So, at first I reblogged this without any addition just so I could find the post later. But now I have a rant to add.
This woman was basically part of some of my most significant moments with media throughout my life. Literally.
I have heard her voice since I was a baby, as she was Po on Teletubbies. I remember her voice from the first movie I ever watched at the cinema, as she was Chihiro in Spirited Away. She was the Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter when I was a child, and Toph when I was a teen. She was Mandy on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy!
Brazil has a complicated relationship with our dubs. I understand, truly, that if you want the most original experience with a story, youβd better enjoy it in its original language. But we also have to recognize that not everybody has the opportunity to watch things in other languages in a country where we still have millions of illiterate people in their native language, and where we consume so much foreign media. So, for many people, this woman was the reason they could have access to these stories at all, and she did a great job. I couldnβt have watched Spirited Away in its original Japanese when I was a child, and without her, it may be possible that I had never discovered my love for animation as I did in that moment, as a 5-year-old in the cinema.
We need our voice artists so things can be accessible, so itβs a shame that so many people look with so much contempt at dubbing in the country. We have some of the best voice actors in the world! I maintain, to this day, that the Brazilian dubbing of The Legend of Aang is better than the original, and she was part of it. But we do not value them. Ana LΓΊcia is proof of that: she was so important in so many peopleβs lives, but when she needed a surgery to save her life, her daughter had to try and raise money from donations. I mean, this woman worked on Harry Potter and ATLA, how the hell did she not have money to cover her own health expenses?! We have not been treating our voice actors right.
Also, I would like to take this opportunity and add that, few days after Ana LΓΊcia passed away, Iara RiΓ§a also died. She was another voice actor, responsible for the voices of Blossom, from the Powerpuff Girls, Frankie in Fosterβs Home for Imaginary Friends, Harley Quinn in basically everything, and Laa Laa on Teletubbies. This has been a sad year for voice acting in Brazil. It would be nice if we started giving these people the recognition they deserve while theyβre still alive. They deserve more than elitist contempt.
germansingergirl
stormborns
kaledo-art
janainaart
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