(c) 20th Century Fox
We all have our stereotypes when it comes to the heroes and villains of a show. In Marvel films, the villain's appearance should be dark, and creepy, sometimes even gooey, tentacle-y, and out-of-this-world. Disney films' villains also have distinguishing features such as dark secondary colors, misshapen faces, sinister smiles, and some non-human characteristics here and there. In a similar, but less obvious manner, heroes in a show have distinguishing features such as round eyes, elegant hair, light-colored clothes, and human-like body proportions. Compared to villains, however, there are a lot more variations in their appearance, from the tall, good-looking, buff Steve Rogers as Captain America, to the small, round, and cute Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. Even today, majority of films make use of these stereotypes to depict how "good guys" and "bad guys" should look like.
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| (c) Disney |
Does this stereotype also apply to their voices, then? Heroes sound flashy, villains sound gruff. When we think about famous "good guys" like Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender, we remember the voices that sound kind and reliable, as if saying that they'll protect us from danger. But, when we think about famous "bad guys" such as Darth Vader from Star Wars, we remember the deep and scary voices that send chills down our spines. What are in these voices that distinguish each type of character from the rest, and how are we able to know whether a voice sounds "kind" or "scary"?
Teshigawara Mihoko published two journal entries composed of four different research studies in order to analyze this phenomenon. She used three Japanese animated series and movies in order to extract the excerpts for the first study. While initially listening to the voices, she noted that villains tend to primarily express negative emotions such as anger, hatred, disgust and frustration, unlike the heroes who express a variety of positive and negative emotions. Villains should then be somewhat expected to have a voice that is more attributed to negative phonetic aspects, such as raised larynx , pharyngeal constriction, sharp, and harsh. Heroes, on the other end, should be expected to have a high-pitched, clear, and changing voice (if female) or a breathy, deep, soft, and relaxed voice (if male) (Hecht & LaFrance, 1995; Scherer, 1986; van Bezooijen, 1995). For this study, she used Laver's vocal profile analysis protocol (1994), which measure articulatory settings (supralaryngeal settings); phonatory settings (laryngeal settings) and settings of overall muscular tension. Sure enough, the results fit right in the expectations of the author. Heroes' voices in the anime series were high-pitched for the females, and breathy for the males, while villains' voices were deep and harsh. Since one of Japanese animated shows' distinguishing features is the voice acting befitting the character being played, it would be a problem when the viewers' expectations aren't met properly.
Have you heard this cute little guy's voice?
(c) Illumination Entertainment
The results obtained fit into the two hypotheses, but the study performed was not reliable enough. Teshigawara then performed another analytical study using a different framework. She used a modified version of Laver's descriptive framework for voice quality (Laver, 1994, 1980) in order to analyze 88 anime characters in order to obtain various examples of heroes (protagonists) and villains (antagonists). When mapping out these characters' voices in spectograms, she found that voices can be categorized into four types (Hero Type I & II, Villain Type I & II) according to significant epilaryngeal settings (patterns of laryngeal sphinctering and pharyngeal expansion). Teshigawara further defined these types using acoustic analyses of pitch and vowel formation, and additional spectrographic analyses.
To further support her previous studies, she performed a fourth, comprehensive quantitative-qualitative study that measured Japanese laypersons' perceptions of selected speech samples in an experimental setting where participants listened to content-masked speech excerpts. Twenty-seven (27) target speakers were selected, and participants were asked to rate their impressions of the speakers' age, gender, physical characteristics, personality traits, emotional states, and vocal characteristics. The personality traits marked by the participants for the speakers categorized under the Hero I and II types matched the universal characteristic personality traits for a typical "hero" character such as ""selfless," "loyal," "devoted", which was also characteristic for Japanese heroes in anime. These speakers also represented five traits as obtained from the NEO Personality Inventory: "selfless," "loyal," "devoted," "intelligent," and "conscientious."
