Why are fantasy world accents British?

[GenericGuy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554816 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554816)


Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings are set in fantasy worlds, so why does everybody speak with a British accent?

A lot of British people will not have heard of Game of Thrones.

This tale of family strife and royal intrigue in a fantasy world called Westeros has been a big hit on HBO in the US. Millions watched the first series, justifying the movie-like budget poured into the production.

The second series of the show, which starts on HBO on Sunday, and Sky Atlantic on Monday, is the subject of much more hype in the US than in the UK.

But while aimed at a US audience and adapted from the books of American author George RR Martin, Game of Thrones is entirely dominated by British accents.

UK accents also dominate in The Lord of the Rings and the forthcoming Hobbit films.

It contradicts the traditional stereotype of British accents cropping up mostly as bad guys and upper crust types in period drama.

"It's such an ingrained part of fantasy and science fiction that I'm a little surprised when those kind of characters don't speak in British accents," says Matt Zoller Seitz, TV critic for New York magazine and Vulture.com.

"In the fantasy realm they could have any kind of accent but British does seem to be the default."

An American-accented Gandalf might not have pleased fans
A British accent is sufficiently exotic to transport the viewer to a different reality, argues Seitz, while still being comprehensible to a global audience.

The neutral Mid-Western accent is still what counts as "normal" in the US dominated entertainment industry. A British accent provides a "splash of otherness", when set alongside it.

American viewers of Game of Thrones also get a coherent range of accents from all of the British Isles.

Those from the north of the fantasy world tend to speak mostly with either northern English or Scottish accents. In the first series, Yorkshiremen Sean Bean and Mark Addy played their parts with their own accents. There are also characters with an Irish tinge.

British audiences are used to seeing imported US shows - like House or The Wire - with British actors doing American accents.

"The North sounds vaguely Scottish to me, Robert sounded like he was from Northern England, I know the DVD commentary track to episode six said that the Vale was cast as predominantly Welsh (though I couldn't identify a Welsh accent if my life depended on it)."

He adds: "Hopefully one of our British readers can set me straight. For natives, it could be as jarring as watching a western where everybody's speaking Italian. Oh, wait... "

Martin, the creator of the Song of Ice And Fire series of books, was inspired a great deal by European Medieval history," says Stephen Tierney, administrator of the Game of Thrones UK fansite.

"As such his characters reflect that and if you read the books and listen to the cadence of the characters' voices you will find that they do sound more regionally British than they do American.

"Since it is a mediaeval fantasy saga with more emphasis on the characters than on witches and wizards I do think the regional British accents work very well. The show does place a lot of emphasis on a north/south divide and seeing the northern House Stark going up against the distinctly southern House Lannister provides a great contrast and helps the viewers know which side everyone is on."

It's not just fantasy that has developed a British accent default setting, even for American audiences. For ancient Greece and Rome - as seen in everything from Spartacus to HBO/BBC's Rome series - audiences again expect UK accents. One has only to cast one's mind back to Joaquin Phoenix's accent in Gladiator for a classic example.

Some have a simple explanation for the British invasion of fantasy land - Kevin Costner.

Although not strictly part of the genre, his US/British accent in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was so jarring, and out of historical context, that it stood as a warning to all future directors. Or so the theory goes.

Martin has said English accents work best for fantasy, as the genre is rooted in the Middle Ages.

"It's full of castles and lords and swords and knights and all the other trappings that we associate with England in this country. It seems natural. It would be hard to do with a group of actors who had thick Southern accents," he has commented.

"You would think why not just film it in the states with famous American actors, especially since George RR Martin, who wrote the books originally, has been called the American Tolkien? You would think this is an American thing," says Dan Wright, producer of UK-based Game of Thrones fan show Thronecast.

"But originally the books were sourced and based around at least a working knowledge of British history, the War of the Roses and things like that, and that certainly comes out in the way the royal family is structured and that sort of thing."

