It was a shock that Brie said she regretted the role of Diane Nguyen. There was nothing about the character that was specifically about being Vietnamese woman or Asian that was a big characterization for Diane. Even in the last season, the episode which she travels to Vietnam didn’t include anything which whitewashed the character. That is the only time in Bojack Horseman that the series addressed the ethnicity of the character. Even in the episode she travels to Boston to visit family, it never brought up cultural things. Never once heard backlash against Brie for voicing the character. As an Asian, I never felt uncomfortable with the Brie voicing an Asian person.
I don’t watch this show so I don’t have a horse in this race, but the idea is that there are few enough opportunities for Asian actors already. Brie is a good actor and widely beloved, there will always be another opportunity for her.
You say they don’t whitewash the character, but then you say they only address the character’s ethnicity once. That’s a bit contradictory isn’t it?
the whitewashing was intentional. about how her family abandoned their vietnamese identity for a bostonian one.
even her travel to vietnam and how she was underwhelmed how she didn’t feel any connection to vietnam she tought would ease her existential dread a bit and help her with a sense of belonging to a family she never really had. turns out it’s not a part of her anymore after all and that’s ok.
i had some of these toughts in my life and found this character’s heritage to be subtle genius by the writers tbh.
It was a shock that Brie said she regretted the role of Diane Nguyen. There was nothing about the character that was specifically about being Vietnamese woman or Asian that was a big characterization for Diane. Even in the last season, the episode which she travels to Vietnam didn’t include anything which whitewashed the character. That is the only time in Bojack Horseman that the series addressed the ethnicity of the character. Even in the episode she travels to Boston to visit family, it never brought up cultural things. Never once heard backlash against Brie for voicing the character. As an Asian, I never felt uncomfortable with the Brie voicing an Asian person.
The real outrage is that the Bojack voice actor wasn’t an actual horse!
You’re thinking of Wallace Shawn.
So weird to get wrapped around the axle over nothing.
I have a Malay coworker, as in first-gen immigrant. Over the phone you’d never know, zero accent. So Brie doing the voice makes sense.
My extended family includes Italian, Polish, Greek, Spanish, Irish, French. Should any of us be offended to be voice-charactered by, well, anyone?
I don’t watch this show so I don’t have a horse in this race, but the idea is that there are few enough opportunities for Asian actors already. Brie is a good actor and widely beloved, there will always be another opportunity for her.
You say they don’t whitewash the character, but then you say they only address the character’s ethnicity once. That’s a bit contradictory isn’t it?
Poor choice of words. The ethnicity wasn’t a major characterization.
the whitewashing was intentional. about how her family abandoned their vietnamese identity for a bostonian one.
even her travel to vietnam and how she was underwhelmed how she didn’t feel any connection to vietnam she tought would ease her existential dread a bit and help her with a sense of belonging to a family she never really had. turns out it’s not a part of her anymore after all and that’s ok.
i had some of these toughts in my life and found this character’s heritage to be subtle genius by the writers tbh.