1. In your opinion, does Never Have I Ever’s exploration of contemporary Asian American life avoid “racial accents?” What strategies does the series use to complicate dominant imaginings of Asian American voice, customs, and/or romance? Are these strategies successful?

2.Vikram Murthi argues that Master of None’s “Indians on TV” captures “the inherent thorniness of representation.” The episode dramatizes minority characters’ media consumption and participation in American entertainment industries. How does “Indians on TV” engage, expand, and/or challenge themes and ideas we’ve discussed throughout this course? Reference at least one course reading (from this week or any previous week) to complete your answer.

Racial Accents, Hollywood Casting, and Asian American
Studies
Shilpa Davé

Cinema Journal, Volume 56, Number 3, Spring 2017, pp. 142-147 (Article)

Published by University of Texas Press
DOI:

For additional information about this article

Access provided at 22 Mar 2020 21:47 GMT from Northwestern University Library

https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2017.0030

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/658170

https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2017.0030

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/658170

Cinema Journal 56 | No. 3 | Spring 2017

142

Racial Accents, Hollywood Casting,
and Asian American Studies
by shilPa davé

In the episode “Indians on TV” of the Netflix comedy series Master of None (2015–present), Emmy Award–winning cocreators Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang chronicle the trials and tribulations of an Indian American man auditioning for acting jobs in the
American television and film industry. The protagonist, Dev Shah
(Ansari), who is an actor in New York City, questions himself and
others about whether or not he should do a “funny Indian accent” to
land a role. In discussions with his friends, his agent, casting directors,
and network industry decision makers, he muses about why Indians
and Asians are sidekicks in most Hollywood plotlines and why there
can’t be two Indian characters who are friends and talk to each other
in a mainstream comedy. The show also brings up the role of Asian
American representations compared to representations of other
racialized groups, and how nonwhite entertainers and actors operate
when confronted with racism in the industry. The decision to use or
not to use the constructed Indian accent translates into a cultural and
professional crisis of identity for Dev. To perform the accent means
success and recognition in standard Hollywood narratives, but it also
denies the individuality, variety of experiences, and diversity of the
actors who long to challenge the preexisting character stereotypes.
While representations of Asian Americans in the US media are
dependent on visual politics, casting choices, and acting performances
on-screen, another factor that marks Asian Americans, South Asians,
and in particular Indian Americans as a racially identifiable and
distinct group is the presence and performance of vocal and racial
accents. Increasingly, as cultural and social debates proliferate about
language and word usage, communication and political correctness,
and racial, gendered, and class rhetoric, the study of the relationship
between race and language and accent offers a lens through which
to examine the complex and variable nature of racial hierarchies
presented in and by mass media. Master of None’s narrative offers a
frank appraisal of the racial representations of Indians and Asians
in a complex hierarchy of racial and gendered relationships and
depictions and specifically points to the prolific representation of
Indian and Asian accents of English as a particular racializing trope
for South Asian Americans and Asian Americans.1

1 Similarly, Stephen J. Kung’s film A Leading Man (2013) depicts the trials and tribulations of

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The accent is representative of stereotypical roles that have enjoyed longevity and
commercial success in Hollywood. The animated character, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon,
(from The Simpsons [Fox, 1989–present]) has been on television since 1990 and has been
followed by other incarnations of Indians speaking English with an accent on TV,
including the popular Raj Koothrappali (played by Indian actor Kunal Nayyer) on the
long-running comedy The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 2007–present). As I have previously
argued, representations of Indians and South Asians have been racialized by their
accents or “brown voices” in American TV and film.2 “Brown voice” is the act of
speaking in accented English associated with Indian nationals and immigrants and is a
combination of linguistic and phonetic markers that include stress points on particular
words, cultural references, and words out of order. The performance of brown
voice is adopted and used by South Asians and non–South Asians (most famously
by Hank Azaria as the voice actor of Apu). More significant, brown voice operates
as a racializing characteristic among South Asians that suggests both foreignness and
familiarity in a US context.
Historically, industry executives, producers, and casting agents tend to privilege
physical difference or the visual contrast with the dominant white characters in their
casting practices. In her book on colorblind television casting, Kristen J. Warner con-
curs, pointing out that “Hollywood logic discourse suggests progress in diversity is at
the level of skin color.”3 And yet although the casting process may be called colorblind,
Warner points out that most of the roles are written as “race neutral” or characters
who are written as white, so when a nonwhite actor is cast, the backstory or dialogue
does not reflect ethnic or racial experiences. When race or ethnic roles are needed or
emphasized, there is an inevitable exaggeration of racialized characteristics, or what
I have called an accent.4 Thus, accent is not limited to sound or the performance of
brown voice; it can also be defined as an accessory or cultural characteristic that is
designed to highlight a dominant look, feature, or “race neutral” (white, heteronor-
mative, American middle class) story line, such as inserting a subplot about arranged
marriage to contrast Indian cultural practices with American ideas of romance. On
the screen in the episode of Master of None, the choices among the offered roles are
slim for Dev, and the conflict for Asian American actors or emerging nonwhite actors
is to take the job in the hope it will lead to a successful series with good money and
exposure or wait for (or create) another role that allows for some variety and flexibility.
So while some may have qualms about the roles, nonwhite actors are driven to take the
roles that pay the bills. In “Indians on TV,” Dev’s fellow actor Ravi (Ravi Patel) first
performs in brown voice but then later refuses to do the Indian accent, thus creating
an opportunity for a job and a role for Dev if he does agree to use an accent.

