#like maybe MAYBE if ur writing a single-voice podcast voiced by yourself and no one else! MAYBE you get to write 'aracially'

[equalseleventhirds]

hm. i know it's rly rly early but i am contemplating the argument for 'aracial' podcast characters that goes 'well beginning podcasters don't have money to hire actors, so they just use their friends, so their casts are very white, so it's better for them to let fandom create representation with their aracial characters'

and i think... maybe back in 2012, when podcasts were so small? but maybe not rly... and especially not here and now in the year 2021, and let me tell you why:

audio dramas are SO damn popular nowadays that you can put a casting call for a totally unpaid podcast on twitter or tumblr and get HUNDREDS of auditions. is it better to pay your actors? yes of course. are people totally willing to do this work for free, or for the promise of patreon pay if your patreon takes off? yes absolutely.

there are a lot of all-white or majority-white podcasts which are, nevertheless, WILDLY popular. sometimes this is bcos of fanon depictions, but often it's just! people like their stuff! regardless of rep!

representation should not be a marketing tool. it should not be something you do (or leave vague) in order to appeal to your audience. representation is about telling the stories of marginalized people, it's about marginalized people being able to find WORK in the creative industry, it's about just! normalizing our existence in the world by showing us in media! faux-representation in 'aracial' characters will NEVER actually do this, and you're not actually helping anyone (except perhaps the popularity of your show) by not acknowledging the whiteness of your cast.

why are all your friends white. no seriously wtf. this does not make things BETTER. you need to talk to some poc i think.

if you are white and all your friends are white, possibly you have no business writing about poc at all actually? not even vague 'well they might be poc'? like, are you going to WRITE about us or use us as an aesthetic or create horrible mangled stereotypes based on media you've consumed?

(don't say you've gotten a sensitivity reader. if you can't pay cast members you can't pay a sensitivity reader.)

and, if you apparently don't know any poc, when you write your 'aracial' character, you are simply writing whiteness and refusing to put a name to it, making it the default. again, not helpful for real representation.

this argument is always, ALWAYS used to justify 'aracial' writing for white casts, bcos white is the fucking default. this isn't just in podcasts, but poc in the creative industry don't get to like... escape their race. it's always there. it's considered in casting, it's considered in people accepting your writing; we're expected to be the representatives of our races/tell our 'cultural story' every time we write/provide a 'different perspective' on the industry/whatever. i will never be just 'a writer' or 'an actor' or 'a director'. i will be the filipino writer/actor/director, and expected to be telling THAT story at all times, and used as the diversity checkmark by white people. and in some ways this is a responsibility poc have! when we are able to reach these places, when so few of us get to, we have a chance to be the representation people need, so we do! but unlike white people, we will never be considered 'aracial' or the default. and not only is this wildly fucking unfair, for white ppl to get this benefit of just! writing a white person without saying so! and people manufacturing representation in a way that makes their shit popular! while poc cannot! it's also like... we're always expected to tell our damn racial story. white people can fucking own up to the fact that they're telling theirs. who knows, that honesty might even make your writing better.

...that got very kind of angry and passionate and also i'm sure there's more reasons? it is VERY early like i said but i. i'm real tired of seeing that same old 'well but they're just beginners so it's fine to be so fucking white!!' thing. maybe once upon a time it was, when podcasts as a whole were still finding their ground. now, when you're breaking into podcasting, there is a whole bunch of groundwork laid out for you. you can grow past that.