But Game of Thrones is on a premium cable channel. There is still a long way to go before British actors are allowed to use their own accents on network television in mainstream roles.

Lisa De Moraes, TV critic of the Washington Post, believes the big US networks are reluctant to have characters speak with a foreign accent.

"They will make an exception with fantasy drama, or costume drama, but the need to pull in big audiences - and to have lead characters with broad appeal - means they will not allow British actors to use their natural accents."

Additional reporting by Lauren Everitt


But Game of Thrones, much of which was filmed in Northern Ireland, has only one American actor as a central character, Peter Dinklage. He does his part with a rather posh English accent.

"A New York accent wouldn't work," Dinklage, who was born in New Jersey and plays scheming Tyrion Lannister, recently explained to the Calgary Herald. "It doesn't sound right."

And if you go on the forums you see American fans' expectations have been met.

"I'm not an expert by any means, but what I find interesting is that they sound to my American ears to be not only British accents, but regional British accents," writes Independent George on the Ice and Fire Forum.


Personally, I’ve never cared much about accents in my fantasy/historical works (so long as they’re consistant, like having everyone from the same region speak similarly); so its always confused me when people balk at American accents in fantasy works as “illegitimate.”

[t209]

Well, For lord of the Rings, it was written by a british author (even though he is from South Africa).
We have fantasy world with non british accents like Skyrim (except for Breton race, but Nords have Germanic and Scandinavian accents), Dragon Age (Dwarves speak in American Accent).

[Raimun]

I'd say it's a combination of two things:

1) Modern fantasy has strong roots in Britain (LotR, Narnia, Potter, etc.)
2) People expect it because many of the most iconic medievel stories are set in Britain (King Arthur, Robin Hood, etc.)

[Ravens_cry]

Because a vaguely British accent is enough to sound Foreign and Exotic to American ears without being as incomprehensible to the Yankees as other accents would be.
Often you have the heroes speaking American accents and the villains speaking British accents.
This got really weird in "Prince of Egypt" as Moses in that version was raised in Pharaoh's household, yet had an American accent, while the others had British accents.

[kpenguin]

I'd like to note that this looks only at the sample of fantasy that is English-speaking. I doubt fantasy in other languages have a prevalence of British accents... and if they do, the phenomenon is totally weirder than I thought.

[Ravens_cry]

I'd like to note that this looks only at the sample of fantasy that is English-speaking. I doubt fantasy in other languages have a prevalence of British accents... and if they do, the phenomenon is totally weirder than I thought.
Yes, but they probably have their own accent stereotypes.
Like how an Osaka accent in Japan has similar connotations to a US 'Southern' accent.

[cucchulainnn]

because american accents sound terrible in this context. there are lots of english actors available and movie industry is lazy.

who really wants to hear "Yonder lies da castle of my fadder da King"

in the movie "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" Ray liotta was the bad guy. i couldn't get brooklyn out of mind.

[Ravens_cry]

I imagine to Brits, the same is true for the British accents, at least the real ones.

[t209]

because american accents sound terrible in this context. there are lots of english actors available and movie industry is lazy.

who really wants to hear "Yonder lies da castle of my fadder da King"

in the movie "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" Ray liotta was the bad guy. i couldn't get brooklyn out of mind.

Well, look at Skyrim, Dragon Age. They're fantasy but it is good without British accent.

[ThePhantasm]

I don't really care about it to be honest. But I should note that Aragorn's speech in the LOTR films seemed to be in a more generic accent - if there was a british accent there it was so subtle I didn't notice. He seemed to have a generic American accent to me.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Well, look at Skyrim, Dragon Age. They're fantasy but it is good without British accent.

What? Dragon Age was full of British Accents for, at the very least, all the Ferelden nobles (and knights). It makes a little bit of sense since Ferelden is basically Saxon Britain, at least, and were matched with modern French accents for their Norman/French neighbors.


