<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>I've been away for a few days and the discussion seems to have covered a lot of ground, but if video games and the movies made from them belong in this discussion, then Final Fantasy VII and the accompanying movie, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children feature a black character, Barret Wallace, who was apparently modeled after Mr. T. There has already been some discussion of whether the depiction is racist. See:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barret_Wallace">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barret_Wallace</a></div><div><br></div><div>In addition, again from the anime realm, Samurai Champloo features Tokugawa-era characters who are ethnically coded (at least in so far as their names are concerned) as Japanese/Ryukuan, but the show features anachronistic use of hip hop or funk culture such as rap music, break dancing, graffiti, so it may provide an interesting look into depictions of blackness despite the lack of any black characters per se.</div><div><br></div><div> </div><div><br></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; "><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Bruce Baird</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Assistant Professor</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Asian Languages and Literatures</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">But</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">ô</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ; font-family: Helvetica; "><br style="; font-family: Helvetica; "></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">7</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">17 Herter Hall</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">161 Presidents Drive</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Amherst, MA 01003-9312</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Phone: 413-577-4992</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px">Fax: 413-545-4975<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="mailto:baird@asianlan.umass.edu">baird@asianlan.umass.edu</a></span></font></p><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span> </div><br></body></html>