Thanks for the link, though I guess we’re gonna agree to disagree on this one…

I tried to make it clear in my post that my problem isn’t with Cummings. He’s a voice actor and has been hired to voice all sorts of people, animals and things that have no resemblance to who he is as a person. That’s his job and he does it well. The problem is with the writers and directors who think the easy reliance on stereotypes is acceptable. It’s creatively lazy at best.

But honestly, no it doesn’t matter to me one iota if Jim Cummings had spent 30 years in New Orleans, because he wouldn’t have spent that time as a toothless Cajun man, so whether he’s from New Orleans or from Boston, he’s doing a caricature. Even if he actually *were* a toothless Cajun man, the *character* would be a problem. It would just be more authentic.

The difference on if the character were just “good old white trash” is simple: In the media, there are countless representations of whiteness, both good and evil, smart and stupid, wealthy and poor. If a Disney movie decides to have a “good old white trash” character, it’s counter-balanced by the 75 years of noble white princes the Disney animators have created. It wouldn’t be *good* per se — it’s still creatively lazy, as caricatures usually are — but one caricature here or there doesn’t even make a ripple. However, in popular entertainment, there are very, very, very few Cajun characters. So for Disney to create their first an only Cajun character and basically make him an interchangeable racial caricature is a problem. It isn’t just a ripple. It’s a wave. It’s the sort of thing that Disney did with black characters back in the ’30s and ’40s and ’50s. It was racist then and, really, it’s racist now.

Or that’s how I look at it…

-Daniel
Check the Fien (“i before e”) Print

Thanks for the link, though I guess we’re gonna agree to disagree on this one…

I tried to make it clear in my post that my problem isn’t with Cummings. He’s a voice actor and has been hired to voice all sorts of people, animals and things that have no resemblance to who he is as a person. That’s his job and he does it well. The problem is with the writers and directors who think the easy reliance on stereotypes is acceptable. It’s creatively lazy at best.

But honestly, no it doesn’t matter to me one iota if Jim Cummings had spent 30 years in New Orleans, because he wouldn’t have spent that time as a toothless Cajun man, so whether he’s from New Orleans or from Boston, he’s doing a caricature. Even if he actually *were* a toothless Cajun man, the *character* would be a problem. It would just be more authentic.

The difference on if the character were just “good old white trash” is simple: In the media, there are countless representations of whiteness, both good and evil, smart and stupid, wealthy and poor. If a Disney movie decides to have a “good old white trash” character, it’s counter-balanced by the 75 years of noble white princes the Disney animators have created. It wouldn’t be *good* per se — it’s still creatively lazy, as caricatures usually are — but one caricature here or there doesn’t even make a ripple. However, in popular entertainment, there are very, very, very few Cajun characters. So for Disney to create their first an only Cajun character and basically make him an interchangeable racial caricature is a problem. It isn’t just a ripple. It’s a wave. It’s the sort of thing that Disney did with black characters back in the ’30s and ’40s and ’50s. It was racist then and, really, it’s racist now.

Or that’s how I look at it…

-Daniel
Check the Fien (“i before e”) Print