Despite animated debate on animation, things are moving
• A number of white actors are walking away from characters of colour they have been voicing in cartoon series
It’s taken a while but finally, perhaps given a kick in the proverbial backside by the recent pressures of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, the issue of representation in animated series and feature films seems to be leading to much-needed changes in the industry.
In 2017, US comedian and writer Hari Kondabolu, who is of Indian descent, made a documentary called The Problem with Apu, in which he argued that the portrayal of the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, by white actor Hank Azaria, had damaging consequences for attitudes towards Indians in the US.
Through interviews with a variety of South AsianAmerican entertainers, the film makes a compelling case for the idea that even in the fantasy world of animation, the issue of representation matters.
The creators of The Simpsons wrote off Kondabolu’s criticism as hysterical political correctness. Though he had refused to be interviewed for the film, Azaria announced in January he that would no longer do the voice, “unless there’s some way to transition it or something”.
In June The Simpsons producers announced that the show would no longer use white actors to voice characters of colour.
This led to several other popular animated series making similar decisions, with actress Jenny Slate, who voices a number of black characters on the Netflix show Big Mouth, announcing that she would step aside for an actress of colour to take her role and the producers of Apple TV’s new animated series Central Park making the decision to recast the mixed race character on their show, voiced by white actress Kristen Bell. Fox’s popular series Family Guy underwent similar changes when white actor Mike Henry announced that he would step aside from playing the character of black neighbour Cleveland.
While these moves have been welcomed by many actors of colour and organisations fighting for diversity in the US film and television industry, not everyone has been so enthusiastic. Actor Harry Shearer, 76, who voices many of the characters on The Simpsons, including black Dr Julius Hibbert, said in an interview with Times Radio in July that, “The job of the actor is to play someone who they’re not. That’s the gig. That’s the job description.”
He added that he’s “not a rich nuclear plant owner. I’m not a Bible-believing Christian that lives next to Homer [Simpson],” referring to the characters of Mr Burns and Flanders. For Shearer the problems of representation are ones that should be tackled on the production and writing team level rather than in the performance space.
However, as black voice actor Angelique Perrin points out in a piece she wrote for The Hollywood Reporter, “What troubles me is that animation is one place where there are actually numerous roles where race does not matter.
“Animation is a world where we get to have fun, break rules and take chances. But even in the fantasy worlds they create, animators rarely take the time to sprinkle in people of colour in the background. And how often do producers and directors take the time to hire people of colour for their nonhuman characters unless it’s for the purpose of illuminating some ethnic stereotype?”
This raises the broader issue: why, as a medium that pushes fantastical versions of reality has animation not historically been a safer space for actors of colour? After all, they are hidden behind the characters on screen, so you might think this would make it easier for them to perform outside the prejudices of audiences against direct onscreen representations.
But it seems to be much like the broader film industry, which is also dealing with prejudices by gatekeepers and producers who have been unwilling to rock the boat in favour of spoon-feeding audiences what they believe they want.
With outside social pressure finally becoming too hard to ignore, The Simpsons and other animated shows are merely giving audiences what they believe they want, without necessarily acknowledging the ways in which they have helped to contribute to the outrage and hurt that have now exploded beyond the seemingly safe confines of television screens.
No-one is about to say that Will Arnett should be replaced as the voice of Netflix’s celebrity horse BoJack Horseman or that the monsters and aliens of Rick and Morty should be voiced by actual monsters and aliens — that would indeed be politically correctness gone mad — but where representation has negative consequences for those it represents, making necessary changes is good social and business practice.