American Accents don't fit in Fantasy

[@mikemigasproduction]

Why do Dvarves sound Scottish: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKK1aKONmL-Jm7s

[@JonesHand]

4:20? If it's that the author is British, think Neil gaiman, gaimen? The Sandman series, is the name, Stardust with Michelle phifer.?

[@rottensquid]

Why do witches sound Welsh?

[@tahnadana5435]

ever play pillars of eternity 2? southern accent fits okay with one of the race there

[@mjb6442]

I'm Scottish, it just fits 😂

[@karatekoala4270]

Because everyone is bashing them on Tolkien 's dwarves and the language he created for them. Heavy Celtic influence. In my own stories, the dwarves are the progeny of Bes, African dwarf god.

[@justinjozokos1699]

British accents are also grafted onto shows and movies about Roman history. I wanna see and hear Julius Caesar speaking with his hands and having an authentic Italian accent.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

I'd like to see one where he has a Jersey accent

[@zanicar4087]

Romans may be from Italy, but are very far from modern Italian in every way shape and form.

[@etherealdragon207]

The hypocrisy of this video is insane.

[@atisnicholson1844]

​​@@zanicar4087 Italians have as close to Romans as Americans to British

[@Savvysnek]

it would be a Latin accent, far removed from modern Italian. There are people who still study Latin though and might have an idea of how to portray it

[@Orange_Swirl]

"American Accents don't fit in Fantasy." Me: *Makes a high fantasy set in the Wild West.*

[@Fortunate_Fennec]

I am afraid that's not how it works, chief.

[@Orange_Swirl]

​@@Fortunate_Fennec The genre is literally called "fantasy." We can literally create any kind of world we want, with any kind of magic, mythology, supernatural beings, yadda yadda. It can work however we want it to work.

[@huguesdepayens807]

The wild west is boring and over done.

[@TheKnoxvicious]

@@huguesdepayens807 The Wild West with FANTASY is overdone??? There’s NONE, dude

[@dannylojkovic5205]

@@huguesdepayens807you could also say European fantasy is overdone

[@ClayHales]

Harry Potter with a British accent doesn't make sense because it's fantasy. It makes sense because it's literally set in a fantasy version of modern day England. A Stormlight Archive adaptation should have a Korean accent for most of the characters, Szeth being a notable exception.

[@anikagrace2215]

Even if most Rosharans have epicanthic folds, doesn't mean they should have Asian accents . . . We don't really know what their language sounds like aside from their naming conventions.

[@lieutenantkettch]

Rosharans are also brown skinned rather than fair like Koreans and other East Asians.

[@SleepySloth2705]

Goblins talk like 1930s american gangsters in World of Warcraft, and it fits them perfectly 👌🏼

[@TrollPriestZandum]

Trolls talk like Jamaicans. It works well.

[@bigredwolf6]

So they have an Italian accent

[@bobthedestroyer6205]

Orcs and humans are basically americans too

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

People who think American dialects lack diversity are only familiar with American news broadcasts. There are a ton of accents just in the South. In New York City alone, it seems like every borough has its own dialect.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Most of the world knows America only from Hollywood. Which is weird.

[@DreamsAudio]

They think most Americans talk like people from Los Angeles.

[@arcadeinvader8086]

@@DreamsAudio Just LA? C'mon everyone knows there are four american accents: surfer, cowboy, al capone, and none

[@Rune-s8r]

The irony that the modern "british accent" is younger than the "american accent."

[@SubduedRadical]

lol, yeah, this. Pointed it out and saw it in a few replies, but American English was initially more isolated, so changed less rapidly than Britain's English dialects and accent, so is closer to medieval English...not that either really is. Middle English and Old English sound nothing like Modern English at this point anyway.

[@SomasAcademy]

Technically both are equally young; accents evolve continuously, so British and American accents have more or less equally evolved from their last common ancestor. If you listen to recordings of either General American or Received Pronunciation accents from the early 20th century (the ancestors of modern stereotypical American and British accents, respectively), you'll find that both have some pretty big distinctions from modern stereotypical American and British accents (I say stereotypical since obvs there's a lot of regional variation in both British and US accents, and I'm just talking about the ones most people mean when they say "British accent" or "American accent"). The stereotypical "American accent" has preserved certain older features (like rhoticity, where R's on the ends of words are pronounced), while the stereotypical "British accent" is more divergent (picking up new features like non-rhoticity and the trap-bath split, where the vowels in certain words like "bath" shifted from an A like in "trap" to a long "Ah" sound), which has led to the idea that it's an older accent, but it also has lots of new features (like, at the time of the American Revolution it was still common in upper-class American accents to roll some R's, and the sound we pronounce as "Ah-ee" today, like in the words "I," "Eye," and "My," was instead pronounced more like "Uh-ee"). If you went back in time to the American Revolution, people from London and New York would have pretty similar accents, but those accents would sound a lot more like an unfamiliar regional British accent than a modern American accent! Overall, the West Country accent (the accent famously associated with Pirates and used by Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies) is probably the closest English-language accent to the accents you would have heard in London and America at the time of American independence, though even it isn't exact - no accent is truly "older" than any other on the whole, though some have more old features!

[@SubduedRadical]

@@SomasAcademy It'd be nice to see a list of all the changes and compare them across dialects. For example, US Southern (Southeast) and Texan (Texas) accents still do some of those things you say that American accents don't do. I think the issue may be you're using London and Midwestern (the most "neutral" American dialect that is the midpoint between all the others), where the regional dialects may be more different than you think. And some of those aren't niche dialects that are highly localized with very few speakers. Southern + Texan is easily a full ~1/4th of American English speakers and a land area larger than many nations.

[@Rune-s8r]

Such a good discussion in this. Thanks!

[@Novusod]

There are many different British accents as well. Wessex accent sounds similar to US southern accent.

[@commanderstarstrider7176]

I think when it’s European based fantasy meaning dragons and knights etc. It makes more sense to have British or European accents. However, the one major exception would be the Wizard of Oz that is an American author, and the lore/setting is not Euro centric based. it is uniquely American fantasy. The Midwest, Kansas, farms, scarecrow, witches (think salem), woodsman the wizard who is really an inventor/politician/con artist. That’s in the Wizard of Oz. The accents are American and it makes more sense. It would feel awkward to have British accents in that world. Even though I think Glinda is the only character that I can think of the top of my head that has one.

[@AlphaCentauri-b2o]

That makes sense since neither North America nor South America had a medieval european period as it's written in fantasy. The same with spanish and portuguese. You would have to write another kind of fantasy.

[@orzotubephi9328]

@@AlphaCentauri-b2o Spain and Portugal are in Europe and had a whole European medieval period. Check a geography/history book for once.

[@AlphaCentauri-b2o]

@@orzotubephi9328 Of course they had. That's what I said

[@JustaFairyStory]

Apparently they’re Brits out in Winkie Country. 😉 I mean, they can’t cast a handsome prince and have him not be posh. British = Hollywood shorthand for royal or rich. But yes the OG Oz books are some of the precious little classic American whimsical fairy tale-like literatureAmericans can lay claim to. Most of our children’s literature or literature in general doesn’t feel like it fits in with Alice in wonderland.

[@SubduedRadical]

They do? That's like saying British accents don't belong in Star Wars. There's a point you have to do a little suspension of disbelief and accept that things are just what they are. British accent don't really make sense in fantasy, either, when you realize a lot of old fantasy base stories pre-date the British accent EXISTING, or at least existing as it does today. Old English sounds nothing like modern English with a British accent, for example, and Middle English doesn't really, either. Not to mention that, as linguists and folks that study these things have pointed out, (some) American accents are closer to early Modern English than British accents are due to cultural drift. By being more isolated initially, US/American English has changed less over the last several centuries. So this is literally entirely a personal perception "feels" thing with people that is actually the opposite of reality, as the British accent is actually more alien to a fantasy setting than an American one. But I tend to treat it like I treat Star Trek: Rule of Universal Translator. That I'm hearing it in my brain's interpretation of their language, not that these people are speaking Modern English at all. : )

[@skyscall]

It's mostly because high fantasy media is mostly made by Americans, mostly for the American audience. High fantasy, more than any other, relies on evoking a sense of foreign-ness and unfamiliarity that one just does _not_ hear from an accent that sounds like the guy next door. So, directors chose foreign British accents to accomplish that. That's how it began, anyway. From there, the trope of British accents being more posh and "fantasy-fitting" developed. We _think_ British accents are more fit for fantasy, simply because we've been _conditioned_ to think that, due to British accents being used in fantasy settings. Of course, there's exceptions as well. The Elder Scrolls series has always a wide range of accents, but typically follows the rule of assigning American accents to humans and British ones to elves (as well as Skyrim's use of Scandinavian actors for the native Nord people). That gives the humans a sense of familiarity to the American audience, while the elves feel foreign and "different" from humans; a major plot point in the series.

