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The Laura Bow series (like many other Sierra series) contains material which some have found controversial, and it has had its own share of controversies over the years.
This page discusses a number of the controversial aspects of the series as defined by reviewers and players over the years. Note: the 'controversies' are just opinions by different individuals, commentators and writers (some maybe interpretation or biased projection, and therefore the accuracy of opinions cannot be vouched for).
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the cited authors, writers, commentators and other individuals, and do not reflect the official policies or positions of this wiki.
Topics some might find controversial, or would have been controversial around the release of the game.
Politics[]
There are plenty of references to 1920s politics.
The game is largely neutral on the subject of police, showing both good (Detective John Bown) and bad cops (Lietenant O'Reilly). And those in-between (or at least very little known about them, such as the Desk Officer at the precinct). Some are implied to show brutality/corruption and others not.
Violence[]
Some people consider the violence in the series especially LB2 to be too much... Especially for a game that was retroactively both given ESRB rating of Teen and K-A in some releases.
Racial & Minority Representation[]
There have been accusations of racism, cultural appropriation, and colonialism. Some argue the series has a lack of diversity, and mostly portrays white characters.
Many of the characters in LB1 and LB2 are stereotyped archtypes.[1] Characters are given bad or exaggerated foreign accents in LB2's CD-Rom version. "Developer voice doing fake to the point of offensive accents. Believe me, I could go the entire rest of my life without hearing Lo Fat's lines ever again. But... well, it becomes at least somewhat easier to understand, if not entirely forgive, when you remember that this game came out in the early days of adventure games even having voice acting."[2] One author claims: "Despite a strong narrative that draws on multiple world cultures, Dagger still ends up relying on poor cultural stereotypes. Dr. Smith is the quintessential sexist Arab male and speaks in painful cliches ("as clear as the waters of the oasis," he quips in the introduction). ...It’s the end result of having a homogeneous creative team, and a reminder that the edgy hallmarks of '80s standup humor don’t translate well into other media."[3] While certainly a stereotype, his characterization, the plotline involving 'curses', (and his connection to a secret Egyptian cult) has more in common early black and white films in genres of serial adventure or horror with similar subject matter, such as Boris Karloff Mummy films from the 1930's cinema, than anything to do with 80's standup humor. How does his 'sexism' have anything to do with his race, or characterization? Most of the characters in the game are sexist in some way, and many are linked to Yvette Delacroix, and having an affair with her (a running gag throughout the game).
The author complains "These opened a captivating window into the best and worst of 1920s American society, clichés and all (including a few painfully racist parts).", and about Lo Fat and his Laundry: "Lo Fat, the Chinese laundry owner, has a heinous accent and slitty eyes in the lineage of Hollywood yellowface. It says a lot about how Sierra believed Asian characters would best be represented in the 1920s while preserving the game’s light, engaging tone." Chinese Laundries are based on historical phenomena of actual Chinese laundries of the 1920's period New York. Though by the mid-1920s many around the United States were all but gone pushed out of business by competition by white-run steam laundaries.[4][5] While they may have been common before mid-1920's, and even into 1930's New York[6] it became a 'stereotype' about Chinese and China-town into decades later, even if very few Chinese remained in the industry.[7] It is however, largely period accurate for the time the game takes place, and its location. Even the traditional clothing is based on history for that point in time. Perhaps the most questionable parts about its accuracy comes from the portrayal of the laundry building itself, which looks like it would better fit a Chinese restaurant than a laundry with its overy-the-top chintzy decorations. Though it might be inspired by some of the Chinese-inspired buildings in modern Chinatowns in places such as San Fransisco, and New York City. Lo Fat is also exaggerating his 'persona/character' as a company mascot to sell his Laundry business to more 'racist' customer and clientele of the era. As the game points out he decorates his business with fake 'Chinese' and other stereotypical designs. "They're not really Chinese characters. Lo Fat displays them to give himself an aura of authenticity... ...since he was actually born in Newark, New Jersey." and "He runs one of the local Chinese laundries. Pretends to be Chinese so he can get more business, but he has a terrible accent. He plays an exaggerated "stereotype" for business purposes. If he is second or third generation Chinese-American, and doesn't actually know anything about the old ways, it would change much of the context. In this way he can actually be a deconstruction of racist stereotypes in that he's acts like an exaggerated stereotype because he chooses to do so for commercial/capitalism reasons. Those visiting his laundry are expecting that kind of 'atmosphere'. It's part of the satire and a gag, and a criticism on 'racist expected characterizations', and those who enable it. He is also the cousin of Hopalong Singh from Freddy Pharkas, who does a similar commercialized "expected" Chinese atmosphere where he was hired at Mom's restaurant, along with the fake bad accent. [8]
The author complains about Celie: "In The Colonel’s Bequest, the only black character is Celie, who (bafflingly) feels obliged to stay on the plantation because her parents were slaves there."[9] This is not that baffling, historically many former slaves stayed on to work at the plantations because it was often well paying job, or at least better than alternatives such as 'sharecropping' (in which former slaves and other sharecroppers were forced to pay much of their earned money back to the owners of the land) which still more or less still had sharecropper beholden to the plantation owner (often making less than they owed).[10] Alternatively they could have left to strike out on their own in the west under homesteading, but that also required proving to the government which the land was leased from that the land was being used productively. Otherwise the land could be taken from them. Trying to attempt any other career paths were not easy to get into for most former slaves (and their children) as they didn't have education (often intentionally by the those in power), or experience. The fact that Celie is actually willed the estate shows how much Dijon had respect for her, treated her fairly and how progressive he was for those times. Which is probably well off better position than most African-Americans were given at the time (rich black entrepreneurs existed, but they were often rare, and potentially just as exploitative of individuals of poorer classes black, white, and other minorities).
