-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
TBT to when Naughty Dog cast a white girl doing an accent as a South African black woman and said she was better than actual South African black women
- Thread starter LifeLine
- Start date
voice acting has room for diversity in the literal sense and in the "get more than just 3-4 people voicing everything" sense so fuck this in the future
No. This is another example of the VO industry being an incestuous Mobius Strip of the same ten people getting cast in every AAA game and high-profile animation project.
If I remember correctly Bailey got the job, and then they finished the characters design. This is not Bailey's fault in any way. She simply got a job. The design team or the director should've had a better idea of how the character would look beforehand so this controversy could've been all avoided.
Laura Bailey's response to this controversy.
Laura Bailey's response to this controversy.
like somebody said upthread, VA industry is very incestuous. these western AAA games use the same VAs all the time
It did seem as nuanced as this kind of thing could be.
> The character was South African and caucasian designs were being considered.
> Uncharted 4 was a project they were trying to rescue from development hell, I seem to recall that they didn't have the luxury of showing someone new the motion capture ropes (or that the experience was a key part of the choice).
> They cast Merle Dandridge (Alyx in Half-Life, Marlene in TLOU1) as Evelyn, a white character in Uncharted 4.
For context's sake. They didn't seem comfortable with how it ended up.
> The character was South African and caucasian designs were being considered.
> Uncharted 4 was a project they were trying to rescue from development hell, I seem to recall that they didn't have the luxury of showing someone new the motion capture ropes (or that the experience was a key part of the choice).
> They cast Merle Dandridge (Alyx in Half-Life, Marlene in TLOU1) as Evelyn, a white character in Uncharted 4.
For context's sake. They didn't seem comfortable with how it ended up.
The character is probably never gonna be used again, so recasting is probably unnecessary at this point at least.
From what I understand, her race and look were determined after the fact of Laura being chosen as the actress and having started recording the performance.
Still doesn't make it great, but seems like less of a malicious thing, and more of a very stupid oversight.
Still doesn't make it great, but seems like less of a malicious thing, and more of a very stupid oversight.
Polls exist (especially when they are anonymous) on this site for people mostly to troll or hide shitty opinions. Im not even sure why you'd have a poll for a topic like this. It's pointless.
A. I've never heard any South African, black or white, speak with the accent Bailey affected for the role.
B. I think the poster you quoted was less concerned about the accent and more concerned about the fact that a white woman voiced and mocapped a black character.
Like, the idea of south african representation in a big AAA game was actually really cool, I love hearing all sorts of different accents. But then, Nadine, oh hey, here comes Laura Bailey putting on a so-so accent at best..................and if that weren't enough, the character she plays is black. WTF. A company like ND has insane resources and they make extremely story heavy games. She isnt just some small nobody npc either.
I think Naughty Dog even beyond this has a problem with not giving lesser known actors a chance, but thats a conversation for another topic
I think Naughty Dog even beyond this has a problem with not giving lesser known actors a chance, but thats a conversation for another topic
Which is even worse! Like they then intentionally made the decision to do blackvoice.
I don't blame her for the performance. I blame her for not respectfully stepping down when the character design came out. She already did the work, so she would've been paid anyways, but the role needed to be recast.
And I especially blame Neil Druckmann for writing a character who grew up DURING APARTHEID IN FUCKING SOUTH AFRICA and not knowing whether the character was black or white until after recording their fucking voice acting.
I'm not surprised. Who can get away with terrible practices largely depends on the perceived quality of their products.
As a minority I find it hard to believe that all of these "progressive" devs actually care about us and not solely about making money. It's really telling when stuff like this happens and a supposed "ally" shrugs it off and just says "Well, she sounded better!". It just reminds me of Blizzard making some characters LGBTQ+ but only in the US because they're scared of how other markets (China) would react to it.
My bad I mean none of the major black characters survive like the first one.