Basically, The Queen's English (or some approximation) is short-hand in America for feudal nobility and royalty, since we never had any. British accents tend to spread to other social classes as well by association, convenience, and Shakespearean-trained actors.

EDIT: and extremely British Hobbits.

[t209]

What? Dragon Age was full of British Accents for, at the very least, all the Ferelden nobles (and knights). It makes a little bit of sense since Ferelden is basically Saxon Britain, at least, and were matched with modern French accents for their Norman/French neighbors.


Basically, The Queen's English (or some approximation) is short-hand in America for feudal nobility and royalty, since we never had any. British accents tend to spread to other social classes as well by association, convenience, and Shakespearean-trained actors.

EDIT: and extremely British Hobbits.

I think I meant to say as American Accents (Dwarves speak in American Accent in Dragon Age).

[nazgulnine]

Basically, The Queen's English (or some approximation) is short-hand in America for feudal nobility and royalty, since we never had any. British accents tend to spread to other social classes as well by association, convenience, and Shakespearean-trained actors.

EDIT: and extremely British Hobbits.

Never played Dragon Age, so no comment there.

The other posts and Nerd-o-rama had good answers that are nearing the mark, and I'd like to expand upon them.

The British Accent in fantasy you're asking about is primarily in visual media. To know why it's there, you need to take a step back toward the literary media.

Sometime after the 1770s, the "British accent" was invented to distinguish Brits from Yanks; prior to this time, Queen's English had one dialect, not counting the the drawl of the Scottish accent. You Celts can argue elsewhere over who originated that. Keep this in mind for a bit, because I'm gonna wrap this up at the end.

In fantasy literature, authors have been heavily influenced by Celtic folklore including the Arthurian Cycle and the Mabinogion, both of which feature distinctly chivalric themes that would grow into the "tropes of fantasy" as we know them today. The writing, however, was the most important aspect. Prior to Mirriam-Webster, there was no formalized spelling, so words had as many spellings as there were districts with slight tonal variations in speech. The forerunners of modern fantasy literature arose during the time philology was in its golden age. Philologists such as JRR Tolkien drew from the folklore of their primary philological fields, as in Tolkien's case, the Scandinavian and Germanic languages (Beowulf and the two Eddas).

Authors would use the distinctive style of speech found in pre-medieval texts because of the connection to their day-jobs. Think of one of the most popular children's characters of the 21st century. Spongebob Squarepants. This character was created by a marine biologist; there's little coincidence in the connection there. Many authors who give lectures or workshops will tell you "write what you know," and in the case of many original fantasy authors, they were simply drawing on stories they had known for years as building blocks for characterization. To these authors, pre-Elizabethan language was Romantic, and the flowery dialogue of "o'r yon hill mine lady upon her dapple ewe doth trod" was something that stuck out and helped them to define a both a place-setting and a time.

Over time, many authors took the Romantic, poetic style of this chivalric verse and repeatedly used it in their own works. Many of these authors were from Western European countries (France, Spain, Denmark, Italy, etc...) that had, once again, had strong ties to those aforementioned characterizing legends and historical remnants of the middle ages.

Have you been following thus far? I hope so, because this is the part where I blow your mind.

When these stories came into publication in the modern era and it was decided to put them into visual production, and I'd like to note that now we're talking about the silent film era (never you mind thinking about Shakespeare's history plays), there was a necessity to present the setting through scenery and motion. The easiest way to show your viewers "this is not set outside John's Delicatessen" is to design based on something you've seen before, something you've known before. Once the talkies came around the damage had already been done. People knew Robin Hood was British from the get-go. People knew King Arthur was British from the get-go. People saw The Legend of Sir Dashingknight-as-played-by-Errol-Flynn and said "well where the hell is this supposed to be--oh, he's got an English accent. It's fantasy." (by the way, that was the part where I connected the English Accent with the fantasy genre)

Fantasy is notorious for being stuck in the period of 1300's British Isles. The accent is only the icing on the cake. You have stout, braid-bearded dwarves? They're obviously Scottish barbarians. You've got faeries and pixies? They're obviously Cornish. You've got a race of men that produces dashing heroes and beautiful princesses? Obviously people of the Home Counties.

