Speaking of accents

I saw Taika Waititi’s Boy two nights ago and, as predicted, I’ve been speaking in a Kiwi accent IVER SUNCE!

What is it about a foreign accented film that makes it so engaging? I know I’m not the only one who has emerged from Cool Runnings speaking in Jamaican tones, or from The Commitments with an Irish lilt. A good film with intriguing foreign accents seems to stay with us infinitely longer than one listened to with a native ear. It should be noted that in the native ear category I include the Australian mother-tongue of American- and exclude the ‘crazy’ American accents, like Texan or Boston. They’re crazy.

Of course we all know how distracting a bad accent can be. Bad accents in movies almost act as a barrier, preventing us from becoming properly engaged in the story, but genuine accents draw us in, and keep us there. When we leave the cinema we find the accents carbon copied on our brains. They echo in a reverie and toy playfully with our own tongues. And there’s something unique about the intensity of the film experience that allows this to happen- it isn’t just that we spent 2 hours listening to it. If this were the case we would come away from conversations with foreign friends, or international holidays with the same effect, which, for the most part, we don’t, unless we are a total dick.

So what is it? Is it the perfect alignment with our desire for escapism? A true opportunity to imagine we are someone totally different? Is it that every person, when presented with an alternative, believes their own accent to be dull? When we come away from a movie speaking like a character, does the character stay with us longer, and have a more profound effect on us? For me, it’s almost as if mentally adopting the accent of a character allows me a key to adopt their way of thinking. When speaking like them we can have the practical stoicism of Margie in Fargo; the whimsy of Amelie; or the cool criminal touch of the characters from Snatch.

Accents are also, obviously, a useful tool for character development. It seems to be Hollywood’s opinion that certain accents are more endearing than others. Of course, we all know how adorable and hilarious Jamaican, Scottish, Irish, Italian, and Indian accents are. Upper class British accents are the instant aural signifier for ‘villain’ and a cockney accent unanimously means ‘pauper’. Also, a French accent generally means someone is a snob. Say chowdah! Showderre! Etc.

But my personal favourite movie accent is the 1940’s Transatlantic accent many actors of the period were trained in. Katherine Hepburn is the quintessential illustration of this.



Her accent is American, yet with British vowels. She sounds educated and worldly. This accent didn’t really exist anywhere in the world in real life, only in that magical fictional space on the silver screen, and her accent is “maaahrvelous fun to imitate, dontcha think?”

It seems the same thing happened in Australia during the same era. Generally, news readers seem to be a fairly effective barometer of the ideal accent for a country, ie. cultivated, but carefully not overly-cultivated so as not to alienate audiences. Australian news readers prior to the 1960’s seemed to invoke this Transatlanticism, with a British flavour, so as so sound more credible, because no-one wants to hear their news from some Australian right?



Of course, eventually this did become alienating and now people on the news sound like this:


And consequently get beat up by teenage girls.