a Chinese American actor trying to forge a career in Hollywood, where success means playing stereotypical roles of
Asians speaking broken English and the comic relief sidekick.

2 For more on accent as a racializing trope for South Asians, see Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance
in American Television and Film (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013); and “Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural
Inflection and South Asian Accents,” in East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture, ed. Shilpa Davé, LeiLani
Nishime, and Tasha Oren (New York: New York University Press, 2005).

3 Kristen J. Warner, The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting (London: Routledge, 2015), 131.

4 Davé, Indian Accents.

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Brown voice or accent racialization is most often used in conjunction with comedic
narratives and representations. The proliferation of Asian American and South
Asian American leading roles and characters who are identified as racial minorities
and who address their race and ethnic background in the narrative arc of the story
appear primarily in comedic genres. In progressive sitcom TV series that feature Asian
Americans and Indian Americans in central roles (in front of as well as behind the
camera as producers and writers) such as The Mindy Project (Fox, Hulu, 2013–present),
Fresh off the Boat (ABC, 2014–present), and Master of None (Netflix, 2015–present), either
the characters do not have stereotypical Indian or Asian accents or the writers do not
make those accents the center of the comedic story line. Fresh off the Boat features a
multigenerational family that includes an immigrant grandmother who doesn’t speak
English fluently, two parents who speak with either a regional American accent or
fluent English, and children who speak in fluent English with cultural slang. The
show is representative of the different kinds of accents and genealogies that exist in a
multigenerational family. In The Mindy Project and Master of None, neither of the main
characters speaks with an Indian accent. As the star, writer, and producer of her own
series, Mindy Kaling makes headlines with the topics she tackles on her show that relate
to women’s body image and women in the workplace. Although it is not a principal
part of her show, Kaling’s character, Mindy Lahiri, talks about her racial and ethnic
heritage and presents a racial alternative—and an alternative in terms of her age and
profession—to the twentysomething heroines of romantic comedies who dominate
the situation comedy genre. Aziz Ansari goes even further by writing stories for his
show that contemplate how his cultural heritage and ethnic background inform his
everyday life, from his consumer choices to his relationships to his profession. All these
series represent the variety of voices that Asian Americans bring to everyday issues of
love, family, education, and employment. The contemporary comedic genre therefore
includes both stereotypical roles in which the “funny accent” is part of the comic
appeal of Asian American and Indian American characters and a few progressive
narratives that showcase alternative representations and voices.
Accents can act as cultural currency as popular references about what Indian
Americans and Asian Americans in the United States look and sound like. But how
does accent work outside of comedy in genres such as drama or action adventure?
While the stereotypical roles of the sidekick, scientist, spiritual storyteller, foreign
immigrant, and comic relief continue, there also is a trend to move away from casting
visibly obvious racial or ethnic roles to the practice of casting physically ethnically
ambiguous actors in television and film roles. Part of being ethnically ambiguous also
means eliminating “brown voice” or racial vocal accents, or the process of accent
neutralization.
In the call-center industry, the philosophy behind accent neutralization when
speaking English is to separate how a person talks (their accent) from what a person
is talking about (an identifiable place and nationality). The call center, which relies on
vocal interactions between individuals, is useful for examining how accent is utilized as
a similar racializing trope both in and outside of US national borders. In her analysis
of call-center training handbooks, Claire Cowie identifies different standards of
proficiency of Indian English but ultimately workers were asked to develop a “neutral”