[@Trickaz94]

@@skyscall it's mostly because all the fantasy media is based on European medieval mythology And English/British is the only language an American understands so its only logical to use English, Scottish or Irish accents in fantasy media Or English with a Germanic or Slavic accent

[@Draber2b]

It's a good explanation. Myself I never ever felt any different by an American or British accent in fantasy, though being Polish, neither sound like the guy next door. But it makes a lot of sense from this American POV. If you hear British accents in fantasy since childhood, it's gonna build a strong association.

[@davidhoffman6980]

I agree. I didn't want to see Guy Ritchie's asking Arthur adaptation even though I love his films. The reason why is because the costumes, dialogue, and hair styles in the trailers looked to American and modern. Jamie Fox with a shaved head and short, meticulously groomed facial hair just doesn't evoke medieval Europe for me.

[@MALICEM12]

very true, likewise, elves sounding more "uppity" and posh has for a long time been tied to british accents

[@grimmacemack76]

I feel like British accents are better for fantasy and American accents are good for action movies

[@badrequest5596]

they also work well in sci fi or space fantasy. we can easily imagine american accents existing in the future, it just feels off when it's trying to portrait the past

[@grimmacemack76]

@ very true

[@karatekoala4270]

Jason Statham has entered the chat.

[@SubduedRadical]

They do? That's like saying British accents don't belong in Star Wars. There's a point you have to do a little suspension of disbelief and accept that things are just what they are. British actions don't really make sense in fantasy, either, when you realize a lot of old fantasy base stories pre-date the British accent EXISTING, or at least existing as it does today. Old English sounds nothing like modern English with a British accent, for example, and Middle English doesn't really, either. Not to mention that, as linguists and folks that study these things have pointed out, (some) American accents are closer to early Modern English than British accents are due to cultural drift. By being more isolated initially, US/American English has changed less over the last several centuries. So this is literally entirely a personal perception "feels" thing with people that is actually the opposite of reality, as the British accent is actually more alien to a fantasy setting than an English one. But I tend to treat it like I treat Star Trek: Rule of Universal Translator. That I'm hearing it in my brain's interpretation of their language, not that these people are speaking Modern English at all. : )

[@gloriathomas3245]

where you do get that notion from?

[@Sylmarys24]

Probably because all the old fairytales/mythologies we're used seeing on screen came and come from Europe

[@seanrowshandel1680]

Well, that's a great start, but we need to stick to that line of inquiry until we find a real final answer. It might have something to do with the American Revolution. remember that not everyone is literate enough to read the American Revolutionaries' documents (and this is because those documents are the first pieces of a new genre of secular writing, which gives religious extremists "pep" without making it awkward if their little brothers can't read). They only read religious texts before the revolution, and they always felt alone. They were "trapped" in their small groups and had to obey their oldest brother. Why bother learning how to SPEAK at all? Speaking was invented simply because Mankind wanted his communities to be able to conduct court trials, should the need arise. So that's why we call the US by the name of its continent, America". Because it has no name, no words, no speaking, and certainly no writing. So how the HECK CAN YOU EXPECT THERE TO BE A UNITED NATIONS which THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO ORCHESTRATE? They are barely even by our sides nowadays, as members of humanity. They are also not even like the goats which we slaughter for meat. The goats are being supervised. The Americans are not. They have "planted a seed" of their revolution in "Turkistan" or whatever, just like every other place on earth which may or may not exist (it's not important whether it exists or not). Maybe it's time for them to grow up and become like their big brother. Did you know that I gave him that scar?

[@AtPeacePiece]

Yeah he literally says that in the video.

[@jebise1126]

rofl because everything in europe is english? ok make it all fantasy non english. that would be more accurate

[@skyscall]

@@seanrowshandel1680 Please take your meds before hopping on the internet. Would do you favors.

[@thepagecollective]

I have heard Brits say American movie villains have English accents because the US has an anti-British streak. This is not true. If you want a villain, give him an American accent like Darth Vader. Vader adds a pseudo-English accent to be taken seriously, but he is voiced by an American. The Emperor has a real English accent because he is the real power. He is to be taken very seriously. Note that the only person below the Emperor that Vader ever takes seriously is Governor Tarkin, who is very English. Americans don't take themselves seriously. They are more comfortable in the role of the upstart rebel like Luke, who challenges authority. Nothing sounds more authoritative to an American than an English accent. And that goes for authoritative ancient wisdom, too. Obi-Wan Kenobi is on the side of good, and English.

[@beefsupereme]

Sounds like a class distinction perhaps? Seems like the American working class has a stronger hold on the culture here and historically view the power structure as being rooted in the old world

[@thepagecollective]

@@beefsuperemeMaybe. Americans also know what Old Europe thinks about them, that Americans are dumb. And that accent is associated with being dumb. Americans aren't dumb, they know what they sound like to Europeans. Americans also like the idea of streetwise smarts. They like to see themselves as the person who gets things done, not talks it to death with "pretty" words.

[@Twisted_Logic]

When will we get a fantasy villain that sounds like Frasier Crane?

[@thepagecollective]

@@Twisted_Logic Sideshow Bob..?

[@thepagecollective]

Sorry i can't reply it keeps dumping my replies

[@mr.coolmug3181]

The problem is the generic American accent doesn't usually fit the setting. But, there isn't just one American accent. The Elder Scrolls games use American voice actors to great effect imo, because it's usually an attenuated or almost transatlantic American accent. It may not even be the accent, but the delivery of the lines. Someone like Linda Kenyon for example, who voiced the female Dark Elves in TES, had a very distinct, clear, non-generic American accent which was perfect in that setting and role. I often think that theatrically trained American actors like Armand Assante would be perfect for fantasy roles, and would be a great Marvel superhero villain. He in particular has an incredible range, but a distinctly New York accent. I think British actors are consciously and unconsciously more theatrical than most American actors. I think if more appropriate American actors were chosen for these roles, we would see no difference in the quality.

[@dannylojkovic5205]

I was about to say that in TES there are a lot of American accents mixed in with British and Scandinavian accents. Even in the Witcher, if you play with the English language on, they speak with American accents (like Geralt). Finally, I guess it’s not technically fantasy, but I find it funny that in STALKER 2 everyone says to just play with Ukrainian instead of English. All of the English voice actors sound ridiculous being in the middle of an Eastern European wasteland and are all Scottish for some reason (besides Skif)

[@allieallieoxen3]

This.

[@richirich999]

Senior American accents seem to fit/go unnoticed. Greybeard Master Arngeir has a Canadian accent(American) in Skyrim.

[@DoctorTopper]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had voice actors from every English speaking country, for the different lands of the fantasy world

[@toferg.8264]

Nothing says, “I only know America through Hollywood,” quite like saying we all have pretty much the same accent. But i suppose i can’t complain, because i have only known of England’s norFern accent for a few years.

[@oyoo3323]

You're right. It's not one, it's like six or... seven.

[@connorward1977]

There are certainly a variety of American accents but in Britain you can have notably different accents with like 10 miles of eachother. With a good ear for accents you can figure out exactly where someone is from and there social status just by listening to them.

[@SubduedRadical]

@@oyoo3323 Uh...it's well more than six or seven. And that's BEFORE getting to the very localized and small population ones, like whatever the hell that thing is that Maine has going on up there which I can barely understand. Even some of the localized ones are pretty huge with massive populations of speakers, like New York accent.

