A small note to people who make movies and television with actors not using their native accents:
It really doesn’t help when the non-native character’s dialogue is decidedly… native.
An example? Â Sure, I can give you an example. Â For unknown reasons, BBC America has decided to air the television show “Demons ” for us Yanks. Â Aside from making a sane person wonder why they produced a show which is essentially “A British Buffy in London” (you can see why I don’t write titles for television), they decided that the teen-with-a-destiny’s mentor had to be American. Â And for that American, they cast the toweringly magnificent blusterer, Philip Glenister.
So, okay. Â Glenister is apparently working on his American accent. Â Why? Â Maybe he looked at Hugh Laurie’s career and said, “Well that bloke seems to be doing pretty well for himself,” and signed on. Â Maybe he wants to get into Hollywood movies. Â Maybe… who cares. Â At any rate, he wanted to stretch his skills. Â All fine so far.
Except, he seems to be having trouble with it. Â And again, I don’t really care all that much. Â Accents can be tough, and I would imagine doing an American accent in England is probably doubly tough. Â It is probably easier to do an accent when you are filming in that country: after all, you can just turn to upwards of 90% of the crew or walk down the street on your lunch break and hear the accent you’re going for in that case.
But here is where my patience breaks down. Â If you are a British* writer, please consult an American about the American character’s dialogue. Â If you don’t have an American friend, find one. Â Because the final nail in the coffin of an actor’s attempt at an accent is to hear them say something that 99.9% of the people in that country just wouldn’t say. Â When Philip Glenister, struggling manfully with a midwestern-neutral American accent** says something about the main character’s dad dying in a “car smash,” that’s where I just stop giving the benefit of the doubt. Â Because we say “car crash” or “car wreck.”
Unless you’re a pretentious git*** like me who has spent a fair bit of time in the UK, read a lot of British literature, Â and watches more British media than is probably good for her, then the following sentences wouldn’t come out of an American’s mouth unless it was put there by a writer:
- So Jess, I says, get your skates on or we’re going to miss the queue for the motor-coach.
- Her problem is she would always take the lift in an emergency, when the notices all say use the stairs.
- The Skoda wasn’t half ruined in that lorry smash, but you don’t hear me whingeing about it.
- That bloke’s bird is a silly cow.
- Eat your tea.
I could go on. Â But I won’t.
*Or an American writer writing a British character, I am sure – but I am not British, so I don’t get to do that rant.
**Hint: pick a geography. Â Make the character a New Yorker or a Bostonian or Texan… ANYTHING but the neutral news-anchor “nothing” accent, because those accents will give you something to anchor the accent to. Â Dipthongs are your FRIEND, Phil.
***We don’t say this either.