Jenny Slate Exits ‘Big Mouth’: ‘Black Characters Should Be Played by Black People’
"Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people," Slate wrote
variety.com
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Jenny Slate Exits ‘Big Mouth’: ‘Black Characters Should Be Played by Black People’
- Thread starter tormented
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variety.com
I don't see a reason to shame Netflix for this. They weren't any more responsible for the hiring than the creators. It's simply good on her and the whole creative team.
While I don't necessarily agree with her reasoning, I think it's really admirable of her to give a POC a chance to play a voice acting role. To make progress this is probably what's needed.
I edited my original post for some further reasoning. It is totally within their power (and responsibility) to hire actors that reflect the race/ethnicity of their characters.
Is this a first? I know we've seen people bring up issues with voice cast and character race (like with Apu in recent years), but has an animated show ever actually recast a character like this?
Either way, it's a good move. Curious how this will impact the next season, which I would assume is already finished or close to it.
Either way, it's a good move. Curious how this will impact the next season, which I would assume is already finished or close to it.
Yeah pretty much, there's more irresponsible shit I see on Netflix on a daily . Like a movie about some dude that enslaves a woman and makes her basically a sex slave that gets Stockholm syndrome and falls in love with him lol.
at some point that movie and 13 Reasons Why were #1 and 2 on Netflix.
both those things are insanely dangerous material
Cue the angry white mob that will ask for Maya to step down as well.
Also, your move Central Park.
Also, your move Central Park.
I understand what she's trying to do but this ultimately does not change the hiring culture of Hollywood but only serves them temporary good PR.
Why don't the show creators and the people who are in the actual position to make changes start actively hiring POC? Why aren't they being held accountable for their actions? It's depressing.
Why don't the show creators and the people who are in the actual position to make changes start actively hiring POC? Why aren't they being held accountable for their actions? It's depressing.
I can get behind that decision - good on her.
What else can she do other than hand her role (which I'm sure was lucrative) to someone else?
What else can she do other than hand her role (which I'm sure was lucrative) to someone else?
She could have not auditioned or accepted the role. She said she even had to convince herself to take it in the first place. She took the right step now, I applaud that. I doubt Netflix had that option; do you expect them to fire her because she's white?
I'm not talking about her, I'm criticizing the higher ups who are not changing anything about their hiring practices. Sure, there will be a POC cast on this specific show which is great but how does it change the wider landscape of Hollywood? It absolutely doesnt, that's my point.
I was very surprised when I saw Kristen Bell was cast to portray a black person on Central Park. Definitely seems like this may cause them to reconsider that choice -- she's already in a little bit of hot water over her children's book being considered tone deaf.
Beauty and the Beast, with the exception of the sex, is basically the same story. I'm surprised there wasn't more discussion of it since it was recently remade.
Good move. It's interesting how even relatively recent shows like Bojack Horseman (2014) now feel outdated in terms of inclusive casting. If it had been made this year, I doubt Alison Brie would have been cast as Diane Nguyen.
I would say that non POC actors could voice them if there was actually equitable distribution of roles. But since there is certainly not, I applaud this.
Kind of surprised they didn't use Maya Rudolph for Missy to begin with as she is half Black and half Jewish. It's not like she doesn't voice multiple characters as well.
This is the right thing to do, and good on her for calling more attention to this. They could totally go for a different voice and make it work with the whole "I'm going through changes" thing.
That said, I'm going to miss her voice. If anyone has ever seen the Kroll Show, you'll know that these people have been doing these same voices for years and years now.
That said, I'm going to miss her voice. If anyone has ever seen the Kroll Show, you'll know that these people have been doing these same voices for years and years now.
I hear ya buuuut there's a whole lot of differences that come about between both materials lol.
Just to start off with, Beast doesn't just go kidnap this woman off the streets and tell her I'm prisoning you for an year to fall in love with me, it doesn't get any better from there
She voices the white mother.
Agreed.
I think you're missing my point. My point is: Netflix made the show and cast the actors, and so the opportunity for her to play a character that didn't (entirely) reflect her race is wrong. I don't think they could've handled it differently right now, what I'm saying is they shouldn't have done that in the first place. Jenny is entirely right to leave, and Kroll sounds like he understands also.
But these are decisions that big studios like Netflix shouldn't be making. Naughty Dog is guilty of this too, for example, when they hired a white voice actor to voice a black character (the character's likeness was changed after the recording happened, but ND didn't try to recast to reflect the fact the character was now Black). When it becomes a norm (and it seems like it definitely is a bit of a norm in the voice acting world), it no longer needs justification for it to be reinforced. It just happens. If it's looked down upon and studios start to make rules about representation, then change happens.
People shut up about that pretty quickly once it was pointed out the book wasn't about race.
I absolutely love her so I'm glad to hear that. I still find her role on Central Park to be very strange though and could see this being an impetus to her stepping down as well. I guess we'll see.
I am glad that in a thread about a white woman taking a stand on PoC voicing PoC characters, we were reminded that Cleveland Brown's voice performance by a white guy is just so iconic.
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I wonder how the discussion around Laura Bailey playing Nadine in Uncharted 4 would have gone if it was happening today. I remember a lot of people were supportive of it because it was voice role.
Good on Jenny Slate, but in general I don't have an issue with white people voicing characters that are of color so long as we also see a good distribution of POC voicing white characters as well. My understanding is that sometimes this isn't the case, though.
I think far more important is seeing diversity in the writer's room. Not that these two things can't both be important, though.
I think far more important is seeing diversity in the writer's room. Not that these two things can't both be important, though.
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Would not be surprised if she comes back in some form. She's great and has an established working relationship with Kroll, so probably just a matter of time.
How about an actual black person? Since the character's voice was actually inspired by a real life black person
I remember it being controversial (at least when I looked it up back in the day).
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Oh it was controversial. But I remember I was surprised by the amount of people who supported it on the old site.
It doesn't reinforce the notion. It's merely observing the reality of the system of race. Pretending that it doesn't, especially in service to justify a white woman taking a role from someone who's black or actually biracial (w/ black) is counter productive.
There's nothing that serves to undermine the construct of race by defending a white woman voicing a mixed black person. Mixed people being defined by their black ancestry is not something you can ignore for greener pastures while denying opportunities to black people at the same time. You can't take a color-blind approach here.
You're entirely right but it still doesn't sit right with me that we have to acknowledge an outdated social structure that in other contexts divides us in order to make the situation just.
I would venture to guess little to none since with this show you could lean into the theme of puberty changing your voice
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