Another author also comments about Celie: "And then there’s Celie. Celie is the daughter of slaves who worked on the plantation back in the day, and appears to be of an age where she might actually have been one of those slaves. In the canon ending she ends up the Colonel’s sole heir – the events of the game having churned through the rest – which is arguably a form of restorative justice. The problem is that she’s such a crudely-drawn racial stereotype – one which seems to be drawn from patronising paternalism rather than active malice, but a stereotype nonetheless – that any goodwill arising from the limited extent to which Sierra gets it right ends up wiped out by the extent to which they get it very, very wrong. (She supposedly practices voodoo! This has literally nothing to do with anything in the game, but we apparently had to be told it anyway.) I was worried that it’d turn out that the Colonel was a slave owner himself, but no; he was too young to have been a Civil War participant and his own military career was focused around the Spanish-American War...Actually, the characterisation is a perfect example of how the game makes a technically impressive framework but then fails to populate it with sufficiently deep content to make anything of it."[11]
The author also appears to argue that Laura Bow suffers from white privilege ("perspective of a relatively well-off white woman". [12]). However it seems pretty clear in the games that Laura Bow herself is not from upper class, but has more in common with the working middle-class Americans (such as Steve Dorian). A reporter was not a well paying job, especially for someone starting out like Laura Bow, not to mention a woman. Her father appears to be lower middle-class to middle-class (he is only a cop, and police are not well paid even today[13], and for a cop to be well off, they'd probably have to be corrupt and working for the underworld, taking bribes, etc. All of which would be out of character for John Bow). Neither are nearly at same status as upper class individuals like Colonel Dijon, or elites who own or run the museum. At beginning of the game, she has little money on her (though what she had was stolen from her during a robbery and a mugging), and has to improvise to get access to places. She is however unique in that she has access to some rich friends, and father's connections leading to a job that most women would not be able to get at the time. and she did get a chance to go to college which might be rare for women at the time. On the train she still appears to ride in public car (possibly a lounge car), rather than having her own booth. Though the train does seem pretty standard for the day (but perhaps appearing more luxurious by today's standards). She is certainly above lower class/poverty line, as she is willing to help out someone who turns out to be a mugger for being "less fortunate" than her (though this line doesn't necessarily mean that she's 'rich' or 'well-to-do').
"The mayhem isn’t just limited to murder—The Dagger of Amon Ra also briefly (and imperfectly) touches on the effects of colonialism. The story revolves around the 1920s Egyptology boom, spurred by British archaeologist Howard Carter’s "discovery" of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. It does try to weave a degree of political realism into its writing. The fictional dagger, like Egypt’s real looted ancient treasures, was "discovered" by the arrogant Dr. Pippin Carter and taken to America. Its ownership is a contentious issue repeatedly raised by the Egyptian characters Rameses Najeer and Dr. Ptasheptut "Tut" Smith. Naturally, their petitions fall on deaf ears."
"At the same time, Dagger makes small nods to other cultural developments in American history—a flyer at the police station reminds readers that Native Americans enjoy full citizenship as of June 15, 1924."
