Voice Actors

RIP to the King, James Earl Jones

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RJ Writing Ink Reacts to the Passing of James Earl Jones

D&A Anime Blog focuses on anime, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not fans of other things. Before I discovered anime, one of my favorite pastimes as a little kid was watching movies on my parents sizeable VHS collection. And two things that I loved to watch were Star Wars and the many, many animated films from Disney. Imagine my surprise years later when I learned that James Earl Jones, the man whose voice brought Darth Vader to life, voiced Mufasa in The Lion King. My mind was blown!

That just made it twice as hard on me earlier this week when I heard that he had passed away at the age of 93.

James Earl Jones Was a GOAT

James Earl Jones wasn’t just one of the GOATs; he was a king. His career spanned seventy years, and in that time, he played roles in every entertainment medium. By the time George Lucas chose him to provide the voice that would make him a legend, he had already been acting in Shakespeare and Broadway for two decades, and he had thirteen years in film under his belt to boot. And when he spoke, it didn’t matter if he was a doctor, a navy admiral, an actual king, or the Dark Lord of the Sith. People would stop what they were doing and listened to him. That deep voice of his just had this magnetism to it that made people want to listen to what he said.

The funny part thing is, he used to have a stuttering problem as a kid. It wasn’t until he discovered the theater that he managed to overcome it. And thank heavens he did, because the world was made so much better for it.

But it wasn’t just his voice that made Jones a king in all but name. It was the way he presented himself. He gave off this air of being confident yet humble, wise but also approachable. He had the presence of a king, which showed in almost every role he played. If you were to tell me that he had been a king in a past life, I wouldn’t doubt that. That’s the kind of presence that he had, and it’s what made him one of the greatest actors of all time.

JEJ Will Live on in AI Voice

And, for better or worse, his voice in his most famous role is going to live on after he’s gone. And that’s because he wanted that.

In 2022, James Earl Jones made the decision to retire as the voice of Darth Vader. At the same time, he understood how important his voice was to making Vader who he was. So, he decided to let a Ukrainian-AI company have the rights to his voice as Darth Vader. That means they can legally use his voice for as long as they want. That doesn’t seem like much of a comfort, especially with using AI to recreate voices is considered controversial, but it’s what he chose.

This is the third time this year that I’ve had to talk about a celebrity I care about dying on this blog, and that can get to me. It doesn’t help that I do think that Toriyama and Rachael Lillis were gone too soon. Heck, James Earl Jones was 93 and I still think it was too soon for him to die! But death eventually comes for all of us, and while it may hurt, we shouldn’t let that hold us back. James Earl Jones left behind an incredible legacy, one that’s going to be remembered for decades, maybe even centuries after we’re all gone. So, while I’m going to be taking time to mourn, I think it’s more important to look at how much of a positive impact he had on the world. And when the time comes for us to celebrate Star Wars 50th anniversary and the remaining cast and crew reunite for the inevitable spectacle that will come from it, I know James and those who passed on will be there in spirit.

Rest in peace, King. You have earned it.

Erica Lindbeck Leaves Social Media Due to AI Stealing Her Voice

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My Take on the Erica Lindbeck Controversy

If you’ve been online over the last few months, you might have heard about the controversy surrounding the use of AI. Recent advancements in AI technology have led to a boom in the use of artificial intelligence for things such as writing, creating art, and even imitating people’s voices. While some might see it as a helpful tool to make our lives easier, there are people with good reason to be wary of its use. Many talented people make a living from writing, artwork, and voice acting. Those same people may now risk losing that livelihood, but not everyone seems to care about this. Case in point, Erica Lindbeck, a talented voice actress, just quit social media for trying to stand up for herself against AI.

What Happened to Erica Lindbeck?

Erica Lindbeck is a young and up-and-coming voice actress who has gotten several high-profile roles over the last few years. She’s had roles in everything from Dragon Ball to Persona and Fire Emblem to The Owl House and the popular web series Helluva Boss. She also happened to date fellow voice Billy Kametz, the voice of Josuke in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Naofumi in Shield Hero, until his untimely death from cancer in June 2022.

I wasn’t aware of this until after the fact, but the controversy started a few days ago online. Erica Lindbeck discovered that someone had used a voice-generated AI of her character, Futaba Sakura from Persona V, to make a cover song without her consent. She asked the person to remove the video, but others were not as understanding and responded by criticizing her on social media. Rather than deal with the flame war this would generate, Erica opted to remove herself from the equation. Currently, she’s deleted her social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram.

This is Part of a Larger Problem

In the wake of Erica’s departure from social media, other voice actors have spoken up in her defense. With AI becoming able to mimic their voices and do their work for them, many voice actors fear that they may lose their jobs. 

While some may see this as paranoia, their concerns might be justified. In recent months, countless videos using voice-generated AI have started appearing on YouTube. While made for fun rather than out of malice, this is still a major problem for the people whose voice they’re using: none of it’s done with their consent.

Voice acting may seem like a fun job (and it likely can be), but what people need to remember is that it’s still a job. At the end of the day, people depend on the work they do as voice actors to pay the bills. If they can get replaced in favor of cheaper AI, then they’ll be out of a job! And the continued use of AI like this only encourages people to do it more, further exacerbating the problem.

We Need to Be Smarter About This New Power

As for where I personally stand regarding this, I am torn. On the one hand, I find the advancement of AI to the point where it can mimic other people’s voices impressive. This could enable us to create works of fiction that feature the voices of people long since dead and buried, like Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, and even Elvis. On the other hand, it’s making the job of voice actors like Erica Lindbeck harder than it already is by cutting them out of the equation. And that’s not even getting into issues like how AI could be used to write articles and create artwork in place of actual people. 

I don’t think AI is an inherently bad thing. It could benefit humanity in the long run if we ensure it cannot go Skynet or Ultron on us. When applied in a responsible manner, it could even be a useful tool for writers, artists, and people with similar professions rather than an outright replacement. Since the technology’s still so new, though, how we decide to use it now could decide what’s ethically permitted ten, even twenty years from now. The bottom line is we need to be responsible with this new power, or else bad stuff’s going to happen like seeing popular entertainment icons bailing on social media.