I am a bit of a purist when it comes to England, the English language and English culture. I don't mean this in an arrogant or racist way - far from it! One of the most celebrated things about England is how it is very adept at absorbing other peoples and other cultures; this is one of the things that is quintessentially English. What I object to the continuous butchering of the English (and our language) but the Americans.
Let me explain...
It sets my teeth on edge when I hear a clearly British character using Americanisms. I think the first time I consciously noticed this was when watching Syriana - crap film by the way - and there was some kind of counting going on by a British English speaking character and it was done with American syntax (i.e. the "and" was missing".
And that brings me neatly onto accents. English speakers either speak perfect RP (Received Pronounciation) - also known as BBC English, even though the BBC have long abandoned it. Even genuine English actors seem to be afflicted with having to speak RP. Alternatively they are London Cockneys or there is an occasional Manchester accent thrown in.
Accents are overgeneralised and used to enforce stereotypes. An accent is often used to foreshadow the character’s personality. “Ah, he’s got a British accent. That means he’s stuck-up, posh, old-fashioned, out-of-touch, uncool, etc. in some cases effeminate, physically weak, cowardly… or… he’s obviously cooking up some Machiavellian scheme”.
It's childish simple writing to fall on such stereotypes, but it’s surprisingly common. Have you noticed in the original Star Wars that Stormtroopers had American accents, but many of the top Imperial officers, i.e. the “proper” Nazi leaders, had British accents (Including the Emperor himself). I know this was down to casting, but those casting decisions also had to be made?
There is a tendency to use archaic phrases such as “Tally ho!” “Pip pip!” and top of the morning (an Irish stereotype) which I am quite sure the 18th-century would like back. When I teaching in Albania back in 1995, and I will remember it for as long as I live, the following sentence appeared in an antiquated textbook (for that was all we had access to).
The three boys wandered into the forest and had a splendidly gay time frolicking among the trees.
What it meant in the 1930s is completely different to what it means nowadays!
When the scriptwriters and directors decide to be brave and stretch beyond RP, they often mess it up. They might decide that a character is from Manchester but give them a Brummie (Birmingham) accent, like they did with Daphne’s brother from Frazier, and the result is awful. Please don't let them get hold of the Geordie (Newcastle) or Scouse (Liverpool) accent!
Incidentally, in this age of political correctness and to avoid type-casting, the British character is the new black - as we can no longer make the black characters the criminals - this means if there is a British character present he has a high probability of being guilty.
Moving on...
While there are some positive examples such as Friends, Elementary, Parks And Recreation and Jack Ryan when it comes to UK locations by and far the Americans mess this up too. If an episode plot requires filming an episode in the UK just go there - it’s not hard. The UK has a well-established film industry. Many blockbuster films are shot here. We have the equipment and expertise, and your multi-million dollar per-episode budget can almost certainly cover the airfare of a director and a couple of actors. We even offer tax breaks for filming. What you shouldn’t do, is put a red phone box in the corner of an obviously North American city, stick some British number plates on your left-hand drive cars, and think “that should fool them”. Then what you definitely, definitely shouldn’t do is brag in your post-production blogs about how you “transformed a city into London”. Yes, I’m looking at you Designated Survivor, who filmed their London episode in the Canadian city of Galt and fooled literally no one. This concept is so cliched and so noticeable, that it was actually lampooned in the Austin Powers movies in the 1990s. Yet production companies still do it. To describe it as offensive would be a stretch, but it’s certainly annoying because it’s often quite jarring and distracting for British viewers who can quite clearly see that the action isn’t taking place where it supposed to be.
And finally stereotypes. They tend not to offend if they’re done well and with affection. It’s also hard to be offended by a stereotype of the British when the show lampoons American culture too. So the likes of the Simpsons (we all love cockney Bart) and Family Guy, despite having occasionally shown quite extreme stereotypes that *could* be deemed offensive in another context, tend to get a pass because they frequently take the p*** out of Americans too. The episode of Family Guy where Peter becomes an American Football star but gets sent to the UK to join the “London Silly-Nannies” is just stupid. But it’s hard to get offended by it.
But when broader stereotypes creep into American shows, it’s not done satirically, and the context is just to get a dig in for cheap laughs, it can be jarring. Bad food, bad teeth, bad weather, emotional repressed… all cliched and a bit annoying.
Ironically, one of the most frequent examples of this is John Oliver on Last Week Tonight… who is British. He knows his core audience, and plays up all the stereotypes (under the guise of self-deprecation) for cheap laughs, despite being a better comedian than that. He does tend to take it to extremes. There’s also a slight hint of bitterness there; Oliver left the UK and became an American citizen because he struggled to get any traction in the UK.
Just some food for thought my friends, and on that note and as always stay safe and well.
