Or is this a bit inappropriate?

[Mycatishere]

I was listening to an audiobook today, and I’ve already read the book - wanted something easy to listen to while I got on with other stuff.

So in the book, one of the characters is called Maggie and is half sister to a character named Bonnie. Bonnie is white British and is narrated with a slightly cockney accent (she’s Scottish in the book but anyway …) and she and Maggie have different fathers. But there’s no mention in the book, no hint, of Maggie having grown up anywhere other than uk.

Yet Maggie is narrated with a Jamaican accent am I alone in thinking that’s a bit off, really?

^i honestly don’t think it is that. The book is about nine or ten years old for one thing and in all honesty is hardly what you’d consider high literature.
I doubt anyone else would have picked up on it, it’s a minor character - but having read the book and knowing there is literally nothing suggesting the character in question would have a foreign accent apart from being mixed race, I am a bit taken aback.^

@Mycatishere I mean that the audio book's portrayal could be motivated by that. Whether it's high or low literature makes no odds.

For instance, In the BBC portrayal of Phil Rickman's book Midwinter of the Spirit, the character Lol Robinson was black so that there was a BAME person on screen. There is no indication that the character is black in the book- in fact it's unlikely due to demographic factors.

@me4real there is nothing wrong with a black actor being cast to play the part of an unspecified race of a character.

However, this is completely different to a Jamaican accent being given to a British woman.

If the actor is not BAME/mixed race and is putting on an accent, obviously that's considered wrong now. Even just seven years later, producers probably wouldn't do that.

But it's maybe different if a Black British/mixed actor is doing it, stylizing their voice so as to convey the character.

We see you 🙄

Ahhhh, yes I know that author and the books. In that kind of context I wouldn't expect a mixed race British person to have anything other than a British (regional) accent.

Not wrong in audiobooks.

If this is the next up on the cancel block, then they'll sto

we see you

@catandcoffee This is what I've experienced. I live in a very diverse part of Birmingham (one of the most diverse areas in the country) and even British-born people can talk in a range of accents (some individuals more than others.) It's not a value judgement on my part, just how it is. And there's nothing wrong with that.

*theyll stop producing audiobooks with diverse characters

If she’s not Jamaican then there’s no reason for a Jamaican accent.

Thats like watching Eastenders and one of the Mitchell brothers speaking in an American accent, even though he was born and raised in London, never been to America and his entire family have cockney accents.

Not wrong in audiobooks.

@WeAreBob They decided it wasn't ok in The Simpsons.

I actually don’t think there’s anything wrong with someone putting on accents even if they’re not that race. Especially audiobooks where there is only one narrator.
Many narrators will play multiple characters of all different races, ages and sexes.

But putting on a Jamaican accent when there is no indication that the child is Jamaican is obviously wrong and very stereotypical.

I've never head of Cathy Glass but if I knew the title I'd listen and write to the production company, because its something which needs to be addressed.

You asked if it's inappropriate, I think the thread, with some clarification over the plot/character, overwhelmingly agrees with you that it isn't appropriate.

And for any offence I caused by making a joke about another thread (which didn't involve race but accents), I wholeheartedly apologise. It was clumsy and the wrong place for it.

I can easily see how the production team might have thought they were being representative and it raises important questions about how books are turned into audiobooks. I stand by that it should be brought to their attention.

YANBU and you have the patience if a saint. Wish I was surprised by the 'voice in your head' and you are being 'humourless' comments, but sadly not.

@Basilbrushgotfat thanks for that. I have no desire to seem humourless but to be totally honest there are just so, so many attempts on here generally to deny racism at all and to find anything related to it funny (see the old ‘my child saw a black woman and asked if she’d been dipped in chocolate’ craze of threads from a few years ago.)

Things have improved but there are still a few hardcore ones around and they will LOVE posts like that because it gives them the green light to chortle and tee hee about racism, and it just isn’t funny (as you know!)

What a ridiculous comment.

That is a TV show with a full production and multiple cast members, and plenty of money.

An audiobook is one person. They simply won't produce audiobooks if they need a full cast for every one. And then kids like i was miss out on books.

If you have one narrator then they will never produce books with a diverse character list. Not just no black people, no anything unless theyre all the same and match the narrator. It is utterly ridiculous.

@me4real The Simpson’s is a completely different issue.

It was the narrator himself who chose to leave as he believed that Apu was a negative stereotype.

There is also a history of white actors being paid to play black actors or do the voice rather than just paying black actors - which is why black face is so offensive.

The Simpson’s didn’t have any ethnicities apart from white peoples narrating the characters which is why they’re trying to change it.

I personally don’t think that narrating things like audiobooks or cartoons are an issue in itself but I understand it’s the bigger meaning behind them that’s the issue.

It is not fair to choose to cast non-white people but then choose not pay them for it and pay white actors instead.

@Mycatishere thank you for accepting my apology. It honestly hadn't occurred to me that some people would have seen it as an excuse to laugh at racism...And my initial posts discussing it were poorly phrased too due to a tired brain.

Another thought though, if you do wish to complain formerly about it, you might not even need to contact the production company - assuming you're using Audible then they should have a complaints procedure.

*formally

Tired brain again!

Thats like watching Eastenders and one of the Mitchell brothers speaking in an American accent, even though he was born and raised in London, never been to America and his entire family have cockney accents.

@Onwards22 A friend of mine is of Italian descent and lived in London. She said some of the young men of Italian descent really hammed up their accents, when they were born here. It's how they sound urban/edgy and also express their subcultural identification.

The same happens with people from other groups in some areas. Some people want to express their ethnic group's subcultural background (which is fine.)

You can also usually tell that Asian British (as in from a Bangladeshi etc background) people are Asian British from their accents.

The same happens with people from other groups in some areas. Some people want to express their ethnic group's subcultural background (which is fine.)

That’s a completely different scenario though.

They’re choosing to put on an accent.

Obviously some people completely fake accents (thread from earlier on) but most people that you’re talking about speak in an accent that their parents speak.

The child in question is not Jamaican and she wasn’t raised in Jamaica or by Jamaican people.
So why would she have a a Jamaican accent?
Why did they not give her a Mexican accent or French accent?

@Onwards22 There were other actors that left their roles in the Simpsons, for instance Harry Shearer, who played a black doctor.

These actors don't really have a choice if they want to optimize their chances in their career. Performers have to do a climb down and profess guilt or 'inappropriateness', like the Dixie Chicks becoming The Chicks, and Lady Antebellum becoming Lady A. Or various actors that've had to apologize for past roles, even recent ones.

Is it this book?

How ridiculous. If there is no mention of her being born in Jamaica or raised by Jamaicans, there should not be some silly fake Jamaican accent going on! Especially for a minor character. That is racist and stereotypical. I would contact the publishers and audiobook producers, personally.

Recently, I listened to the audiobook of Where The Crawdads Sing, where there is a bunch of stupidly written accents only for the black characters🙄, but the audiobook really toned it down. I googled and read a lot of articles about accents/representation in audiobooks which was interesting.

slate.com/culture/2021/06/audiobook-narration-race-accents-casting-racism-representation.html

Also, the Simpsons example is just not relevant. The people of colour in that cartoon were originally put in to be stereotypes who had the piss taken out of them. All a big laugh. Racist.

Narrating an audiobook with diverse characters is not a Simpsons repeat.

Is it this book? ‘Will you love me?’ Written by Cathy Glass about her adopted daughter?