Here's a video[0] about it that I was glad to find when I first considered these aspects of the franchise. There's quite a lot of talk about it elsewhere online.
There are no black people indeed, the characters are mostly animals. The issue is that the primate characters are portrayed using negative stereotypes of black culture.
I was thinking about YouTube video essays lately. That you can probably throw a dart and you would probably find some video (30m+ long) about how, actually, Friends (sitcom) is a show about Dark Triad personality trait people who are terrorizing Central Perk and Manhatten.[1]
That said though I’ll give it a fair listen.
EDIT: He presents a good argument.
[1] Or maybe I once watched a video on that topic and I’m disremembering it as a hypothetical, hah.
I think you're entirely right that one can find supporting videos on YouTube for just about anything one can argue. But I was never arguing that my argument was valid because a YouTube video agreed with me, there's no appeal to authority here.
I was asked to provide a screenshot from Donkey Kong related media to support my point and I felt that a video showing multiple media from the Donkey Kong franchise with commentary from a gamer of colour would satisfy that requirement, while also helping inform the readers here of issues at play and, further, letting those issues be directly communicated by someone from the affected community.
Like you say, the narrator makes a good argument, and there is much good discussion about this on the wider web for anyone that wishes to look further into it. I wouldn't have shared a YouTube video to HackerNews if I didn't believe in its content.
I raise these issues when I can because I feel that many people here are working in industries at the forefront of what is shaping our culture and it sometimes saddens or even frightens me that these topics are seen as taboo in our community. If we can derail every other post with bikeshedding about CSS issues on the author's website, then it would be nice if we could sometimes take the time to look at the power of software to perpetuate racial inequality as well.
The video touches on different iterations of Donkey Kong from the franchise's history over the last 30 years. The racially charged elements are not unique to a single game or show.
I understand that this article is about Donkey Kong but my question was about the wider franchise. I was only asking if others in this community feel the same discomfort with the franchise, as a whole, that I do, to the point that it becomes increasingly difficult to engage with.
I know that race and gender issues are generally frowned upon here but I believe my feelings are valid and I approached the subject with curiosity and without judgement of others.
