LESSONS FROM THE 90s, Memoir 6

Hello all!

Short post today, because unfortunately I’ve been low-energy the past week. Oh well, it comes and goes.

Let me meander down a memory alley. And a subway tangent. Not the sandwich, though those sandwiches were a steady part of my diet for about 10 years of my life. No, wait, a subway or a maintenance tunnel off a subway station? Hmmmm….where was I going?

Right, I was thinking about commenting on the whole ‘Making Of’ animation. And the art and story-book like character of true hand-draw, not CGI or computer-assisted animation. Naw, I’ll get to those when I have time, cause they take a while.

Let me talk about voice actors.

When I was a youngin’, growing up primarily on Cartoon Network—and Disney—and Boomerang—and Nickelodeon—and FoxKids—and WarnerBros…when I was growing up from the 90s to the about the 2008 banking crisis, I noticed something.

Something wonderful. The character voices! The actors who brought to life this strange mix of ink, pencil, film, televised via electric waves from our screens and into our eyeballs. All of that was itself a wonder. But it was the voice! The ACTING TALENT. See, from what I understand, the same voice actors we have on the regular today are the same bozos who got their start around the 90s.

I can recognize them all, but unlike, say, flesh-and-blood actors—the problem I get eventually with flesh-and-blood actors is that I become too attached to their face. Weird, I know, do you know where you are on the Internet? See, if I see an flesh-actor, I don’t see their character. I see them performing a role. It is hard, I think for actors to avoid Adam West syndrome. I don’t mean typecasting, I mean when the actor’s personality is so much that their personality overrides the role. Something about their ‘bodiliness’ is so distinct that it obscures what they are trying to do.

The actors, I think—flesh-actors still—who have it best are the ones who show up for only a few roles, or are so skilled that they go for every role they can, even the ones that they, personally, are ill-suited to. Al Pacino will always be the loud guy—does not detract from his skill. Toshiro Mifune (1950s Japan, Akira Kurasowa, the director who influenced George Lucas) I can watch him in a dozen distinct roles and forget the man.

That may have to do with, unfortunately, Hollywood branding. Hollywood, the that nest of flesh-suits, tries to cultivate star power, because movie stars are advertisers (grumble, grumble). The star power works too well. And, yes, I fall for it, sometimes. …Well I’m trying to remember an example of me going to a movie purely for the movie star. Aha! Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and T-Cruise. You know, all those old heroes who don’t know how or when to quit. Maybe the Batman movies by C. Nolan, but that was for the character, not Chrisitan Bale.

But for voice actors?

Not the same thing. Not the same thing, because unlike Hollywood stars, Voice Actors (who do compete with Hollywood Stars) don’t have to worry about the flesh problem. It turns out, most VA’s are pretty ordinary looking people! They’d never make it to the silver screen. Maybe, just maybe, a stage theatre play, where traditionally people are expected to look ugly—uh, like regular people*.

[*I miss the days when, in Hollywood, actors looked like real people. For example, Holes (2003). Shia LeBeouf, sure, but every big name in that film (including Sigourney Weaver) didn’t wear beauty makeup, everyone looked like a rough person! A normal person off the street! I miss that.]

Now, I’m not saying VAs, I’m not saying VAs are pristine models of humanity. No! I’m saying that I’ve never heard of a scandal surrounding a VA that was their fault—well the 90s and early 2000s crowd at least. No, no, Keith David Richardson—ugh!

I’m saying that VAs, unless they are really stupid, keep to their privacy. There is no way to market their ‘Star Power’, because their bodies aren’t pleasant, and their amazing voices only work for a few mediums: Radio, audio book, or animation. The first two have no bodies and the third—they aren’t them anymore. They are the role. The animation is their costume.

Except for the turds who think that Motion Capture (f***ing James Cameron!) is the best way to move forward! 1) Mo-Cap is still CGI, and thus still needs to follow the guidelines of CGI—use as little of it as possible and 2) It blurs the lines between actor, role, reality, and virtual reality. Uncanny valley effect, sure, but Mo-Cap removes the magic. Mo-Cap can become a strange crutch, or an unneeded tool, because it is the JOB of the actor to bring the character to life! Not technology!

God, I’m ranting, oh well.

More ranting for later.

More to follow!