It all boils down to familiarization and ethnocentrism.
The British accent equates to British mythology, which equates to King Arthur. And everyone loves the snuff out of king Arthur.

You want to see "different," non-British, non-European fantasy? You set that Terra Firma in Peru with some Aztec architecture, give the people Southeast Asian clothing, and give them all Brooklyn accents. That's how you globalize and flip the tropes on fantasy.

Love,

Your Friendly Nazgul in the Playground

[Cespenar]

British accents are cool. The fantasy genre is also cool. I think the association is clear enough.

[Traab]

I think its mainly habit. A lot of the original standard fantasy stories were set in british medieval times, or based off of english/european mythology. So it only made sense that the voices would be british, germanic, and other such speech patterns. This became customary, so when new fangled non brit related fantasy got written, the roles were given to british actors because thats the way its "supposed" to sound. It would be just as jarring for us to watch a fantasy film with new york accented actors, as it would be to watch a buddy cop film acted out by a scotsman and a german. Even a lot of sci fi has brits in it, its may be science fiction, but its also fantasy, thereofre give us brits, or give us horrible box office reviews!

[Senator Cybus]

It's actually just about money: all British actors can naturally cast spells, so you save a ton on special effects.

The Harry Potter films? No CGI whatsoever. Fact.

[Socratov]

It's actually just about money: all British actors can naturally cast spells, so you save a ton on special effects.

The Harry Potter films? No CGI whatsoever. Fact.

You, Sir, just made my day... have a cookie. (::(

[Aotrs Commander]

Mostly a sense of slightly misplaced pseudo-historical context, I suspect.

The US (and Australia etc etc) did not exist as a country during the (pseudo) Medieval period, and therefore, using an American (etc) accent seems more glaringly incongrous (leaving aside that modern British English wasn't the same either) that not.

Though it must be said that sometimes, the cut-glass, upper-crust British accent often used by American (etc) television sometimes comes across as equally foreign-sounding an incongrous to a British viewer...

(On the flip side of this question, one might also ask why almost all sci-fi heroes are American, and why when Aliens Attack Planet Earth, they virtually ALWAYS attack America first, never China or Canada or Australia or something1...)



1Well, this is mainly because it's Hollywood, which among it's other failings, sometimes has difficulty accepting there are other places in the world, unless hit with a stick and told "no" in a very certain tone of voice...!

[Elder Tsofu]

Well I know that when I listened to the Shannara series by Terry Brooks they suddenly threw in someone who had a very "old-western accent" to read it. It grated on my ears I'll tell you! Everybody suddenly sounded like a cowboy.
(even though I forced myself to accept it over time since I like to think of myself as tolerant, and it probably fit the books better taking into account of the settings origins)

[Mercenary Pen]

I haven't really thought about it, but maybe American accents (and by extension English accents from the commonwealth) don't carry the same weight of history that the older English accents do?

Thinking about it, most of the historical events that Writers like George R. R. Martin draw upon when creating their works pre-date the colonisation of the Americas quite significantly, and I'd personally find an American accent jarring for those reasons.

[kpenguin]

(On the flip side of this question, one might also ask why almost all sci-fi heroes are American, and why when Aliens Attack Planet Earth, they virtually ALWAYS attack America first, never China or Canada or Australia or something1...)

1Well, this is mainly because it's Hollywood, which among it's other failings, sometimes has difficulty accepting there are other places in the world, unless hit with a stick and told "no" in a very certain tone of voice...!

I don't know about that. It seems Japan, and more specifically Tokyo, is just as much of a magnet for alien invasions, giant monsters, giant alien monster invasions... and one wonders why so many episodes of Doctor Who seem to be set in Britain, specifically London and especially the older series, when they have all of space and time to work in.

