Forum - View topicINTEREST: Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Dub Casting Prompts Discussion Over Suletta Role
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
Author | Message | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
zanm0nk
Posts: 8 |
|
|||||
Since it's obvious not everyone can connect the dots, with a role casting that could be construed as whitewashing, it's stupid to announce it on the first day of Black History month. It's obvious how tone-deaf those that made the decision are. |
||||||
RemGalleuSimp
Posts: 51 |
|
|||||
Yeah fairly sure we might be crossing wires a bit or I just suck as explaining what I mean (Which is likely the case), all I'm trying to point out is that as the article is now it just leans more biased and like a drama piece rather than fair reporting piece on the whole conversation based on the non-inclusion (Not sure if that's a word) of the other side of a casting reaction. That's the main point I am trying and likely failing to make. As for the whole 'If you don't think it's a worthwhile conversation, regardless of the many industry members taking part in it, that's fine?' not sure where this came from since in my first comment I gave my opinion on it. Probably could have worded it better and if this came from the whole 'Honestly if you had included a couple of the positive VA responses to Suletta's casting I wouldn't have said anything to begin with.' statement I made thats just because in general I dont like having discussions like this over an internet forum or on the likes of twitter. Conversations like this should be held in a much more open format like a townhall and if possible face to face etc but that's getting away from my main point again. Last edited by RemGalleuSimp on Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:29 pm; edited 3 times in total |
||||||
TokimekiCrisis
Posts: 46 |
|
|||||
...You realize that would be more or less every anime, right? Casting a white woman to voice the Japanese character Naruto Uzumaki is no less whitewashing than casting a white woman to voice a character a small section of people interpret as being MENA (MENA are classified as white in America, for the record) Unless you're saying it's okay to whitewash Japanese characters and it's only an issue for non-Japanese characters That ties into another post I wanted to address.
Unless people here are ethnically Japanese then we're all minorities when it comes to Japan and Japanese media. Most anime characters are Japanese, and even those that aren't still tend to act Japanese and use Japanese mannerisms, customs, and speech because these shows are all made in Japan and that's just how the creation process works. Whatever argument people have for American shows and character does not work for anime. A white woman voicing Naruto Uzumaki does not make white women or white people in general feel seen and represented by the show where the only white character was some Elvis looking joke character.. Nor does it mean male viewers feel unrepresented because a man is not voicing the male character. The whole voice polciing thing never works for anime because most characters are Japanese. Yet white, black, hispanic, or whoever voicing Japanese characters never seem to be an issue. That attitude just comes off like Japanese or Asian viewers in general don't matter. It's very telling the way people just glaze over these issues when it comes to ethnically Japanese and Asian characters/roles compared to other ethnicities. |
||||||
Zoneflare
Posts: 521 |
|
|||||
Really? I thought she got her skin tone due to being from the closest planet to the sun.
|
||||||
sjk9000
Posts: 34 |
|
|||||
For what it's worth, I always interpret Gundam shows taking place in a sufficiently distant future that cultures have become so thoroughly mixed that stuff like a person's name or skin tone is no longer a useful indicator of thier ethnicity. At least, I remember reading an interview with Tomino where he said something along those lines to justify Amuro's wierd name. That said, it's just an interpretation. There's no canon, official answer on what race Suletta is. If people look at her skin color and see themselves represented by it, that's a valid take worth considering. |
||||||
ComicGuy105
Posts: 7 |
|
|||||
While I do think Jill Harris is a good actress and I’m sure she will do a good job, I think it is a missed opportunity to not cast a MENA lead. I don’t want to assume the worst of the director Jason Lord because he seems to have tried to cast properly for the rest of the characters and even liked Nazeeh Tarsha”s tweet about all of this. This situation probably happened because of Crunchyroll limiting the talent pool he had access to. Although Alejandro Saab does live in LA and a number of recent dubs have used Texas and LA talent, like Chainsaw Man for example. It’s possible that Crunchyroll has limits on when LA talent can be hired and who can be hired. But it’s impossible to tell for sure because no one working there is talking about it. Which unfortunately is understandable because Texas is a right to work state and anyone who speaks up about this is putting their job on the line. This whole situation just sucks!
