Why do people in old movies have British accents?

Theatrical and cinematic use. When the 20th century began, classical training for actors in the United States explicitly focused on imitating upper-class British accents onstage. As used by actors, the Mid-Atlantic accent is also known by various other names, including American Theater Standard or American stage speech …

Why do people in old movies have an accent?

A video from BrainStuff explains why the people in old movies might have an accent or dialect you just can’t seem to place. BrainStuff explains that the plummy, upper-crust accent is reminiscent of British aristocracy and was actually the style of speaking taught to students in New England boarding schools.

Why do evil characters have British accents?

Speakers of the standard form are considered the ones that “have no accent” and any dialect that strays from from that is stigmatized in one way or another. In other words, we give our villains accents because we don’t want them to sound like us; for proof, look no further than the “Evil Brit” entry on TV tropes.

Why are British actors always villains?

Originally Answered: Why have Hollywood villains traditionally been British? They haven’t, but recently there’s a lot of them, and it’s the precision pronunciation of the Oxford “accent” (the English say Americans have the accent, not them). The speech pattern makes them sound more precise and threatening.

What is Grace Kelly’s accent?

In movies, Grace Kelly actually spoke in a Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent. This was the American upper class accent that was taught to actors. The Transatlantic accent was meant to blend both American English and British English together and make the accent sound more neutral.

Is there such thing as a “British accent”?

I know that technically, there is no such thing as a “British” accent. But what else would you call the English-ish dialect that’s long been used as a catchall in American-made movies and TV shows set anywhere ancient, foreign, and/or magical? The fantasy thing, at least, makes a certain amount of sense.

Should accents be mandatory in movies and TV?

I also get that when a film or show’s cast is made up of English-speaking people from various backgrounds — American, British, Canadian, Australian, etc. — an accent mandate may be imposed to make everyone sound like they’re coming from the same place.

Is Rossif Sutherland’s ‘reign’ accent actually Canadian?

The CW’s new period soap Reign is set in France as well, inhabited by characters from a variety of 16th-century European backgrounds… yet the Dauphin Francis, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Scottish ladies-in-waiting all have the exact same British accent. Sexy Nostradamus, though, speaks with actor Rossif Sutherland’s native Canadian cadence.