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accent—one that is not necessarily associated with American English or British, or
with Indian English.5 Training is not necessarily about mimicking the American accent
but instead about achieving a “neutral” voice that is dependent on pronunciation and
phonetic issues. The idea behind this “neutrality” is to eliminate traces of regional or
geographical raciality and instead focus on speaking about cultural norms and topics,
ranging from the weather to sporting events that might be relevant to a customer.
Social exchanges are designed to distract from the phonetics and instead focus on the
subject, to alleviate anxiety about differences and instead allow for a reliable transfer
of information. To help think about the intersection between representations of racial
difference and language, and identity, I find the work of Mary Beltrán helpful for
discussing how the representations of racial and ethnic ambiguity are also intertwined
with racial accents.
In her article on bilingualism and racelessness in the Fast and Furious film franchise,
Beltrán points to Asian American director Justin Lin as influential in the Hollywood
industry because he insisted on including Spanish-speaking characters and subtitles in
the fourth Fast and Furious (2009) film. He also included Portuguese in Fast Five (2011).
In Beltrán’s interview with Lin, he explains that even in an action adventure film, it
is important to show that Americans live in a global world where they will encounter
multiple languages besides English.6 And yet, despite the progressive gestures toward
multilingulism and globalization along the lines of class, the narrative structure of
the big-budget action adventure film continues to privilege white, heteronormative
masculinity and American English speakers as the norm. The ensemble team assembles
for special jobs, but individually they live on the margins and in exile unless they form
alliances with the established government systems. Beltrán observes that the white
and “off white” heroes “benefit from a cultural flexibility that entails embracing traits
often associated with Latino/as including Spanish fluency, placing family loyalty above
all else, and enacting a personal spirituality in relation to a higher power.”7 This idea
of cultural flexibility is similar to the idea of racialized accents, a concept related not
only to vocal accents but also to cultural accents, which evoke difference or foreignness
but can be contained in the structural compositions of Hollywood scripts. This idea
of disembodiment, or of separating out racial markers as performative accents or
characteristics, is a long-standing practice in the representations of Asian Americans
and other racial minorities in Hollywood and television, which frequently has white
actors performing blackface, brownface, yellowface, and redface to play different races
and ethnicities. The addition is that the emphasis is less on the physical acquisition
of racial traits and more about language flexibility and accessibility as a heroic and
culturally universal trait. Language works hand in hand with physical performances to
achieve the appearance of racelessness or a race-neutral position for the roles in action
adventure narratives.

5 Claire Cowie, “The Accents of Outsourcing: The Meanings of ‘Neutral’ in the Indian Call Center Industry,” World
English 26, no. 3 (2007): 323.

6 Mary Beltran, “Fast and Bilingual: Fast and Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness,” Cinema Journal 53, no. 1
(2013): 94.

7 Ibid., 89.

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When combining the call-center idea of a neutral accent with representations of
Asian Americans and South Asian Americans in dramatic roles, one way to read some
of these representations is to note that when characters speak with a “neutral accent,”
the plotlines erase or bury racial and ethnic markers that include family, friends,
cultural practices, and holidays. Although a character may be Asian American, such
as Glenn Rhee (Stephen Yuen) from The Walking Dead (AMC, 2010–present) or Indian
American Alex Parrish (Priyanka Chopra) on Quantico (ABC, 2015–present), or even
have an Indian name such as Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi) on The Good Wife
(CBS, 2009–2016), the roles obfuscate or bury the racial backstory in favor of an
assimilated story line. As A. Annesh points out, “An accent becomes an accent only
when transportation allows one to cross regions of speech; it is an accent only when
juxtaposed with others.”8 Without a defining racializing characteristic of a vocal accent
(for either comedic or dramatic purposes) and the absence of cultural or ethnic topics,
race and accent are neutralized, and the result is visibly physically different characters
that reflect a diverse world but support the existing racial status quo (comfortable racial
ambiguity) or perhaps the creation of a new set of intersectional hierarchies that are
predicated on language skills (cultural flexibility).
Hollywood writers and producers are engaging in a type of racial accent
neutralization for Indian Americans and Asian Americans in Hollywood blockbusters
such as Star Trek: Into Darkness ( J. J. Abrams, 2013) and The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015).
One of the foremost villains in the Star Trek universe is Khan Noonien Singh. The
original 1960s TV series and 1982 film Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (Nicolas Meyer,
1982) featured Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán playing the charming and diabolical
South Asian villain, who, ironically, believed in the genetic superiority of his people
to overcome all odds. In J. J. Abrams’s reboot, he cast white British actor Benedict
Cumberbatch as the iconic villain. Unless the audience knew the original series, there
was no explanation or backstory in the film to explain why the character possessed the
name Khan, and in this new universe he is playing a highly intelligent and coldhearted
terrorist. In one sense, his character has been racially neutralized, and yet even though
he is visually a white actor, his cultural characteristics include a Muslim-sounding
name, Khan, and his actions proclaim him to be a marginalized other and a threat
to our heroes. Even more puzzling is the casting in The Martian of the black British
actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor (a multiracial character with a Baptist father
and Hindu mother) in place of the original character in the book, Venkat Kapoor,
the Indian American director of Mars operations at NASA, and white, blonde
actress Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park, who is originally a Korean American NASA
engineer in the novel.9 The Media Action Network for Asian Americans criticized
director Ridley Scott for this “whitewashing” of Asian American roles. As Guy Aoki

8 A. Annesh, Neutral Accent: How Language, Labor, and Life Become Global (Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
2015), 4.

9 See Dave McNary, “‘The Martian’ Slammed over ‘Whitewashing’ Asian American Roles,” Variety, October 8, 2015,
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/the-martian-white-washing-asian-american-ridley-scott-1201614155/. This type
of race neutralization of replacing original Asian American characters with white female actors in Hollywood films
continues in Aloha (Cameron Crowe, 2015), Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson, 2016), and Ghost in the Shell (Rupert
Sanders, 2017).

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asked, “Was Ridley Scott not comfortable having two sets of Asian Americans talking
to each other? So few projects are written specifically with Asian American characters
in them and he’s now changed them to a white woman and a black man.”10 This is
a return to Aziz Ansari’s question in his series of why two Indian Americans can’t be
seen talking to each other in a television comedy. It clearly can work in comedic forms,
but the film industry and dramatic genres have been more resistant to casting more
than one nonwhite character except in an ensemble series.11

Examining accent neutralization, the centering of vocal accents and sound, and
their relationship to language is a vital and important method in rethinking how we
examine representations of Asian Americans in the media. Visual representations
are still dominant in Hollywood casting practices and audience recognition, but by
rethinking racial representations through the use of the accent, we are able to see
connections between other ethnic representations and to open up alternative forms
of research that lead to a larger discussion about performance, national identity, and
media industry practices, and to think about how accent influences our perceptions of
racial difference. ✽

10 Benjamin Lee, “Ridley Scott Accused of ‘Whitewashing’ Asian Roles in ‘The Martian,’” The Guardian, October 9,
2015, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/09/the-martian-ridley-scott-accused-whitewashing-asian-roles.

11 Hawaii Five-O (CBS, 2010–present) does have at least three recurring Asian American characters, but the lead
detectives are two white actors.

Weekly Reflection Tips

Answer each question separately

Review the slides, they contain helpful definitions

When questions ask about readings, make sure to include at least one quotation (with page numbers)

But don’t let the quotation do all that talking. Explain what is significant about the quotation; the majority of your answer should be in your own words

When discussing media

texts

, be specific! Descriptions of exemplary scenes or sequences will best support your analysis

Use examples (both quotes and scenes) that go beyond what was covered in lecture. This will emphasize the originality of your ideas and demonstrate thoughtful engagement with course material

1. In your opinion, does Never Have I Ever’s exploration of contemporary Asian American life avoid “racial accents?” What strategies does the series use to complicate dominant imaginings of Asian American voice, customs, and/or romance? Are these strategies successful?

2. Vikram Murthi argues that Master of None’s “Indians on TV” captures “the inherent thorniness of representation.” The episode dramatizes minority characters’ media consumption and participation in American entertainment industries. How does “Indians on TV” engage, expand, and/or challenge themes and ideas we’ve discussed throughout this course? Reference at least one course reading (from this week or any previous week) to complete your answer.

texts

Murthi-indians on TV

https://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/indians-on-tv-how-aziz-ansari-and-master-of-none-navigate-the-anxieties-of-representation-129132/

NEVER HAVE I (also available on Netflix) :

https://depauledu-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/yzhou72_depaul_edu/Esr2EDs6nlpMrTtbgWxgPpAB-y8mO-fJut_JEoLy737r6A?e=aWyRSq

master of none (also available on Netflix)

https://depauledu-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/yzhou72_depaul_edu/EgyxJObbLotOm3KSMybn-BUBVErLdfZGfCatA_63OBxplA?e=yCcbAj