|
||||||
Kadmos1
Posts: 13596 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
|
|||||
If we apply the idea of a White person voicing a non-White character to be Whitewashing, then a Japanese person voicing a White character or non-Asian is Asian-washing. Yes, I am applying that logic. Voice acting has a lot more leeway than on-screen or on-stage acting. Sometimes it is best for a White person to voice a Japanese character as well as many vice versa.
|
||||||
zanm0nk
Posts: 8 |
|
|||||
I think that this is one of the important takeaways here. My nephews are huge anime fans, and they're both of MENA descent that love when they find that there are anime characters that look and sound like they do. Representation matters, and yes, even in animation. |
||||||
Kendall TV
Posts: 47 |
|
|||||
I agree that this article seems a bit one-sided. In addition to the positive comments, there are also some voice actors not mentioned who pointed out the strangeness of all this casting talk, Adam Tilford for example. I also agree with your other point that we do not have enough information about the casting decision to know what's going on. As you said, none of the people ANN quoted have any insight into the casting decisions. They are not this show's producers or casting directors. We do not know with certainty that Middle Eastern or North African VAs were not auditioned. Maybe they were auditioned and were not chosen for some reason. Maybe the reason is even unrelated to their ancestry. Or maybe MENA VAs really were not auditioned at all. We just don't know. It's upsetting to see some people attacking others and making assumptions about the casting procedure. We wouldn't want to spread misinformation about others' livelihoods. Let's see what the producers or casting directors have to say first (if they choose to discuss it).
I'm assuming this is an actual question and you are not a troll. She has a parent with a MENA name so there is speculation that she is of a MENA ancestry. |
||||||
zanm0nk
Posts: 8 |
|
|||||
I tried pretty hard not to use that word because it is a little extreme, but I had to make a point about the tone-deafness of the announcement timing. I'm sure that hurt a lot of people in the industry, especially considering it sure sounded like a closed casting. That said, I don't want to speculate on the casting decisions too much, it just seems like they may not have thought through the entire decision at all. |
||||||
getumbuck
Posts: 198 |
|
|||||
I'm pretty sure Kana Ichinose, isn't MENA either, though I could be mistaken. Rather funny how no one complained about that, lol
|
||||||
RemGalleuSimp
Posts: 51 |
|
|||||
I'm glad my ramblings made sense this is exactly what I was trying to get across in a much clear way. Thanks for that. I said this in another comment but twitter and the like is not the place to have these types of convo's and every time I see one it just always spirals. I think Adam made a great point in other tweet about how these types of convo's always get warped from where they where coming from due to the likes of twitter etc and just continue widening the gaps between groups of VA's etc. I dont mean offense to the writer of this but with the exclusion of the positive reactions it just seems to one-sided to be objective and just imo leans into the drama aspect fanned up by twitter. Which like I said above doesn't help the overall convo. |
||||||
Glordit
Posts: 630 |
|
|||||
Am a minority and still think this is being blown out of proportion. |
||||||
dabanbo
Posts: 24 |
|
|||||
I agree. Where was the anger with the lack of MENA casting in the original Japanese version? |
||||||
frozenkex
Posts: 17 |
|
|||||
Is every anime set in japan missing the opportunity to cast asian english dub actors? Or does it only matter if the skin color is darker?
Age, gender, race doesnt and shouldnt ever matter, only if they fit the character with their VOICE. And since its following in footsteps of the original Japanese - that is what it has to match. And also people forget that its not twitter people who will watch the show or care about casting. The people who will actually watch the show dubbed not gonna care enough to look up voice actors, they only care how it sounds. In general. Last edited by frozenkex on Thu Feb 02, 2023 4:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group