[@oyoo3323]

@@SubduedRadical apologies, I suppose the word "accent" is rather vague and ill-defined. What I should've said was dialects; and to that end, it's perhaps ten, and that's if we're being generous. If we speak of dialects, the Southeastern variants ones can be seen as just two dialects: Texan (1) and Southeastern (2). Southwestern (3) is one, which can be thought of as basically Californian. Minnesotan (4) can be counted, although it is functionally an extension of the Central Canadian dialect. You were right to point out that the northeast is where there's the most diversity, which is to be expected given that's where the language has been in the country for the longest, so let's add Northeastern (5) to the list. Alaskan (6) I can't speak on much (so do give me more information if you can), but I'm just going to assume it is sufficiently different due to it's Geographic seperation from the rest of the country. That now leaves the Standard (7), which, though was constructed to include features from all over the country, very clearly uses what I belive your folk call the "Midwest"'s speech as a basis, so while they may be multiple accents, they're easily considered the same dialect; this is also where I should bring up that the language as spoken throughout nearly the entire rest of the country, while certainly can be said to be many accents, is simply too similar to the Standard to be considered another dialect (for that matter, I know a fair few Linguists argue that Californian is insufficiently different too to be considered a dialect unique from the Standard. Besides that, I can think of AAV (8), which though derived from the Southeastern dialect, is easily sufficiently different to qualify as a dialect (although I think ethnolect would be a more precise term in its case). If there are any others you can bring up, please do. If I didn't mention it, it is likely for one of the following reasons: 1) I don't know of it. 2) It has too few speakers, thus is obscure. 3) It is insufficiently different from the ones I mentioned above to qualify as a distinct dialect (even if it can be defined as an "accent"). 4) It is antequated, even if well-known (such as Mid-Atlantic English). 5) It is actually too different to be considered the same language at all, thus is perhaps a creole (such as Gullah).

[@SubduedRadical]

@@oyoo3323 I suppose it's how distinct one considers things and where one draws the lines between accent, dialect, and how many speakers and/or geographical area one requires to mark one as distinct. The US is a pretty big place. The US and China are tied for 3rd place in the world for land area (behind 2nd Canada and 1st Russia), and the US is third for population (behind India and China with India seemingly taken the 1st place spot now over China in 2nd). It also is a very culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse country, which also has linguistic influences to match that diversity. So it shouldn't be a surprise it has a high amount of dialects, accents, and languages across its peoples and territory. If you look at it in the most "10,000 foot" level, then around 10, yeah. But that's like saying England has 3. Sure, one could make such an argument...but at that point it's so lacking in nuance that it seems a mockery.

[@ManFromThePits]

The Hobbit (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Last Unicorn (1982), The Flight of Dragons (1982), Wizards (1977), Dragonheart (1996), Dragonslayer (1981), The Neverending Story (1984)... Would you like me to continue? All great fantasy movies, all with American accents. Except for Conan. He was Austrian. Accompanied by a ton of American ones.

[@jainysail2941]

I love this

[@benseac]

Star Wars is another great fantasy story that is laden with American English accents.

[@shirleymaemattthews4862]

WIZARD OF OZ, YOU FORGOT WIZARD OF OZ!!!

[@girl-fromthemoon]

​@@benseac I think Star Wars is more sci-fi than ancient/medieval fantasy, so it's different

[@davidwuhrer6704]

​@@girl-fromthemoonNo, it's definitely fantasy.

[@RPSchonherr]

American Southern accents would be better for fantasy because it's closer to old English.

[@RPSchonherr]

America has many accents, NY, Boston, Southern, Appalachian, Midwest, Texas. Actors in America try to not have an accent. There's also Spanish accents of English. Lets not forget thug.

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

​@@RPSchonherr "Thug" isn't an accent. It's also deeply offensive and borderline racist caricature. The proper term is African American Vernacular English, sometimes also known as Ebonics. It has an actual grammatical structure. White anglo-saxon speakers, or "proper English" speakers look down on AAVE because they've falsely associated it with criminal "thug" or "ghetto" behaviour.

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

​@@RPSchonherr "Thug" isn't an accent. It's also deeply offensive and borderline racist caricature. The proper term is African American Vernacular English, sometimes also known as Ebonics. It has an actual grammatical structure. White anglo-saxon speakers, or "proper English" speakers look down on AAVE because they've falsely associated it with criminal "thug" behaviour.

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

"Thug" isn't an accent. It's also deeply offensive and borderline racist caricature. The proper term is African American Vernacular English, sometimes also known as Ebonics. It has an actual grammatical structure. White anglo-saxon speakers, or "proper English" speakers look down on AAVE because they've falsely associated it with criminal "thug" or "ghetto" behaviour.

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

​@@RPSchonherr "Thug" isn't an accent. It's also deeply offensive and borderline racist caricature. The proper term is African American Vernacular English, sometimes also known as Eb0nics. It has an actual grammatical structure. White anglo-saxon speakers, or "proper English" speakers look down on AAVE because they've falsely associated it with criminal "thug" behaviour.

[@connorward1977]

"And why should the people listen to you?" "Because unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English Accent"

[@drewc9947]

There's a lot of very, very distinct American accents and dialects (Gulluh Geechee, Tidewater, Cajun Creole English). But they are probably too distinct for most people outside the US to understand. They are also very difficult to get right. I almost never here a really spot on Cajun accent on screen

[@MysticDojo]

technically speaking even modern British english isn't same as spoken in medieval times as old english, even the english of Henry the 8th is nearly incomprehensible nowadays.

[@BentíJ]

There's so many American accents that people from other countries (and even some Americans) don't know about. Some sound totally unique and would fit great for fantasy. Even in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area there are over 5 accents and even "sub accents". I was talking to an Ethiopian guy just the other day whose only been in America for a year who said he can understand white Americans from DC better than black Americans in the area because they speak slower and use words he recognizes from his English classes, while black Americans from the area speak very fast and use many words and phrases he's never heard of or seen in text books, almost like another language. I'm mixed race and grew up in three different states so my accent is an interesting blend, and a lot of other Americans and some foreigners ask me what country I'm from because my accent doesn't sound like a typical American accent, I've also been told I should narate books for audible or kindle because I sound like someone from a fantasy book. So American accents can be cool for fantasy, just depends on the accent.

[@ReiseLukas]

The Cajun accent from Gambit in Deadpool and Wolverine is underrated. Would love more media with that accent

[@SubduedRadical]

Met a guy when I was in the Navy from Maine who told me about Maine's accent. He then demonstrated it. It's pretty wild such a relatively small, low population state can have such a distinct accent, yet the people from there can also talk in "normal, understandable" English. I'm from Texas but grew up on the border with Mexico, so I don't really have a strong Southern or Texas accent (the two are not the same, btw), and people have said before I sound like I'm from the Midwest and should narrate books or the like since I have "the neutral American accent" people like for news anchors and such since it's simultaneously the closest to every other dialect, meaning it's the easiest "common" form of American English that the most people can easily understand.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@SubduedRadicalI grew up in Georgia, as did my mother who raised me, but her parents were both from up north, so we both speak in a more general form of speech. Maybe it was my city’s large military presence, but most of my classmates didn’t really have a regional accent growing up. The longer I stay around here, the more it seems the Southern accent is in decline, with all the Northerners moving south and the population of rural areas consistently dropping.

[@marcussinclaire4890]

One day a Newfie accent will make it to a fantasy movie.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

One episode of Lexx does that. The contrast is hilarious.

[@beefsupereme]

Has anyone ever heard that for Dragonball/Z/etc that Goku’s dub should be a southern American accent, because he is supposed to be a country bumpkin? It is apparently translated as such in the English mangas. I haven’t looked into it much but sounds like it would be hilarious

[@hellacoorinna9995]

"Weeeeell shitfiyah, aw sho' do lyke me sumdat dere fitin'. Weeeheeyyyhh" ~ Goku

[@Joybuzzahz]

His Japanese actress made up an accent for him. Goku doesn't talk like a real Japanese person in the original dub.