Really, the real problem is that people tend to write what they know and they know where they live. I know I, for instance, tend to set my supers games in a rough City of Adventure expy of my hometown for convenience's sake. In the same way Stan and Jack put a bunch, that is nearly all, of Marvel's heroes in NYC.

[Eldan]

I haven't really thought about it, but maybe American accents (and by extension English accents from the commonwealth) don't carry the same weight of history that the older English accents do?

Thinking about it, most of the historical events that Writers like George R. R. Martin draw upon when creating their works pre-date the colonisation of the Americas quite significantly, and I'd personally find an American accent jarring for those reasons.

Yeah, but American Accents had just as long to evolve from English accents of the time as modern English accents had. So they would probably be about equally different from anything spoken back then.

I think I've actually seen the argument that some American accents are closer to older English.

[Telonius]

The US is a young country, and we're pretty well aware of that. We didn't exist in the time period most fantasy takes place in, and I think that's in the back of people's minds when they think about fantasy accents.

Interesting counterpoint ... I more often "hear" American accents in Steampunk works. Girl Genius? Gil, Agatha, Dupree, Othar...? In my head, I hear them as Americans. (Probably doesn't hurt that there's a Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; I really had to work to not hear the townsfolk as speaking with a semi-Pittsburgh accent...)

[Senator Cybus]

You, Sir, just made my day... have a cookie. (::(

Why, thank you kindly! >nom nom nom<

On topic, (more or less), I get weirded out by any alien invasion flick that doesn't have American protagonists. Just seems odd somehow. British accents are out of place, there...

"Blimey, that mothership's a right big bugger, int'it?!"

[Kindablue]

(leaving aside that modern British English wasn't the same either)

On that: John Barton takes a stab at the Elizabethan accent. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNjaoh-2jg&t=4m30s)

[Axolotl]

Interesting counterpoint ... I more often "hear" American accents in Steampunk works. Girl Genius? Gil, Agatha, Dupree, Othar...? In my head, I hear them as Americans. (Probably doesn't hurt that there's a Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; I really had to work to not hear the townsfolk as speaking with a semi-Pittsburgh accent...)Really? I would have thought that in most steampunk works British Accents would be more logical than the standard fantasy because most of them are rooted very heavily in Victorian aesthetics and culture.

But it's not just fantasy where British accents are common, most films and TV shows set in the Roman Empire have British accents and it's fairly common for works set anywhere in the ancient world, the only exception I can think of is the Greeks who have American accents half the time (and then there was whatever was going on with the accents in Alexander, which I guess is a good example of why people normally ust use British accents).

I guess the reverse of this would be how in most Space Operas everyone has American accents, even if it's set in a future where earth is united everyone you see will be American, as will all the aliens.

And really if you're going to complain about British accents in genre films why not complain about the upcoming Dark Knight Rises, where Batman, Bane, Alfred and Comissioner Gordon are all being played by British actors.

[Cespenar]

Why, thank you kindly! >nom nom nom<

On topic, (more or less), I get weirded out by any alien invasion flick that doesn't have American protagonists. Just seems odd somehow. British accents are out of place, there...

"Blimey, that mothership's a right big bugger, int'it?!"

That's "innit" now, please. :smalltongue:

[Yora]

It's because of Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe).

[Aotrs Commander]

I don't know about that. It seems Japan, and more specifically Tokyo, is just as much of a magnet for alien invasions, giant monsters, giant alien monster invasions... and one wonders why so many episodes of Doctor Who seem to be set in Britain, specifically London and especially the older series, when they have all of space and time to work in.

Really, the real problem is that people tend to write what they know and they know where they live. I know I, for instance, tend to set my supers games in a rough City of Adventure expy of my hometown for convenience's sake. In the same way Stan and Jack put a bunch, that is nearly all, of Marvel's heroes in NYC.