"Dissonance / Deliberate Values Dissonance: Being set in The Roaring '20s, there is some casual sexism thrown around. This was all done on purpose to help establish the setting. Through examining the museum exhibits, one mentions an African tribe called the "Hottentots". Even in the nineties (When the second game was made), people would probably NOT want to describe them as such, but the game is set in the 20s, so it's possibly deliberate."[14]
Female Representation[]
There are some that argue that the games are sexist, misogynistic, anti-feminism, etc
Some people have seen it as controversial that the main character is female character. A strong representation of a female. Some saw women characters to be possibly controversial in the 1980s when The Colonel's Bequest was first made. Roberta was asked several questions in an interview at the time: "If a woman fits the story then the main character will be a woman, if a man fits it then it'll be a man. I'm not going to be constrained by the idea that it has to be a man because this is a man's industry. Or that it has to be a woman because I'm a woman in a man's industry and I'm a feminist. Nothing like that." "We probably have a higher market share of women than any other computer game maker. Interestingly enough, when a woman is the main character, we don't lose any of our male audience, but we gain more women." [15]
"Laura Bow deals with 1920's sexism from the introduction onwards."[16] One author which we have previously mentioned, appears to be offended by the fact that any sexism from the era is shown, even if it is historical to that time period: "Right away the game establishes how this is a very unfriendly time for professional women, as Lara is discriminated against left and right and can’t even pee in her own building. Seriously. It’s established that there’s only a men’s bathroom on the news floor. So this game is really sexist but it’s in a historical sense so it’s hard to tell if you’re supposed to be offended or if it’s parody or if it’s just part of the setting."[17] "Laura has much more of a personality this time around, with her naive exuberance clashing with the sexism she faces in being a woman doing a man’s job."[18]
Another example of controversial discussion related to Laura Bow: "I always kind of liked Laura. She came from a time in gaming from female heroines relied on their brains and not their boobs to win the game."..."It kind of says something distressing about modern-day post-Gamergate gaming culture that, back then, they had a two game series about a determined and intelligent female detective/journalist doggedly outwitting everything from the murderers to sexism in general (the chauvinistic 20s culture, etc) and no one saw this as a big deal at the time."..."Mostly because it wasn't seen as ground-breaking back in 1992. The 20's have never been explored that often in gaming. Roberta Williams was a pioneer in adventure games. She also had Rosella and Valanice from King's Quest as main characters in King's Quest 4 and 7. I'm surprised Anita Sarkessian or Zoe Quinn even mention Roberta. There's also Jane Jensen who penned Gabriel Knight. Another example is Michiru Yamane who did the soundtracks for Castelvania: Bloodlines and Symphony of the Night. They managed to do well."[19]
The "Archaeologist Song" is filled with inuendo.
"Both games feature 'slutty French women' that serve as the butt of predictable boys’ club jokes; the male gaze from other Sierra games lives on in a stream of derisive jokes directed against them."[20] It is implied Yvette Delacroix is having affairs with practically every character in the game, or trying to seduce them. Even minor characters like Lo Fat have special 'arrangement' with her and does her laundry for 'free'.
Social Status and classism[]
The article author complains further; "And while Laura’s world has definitely grown since the first game, her movements in Dagger are still largely confined to an affluent section of New York society—several characters warn her away from docks, where she meets her love interest Steve Dorian."[21] It's obvious that the author wasn't paying attention, with exception the museum, none of the other places are necessarily the 'best part of town'... The train station has muggers and thieves (if it was was in 'best part of town' their would be less crime, and more police), speakeasies are rarely in the 'best part of town', the police station has homeless living by it (an indication that its not 'cleaned up'/lower crime for upper class tastes). Chinatown is rarely in the 'best parts of town' (especially when considering the racially divided nature of the time). Most of the places she visits can hardly be called 'affluent'. Even her home base at the newspaper is likely not in 'affluent quarter', journalists were not well paid back then. Examining around many of these scenes you'll find descriptions pointing out that she is not in affluent sections of town, and that the crime and decay is set all around her in most of the city screens. The only place that can truly be considered upper class is the museum, and it is run by upper class individuals, but isn't necessarily located in an 'affluent' section of the city. The game doesn't even appear to ever visit actual affluent sections of the city.[22]
LGBTQ Representation[]
A Flapper, a character in the Speakeasy in LB2 tries to seduce Laura Bow. She has a number of innuendos, and if you click on her, with the hand icon, she gets even more suggestive.[23] "Les Yay: The speakeasies Ladies Lounge in the second game gives off this vibe."[24]
Yvette Delacroix portrayed as bisexual. And has been having affairs (or was planning to) with a number of the suspects or victims in the game, before her own death.[25] "That trollop sleeps with everything that moves. And some things that don't.
Lavinia Waldorf-Carlton is apparently having an affair with the lesbian Flapper as well, who was waiting for her to comeby to visit her at the female lounge in the speakeasy. Lavinia herself might be a lesbian hiding her identity by marrying men, or is bisexual.[26][27]