[@l0sts0ul89]

​@@hellacoorinna9995 "now hold on there mister freezee what da heck is a super sayain? some sort uh catchphrase?"

[@DiamondKingStudios]

As someone raised in the state of Georgia, I am now imagining him as some farm boy with the same accent as my high school physics teacher from Stone Mountain.

[@johnterpack3940]

American dialects lack diversity? What? Somebody has clearly never heard American English outside of movies or TV. Most media relies on a "standard" Midwestern accent. But that sounds nothing like a New England accent. Lower Alabama has a lilt to its accent that would be perfect for elves. Cajun almost isn't even English. You could make a fantasy movie using nothing but Southern accents and get just as much diversity as with English accents. Throw in New England, Boston, New York, and the northern plains states and you would have quite an assortment of unique accents. Now I want a fantasy movie with Cajun dwarves.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Cajun dwarves? That sounds awesome, I'm sold

[@RodrigoCen7456]

I want an epic historical set piece set in Rome. I want the setting, costume design, and over all feel to be like that of Gladiator (the first one obviously) or HBO's Rome. It might be about Julius Caesar rise and fall or about one of the crisis of the third century or any other epic moment in their history but the movie/tv series has to be sincere. However instead talking in a posh English accent I want them to have the most stereotypical New York Italian accent possible. Get everyone and I do mean everyone who has played a role in any a Scorsese film or the Sopranos on that set. I want here a lot of Aaa's and ooH's in the senate building having serious discussion.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

You might like the live action adaptations of Asterix.

[@an0nycat]

But on the other hand, STALKER 2 with a British accent also looks out of place. 😅😅

[@captgeesh5163]

Ridiculous. Appatently English accent also fit ancient Romans and Greeks too. Oh, and let's not forget Modern Russian too.

[@googIesux]

Enemy at the Gates rofl. Aye g'day comrade govna!

[@carimeslockdownedtree2654]

There's people directing actors playing Russian characters to speak w a British accent???? What??? First time hearing abt it

[@dennisjones9044]

@carimeslockdownedtree2654 Chernobyl by HBO, Anna Karenina 2012

[@Chr1sader]

​@carimeslockdownedtree2654 There are also a lot of English accents in The Death of Stalin.

[@kevinroche3334]

American fantasy all sounds like they are in a western, but in the wrong clothes.

[@joshuascott3428]

Unless its the dark tower so that invalidates your entire argument and they say the apalachian accent is actually closer to how elizabethen english actually sounded

[@johnnyjohn-johnson7738]

Ironically that's how lots of English people used to sound a long time ago. The American Accent is derived from an accent similar to the contemporary West Country accent (which to this day in England has a bit of a "cowboy/pirate" vibe to it) that was prevalent before Cockney influence spread outside of the London area (and before received pronunciation was adopted by more of the upper class and elements trickled down).

[@SubduedRadical]

@@johnnyjohn-johnson7738 Very much this. People don't realize American English (at least some accents/dialects of it) is/are closer to early Modern English than the British accent. Due to being initially more isolated, the American versions didn't change as rapidly through the centuries and are closer, not farther, from medieval English. Not only that, but many times, characters aren't even speaking "English" in the first place. It's more like we have a Universal Translator that is translating their language to something we can understand anyway. It's like how all the Galactic Empire people in Star Wars speak British English despite the setting not only being very likely before British ever came into being, but in another galaxy completely culturally isolated from it anyway.

[@johnnyjohn-johnson7738]

@@SubduedRadical I don't think that Star Wars is set in the distant past of anything resembling our reality, I think that it's a completely separate alternate universe and that the British accent comes from Coruscant humans having their own version of Great Britain in their own distant past. I see "A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far Far Away" as coming from the perspective of a Jedi scribe rather than from our perspective.

[@SubduedRadical]

@@johnnyjohn-johnson7738 "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" implies it IS set in our universe. There's also a non-canon/old canon story that Earth actually came from there, it was transported here in the distant past (apparently, Indiana Jones finds Han's skeleton on it), though that's pretty non-canon at this point. But "a galaxy far away" would be in this same universe, most likely, as you'd describe a parallel universe in a different way than "far away", even if "far away" might be loosely accurate. Why would a Jedi scribe describe HIS OWN galaxy as far away? . I did like how one of the KZbin creators that does some mocking videos (the ones about Anakin's thesis being on the tragedy of Darth Plageus the Wise studies) about this. He has Anakin say something about a story with "gen-is say quois" (sorry, I don't know French, but you can sound that out to get the phrase) and the Palpatine character says to him "Wait...what language was that just now?!" mocking that French shouldn't be a language in Star Wars (nor should English) and we're just interpreting it in our own language as viewers of the movie.

[@ethanmoon3925]

If the fantasy is based on American tall tales, it would work. Or even a "western" feeling fantasy, it doesn't have to have cowboy hats or pistols, but a frontier, a man riding alone, a town tormented by bandits, etc. Or discovery, or taming the land. Japan can make Scifi and fantasy movies and they still feel like Samurai movies. Maybe it's the same with America and Westerns.

[@Steve_Stowers]

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Can you imagine that in a British accent?

[@Orange_Swirl]

​@@Steve_Stowers Gunslinger: "Oi, mate, get back 'ere ya bugger." 😂😂😂

[@girl-fromthemoon]

That "western fantasy feeling" you described is exactly the vibe I get from Star Wars

[@ethanmoon3925]

@@girl-fromthemoon Oh, totally! There are splashes of eastern mysticism in the Force, but Han Solo is a certified American space cowboy. And Luke is a farmboy from a frontier homestead (that even gets raided by "indians"). You could say the small personal spaceship is an evolution of the cowboy's horse and the detective/gangster's muscle car (which is an urban version of westerns), and the main plot is basically a mashup of the American Revolution and WW2.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

⁠@@Steve_StowersAs some narrator, perhaps, but it would still feel somewhat like a documentary

[@malapertfourohfour2112]

Why would fantasy characters be speaking in languages we understand with accents we recognize, period? 🙄

[@Steve_Stowers]

A fair point, at least for fantasy that is not set in or inspired by some particular real-world setting. And of course the answer is that, otherwise, it would make things much harder on both the filmmakers and the audience.

[@webx135]

I think it's less "The American accent doesn't fit" and more "The accent must be specifically modern English. Perhaps Welsh. Maybe Scottish or Irish if you want to stretch it." And it's funny, too, because what we call the modern "British accent" was specifically designed very recently with the intent on being specifically posh to essentially separate the aristocracy from the commoners, and later the main-landers from the colonials. When the US was colonized, English people would have spoken something similar to many American accents. There's something similar with things like Latin. It's often portrayed as some grandiose British accent on top of Italian pronunciations. But like "Vini Vidi Vici" was pronounced more like "Win-E Wid-E Wick-E". Yet if you were to portray an old Roman story with that accent, you would be laughed off the stage. Medieval stuff would have probably had an accent that sounds a bit Dutch or German. But again, portray that accurately, and people won't know what they are listening to, and why they changed it from the" real Medieval British accent"....of 20th century aristocrats. It would be like saying "This is inaccurate. That Iroquois man in the 14th century would have DEFINITELY sounded like Audrey Hepburn."

[@davidwuhrer6704]

This reminds me: The Irish comedy trio Foil Arms & Hog have a sketch about how accents are chosen for different roles, always the same accents for the same stereotypes for no reason.

[@WasatchWind]

I feel like it only doesn't fit when you're trying to do a fantasy set in the very specific medieval esque setting. Everything else it works fine, and fantasy frankly has expanded to be far more than simply vaguely medieval Europe. The Cosmere especially is a great example of how an American accent (in the audiobooks) works perfectly fine for the settings, which are either more modern or very different from past time periods on Earth.

[@lemonZzzzs]

I'd say, it's mostly conditioning: the vast majority of the English language media makes it so, forcing that as a convention, so a deviation from that sounds off. The fact that the term "fantasy" in English speaking circles often evokes specifically European inspired settings and concepts also makes the European form of the language sound "more natural" as a pairing. But that is also part of that conditioning, as the majority of the most popular fantasy worlds in the English speaking world draw far more from European ideas and settings than from other cultures.