Yes, I was being a bit (metaphorically) tongue-in-cheek, you realise...


On that: John Barton takes a stab at the Elizabethan accent. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNjaoh-2jg&t=4m30s)

That's hilarious.

And so everyone Blackadder 2 should have sounded more like Phil Harding from Time Team...!

(And one feels, then, that any depictition of Elizabethan England shound now mandatorially be backed that music off the old Hovis adverts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mq59ykPnAE)...!)


On topic, (more or less), I get weirded out by any alien invasion flick that doesn't have American protagonists. Just seems odd somehow. British accents are out of place, there...

"Blimey, that mothership's a right big bugger, int'it?!"

I still think they need to do something with a Geordie protagonist or something (the British equivilent and Cowboys verses Aliens, "Ant and/or Dec verses Aliens"...?), because that would be hilarious.

One if the funniest things I have ever seen was an American documentary that actually had a Geordie chap speaking on it and they subtitled him. Priceless.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I think I've actually seen the argument that some American accents are closer to older English.

Old-school (as in antebellum) Southern, probably.

[Joran]

I remember watching "How to Train Your Dragon" and seeing Vikings. They were given Scottish accents...

It's pretty easy shorthand. Dragon Age 2 retconned Dalish Elves into speaking with Welsh accents to differentiate them more and add a certain wilderness appeal to them.

[t209]

I remember watching "How to Train Your Dragon" and seeing Vikings. They were given Scottish accents...

It's pretty easy shorthand. Dragon Age 2 retconned Dalish Elves into speaking with Welsh accents to differentiate them more and add a certain wilderness appeal to them.
Don't forget dwarves with American Accent (with Deadly Court) in Dragon Age?

[Thialfi]

I remember watching "How to Train Your Dragon" and seeing Vikings. They were given Scottish accents...

It's pretty easy shorthand. Dragon Age 2 retconned Dalish Elves into speaking with Welsh accents to differentiate them more and add a certain wilderness appeal to them.

Vikings with Scottish accents makes about as much sense as all their children having American accents. Of course as much as my daughter watches Peppa Pig, I shouldn't be surprised if she grew up with a British accent.

I never really wondered why fantasy settings usually involved the use of British accents. It just seemed fitting. I always wondered why all ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians all seemed to use British accents. I guess the same arguements apply.

Can we now discuss why all British people sing in American accents?

[kpenguin]

Can we now discuss why all British people sing in American accents?

As I recall, there was a study a couple years by a researcher in New Zealand that looked at the differences in how people pronounce letters and words when singing as opposed to speaking. What they found was that the manner in which people pronounce words when singing, as opposed to the natural speaking accent, tended to gravitate towards a pronunciation that resembled, though not quite identical to, an American accent. Singing in a kiwi accent, by contrast, required conscious effort.

[Nerd-o-rama]

That's funny. I was taught to sing with a British accent, or at least enunciation and rounded vowels that sound Queen's English to an American ear.

Then again, that's the thing. I was taught how to sing by a professional choral director. Singing naturally? Judging by British rockers, it tends to sound the same whether you're British or American, barring a few vowel quirks from certain Liverpudlians.

[Kindablue]

Can we now discuss why all British people sing in American accents?

It's cultural diffusion. Popular music is generally an aural tradition; musicians learn how to play by copying other musicians, but more importantly in the 20th century, by learning songs off records. Most of those records in the English-speaking world were by Americans, and their style of singing, accent including, spread around the planet.

[Talya]

Fantasy settings tend to be very European...castles, knights, metal armor, swords.

English in Europe tends to have English, Scottish, or Irish accents.

[Aotrs Commander]

Fantasy settings tend to be very European...castles, knights, metal armor, swords.

English in Europe tends to have English, Scottish, or Irish accents.

