969.

"Rabbit wait and see", produced by the Soviet Animation Film Studio in Moscow, has a status comparable to "Cat and Mouse" in the Soviet Union. It's just that the character in the animation is replaced with a more Russian animal, the decent is a gentle rabbit, and the villain becomes a stylishly dressed but unruly wolf who wants to catch the rabbit but can't catch it. The title of the film "Rabbit wait and see" is taken from the mantra of the wolf: "all right, rabbit, we'll see!"

"Rabbit wait and see" was not intended to be a full-length animation, but after the first episode was broadcast, there was a steady stream of letters from the Soviet public asking for a sequel. By 1987, "Rabbit wait and see" had produced another 16 episodes; after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it continued five episodes. Rabbit wait and see was voted Russia's most popular cartoon with 20% of the vote, according to a 2014 all-Russian opinion poll.

A fake Nintendo Game & Watch game console produced in 1984

Take "Rabbit wait and see" as the theme.

A 1988 "Rabbit wait and see" themed stamp

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian and Western audiences noticed the similarities between Western cartoons such as Rabbit wait and see and Cat and Mouse.

But in a 2007 interview with the Russian newspaper gzt.ru, director Vyacheslav Kotjonochkin said he didn't see "Cat and Mouse" for the first time until his son, another director of Rabbit wait and see, bought a VCR in 1987.

A photo of Kurt Yonochkin, taken in 1985

But Kurt Yonochkin also admitted that he borrowed from a batch of Disney animations introduced from Germany to the Soviet Union after World War II. This explains what Western cartoons of the last century such as "Rabbit wait and see" and "Cat and Mouse" have in common-such as stereotypes about ethnic minorities.

Take "Cat and Mouse" as an example, many of the early episodes contain quite serious racial discrimination, such as using the image of bright red lips to refer to blacks and satirizing Indians with embarrassed Tom.

In particular, black women who appear as maids or masters in the house are also regarded as representatives of stereotypes. Since the 1960s, some clips of "Cat and Mouse" have been reproduced or deleted.

Compared with bilibili @ handsome helicopter pilot, there is only one picture in "Rabbit wait and see" that has gone wrong, and it has never caused a serious controversy before. It was not until the release of Heart of Atom, which quoted animated clips, that the images in this corner quickly spread through the Internet, prompting Western players to accuse them of racism.

In the 12th episode of its premiere in 1978, rabbits and wolves came to a history museum where their laughter and playfulness caused a statue of an African tribe to shoot bows and arrows. The problem lies in the suspected ugliness of the statue with huge red lips.

A small number of criticisms on social media have been reported and spread by foreign media PCGamer. PCGamer further pointed out that Heart of the Atom not only kept the animation intact, but also did not give players any warnings or contextual prompts before playing the animation. For reference, 21st-century video sites will mark the backup of "Cat and Mouse" with a disclaimer or warning, such as "racist content warning" or "the show includes negative descriptions and / or abuse of people or culture".

In the face of the above allegations, Atomic Heart's developer, Mundfish Studio, quickly responded. On February 25, Mundfish issued an apology to players through its IGN editor:

"the Mundfish development team thanks PCGamer content contributors for drawing our attention to this lack of sensitivity. We apologize if the use of retro-style cartoons or music has caused injury or insult. We will edit the part of the content that has a problem."

Mundfish has been haunted by politically sensitive issues before and after the release of Heart of the Atomic, and has avoided talking about most of the disputes.

Players and media boycotting Atomic Heart are still actively looking for any offensive elements inside and outside the game, launching them as ammunition on social media. Pointing out that there is racial discrimination in an episode of cartoons that have not been protested for 45 years is probably the only contribution to the debate so far.

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