[@Double_Jae]

8:06 this part I find really funny, because to Americans it’s almost the exact opposite. For British accents it’s basically just the three mentioned here, but I could place where you live in the U.S. down to the state in just a conversation or two. It’s all about what we’re used to lol

[@JakeAdkinsOfficial]

Now we need an american fantasy where the elves all sound like they're from Tennessee, the Dwarves are midwesterners, the Wizard's from Jersey.and the Dragon's from Texas.

[@PeterPan54167]

It’s funny because the first fantasy story that sort of kicked off the modern Fantasy novel tread was essentially American. The Wizard of Oz is American fantasy. Not to mention Conan the Barbarian’s author Robert E Howard was a Southerner and Conan was a huge pioneer in the Sword and Sorcery genre.

[@WasatchWind]

7:00 - I really don't want British accents for all the Cosmere adaptations. For some characters, it works, others, absolutely not. I've listened to countless audiobooks of the fantasy universe, and the idea of replacing a voice talent similar to Michael Kramer's with standard British just does not fit right for characters like Kaladin, Dalinar, Kelsier, etc. I think that because the Cosmere doesn't fit in the standard medieval fantasy setting, it does not work with a British accent. The American-ness honestly feels part of the Cosmere's identity. It is vibrant, it is new. It is not repeating past standards, but recombining them into something new.

[@hanleylopezescano5977]

In the Spanish language actors tried to use old verb conjugation in Fantasy.

[@justinjozokos1699]

Kinda like saying "thou art" and "thy hast" instead of "you are" and "you have," or like saying "he/she/it hath" instead of "he/she/it has." That's definitely cool though

[@hanleylopezescano5977]

@justinjozokos1699 Kinda the first one. Saying "vos sabéis " instead of "tú sabes".

[@justinjozokos1699]

@@hanleylopezescano5977 I don't Know much Spanish at all, but I was recently comparing the conjugations of the various Romance languages against those of Latin, and in some tenses Spanish and Italian can get crazy close to the original Latin. I think the closest I saw so far was that the Latin imperfect tense of esse was only a few letters off from the Spanish imperfect of ser. Also the Latin perfect tense of esse is only a few letters off from the preterite tense of ser. Makes sense though.

[@SubduedRadical]

Some other media does this as well. In Final Fantasy 6, there's a character who uses proper Middle-English pronouns (Thou/Thee and You/Ye). In Final Fantasy XIV, there was a character that spoke with an archaic Japanese accent in the original, so when they translated it to American, they weren't sure the best way, so they use a hybrid of very formal Modern English with a bit of Middle English. It's funny to people to the point it has been dubbed "Urianger speak" after the character Urianger who speaks it. The voice actor apparently has a lot of fun with it irl, too.

[@Zebred2001]

Most people don't realize that the "standard" American accent isn't temporally stable. Even if you look at interviews with regular folks from the 1980's you can detect a difference with how Americans speak today. And don't even talk about the 1930's and 40's. In another hundred years American "English" will be laced with Spanish and other immigrant vocabulary etc.

[@huguesdepayens807]

Oh god I hope not.

[@Haydutin]

Hasta la vista baby

[@johnh.mcsaxx3637]

​@@huguesdepayens807Why not? Spanish is one of the richest languages there is (especially the Latin American dialects), so an infusion of it and American English, as is already happening, is a nice spin to see. Plus people would no longer be able to make fun of Americans for only knowing the dialects of their counties.

[@vokkera6995]

It can absolutely work. Just look at JK Simmons’ work in Baldur’s Gate 3. Also, American English isn’t “new”. It’s just a different fork of the same English.

[@morningrosie3684]

I’m going to be honest, British accents just don’t feel as exciting when it comes to the action in movies lol. It’s like “Would you like a spot of tea” in a scene that’s supposed to be “WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE SET ON FIRE!”

[@kjdolan6171]

The Witcher series is the best example I can give for Americans being in fantasy

[@Orange_Swirl]

Honestly, that's a pretty strange example now that I think about it. Neither the original author who wrote the books and the studio who adapted the Witcher into a game series are from the USA, are they?

[@ItsDeffoScott]

The Witcher eng vo is dire

[@sbskinner369]

I personally think that a good example of American accents being used in medieval setting is the Disney cartoon version of the Adventures of Robin Hood. In the film they almost seamlessly mix in southern American accents with English accents. It took me and my friends years to really notice.

[@Braneloc]

Accents should be "accurate" to the location and era settings. Please don't fake bad accents. Always check with a native of the area first.

[@mnk9073]

As a German speaker, THIS. Literally 90% of movies don't even bother and go for some bellowed snappy sounding nonsense interlaced with a few Jawohl! and Los!. Christoph Waltz was such a treat as probably the first German characters actually speaking proper German.

[@Shan_Dalamani]

It's a bit difficult to do that if you're making a historical movie set a few thousand years ago. First off, nobody really knows for sure what they sounded like, and secondly, there aren't any natives of that area still alive to tell us. For instance, to be accurate to the location and era, the characters in Xena: Warrior Princess would have had to speak with the accents of ancient Macedonia, Greece, Egypt, Troy, numerous places in the Middle East, Latin (for the Rome storyline), American English (for the Indiana Jones spoof), Mongolian languages, various Slavic languages, and so on. Xena and Hercules were primarily made for the American and Canadian markets, so the showrunners made no effort to hide those accents. Lucy Lawless normally speaks with an Australian accent, but used an American accent. And the character in one of the clips in this video, Callisto, is Canadian. It's also difficult to do accurate location/era accents if your movie is set in some futuristic time. The David Lynch Dune movie in 1984 just let the actors use their normal accents, and this has led some fans to gripe about Duke Leto having a German accent, Lady Jessica having a British Accent, and Paul having an American accent. I just headcanon it as Jessica's accent being that of the planet she grew up on - Wallach IX. Duke Leto's accent is the one the nobility of the planet Caladan use, but Paul's accent isn't the same because he spends much of his time with tutors and servants. He would have picked up the accent of the people of lesser rank.

[@johnnyjohn-johnson7738]

I'm Australian and I can do a convincing Southern/Midwestern accent (not so much a good general American accent for some reason, I could do it but I struggle to get into it because of how subtle some differences are easily missed but obvious when missed) which I honed from years of mimicking what I see from games and television. I think that any Australian with the lighter and nasal variant (as opposed to the deep Ocker variant) of our accent can learn to speak like an American with just a few days of coaching because plenty of us almost sound American until you hear us pronounce certain words like Cant (with is pronounced like "aren't") or anything with an R at the end (e. After pronounced as Afta).

[@Joybuzzahz]

Doing a modern British accent in 1600 England would be inaccurate. Shakespeare likely had what now would be called an American accent.

[@Shan_Dalamani]

@@Joybuzzahz Which American accent? They're not all the same.

[@MALICEM12]

to clearify, they dont fit in PREMODEN fantasy because its a modern accent. but it works just fine in steampunk or StarWars

[@SubduedRadical]

They do? That's like saying British accents don't belong in Star Wars. There's a point you have to do a little suspension of disbelief and accept that things are just what they are. British actions don't really make sense in fantasy, either, when you realize a lot of old fantasy base stories pre-date the British accent EXISTING, or at least existing as it does today. Old English sounds nothing like modern English with a British accent, for example, and Middle English doesn't really, either. Not to mention that, as linguists and folks that study these things have pointed out, (some) American accents are closer to early Modern English than British accents are due to cultural drift. By being more isolated initially, US/American English has changed less over the last several centuries. So this is literally entirely a personal perception "feels" thing with people that is actually the opposite of reality, as the British accent is actually more alien to a fantasy setting than an English one. But I tend to treat it like I treat Star Trek: Rule of Universal Translator. That I'm hearing it in my brain's interpretation of their language, not that these people are speaking Modern English at all. : )

[@karatekoala4270]

6:22 Game of Thrones is literally based on the War of the Roses which was a European historical event.

[@MovieMediaDaily]

14:35 do you realize how SMALL of a box you just put the entire American film industry into…

[@raybrandt]

General American accents in The Elder Scrolls are fine. I mean Neutral or Mid Atlantic. A Southern accent would be too out of place though.

