Re: Too few Asian Voice Actors
- From: leo86@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 23 Sep 2005 11:00:45 -0700
A number of interesting issues are raised by this thread.
For me, one important issue is the right accent for the (non-Japanese)
nationality of the character(s) depicted. So anime set in England
should have U.K.-raised and/or -trained actors. I'm pleased with the
voice work in L/R and Hellsing, where everyone actually sounds English,
but not with Master Keaton, a far superior series in which the lead
character is dubbed with a generic, bland American accent despite the
fact that the character is an Oxford-trained scholar and was raised in
England.
In Japanese-language anime, I like it when a character who speaks with
a regional accent actually SOUNDS to my relatively untrained ear like
someone with a different accent from, say, a main character from Tokyo.
This was the case with Isao Takahata's ONLY YESTERDAY, where the lead
character, from Tokyo, goes out to farm country and strikes up a
friendship with a young man who sounds like he's from farm country
(Japanese variety).
Regarding English dubbing and issues of race: I get thrown off when a
black character sounds like a generic white guy, but I also get thrown
off when someone in ancient Japan sounds like an urban American black.
I have an early copy of the English dub of PRINCESS MONONOKE and one of
the characters in Lady Eboshi's stronghold, a bald guy who's one of her
top hands, was voiced by someone just this side of Samuel L. Jackson.
The voice was changed by the time the film was released in the U.S.
There are plenty of black actors who can do all kinds of voices (e.g.
Keith David, who did two voices in PM), and there should be no
restrictions on the roles offered to them. When there's a black
character, it would be nice to have a recognizably black voice doing
it, but not to the point of stereotype. (And I HAVE heard English dubs
where white VAs try to do outrageous black accents and the result is
offensive. Fortunately, this has been rare.)
I think it's appropriate to get Asian-accented voices for scripts where
there are Asian characters in a non-Asian setting. E.g. the Japanese
scientist on board the American battleship in GENOCYBER.
I have a kung fu movie where all the English dub voices are Asian VAs
speaking English. It's not a good result because it doesn't sound
natural. None of them were particularly well-trained for voice work. In
cases like kung fu movies, I'd rather hear all the regular VAs who are
used to doing this kind of movie.
In the early kaiju English dubs, e.g. RODAN, Asian-American actors
based in Hollywood were used, including Keye Luke and a very young
George Takei.
In old Hollywood, major stars were never expected to do accents when
they played non-Americans. Tyrone Power played English, Spanish,
Indian, French, etc., and he always sounded like Tyrone Power. It
worked better that way. When a major star did an unfamiliar accent, the
audience got upset. Even if he were playing a westerner or southerner,
he didn't change his voice. If you recall ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES
from 1991, you may remember that Kevin Costner sounded all wrong when
he attempted an accent. But he dropped that after a couple of scenes
and he did fine in his normal voice from then on.
.
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