MovieChat Forums > Lipstick Jungle (2008) Discussion > Awful + insulting

Awful + insulting

posted 16 years ago by glasgow1975
12 replies | jump to latest

Can I just ask the US viewers about the 'Edinboro' JK Rowling trip?
Is that an accurate depiction of what you think it's like here?
All castles & kilts (& irish accents?)
I like the show but watching that me so angry.

First off, why did the 2 speaking parts have awful Irish accents?
Second, kilts are not everyday wear
Third, no tour of any historic castle anywhere in Scotland would have Elizabeth I of ENGLAND as a featured discussion! The current Queen is actually Elizabeth I of Scotland
Fourth, and most laughable, Kirby's lovely gift to Nico, was a blownup picture postcard of Glamis Castle, Forfar - 100s of miles away from Edinburgh!

5 minutes on Google could have paid dividends

[–] WildChild128 16 years ago

Well, you know how Americans are. We're lucky they even distinguished the difference between Scottish and English...sort of.

[–] guyjincj 16 years ago

I hear you. I'm from Latin America and the way they portray different countries on movies and on tv is just appalling. They think we all wear sombreros and eat tacos..pretty much they think we are all mexicans. I truly believe that the people in charge of these productions have never been outside the US and just go by stereotypes.

[–] stay_beautiful 16 years ago

Same deal for Canada. Americans think we all live in igloos, eat moose meat, and our only sport is hockey.

Once, after telling an American I was Canadian, I got a blank look, a slow nod, and an, "Oh... I never really think about people actually LIVING in Canada." (We had this conversation IN Canada.)

So I feel your pain.

[–] awesome606 16 years ago

that American must have been from the deep South.

[–] stay_beautiful 16 years ago

She was from Ohio, actually. =o)

To be fair, I've met smart Americans and ignorant Americans from all parts of the country. It just seems like in the media, Canada gets a bad rap.

[–] greekgirl64 15 years ago

Well, all I can say is it's a good thing that shows produced in other countries never stereotype or misrepresent America or Americans.

"Don't get hurt fallin' off that dang ol' high horse, man." ~ Boomhauer

[–] shanehaynes 15 years ago

Imagine the pain felt by African Americans.

[–] ashurienagozal 15 years ago

Um, try watching television outside of America. Generally speaking, they belittle Americans at every chance they get. I've seen it 100 times over.

[–] acquiesce03 15 years ago

If it makes you feel any better, many American shows and movies stereotype regions IN the United States (Such as the "deep south" *cough cough*). Some of them can't get it right here, let alone in another country.

"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw." --Jack Handey

[–] mecassid 15 years ago

The main problem is that television and movies are made for the masses, most of whom are ignorant.

Smart television shows that portray other countries correctly are the same types of shows that have multi-dimensional characters, intricate plot lines, and subtlties that only mature viewers pick up on get canceled because the masses can't understand or follow them.

Shows with stereotypes, flat characters, stereotypes, and hackneyed plots stay on TV because they are familiar and safe.

However, this show also seems to have sloppy writers and lazy reearchers, and will probably be canceled because of it, so never fear, your honor shall be avenged.

[–] Bruce-74 15 years ago

Similarly, California is always portrayed as a liberal state. While that's for the most part true of the San Francisco and Los Angeles*, the rest of the state is fairly to very conservative...the Central Valley especially.

(*Even Los Angeles county voted to pass that shameful Prop 8)

[–] blubblubblub 15 years ago

Truthfully, I don't really understand why you would be so angry about that. It's a TV show with a 16-46 female demographic or something like that, not a documentary about Edinburgh. The writers of the show are obviously going to have more in mind than how to correctly portray the place. For goodness sakes- Edinburgh was in it for what? Ten minutes of the show?

No one thinks that people wear kilts every day, no one thinks they speak in those obviously fake accents,and to everyone else that was watching, it was a picture of a castle that we saw a glint of for a few seconds- most of us were too busy thinking it was cute of Kirby to have done that for Nico to process and challenge the accuracy of the subject.

You should pay more attention to the plot and the characters instead of silly details that the writers couldn't have had the time or effort to have taken more seriously. Why would the crew have spent more than a few seconds looking for a picture that was going to be on screen for only a few seconds?

It's not like they tried deliberately to make Scotland look bad. And keep in mind that there are a lot of groups and countries around the world who are being more seriously misrepresented in American TV- and they've got real things to be angry about, not just stupid accents and manskirts.

Give the show a break.