[@mattjorgdbb]

I think fantasy should have the harshest possible German accents.

[@BKPrice]

Game of Thrones probably leaned so much into British English because Martin based it loosely on the War of the Roses, if I recall correctly. British English, and the varied accents, are also closely tied to class-based systems, whereas America was founded on egalitarianism and lacks that class distinction in its dialects. That means it is very effective at portraying both elegance and crudeness, depending on the accent used. American English can come off as casual, and maybe even sloppy, and isn't readily associated with structures such as monarchies, which are prevalent in much of fantasy. I do think a variety of English accents and dialects, including American, should be used to some extent in most fantasy that has varied cultures. I think such a thing adds to the atmosphere.

[@feathersword8232]

“Because unlike some Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent “

[@marcussinclaire4890]

😂👍 Fantastic movie.

[@Joybuzzahz]

Robin Hood wouldn't have a modern English accent, because the modern English accent was exclusively for the upper class until the industrial revolution which took place after a few decades after the USA's founding, and his thing was kind of, stealing from the upper class as a protector of the proletariat.

[@mortalwombat2001]

13:00 fun fact: Warwick Davis had to adopt an American accent in that movie, even thouth he's a Brit.

[@rottensquid]

I can't remember how far I was into the second game in the recent God of War series when I realized that the Greek titular character, his son, and the entire pantheon of Norse gods all had American accents. Odin was performed by Richard Schiff in his distinctly New York accent. But all the performances managed to strike exactly the right tone, comfortably honest, or grandiose stage-like as needed. Set in a world of gods, the game is as fantastical as it gets, and yet the accents never feel out of place. The only exception is the character Mimir, who has a Scottish accent any dwarf would be proud of. He's supposedly a former adviser of Odin, but as the story unfolds, it's hinted at that he was once Robin Goodfellow from the fairy court of Oberon and Titania, as depicted in the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream. So make of that what you will. Also, I think everyone can agree Doug Cockle's performance for the english translation of the Witcher games works just fine, despite him using his distinctly American accent. I think there's a way to do it, threading the needle between not too modern and not too performative. I think Cavill made the right choice in using an english accent, though he was a fan of the Witcher 3, and borrowed heavily from Cockle. But in future english adaptations, I'd love it if Geralt's famously foreign-sounding Rivian accent was interpreted as Polish. It's such a great, underappreciated accent. I think it's insane that fantasy films limit themselves to either British and American accents. There are loads more options to choose form.

[@karatekoala4270]

Kratos is literally voiced by Black Americans and no one even thinks about it 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@rottensquid]

@@karatekoala4270 I definitely think about it. Who the hell else can say "BOY!" better than Christopher Judge? No one. The man is one of a kind.

[@karatekoala4270]

@@rottensquid I appreciate you. And your insight. Also I worked for a Polish woman for years and if Cavill could've pulled it off I would've loved that shit

[@rottensquid]

@@karatekoala4270 Not Cavill, but thanks to DC Projekt and the Netflix show, the character is now in the cultural zeitgeist. So I expect we haven't seen the last of the Witcher in the film medium.

[@imahoare4742]

Geralt, Triss, Lambert, Vesemir and Eskel all have American accents and they all fit in the fantasy world fine. It really is how the accent is performed and the strength of the dialogue and writing in general.

[@concerninghobbits5536]

One thought I have is that British accents seem to have more variety so you can express different characters with more "dignified intelligent" accents and more "rough brutish" accents or more "rustic countryside" or "piratey". All based on stereotypes and associations but it's useful for a filmmaker or show runner to have lots of accents to pick between that are associated with different things. Like in the video mentioning how elves use RP and dwarves have a rougher accent etc. Americans have some variety but it's less associated with a lot of things, mostly it's northern vs southern vs a different southern, occasionally like Boston etc. And those are very regionally associated while some of the British ones are less so because Britain is smaller so the distance between two accents is small and if you aren't British you might not know.

[@imahoare4742]

Geralt of Rivia would like a word.

[@royasturias1784]

It's not like you're accustomed to the Polish dubbing of every The Witcher game so far.

[@MultiSpeedMetal]

It’s the “old world” association with classical European culture. American English is just as valid a continuation of Medieval English as modern British English but British English is actually on the European continent as opposed to American English which is strongly associated with the new world and modernism. In a similar way Australian English would sound weird in a fantasy setting because you just think of Australia. There’s also the fact that most people don’t really understand that Medieval English is different than modern British English or don’t realize the full extent of the differences. There’s an assumption of British English being more conservative. Really it’s no more or less authentic to use American English or British English but the associations are stuck.

[@WasatchWind]

It's all about what you associate it with. I think that British is a valid choice for standard medieval fantasy, but I am perturbed by his view, and the view of some in the comments, that even distinctly American fantasy, set in less standard settings, like that of the Stormlight Archive and Mistborn, should still use British. People have made fan animations of Stormlight Archive using the American audiobook narration, and it feels perfectly suited to it.

[@ShaolinJesus369]

Still the army of darkness is a Masterpiece and very adventurous. Bruce Campbell best choice for that movie.

[@Jabberwockybird]

He is a bad example to start with because he works so well, because it's a fish out of water story. And it doesn't fit the point he is trying to make.

[@morningrosie3684]

I’m going to be honest, I prefer American accents because they are easier to understand.

[@RPSchonherr]

It depends on where the fantasy takes place and what kind of fantasy it is.

[@Orange_Swirl]

Bro should have specified "Medieval European Fantasy"

[@Steve_Stowers]

@@Orange_Swirl Indeed. I spent the video thinking "Are we just assuming that 'fantasy' = medieval-European-inspired fantasy?" American accents are absolutely appropriate for something like The Wizard of Oz. (We haven't gotten a faithful adaptation of Baum's book, but if we did, I would fully expect it to have American accents.)

[@tomkatt8274]

@@Steve_Stowers western fantasy

[@mrpanicattack6688]

Is it the same with Spanish language? Like an American fantasy movie and the English is in British accent, is the dub in Spanish like Spanish accent (from Spain) and not Mexican or Hispanic-American? Even in video games too, I’ve read something that the dub in Final Fantasy XVI is in “Latin American Spanish”, and some Spanish gamers kind of didn’t like it as the Latino accent didn’t fit the high fantasy setting.

[@DonPedroman]

Historically most things dubbed in Spanish were dubbed in "Spain Spanish" (ie Madrid/Northern Castille), though some other things like Disney movies were mainly dubbed in Mexican Spanish, then as time went on, the Mexican and Spain Spanish dubs have been the most common,the main reasons is that for Spain Spanish as Spain is the richer country, companies feel that it is a more reliable market, and for Mexican Spanish, well, Mexico is just next to the US. For the Final Fantasy thing, that series is very big in Spain among 80s and 90s people (some guys are actual fanatics), so of course there is a feeling of betrayment, though I haven't investigated if FFXVI actually has "Spain Spanish" dub. The thing is that fantasy here is mostly foreing products that we consume, so there isn't an agreed upon accent that fits fantasy settings, I personally would say that Galician accent (not the same thing as Galician language btw) would be the most accurate for castle-esque fantasy, while Seville/Western Andalucia accent would be very fitting in Renaissance/Exploration age fantasy that is becoming more popular today.

[@mrpanicattack6688]

@@DonPedroman Wow, that's really interesting, the different accents in Spain (Galician and Andalucian accents) for high fantasy/middle age films/series. I've got to ask, if what was the accents used in the Spanish dub of Game of Thrones? Did Game of Thrones spanish dub also used like the one you said, Galician and Andalucian accents? I would also like to add (more in video games), the original Resident Evil 4 (2005) received major criticisms because the "Spanish" voice actors that voiced Spanish Characters (the game takes place in Spain) sounded like from Mexico or Latin American. In Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023), it was praised because they finally used Spanish accent for the voice actors. Although I'm not familiar what regional accent, as I don't know where the Resident Evil 4 takes place in Spain, if it's in the northern region (Galicia), or somewhere else like Asturias or Catalonia region.

