Stop complaining about the lack of accents
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Tin_ear — 10 years ago(August 18, 2015 10:41 PM)
I understand the contempt English people have for Americans playing quintessential English characters without bothering to sound English, but if I'm not mistaken authentic "English" in 1200 AD would be incomprehensible to modern Brits. If you've ever read Beowulf, they probably sounded more like Germans back then. Shakespeare's plays are tough to read and that was only written 400 years ago. And all the aristocrats should actually be speaking some form of French, since that was the language of nobility under the Normans. The fact the filmmakers were not historically accurate probably was a wise move.
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Fluke_Skywalker — 10 years ago(August 18, 2015 11:16 PM)
All good points.
I think what really bothers people about this isn't the lack of accent authenticity, but the lack of accent uniformity. Of course regional and class differences would account for some distinctions, but the accents here are all over the place, and it's tough to create that suspension of disbelief when characters from the same general region sound so very different. Robin Hood sounds like he's from Ohio. The Sheriff from London. I don't even know what Morgan Freeman was attempting and I don't think he did either (I know he's not supposed to be English, but just saying).A journey into the realm of the obscure:
http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/ -
Captain_Bob — 10 years ago(September 23, 2015 02:31 AM)
"lack of accents"???
I hope you're not implying that Americans don't have their own variety of "accents". If anything it is the
presence
of a particularly inappropriate
American
accent that spoils this movie more than anything. Costner's mid-west nasally twang is hard to ignore and thoroughly unconvincing for the role. He (and his fluffy mullet) are in the movie because it was box office candy back then. -
Tin_ear — 10 years ago(September 23, 2015 06:16 PM)
Yes, fine, everyone can be said to have some accent. Stop complaining about a lack of modern
British
accents, you know what I mean.
You don't see Italian people upset that every Roman emperor ever depicted on film speaks like he graduated from Cambridge. And if you ever saw their hair back then, they were pretty ugly, a lot of tonsures, awful bowlcuts, and (if Olivier's Richard III was accurate) plenty of mullets. That might be more accurate than anyone wants to admit.
If the filmmakers had been more accurate with accents or hair, people would be making fun of Kevin Costner for having long greasy hair with lice and speaking broken English with a French accent. I'm surprised someone hasn't complained yet because he is a Crusades survivor and he isn't depicted with PTSD. -
meissner_mike — 10 years ago(October 13, 2015 04:49 PM)
There's been much ado about accents in this film. In particular, people from the UK taking issue with an American, with a flat American accent, portraying and English hero. Let's be clear I never took issue with oh say black hawk down, for instance. With mostly Engish and other foreign actors with very bad Anerican accents portraying American Rangers. And yes, I can tell when a Brit is trying to sound American, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The movie doesn't try to be historic or anything other than a little action and adventure and some laughs. For me it reminds of that summer I came back from the Gulf when I was in the Marines. Me and my buddies going to see T2 (Terminator 2) and Robin Hood prince of thieves. It was a just a good time and still is
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JumeirahSun — 10 years ago(February 08, 2016 06:38 PM)
I think at this point in time the nobility at least (Robin, Marian, Richard, Sherriff, etc.) would have spoken old or middle French.
The issue is perhaps not so much the lack of historical accuracy, but that a very English hero, Robin Hood, is played by an American actor, and a very mediocre performance it is too. It would be courteous to allow the British people to represent their own legends, but that doesn't sell movie tickets. Costner was a big star at the time; that's why he got the role.