Dodgy British accents in films/tv

[sauvignonbonk]

Watched 2 things on Netflix recently (haunting of bly manor and Juliet, naked) which featured American/Australian actors putting on really dodgy British accents and it was so distracting! Surely just cast somebody who can do the accent correctly or is actually British themselves?

It must happen the other way round as well but I’d never be able to tell if somebody was doing a poor American accent.

@Piglet89

Also, you might be from Manchester but you’re wrong if you think Daphne’s accent in Frasier is completely convincing. She’s very obviously someone from the south of England trying on a Manchester accent.

I can clearly hear every single exaggerated vowel. It’s not the worst: but it’s not accurate or really “true”.

Being a native doesn’t always make you automatically able to pick up on those nuances - you must also be able to listen carefully and objectively.

Accents vary even within Manchester and if you cross the bridge into Salford it's totally different! In the NW there a lots of accents in a small area, we were from Bolton and found our relatives in Salford, about 7 miles away, very oddly spoken.

@keeprocking I reckon Erin Doherty (the actress playing Anne) is entirely overdoing the heightened RP sounds in Anne’s accent, particularly the “a” sound in a word like “mat”. Correct heightened RP of this sound (which I think is what she’s aiming for) is a really subtle vowel, like a shortened diphthong- she’s taken it too far and pronounced it identically to the “e” sound in the word “went”, which makes it sound really wrong.

I think Coleman as the Queen is getting that sound right, though.

I'm fascinated how accents change over time. Watch something like Brief Encounter, and you will find examples of middle- and working-class London accents which both sound UTTERLY alien to the modern listener.

@Piglet89

However, from what I can see, you’ve come on solely to disagree with others on this thread:

PP: I think this.

You: My mother’s uncle’s half-sister’s cat is from Orkney and I can tell you that actor’s accent is crap.

Lol my uncle does live in Orkney but he has an Essex accent.

But you seem awfully upset that I’m disagreeing with you about my own and my husband’s accents. I seem to have hit a nerve.

Can we try and keep things civil and stick to the thread topic, please? It gets really tedious flicking back from Threads I'm On to find just another axe-grinding post rather than something relevant.

Sorry I haven’t rtft but my first thought was of Game if Thrones. Not that the accents themselves are bad - except Peter Dinklage who’s attempt at whatever accent he’s trying to do is terrible! - but that they are a complete mish mash.

No rhyme not reason to which accents are happening in the north/ south / in between or another country. I doubt Americans notice though! I never notice when people in a film have different American accents, unless it’s Boston which I can usually hear, even when it turns out to be integral to the plot

@BitOfFun

Can we try and keep things civil and stick to the thread topic, please? It gets really tedious flicking back from Threads I'm On to find just another axe-grinding post rather than something relevant.

Maybe you can vet posts to see if you find them acceptable?

I knew this was going to be about Bly Manor before I even opened it!

I give you James McEvoy in Starter for Ten

Omg just finished the Haunting of Bly Manor last night and the accents were ATROCIOUS.

The narrator and Viola in particular were stand-out examples of nightmare attempts at an English accent, and Peter Quint's Scottish...blimey.

Accents vary even within Manchester and if you cross the bridge into Salford it's totally different! In the NW there a lots of accents in a small area, we were from Bolton and found our relatives in Salford, about 7 miles away, very oddly spoken.

Yes, I remember my astonishment on my first day at high school when the deputy head referred to books as boooooooooooowks.

@dayslikethese1

Daphne in Frasier makes me cringe; meant to be from Manchester, sounds nothing like.

I think she was fine. Her brothers, on the other hand....

Thank you to @frokenslinger for posting about Erik Singer- his videos evaluating accents on film are really interesting.

I had to stop watching when Daphne's brother was on. He was just too awful.

Might be a shorter list of decent attempts. I didn't hate James Marsters' accent for Spike. I vaguely recall a few fine middle European actors with decent accents in British cinema c 1930s to 1950s when they relocated prior to WW2.

@SlartBartFast

But you seem awfully upset that I’m disagreeing with you about my own and my husband’s accents.

Not upset at all; really don’t know how posters can get the tone of upset simply from a post that disagrees with theirs. I am just explaining why you’re wrong. Yes - even about your own and your husband’s accents! I explained upthread why being a native doesn’t necessarily (and, in fact, often doesn’t) make you an expert.

[quote DynamoKev]@SuperbGorgonzola
I hate it when they have regional accents for no reason. There was no reason for the Bly Manor gardener to be northern.
All accents are regional.
What was the reason the gardener NOT to be Northern?[/quote]
For me, mainly that the woman playing her in older age absolutely could not pull of the accent at all .

She did super posh English with the odd northern twang to minimal words!

There were loads of weird things in Bly Manor that really should have been picked up, especially given it was actually meant to be set in England.

Like when they served shepherd's pie with salad?!?!!!?!!?!?!?!?!!

And given that there were loads of genuinely English actors in it, some of them should have given a heads up on some of the language and accents used. Like when someone referred to 'the math' not working and various other things.

Tbh though I guess it was made with primarily the American audience in mind as I found loads of it quite jarring. Like how it was meant to be 1980s but the scenes 'in London' - so obviously not in London - had cars looking like they were from 1950 driving around.

@Bibidy yes!!

I mean, I could see why they didn't make the narrator overtly northern from the outset as we would have known all along that she was the gardener. But the awkwardly forced northern vowels was really jarring! I'm not sure if we were meant to think she had lost her accent as she aged?

But that's another reason why the gardener could easily have just had an accent that matched the other characters. It was totally irrelevant!

We watched 'Holmes and Watson' the other day, & I was impressed with John C Reilly's accent. That was a nice surprise.

[quote SuperbGorgonzola]@Bibidy yes!!

I mean, I could see why they didn't make the narrator overtly northern from the outset as we would have known all along that she was the gardener. But the awkwardly forced northern vowels was really jarring! I'm not sure if we were meant to think she had lost her accent as she aged?

But that's another reason why the gardener could easily have just had an accent that matched the other characters. It was totally irrelevant![/quote]
Definitely!

The older woman had a very posh accent, there is no way that the gardener's accent would have changed to that, even if she had dropped some of her original accent over the years.

I'm really surprised they thought that was a good idea as, like you said, there was no real reason she needed to have a pronounced northern accent at all. Would have been better to match the younger actress's accent with the older actresses as they clearly wanted to include her due to being part of the 'staple' cast.

When the nanny had just said goodbye to someone on the drive in the dark and her dead ex appeared with the sunglasses i got such a fright i felt ill for a bit

[quote Piglet89]@SlartBartFast

But you seem awfully upset that I’m disagreeing with you about my own and my husband’s accents.

Not upset at all; really don’t know how posters can get the tone of upset simply from a post that disagrees with theirs. I am just explaining why you’re wrong. Yes - even about your own and your husband’s accents! I explained upthread why being a native doesn’t necessarily (and, in fact, often doesn’t) make you an expert.[/quote]
Note to self - only voice coaches may participate in chats online about accents.

Amy Walker and Erik Singer on youtube who do great videos on accents, both Americans but their criticism of British accents is also good. But their videos on US accents are great for those of us who don't hear that big a difference.

I see @frokenslinger already recommended Erik, but I'll post him anyway

(just an example, check out all his videos)

Ha yes, and the baddie is always English in American films!