[@NautilusSSN571]

No not really, normally series and movies have two Spanish translations, one for Spain and the other for Latin America. The Latin American one uses a sort of neutral accent that doesn't give away any specific regionality, the Spanish one on the other hand uses Spanish slang and accent, in both cases whenever have a character speaking in an old fashioned way they use phrases and terms that are considered old fashioned, instead of changing their accent. Most people prefer Latin American dubs to Spanish ones, even a lot of people within Spain.

[@Arthur_Deadeye_Morgan]

If there is a character in a fantasy story with an American accent, the writer probably did it on purpose to make the character stand out.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Or the character is the protagonist and his familiar speech is there to help give him a bit of an everyman image- never mind; basically what you said.

[@Arthur_Deadeye_Morgan]

@DiamondKingStudios That's part of my point.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@Arthur_Deadeye_Morgan If the character is intentionally made familiar, that sets him apart from the rest of the world, which, being fantasy, is supposed to be strange and foreign.

[@Arthur_Deadeye_Morgan]

@@DiamondKingStudios That's why my main character in my story has an American accent.

[@merrychrismas100]

Very well put video! Keep up the work :D

[@migcasas1]

I actually dont mind American accents in a fantasy setting if they're featured in a specific region or culture, while the others have British English and other accents

[@LeviathanSpeaks1469]

My personal counterpoint… Elder Scrolls, especially Cyrodiil, Western Skyrim, and the Forbear Cities of Hammerfell, could be a good place for an American accent. Those areas specifically have the same kind of paradoxical ruggedness and universality where an American accent would be a nice artistic touch. 🇺🇸

[@JustaFairyStory]

5:16 I hadn’t thought about this until today, when Alex Meyers dropped his Narnia video I realized for the first time in my life that the wolf has an American accent. It will always feel a bit awkward to me now. And I guess it works cause he’s a tough basically bouncer character croney for a villain, but now I’ll never un-notice it. As an American, British accents will always immediately sound either more whimsical or more regal, and fantasy doesn’t feel whimsical or regal with the standard midAtlantic American accent. American’s simply aren’t whimsical enough over here. We’re boring. We naming our dish soap “fairy liquid” never would have stuck. There are projects that can be classified as fantasy or I guess fantasy adjacent that have American accents that work, but they aren’t exactly high fantasy, and all the ones that come to mind area animation. Over the Garden wall is a tribute to American folk tales, and so it has to be American, but it’s tapping into what little folklore and whimsy we do have on the continent. Most of the accents are American, but they still feel antiquated or from a different time. The other two things that come to mind is the young characters in HTTYD having American accents, and then this series called The Wingfeather Saga. The kids have American accents, it’s an American written book series, but plenty of other Characters have different accents as well, so it feels diverse and interesting. There is a lot of Americana infused into the world, it there’s enough magic and fantasy elements that it doesn’t feel out of place. This is always based of middle grade/late children’s literature. And while I love my classic British children’s fantasy books, in a post Harry Potter world, there’s a lot of middle grade fantasy written without that more vintage British flavor, or written with a more American one, whether it’s intentional or just a result of being written by an American. I can head the voices of those young characters in my head as American, but I don’t think I could imagine an adaption of something like Brandon Sanderson’s sounding 100% American. Classic children’s fantasy is weird if it feels or sounds too American. And adult/high fantasy would be weird to me if it’s overly American. But middle grade gets away with it, I guess by tapping into this late elementary/middle school age need for adventure or something. I also think you can get away with a lot of stuff in books you can’t in movies. You can write a million urban fantasy or portal fantasy books about Americans. Will they all translate to good fantasy movies?? Who’s to say? So there’s totally exceptions here, but broad, epic, sweeping fantasy worlds DO NOT hit the same if all the characters sound like Jake from State Farm. Haven’t actually watched the videos yet, it’s almost midnight and I’m just brainstorming from the title.

[@mrvee5395]

Bruce Campbell's accent belongs in every movie

[@chichiboypumpi]

Kevin Costner's version of Robin Hood

[@marcussinclaire4890]

Still a great movie though. I think Keanu Reeves in that Dracula movie was worse.

[@KittyCraic]

@@marcussinclaire4890god love him 😅 “Dude, I like totally know where that bastard sleeps!”

[@NexAngelus405]

One exception most people seem to accept are English dubs for fantasy anime and JRPGs because they are often dubbed by American or Canadian studios. In fact, when Xenoblade Chronicles 2 went with an entirely UK cast with a whole range of accents, many ironically found it jarring and poked fun at it. The same thing happened with Final Fantasy XVI, too, since most previous games in the Final Fantasy series with actual voice lines were localized with American or Canadian voice actors.

[@dannylojkovic5205]

The thing is, there are a lot of American accents, but foreigners usually don’t see them in shows because we go with the “Midwest” accent for the news and most shows/movies. I’m from the Midwest and aside for how I pronounce my “As,” I don’t have much of an accent. The only time you hear southern or creole accents, is when a movie takes place in the south or someone is from the south. You only hear New York or Chicago accents in their respective locations, or if a character is supposed to come from there. But, ultimately, while there are nuances in American English, keep in mind schools have worked very hard to teach kids the “Midwest” accent for the last 30ish years to the point even Texans sound like they’re from up north and not the South. Much like the Cockney accent (supposedly) the other accents are gradually fading away

[@dazai_.992]

Isn't a Midwestern accent the same as a New York accent?

[@silentsmurf]

@@dazai_.992No. New Yorkers have their own distinct accents. It’s supposedly distinct in each borough, but as a non-New Yorker I can’t tell hear the difference 😅

[@lior414]

Why do europeans fit well into mythical european settings? True mystery...

[@tacoshop7722]

There are fantasy genres where the American accent works better, I think most Sci-fi fantasy feels more natural with an American accent. But it is weird with a more Europe centered setting to have a "non-European" accent. As well as anything Lovecraftian (since so much of that universe takes place in New England.)

[@monkeymox2544]

I mean... it doesn't sound 'natural' if you're not American. As you say, setting-specific stories might naturally call for different accents - various British accents for Harry Potter, New England accents for Lovecraft, etc - but for anything set in an invented setting, whatever the sub-genre, no accent you choose is more or less natural (or correct) than any other. I do have a bias against American accents in epic fantasy, but I acknowledge that it isn't really rational, and I don't see non-American accents as the natural option to go with. I just have a subjective preference.

[@Shan_Dalamani]

One glaring exception is Doctor Who. Whoever cast Eric Roberts as the Master in the 1996 movie was a world-class idiot of the first order. That character should NEVER have an American accent, any more than the Doctor should.

[@racatiwood]

it's been ages since I watched the LOTR series, so I don't really remember. Were any bit players allowed to use their native Kiwi accents?

[@hanng1242]

I dunno. Worked fine in Conan the Barbarian.

[@Jabberwockybird]

Isn't that Austrian?

[@hanng1242]

@@Jabberwockybird I mean all the other characters - Valeria, Subutai, Thulsa Doom - they all have American accents.

[@Glockamole19x]

I just came to ask what movie that intro is from plz and thnx

[@coreyjones9183]

I played a dwarf with a southern accent in a D&D campaign once that made a bunch of Elmore Leonard and Cormac McCarthy references.

[@mercy2351]

Just because the United States is a much newer COUNTRY than England, Scotland, etc. doesn't mean that the language is any more "new" or "old", since ALL modern English accents both come from the same source and have changed over the centuries.

[@socialpast9924]

Ngl hearing tons of British accents in fantasy sounds more annoying than the American one. It just gives me over the top posh vibes and I don’t like it

[@FalloutUrMum]

It always stands out to me when there are American accents in fantasy, but I'm never opposed to it. Doesn't break my immersion

[@royasturias1784]

This conundrum stems from the fact that fantasy stories drawn from actual mainland native American (not the I-word anymore) nations were not bankable / ingrained. I need movies about Skinwalkers, Wendigoes, the Sasquatch, the Thunderbird, all those tales from pre-colonial North America (excluding the Aztecs because Aztec lore is the responsibility of México).

[@MrLuc420]

As an American d&d player, I disagree.