(c) Google Images
Both the expected and the observed between the role and representativeness of heroes and villains emerged in the majority of the interactions observed. This suggests that participants attributed less favorable physical traits, personality traits, emotional states, and vocal characteristics to speakers who exhibited non-neutral pharyngeal states regardless of the roles they played in the original cartoons. Auditory seems to not be enough to be able to let individuals distinguish between a heroic voice and a villanous voice. Nevertheless, there occurs a process in between our auditory and visual perceptual systems which lets us accurately fulfill our expectations between the "good guy's" and the "bad guy's" images.
We, as viewers of popular media, should take into account not just the dark visuals, or the husky voices of the characters that we label as the villains, but also their true roles masked behind their demeanor. A well-known example for this is Batman, who we all know is not a terrible guy at all. While the variety between character styles and types increase through time, let us hope that these stereotypes do not become defining features of our self-concepts of evil and heroism.
References:
Laver, J. (1980). The phonetic description of voice quality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Laver, J. (1994). Principles ofphonetics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Scherer, K. R. (1986). Vocal affect expression: A review and a model for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 143-1 65.
Teshigawara, M. (2003). Voices in Japanese animation: A phonetic study of vocal stereotypes of heroes and villains in Japanese culture(Doctoral dissertation, University of Victoria).
Teshigawara, M. (2010). Voices in Japanese Animation: How People Perceive the Voices of Good Guys and Bad Guys. Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, 17, 149-158.
Van Bezooijen, R. (1995). Sociocultural aspects of pitch differences between Japanese and Dutch women. Language and Speech, 38,253-265.
To further support her previous studies, she performed a fourth, comprehensive quantitative-qualitative study that measured Japanese laypersons' perceptions of selected speech samples in an experimental setting where participants listened to content-masked speech excerpts. Twenty-seven (27) target speakers were selected, and participants were asked to rate their impressions of the speakers' age, gender, physical characteristics, personality traits, emotional states, and vocal characteristics. The personality traits marked by the participants for the speakers categorized under the Hero I and II types matched the universal characteristic personality traits for a typical "hero" character such as ""selfless," "loyal," "devoted", which was also characteristic for Japanese heroes in anime. These speakers also represented five traits as obtained from the NEO Personality Inventory: "selfless," "loyal," "devoted," "intelligent," and "conscientious."
(c) Google Images
Both the expected and the observed between the role and representativeness of heroes and villains emerged in the majority of the interactions observed. This suggests that participants attributed less favorable physical traits, personality traits, emotional states, and vocal characteristics to speakers who exhibited non-neutral pharyngeal states regardless of the roles they played in the original cartoons. Auditory seems to not be enough to be able to let individuals distinguish between a heroic voice and a villanous voice. Nevertheless, there occurs a process in between our auditory and visual perceptual systems which lets us accurately fulfill our expectations between the "good guy's" and the "bad guy's" images.
We, as viewers of popular media, should take into account not just the dark visuals, or the husky voices of the characters that we label as the villains, but also their true roles masked behind their demeanor. A well-known example for this is Batman, who we all know is not a terrible guy at all. While the variety between character styles and types increase through time, let us hope that these stereotypes do not become defining features of our self-concepts of evil and heroism.
(c) Marvel
Laver, J. (1980). The phonetic description of voice quality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Laver, J. (1994). Principles ofphonetics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Scherer, K. R. (1986). Vocal affect expression: A review and a model for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 143-1 65.
Teshigawara, M. (2003). Voices in Japanese animation: A phonetic study of vocal stereotypes of heroes and villains in Japanese culture(Doctoral dissertation, University of Victoria).
Teshigawara, M. (2010). Voices in Japanese Animation: How People Perceive the Voices of Good Guys and Bad Guys. Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, 17, 149-158.
Van Bezooijen, R. (1995). Sociocultural aspects of pitch differences between Japanese and Dutch women. Language and Speech, 38,253-265.
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