10-24-2023, 10:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-24-2023, 10:35 PM by HaughtyFrank.)
The recent demand that voice actors need to match the race of the characters has been kind of weird.
From an audience representation standpoint I'd dare say it doesn't matter at all. People will see the animated character and identify with that. Son-Goku and Monkey D. Luffy are both voiced by old women in Japan and no one minds.
Where I can see it mattering is when it comes to job offers for voice actors but then it inevitably just feels hypocritical to say "Well you white guy can't voice that Asian character but I can voice all the white, black and hispanic characters because I'm a POC", and if the studios then decide to only cast authentically, the POC voice actors have shot themselves in the foot as POC roles are bound to be fewer in a majority white America.
The biggest gain I could see by matching the race of the VA is that they perhaps can push back against overly stereotypical or racist characters, but I'm not sure how effective that actually is when the managers are still the one setting the rules and can just choose to not listen. Not to mention that minorities might also have different opinions on what is good and bad depiction. Like for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake the black voice actor for Barret was very involved and felt like he managed to lift Barret out of the Mr. T caricature and give him more character, meanwhile Resetera complained that Barrett is still a caricature.
From an audience representation standpoint I'd dare say it doesn't matter at all. People will see the animated character and identify with that. Son-Goku and Monkey D. Luffy are both voiced by old women in Japan and no one minds.
Where I can see it mattering is when it comes to job offers for voice actors but then it inevitably just feels hypocritical to say "Well you white guy can't voice that Asian character but I can voice all the white, black and hispanic characters because I'm a POC", and if the studios then decide to only cast authentically, the POC voice actors have shot themselves in the foot as POC roles are bound to be fewer in a majority white America.
The biggest gain I could see by matching the race of the VA is that they perhaps can push back against overly stereotypical or racist characters, but I'm not sure how effective that actually is when the managers are still the one setting the rules and can just choose to not listen. Not to mention that minorities might also have different opinions on what is good and bad depiction. Like for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake the black voice actor for Barret was very involved and felt like he managed to lift Barret out of the Mr. T caricature and give him more character, meanwhile Resetera complained that Barrett is still a caricature.
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