[@Twisted_Logic]

Maybe it's just because I'm used to the audiobooks, but I'd honestly be disappointed if a Mistborn or Stormlight Archive didn't feature at least some characters with American accents. Also: I'd be remiss to not mention one popular fantasy series with American accents, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[@lingtc8843]

Medieval fantasy in English accent and English songs in American accent. This is the norm that we have grown used to. Why? Because they just fit!

[@mikhailthetenor3387]

Would any New York City accent work in a fantasy film is it way too super urban?

[@srboromir452]

That legend of the seeker jumpscare, really need to rewatch that

[@DataLal]

I think what wasn't (and probably couldn't) be explored in this video is the real root of our accent prejudices, which come from the world of theatre, and were inherited by film. In the 19th Century English-speaking theatre world, there was a longstanding bias for British Received Pronunciation for Shakespeare's plays, because it was felt to be "high art", and therefore serious and special (and also because Britain was still thought of as the arbiter of high culture) - and this attitude was carried over, to some degree, to other theatre - even American actors tended to adopt a slight British lean in their speech (which slowly became the old Mid-Atlantic accent, which kept going even into the first decades of American Film). Meanwhile, in Minstrel Shows and Vaudeville, the standard was the northern American accent, while other accents were mainly used for comical value. Irish, Italian, and Slavic accents were used to portray stereotypical buffoons, and different Southern accents were used for different comic needs (think of the difference between the voices used for Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn, for Loony Tunes Cartoons) . Of course, none was used for more comedy and pathos than the highly stereotypical "Negro" accent, in Minstrel Shows mainly, but in Vaudeville too, and then when sound came to film, that too, till it finally fell out of favour in the 40s and 50s. Fantasy itself was initially regarded as serious "high art" of a kind too, which is why we still employ these longstanding accent tropes, and deploy other British accents, because they either avoided being tainted by so many of the prejudices and biases of American theatre and vaudeville, or achieved rehabilitation to an extent.

[@DreamsAudio]

Lucy Lawless is Australian and did her “Xena” character in an American accent. Also in the Harry Potter prequel/ spinoff “Fantastic Beasts” they have characters with American accents

[@Zebred2001]

I find English accents for ancient Romans tiresome and pretentious. A holdover from Shakespeare and BBC productions I suppose. English accents really worked in The Death of Stalin though!

[@jgunner280]

Maybe subjective, but I've thought there's exceptions to this given there is no singular accent... for either of these guys. If you give a happy, gleeful, or social king cockney accent, its gonna be about as weird as some of these US ones. However, you give it to a grizzly speaking or somber one, it could kinda play off right. In a similar streak, I think a lot of US southern accents have a chance to be casted in ways that would fit. Can't think of many living examples though, aside from Disney's Robin Hood which is a stretch given its art style, but I feel strong that the conniving Sherriff could roll that weaselly twang voice right into live action just fine, or still hear the heart and power in Friar Tuck's voice, and the deep timber in Little Jon's. I wouldn't mind a bit of western-dialect influence in some knights and dragon fantasy. ... but a ton of Hollywood probably isn't made that way, and you get more of the washed clear voice that just has no sense of age, charm, or character to a setting that needs your Gandalf type voices. But Hick? We could try that more.

[@rattlestormrepublic4874]

I'm British myself, and on the grounds of The Princess Bride I object!

[@smelkus]

With Lord of the rings many of the actors were from Australia or New Zealand which also doesn't seem to fit into fantasy

[@mikespearwood3914]

Those actors are talking with British style accents though.

[@bockchoy123e]

It's all about the delivery and accent relative to time in tandem with writing and formality in language. The more poetic or formal the language, the more gravitas it will inevitably carry. For example, the audiobook rendition of The Shadow of the Torturer narrated by Roy Avers (available here on KZbin for free!) seems ever so natural for the story presented, and he speaks in no English accent; instead, a sort of American accent that has fallen out of use from what I feel to be the 60s-80s? I'm not sure when to be honest, but I've heard it utilized in movies of those times. In that, the accents of a perceived past are always preferred for fantasy because it is intrinsically a hearkening to the past, which is why current-day American accents and vernacular rarely work.

[@Name-ps9fx]

Fantasy is often set in a pseudo-Medieval setting, where any European accent would be swell. But since we Americans only sprechen zie English, that's what Hollywood provides.

[@Joy-z6g]

Accents don’t bother me. It’s dialogue. I loved Hercules:The Legendary Journeys, but the dialogue was often waaayy too modern. And that was back in the late ‘90s/early 2000s. Goodness knows how it would be written now!

[@Shan_Dalamani]

I have no idea what some people are talking about these days, because they don't use complete sentences, and what they do use often only has half the words (as in the front part of the word, with an "o" tacked on).

[@joeyc9418]

I currently live in Tennessee but did most of my growing up in Georgia (the U.S. State of Georgia, not the country near the Caucuss mountains) and am continually surprised by Tennessee people saying they are not surprised that I'm from Georgia by hearing my accent. I have not been around long enough to distinguish the difference a few hundred miles can make in someone's voice. I can only imagine what is like for a British person to watch LOTR or GOT and think that the "high king" sounds like their local weed dealer or something 😂

[@thananightshade]

There is also the fact that American regions have their own mythology behind them. You cant really world build when we already did.

[@thomaskalbfus2005]

There is Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling, if they ever made that into a movie, you would need American accents.

[@rebekahmontesdeoca565]

I mean, Britain also did a lot of world building and has its own mythology behind it, yet it feels natural in fantasy.

[@dennisjones9044]

There was a time that Hollywood used what was termed "The Mid Atlantic Accent" ie Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and others

[@RHR199X]

American fantasy needs to take advantage of the early colonial period, when swords and armor were still around in some form and make something out of that.

[@haleywilson520]

I've actually heard that most high fantasy is more based on the 18th and 19th century than the medieval period, minus the guns

[@jareddixon9108]

Yeah. Stone castles and arming swords are medieval, but baroque style palaces grand balls, and sword duels all existed in early America around the same time as Europe.

[@NautilusSSN571]

​@@haleywilson520Clothing and architecture wise, definitely.

[@crusader5256]

I honestly really like how in Warhammer(the Old World, of course), they names are all in glorious, German-inspired anachronism. It doesn't feel like Victorian accented characters talking about a 16th century setting, but the change of language adds wonderful immersion.

[@noaholson9047]

Well my fantasy novel takes place in Arizona in the 90s with some parts in 18th or 19 century and some in prehistoric time So no British accents over here

[@somestrangerwhoeatsfries2728]

To be fair, if a fantasy film were to be super accurate, the characters would be speaking some thing like Old-english to middle-English or even norse, and that would work for most people who previously did not know of languages, and to modern day speakers, those mentioned languages would just be difficult to understand. Also alot of fantasy films that take place in their own world would likely have their own language, but it was simply all translated so the audience could understand.

[@mnk9073]

American accents don't fit fantasy because fantasy is essentially "Old World-Fiction": Dragons, knights, kings and what not are deeply rooted in the Old World, that's why an American accent is immersion breaking. Just as a German or RP accent would be immersion breaking in something about the Chupacabra or the many horrors of Appalachia.

[@karatekoala4270]

But that is conflating real world history with fantasy. Most fantasy didn't take place in Europe or Asia or America. But those influences can still exist in the setting. Also, literally every culture in the world has some form of dragon in it's history. They not a strictly European thing.

[@mnk9073]

@@karatekoala4270 "Old World" includes everything from Ireland to Japan and from Iceland to the tip of Africa. American accents feel off in Fantasy because Anglo-America, for lack of a better word, does not have a past.

[@pallasathena1555]

But if a production of Shakespeare was put on, the accents in the play would be British despite hamlet being set in Denmark or Julius Caesar set in Rome. I think the point is it’s down to association, Jake gylllenhaal didn’t get cast in LOTR because of his accent.

[@mikespearwood3914]

@@pallasathena1555 Brad Dourif was cast with a perfect villainous British accent though. Maybe Jake couldn't do a decent British accent?

[@pallasathena1555]

@@mikespearwood3914 should he need to employ one though?