Of course "English" accents and dialects are extremely diverse; there's about half as many regional dialects as in the USA - but England (and this is counting England, not Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) is only approximately a sixth the population and vastly smaller in geograpical area. (Though given that England has also had a lot longer for regional drift to stack up, this is perhaps not that surprising.)

[BigDumbWeirdo]

Can we now discuss why all British people sing in American accents?
I did a lot of study on accents a few years ago after somebody told me I did a horrible faux British accent. After learning more than I should have by any rights (seriously, who researches accents in their spare time except for giant nerds like me?) I learned a few tidbits.

One of which is that most British and American accents fade when words are drawn out, like they often are when singing. So I'm sure there's some guy on a British-based forum wondering why all American people sing with British accents.
(Also, an American Southern accent is pretty much a 50/50 mix of Irish and Swedish accents. Which is just weird.)

I also noticed that Romans are almost always portrayed with British accents, specifically the more cultured ones. I get why they do it, but I still want to see a sword-and-sandal epic where everybody has a thick Italian accent.
Just imagine Russell Crowe doing his best Super Mario impression:
"Hey, a-Commodus! You killeded my family, and-a now I'm-a gonna get you che cazzo!"

Personally, I'd like to see more foreign-language accents used consistently in fantasy works. I'm sick of Dwarves all sounding like pirates. Why not give them a German accent? Give the elves a French accent and the orcs a Russian accent. It's probably not politically correct, but it'd be more interesting. To me at least...

[Talya]

Of course "English" accents and dialects are extremely diverse; there's about half as many regional dialects as in the USA - but England (and this is counting England, not Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) is only approximately a sixth the population and vastly smaller in geograpical area. (Though given that England has also had a lot longer for regional drift to stack up, this is perhaps not that surprising.)

I'm fairly sure I've heard and can recognize more city-of-London-specific accents than I've heard Canadian accents, and I live in Canada. (If you don't include French, we've got three accents: Urban Canadian, Redneck Canadian, and Newfoundland. Although Newfoundland isn't that distinct from Irish.)


I remember watching "How to Train Your Dragon" and seeing Vikings. They were given Scottish accents...



What's particularly amazing about the accents in that movie, is that, despite the entire town being Scandinavian, the adults were Scots, and the kids were Canadians and Americans.

[kpenguin]

There's a joke to be made here about North Americans being children and Scots being men (and women)

[Talya]

There's a joke to be made here about North Americans being children and Scots being men (and women)

The counterjoke to be made is that only the kids in that movie had any sense whatsoever...the adults were closeminded fools that needed the kids to teach them a lesson.

So I'll instead avoid any and all such jokes. :smallwink:

[zimmerwald1915]

Really? I would have thought that in most steampunk works British Accents would be more logical than the standard fantasy because most of them are rooted very heavily in Victorian aesthetics and culture.
"Victorian" aesthetics and culture as filtered through the steampunk genre is very much related to "exhibition" aesthetics and culture, something the Americans embraced to an absurd extent. Besides which, the Victorian period also spawned the backward-looking Arts and Crafts movement, which had a greater following in England (and I do mean England) than in the USA.


Old-school (as in antebellum) Southern, probably.
Actually, it's the appalachian accent that's supposed to be the closest modern analogue to Elizabethan English. Bizarrely enough.

[Ravens_cry]

Makes sense. Isolation means older forms predominate. Quebec French for example is more archaic than Parisian French, aside from all the Frenglish of course.

[Axolotl]

"Victorian" aesthetics and culture as filtered through the steampunk genre is very much related to "exhibition" aesthetics and culture, something the Americans embraced to an absurd extent. Besides which, the Victorian period also spawned the backward-looking Arts and Crafts movement, which had a greater following in England (and I do mean England) than in the USA.Not really, I mean most of it is just a never-ending industrial revolution, which was British. And it's much more than just the exhibitions that the genre uses, imperialism and the ideologies that drive it are important to the Steampunk tone. Class divides and all the baggage that brings are also important.

