Discussing ethnically-accurate voice casting for people of color in gaming

[Qassim]

Yeah, that's not what that post said.

Click to shrink...

And having an actor who's from a country right next to another is a damn sight more accurate than having some random white va play someone of Pakistani descent. It's not all or nothing.

Click to shrink...

'More accurate than having some random white va play someone of Pakistani descent'

No it isn't, not in this context. It may as well be 'some random white'. They don't represent Pakistani ethnicity, or even more specifically Pakistani-American ethnicity - which is quite significantly different than just Pakistani ethnicity too.

It's such a reductive view.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

'More accurate than having some random white va play someone of Pakistani descent'

No it isn't.

Click to shrink...

The character and voice actress aren't merely Pakistani and Iranian. There's the "-American" part you keep leaving out, and that first-gen immigrant aspect is closer than just having Jessica Hale voice her.

That does not mean it's "good enough," just better than the more typical, worse alternative.

 

[Qassim]

The character and voice actress aren't merely Pakistani and Iranian. There's the "-American" part you keep leaving out, and that first-gen immigrant aspect is closer than just having Laura Bailey voice her.

That does not mean it's "good enough," just better than the more typical, worse alternative.

Click to shrink...

Sure, the American aspect of their ethnicity are commonalities which can be more closely matched. But stick any-number of other ethnicities in front of that suffix and it'd be as accurate as 'Iranian-American'.

 

[LossAversion]

This topic is close to home. I believe that anybody should be able to act as any character. That's the beauty of voice acting in particular. At the same time, an actor of the same ethnicity as a given character may be able to bring a sense of empathy or authenticity to that character that may otherwise be missing. A good actor could still bring that character to life regardless but I think that diversity within a cast and especially within the industry as a whole is a good thing. Talent is always a key factor but it doesn't have to be the only factor when casting. It's not an easy topic to discuss honestly. I think that it should be ok for Phil LaMarr to play Samurai Jack and not be condemned. But I also think that it should be ok to praise casting Auli'i Cravalho as Moana. Just as a couple of examples.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Sure, the American aspect of their ethnicity are commonalities which can be more closely matched. But stick any-number of other ethnicities in front of that suffix and it'd be as accurate as 'Iranian-American'.

Click to shrink...

Not any, no. African American or Native Maerican are simply far more different from Pakistani-American a character/person pair with relatively recent immigrant parents growing up in the US. Ironically, to suggest all of the above are equal is reductive or "boiling them all down" as the same.

Did Ms. Marvel even grow up in Pakistan?

 

[AcademicSaucer]

How is casting a Iranian American person to play a Pakistani American person "ethnically accurate"?

An Iranian person would have as much similarity with a Pakistani person as Laura Bailey would have with a South African mercenary.

It seems like you're less concerned about ethnicity and more concerned with skin color, if "they're both brown skinned" is good enough for you.

Click to shrink...

maybe they are both baloch? idk

 

[Qassim]

Not any, no. African American or Native Maerican are simply far more different from Pakistani-American a character/person pair with relatively recent immigrant parents growing up in the US. Ironically, to suggest all of the above are equal is reductive or "boiling them all down" as the same.

Click to shrink...

I didn't say 'any', I said 'any-number of'. There's quite a significant difference there. So no, I wasn't coming close to suggesting 'all of the above' are equal.

 

[data]

This topic is close to home. I believe that anybody should be able to act as any character. That's the beauty of voice acting in particular. At the same time, an actor of the same ethnicity as a given character may be able to bring a sense of empathy or authenticity to that character that may otherwise be missing. A good actor could still bring that character to life regardless but I think that diversity within a cast and especially within the industry as a whole is a good thing. Talent is always a key factor but it doesn't have to be the only factor when casting. It's not an easy topic to discuss honestly. I think that it should be ok for Phil LaMarr to play Samurai Jack and not be condemned. But I also think that it should be ok to praise casting Auli'i Cravalho as Moana. Just as a couple of examples.

Click to shrink...

Definitely agree.

When it comes to jobs, you shouldn't be basing on race as that's against the law. Ability is always high up there but I would like it if there were more diverse people to get these roles so that they can build the ability and go on to other roles.

 

[TaleSpun]

All those brown folks just kinda blend together, huh OP?

 

[CosmicArmor]

I don't care who voice acts for who as long as they do a good job.

 

[Falk]

I'm getting the message here that hiring a French person to voice a German video game character is a step forward vs having an American voice actor do it. Neighboring countries and all.

 

[ASaiyan]

Punch Out Wii went to extreme lengths to provide characters with voice actors that match their nationalities. Like Bald Bull being voiced by a Turkish voice actor or getting an actual Spaniard to voice Don Flamenco instead of just hiring a Spanish-speaking VA and call it a day.

Hell, to the best of my knowledge they got a German VA that spoke with a Berlin accent to voice Von Kaiser.

Click to shrink...

This is particularly ironic when you consider that Punch-Out is probably the most over-the-top racist video game series of all time. Lol.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

I didn't say 'any', I said 'any-number'. There's quite a significant difference there.

Click to shrink...

Someone having at all similar life experience to their character could let them bring something more to their portrayal—if you don't consider any possible crossover of specific ethnic groups across the country lines of Iran and Pakistan, and how that above life experience similarity could still exist between an Iranian-American person & Pakistani-American character more so than, say, an Irish-American va, then what word needs to go in place of "accurate" in that post to make it at all acceptable to you?

I'm not seeing the argument that having actors who have at least some background parallel is as bad as some background not remotely similar, so I want to know what wording would be at all more palatable so this discussion doesn't happen again.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

This thread hasn't generated good discussion.
Feel free to make a new thread with better framing in the OP.