MovieChat Forums > Shag (1989) Discussion > ACCENTS

ACCENTS

posted 19 years ago by carofine
18 replies | jump to latest

I absolutley adore this movie but there is one thing that is soo weird all throughout the movie that I just have to talk about it. I am from Spartanburg and I can honestly say that nobody I have ever met here in the Upstate talks with so much of a southern drawl. I think Luanne's and Carson's drawls are cute, but sometimes some people that don't live here think we actually talk like that. Most people here talk more like Pudge or Melania. The people in Spartanburg that have a southern drawl don't have it as refined as Luanne and Carson. Although, Chip and Buzz pretty much have the low country talk down right. Sorry, I just had to tell somebody about it..

"blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly..all your life. You were only waiting for this moment to arise"

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] djgjd 19 years ago

I am from Alabama and all my life I have been bothered by the fake southern accents. It wasn't untill I was an adult, that I realized that my mother sounds exactly like that only not so exagerated. I think that all movies with a southern accent are a very over exagerated Georgia accent.

[–] smackeymouth 19 years ago

I thought all of their accents were pretty bad, actually... this is one my favorite movies ever, but that has always bothered me! I don't know anybody from any part of SC that talks the way they do!!! Girls or guys!

How can you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?

[–] DCostner1 19 years ago

Yup. It's a pet peeve of mine as well. Hardly any southern accents are right in the movies. However, Kevin Spacey nailed the aristocratic Savannah drawl in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

[–] Queen_of_Mars 19 years ago

I grew up in Greenville.. and when i was little i sounded alot like Luanne and Carson... and did all the way till my freshman year of college when i started intense theatrical training and now I sound more like Pudge when i let my accent slip in...

Some of their nuances and certain syllables (sp) in words bother me but overall it really doesn't get on my nerves

And also... there are people in SC that talk like this ;)

[–] gulia83 18 years ago

I went to look at the College of Charleston, and the lady at admissions had the thickests most refined southern accent I've ever heard. I think the different accents are supposed to show that Carson and Luanne are more from the upper class southern family. I'm not saying everyone else is trash, but you can tell the difference in the way they talk.

[–] joflo11 17 years ago

This is hardly the only movie to over do the southern accent. But at least the girls in this movie didn't live in trailers or in a cabin by a swamp like Hollywood seems to think most southerners do. And by the way, Phobe Cates gets my vote as one of the top 3 WORST southern accents in motion picture history!

[–] achope246 17 years ago

I thought Buzz's accent was pretty bad...

[–] texaskstar 17 years ago

not to get into the debate about if Texas is in the South or not, but "Varsity Blues" has the worst accents in any movie I've ever seen.

Shag is one of my all-time favorite movies.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] a_smile_fell_in_the_gras 17 years ago

North, South...I'm not from the United States, and I think all of the girls sound beautiful...the boys, too! :) I don't mind my voice, but I certainly wouldn't mind sounding like the Shag girls!

[–] pndferpnd 17 years ago

Uh....this movie is set in like the 50s or 60s before peoples accents were saturated by major media. I bet their accents are pretty spot on for the time period.

"True wisdom comes from knowing that you know nothing. That's US, Dude!"

[–] jparker86 17 years ago

Well, I'm from North Carolina and I never used to think that we had particularly deep Southern accents. But if I hear myself on tape or when you see people from this area on t.v., we all sound like we are from Georgia. Of course the accents are exaggerated in the movie. It's hard not to make a Southern accent sound fake if you aren't from the South!

[–] ultrapopy 17 years ago

Vivien Leigh was English and she did a good job as Scarlet O'Hara. Classical trained actors, or those who work with a voice coach can achieve an authentic sounding Southern . . . RP British . . . Cockney . . . ect . . .accent.

[–] Kathywardley 17 years ago

I wonder if people from the south think Vivien Leigh's accent was spot on?
I am a cockney and can always spot a fake cockney accent.
I think it's because the accent where you grow up is so imprinted, you are so used to hearing it that when it is fake, it is obvious.
I thought the accents were great but hey I am a cockney from England so have no idea of the true accent.

[–] Final_Exam_Fella 17 years ago

As a southerner, I know that there is actually a wide range of accent types, even from the same area. I have a very light southern accent whereas some people I know have very thick accents. Neither is better than the other, but people who make movies set in the south ONLY use the thick Hee-Haw accent, and that always bothers me. I rarely hear what I consider a "true" southern accent in movies or on television.

Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.

[–] marvelass 9 years ago

I wonder if people from the south think Vivien Leigh's accent was spot on?

I'm not from the South, but she slipped into her British accent from time to time. But at least she tried. Leslie Howard didn't even try. I hate his performance because 1) he was twenty years too old for the part, and 2) he clearly didn't want to be there. He seemed bored throughout. Turns out he only did it because Selznick begged him and bribed him into accepting the role by giving him the right to co-produce Intermezzo. They should've gotten somebody else. Somebody preferably younger. He brings the whole movie down, IMO, with his boring performance.

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[–] marvelass 9 years ago

Why do people often bitch about their regional accents being portrayed on film? Just because you don't have one doesn't mean nobody else in your state does. I'm from Massachusetts and not everyone sounds "Bostonian" (for example, my family doesn't) but there are plenty of people who do. I've had friends, acquaintances, colleagues who say "Caah" instead of "car" or "cohn" instead of "corn."

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