Who voices Letitia the Trash Lady? As I still can't believe that made it into a full game with no pushback.
www.youtube.com
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Letitia the Trash Lady
If you walk around Detroit, you'll find this person.... I was amazed at how ridiculous she sounded. Don't know if it's just over acting by the voice actor ...
www.youtube.com
it's amazing how so many people forgot about this
Former Naughty Dog Employee Says He Was Fired After Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint
A former employee of the highly-regarded video game development studio Naughty Dog has accused the company of terminating him after he says he filed a complaint that he was sexually harassed by someone else at the studio. In a statement, Naughty Dog says it has no record of these allegations. In...
kotaku.com
The quote at the end of the OP doesn't say this...
The only person who said that is you.
As explained in the thread, Laura Bailey was cast prior to Nadine being designed, so I don't know how you got to that inflammatory quote in your OP that completely undermines any good points you may have made.
As also said in the thread, ND should have recast Nadine once they came to the final design being a black woman.
In Uncharted 4 they deliberately do just that. Evelyn, a white character in the game, is played by Merle Dandridge (Alyx in Half-Life, Marlene in TLOU1).
(edit: I'm interpreting 'characters' as actors)
It happened for Uncharted 4, Evelyn, the old lady, was played by Merle Dandridge.
The fact that there are so few chances for minority actors to get a gig in game voice acting at all makes it feel bad. Laura Bailey is on Nolan North, and Troy Baker's level of voicing any and every character. While she sounded different for this character hearing her for the TLOU2 character just made me think of some of her other characters, especially Saints Row.
It continues to be disappointing how a black role can't be filled with a black actor/actress. It was never really appropriate that a well-off studio opted for a white woman for their 4th game in a successful franchise for their black character. The excuse I've seen that the characters design was decided after the performance doesn't work, it makes it feel almost like conscious digital blackface to me.
I think many of the actors in the common circles of mocap and voice acting are quite talented but at this point, their presence feels really oversaturated and is starting to feel like it's both creatively uninspired and a genuinely stifling status quo to new and more diverse talent.
I think many of the actors in the common circles of mocap and voice acting are quite talented but at this point, their presence feels really oversaturated and is starting to feel like it's both creatively uninspired and a genuinely stifling status quo to new and more diverse talent.
The poll reminds me of when I mentioned in a TLOU tv series thread that it would be cool of they cast actors of color as Joel and Ellie. Needless to say that didn't go over well.
Didn't know she was white and just loved there was an African woman playing a major role in a AAA game.
Phil LaMarr voices vamp in MGS and samurai Jack
Nah, it wasn't okay. I love Nadine and Laura Bailey's performance but they should have given a black actor a chance. I hope if we ever see Nadine again whoever is making the game does the right thing and recasts.
A black woman voiced her. She was just really bad at doing an accent not her own.Who voices Letitia the Trash Lady? As I still can't believe that made it into a full game with no pushback.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Letitia the Trash Lady
If you walk around Detroit, you'll find this person.... I was amazed at how ridiculous she sounded. Don't know if it's just over acting by the voice actor ...
Something that bothers me in some media is having a Latino character who is supposed to speak perfect Spanish, but their accent is either very rough or it happens to be from another country that is not their own (because the actor is, for example, Cuban, but the character is Mexican or something like that, that shit's jarring).
it's amazing how so many people forgot about this
Former Naughty Dog Employee Says He Was Fired After Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint
A former employee of the highly-regarded video game development studio Naughty Dog has accused the company of terminating him after he says he filed a complaint that he was sexually harassed by someone else at the studio. In a statement, Naughty Dog says it has no record of these allegations. In...
They get so many passes
I don't think it was a good idea to keep Laura Bailey as Nadine, I also look back and thinking about it now, her role in Binary Domain comes off as a bit problematic (accent didn't help). Designs change yes, but you could also change her role, plus Nate's brother was recast to Troy Baker, you could've done the same in this situation.
The trailer introducing the cast like that did not sit well with me...it was just off-putting.