Take Perdido Street Station, probably the most widely acclaimed Steampunk novel, its setting is pretty much Dickensian London as reinterpreted by Philip K. ****.

[dehro]

Mostly a sense of slightly misplaced pseudo-historical context, I suspect.

The US (and Australia etc etc) did not exist as a country during the (pseudo) Medieval period, and therefore, using an American (etc) accent seems more glaringly incongrous (leaving aside that modern British English wasn't the same either) that not.
this, mostly.. when I think about swords, knights, castles and such,... americans never had them except in renaissance fairs. it comes more natural to associate a British pronounciation with it than it does to have Sir Lancelot speak with a bayou/cajun accent. (that's a thing, right?)
also, consider that in a lot of non english speaking countries these shows are dubbed..which brings an entirely new dimension to things
to make an example which has little to do with fantasy but is pretty popular, in Italian, Fran the Nanny becomes Francesca, of Italian descent (with appropriate accents to her mother and grandma) rather than of Jewish stock... which is totally absurd, but still works even if it means half the "ethnical jokes" have to be reworked accordingly.


(On the flip side of this question, one might also ask why almost all sci-fi heroes are American, and why when Aliens Attack Planet Earth, they virtually ALWAYS attack America first, never China or Canada or Australia or something1...)

it is mildly annoying.. also incorrect (Dr. Who says pretty much the same thing about London, and let's not forget Cardiff/Torchwood. or Tokio/Godzilla) the only thing that makes it look like America is the first target for an invading alien army/magical kingdom is special effects, production costs and such. Hollywood is able to churn out mid to high level sci-fi products with much more ease than a production house in say... well..most countries in the world. also, what sci fi productions there ARE in non english speaking countries tend to be ignored by english speaking countries who already have a wealth of stuff to dig into.

[Ravens_cry]

True, but it's like Canada isn't even mentioned or included half the time, at best
For example, in the Enterprise episodes where aliens go back in time and give Nazi's super scientific weaponry, the US is invaded. There is a map at one point showing the fronts and it's like Canada doesn't even exist. When you consider that Canada had the fourth largest navy and the fourth largest air force during World War II, this is rather curious, no?
Even Harry Turtledove tends to give only a cursory treatment.

[pffh]

Canada? I'm not familar with that fantasy world. What is it from?


Joking aside the reason for the english accent is that many accents sound funny or weird. For example scandinavian and icelandic accents do not sound like vikings to most people since our english accents are quite odd.

[t209]

For example scandinavian and icelandic accents do not sound like vikings to most people since our english accents are quite odd.
Exception on Nords in Skyrim. (Skyrim is cool even with american accents, austrailian and scandanavian accents.)

[Ravens_cry]

Joking aside the reason for the english accent is that many accents sound funny or weird. For example scandinavian and icelandic accents do not sound like vikings to most people since our english accents are quite odd.
That's a bit circular, they are weird because they are unfamiliar and are unfamiliar because they are weird, but yeah that was my basic point on the first page as well.
British accents are different enough to sound exotic to Americans, but not unfamiliar or thick enough to be hard to understand to American ears.
At least generally, apparently some Americans need subtitles for British shows.
I am reminded of this (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7373128225578708570#docid=-6121106831990356268) little gem.

[pffh]

Exception on Nords in Skyrim. (Skyrim is cool even with american accents, austrailian and scandanavian accents.)

The Nord accents is very much not a Scandinavian accent. It sounds like someone that is not familiar with the different accents is trying to imitate a stereotypical one. Imagine someone doing a bad stereotypical british accent in front of a british person after having only heard it a couple of times, that's what it sounds like.

If you want to hear how a real viking english accent might sound like watch a couple of minutes of my lets plays (in my sig). Althought my accent is not as pronounced as it used to be a few years ago I am Icelandic which means that it should give a fairly good picture of what the viking accent should sound like.

And then try and tell me that sort of accent could be taken seriously coming from a vicious viking :smalltongue: