Musings on Night Vale and Race

[neadods]

I still need a Night Vale icon. Thank you Pixlr!

So, Jeffrey Cranor has announced that they are changing the voice of Carlos specifically because he doesn't feel that it's right for him to continue to do it and take the role away from a Hispanic/Latino man.

Which is a good thing and I'm all for representation. There's simply not enough of it in American media.

On the other hand, I do wonder what kind of representation (if any) they were thinking with Cecil - voiced by a weedy white guy, often drawn by fans as a weedy white guy with tattoos and/or a third eye and/or a wide bleached streak. So far the Night Vale creators have steadfastly refused to actually describe Cecil aside from belatedly give him a full name, and I hope they continue to not describe him because then *anyone* can be Cecil. (In fact, I voted for the winner of the Carlos/Cecil t-shirt - on sale only through the end of this month, kids -- specifically BECAUSE it did not show either man's face.)

However, if they're talking about representation in actors, specifically, we are left with the fact that

canonically look completely identical.

And now I don't know if they're hinting that they see Cecil as a black guy or that if they simply felt just as strongly about making sure that there was representation in Night Vale voices. Because there was a *lot* of white on that stage during the live recording of Mayoral Debate.

But on the other hand, this is a show where the ONLY canonical detailed physical description is of a man of color. Tamika Flynn is the only other one who is described at all, although much more vaguely, and what we know could fit any race, really. Cecil, Steve, Earl, Josie, Dana, John Peters - you know, the farmer - none of them are ever physically described at *all.* Nightvaleofcolor is totally right - there's nothing saying there's any white character in that town at all.