...although I'm not from the south so I might be wrong. Anyone from the south, or Tenn. see it--HEAR it? The accents are overstressed and don't sound very close to true southern ones. This is not to say it isn't hard to do, I've had to do it a couple of times, acting, and believe me it isn't easy.
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
I'm from the south (south Louisiana), and I agree. The accents were horrible. The fact that they're not from the south is not an excuse. They're actors. That's what they do for a living. Doing various accents is part of what they do for a living. If they can't do a southern accent, they shouldn't be playing the part of southerners.
Liz Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof did a decent southern accent, and she was from nowhere even near the south. Angela Lansbury...a great southern accent.
I've seen movies where the actor is supposed to have a certain accent, but the actor doesn't even pretend to do the accent, since it wouldn't have been good. A good actor can get away with that.
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You know, I find it funny that you so called "southerners" are claiming to be experts on accents. It truly sounds to me like you haven't traveled around beyond your own communities, because if you had, you might notice that, depending on where in the south you are, accents can and do change. (Actually, that's pretty much everywhere on the planet.) That is called dialect. I'm southern. I grew up in NC but have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in many different places. Heck, if I drive 20 min. out of town here, I hear a completely different sounding accent. I lived in Tennessee for a number of years, and the way people sound there is different.
From what I can tell by this movie, the actors sound like they were trying to portray the southern drawl like you hear down in Charleston. Probably because it sounds better and is more recognizable to audiences. I think they do ok. I don't think they're wonderful by any means, but I know for a fact how incredibly hard it is for an actor to learn to speak coherently in a different accent.
Give them a break, seriously.
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No, not really. I actually didn't think it was a great film overall. It was ok, but rather slow. I just thought that the comments about accents were rather unfair, as I have actually heard people speak like that in certain parts of the south, and accents and how they change from place to to place fascinate me. I don't see how being objective has anything to do with the conversation anyway, as we aren't discussing the actual film at all, merely the way the actors speak, and I am pointing out that people do, in fact, speak that way, in certain parts of the south, and that the actors do a passable job in my opinion.
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I don't think it matters who started this thread, I was pointing out stuff in general, not just to you. If you don't like the accents used, that's your opinion and that's fine. I was merely pointing out that when you said no one in the south speaks like that, you were completely wrong.
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What has that to do with anything? The actors were understandable. That wasn't the issue.
Also, if you are sick of arguing the subject, why don't you just give it up? Because you just continue to sound worse and worse.
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redvelvet-1, I am also from the south, VERY south Louisiana, and I completely agree with you. There are so many different dialects just within 2 hours in any direction of my hometown that we can tell where someone lives as soon as they start speaking. So I didn't have a problem with the actors' accents at all. I think people have a notion that all Southerners sound like Scarlet O'Hara, which is ridiculous.
I thought this was a very good movie, that all the actors did a fine job, and Mr. Williams would be proud of it.
"What's that? Bag o' tricks?" Glory
"No. Bag o' knives." Willow
I've traveled to various areas of south Louisiana. I've heard it all. I spent time in Tennessee. I've known people from Mississippi and Georgia. Bill Clinton is from Arkansas. I am from a cajun family. And of course, everyone hears accents nowadays on tv, through newscasts of events, tragedies, hurricanes, tornadoes, politicians from the various states. Also, there are GOOD imitation accents in movies, as well as accents in plays/movies by people who really have those accents. There are different dialects, for sure.
These were bad accents in this movie, by yanks who don't have an affinity for accents. They were overacting the accents. And they were inconsistent, with the accents coming and going, or changing. Nowhere in the world does anyone speak with those accents, except in this movie. Even the actors in the movie don't always speak that way, depending on the scene.
I really don't think it's a matter of opinion. It's an objective thing. I wasn't saying the accents weren't the right dialect.
Dennis Qaid is another bad accent. In The Big Easy he tried to do an accent you'd find in New Orleans. It was awkward, at best. I forget if he was trying to do a real N.O. accent, or a cajun one. It's been a while since I've seen that movie. I just remember the accent being bad.
Everything the above poster said.
Also they are trying to recreate the old Southern dialect, the classy debutante accent not the Nascar watching, Mountain Dew drinking crowd.
I'm from NC and that accent is something you hear occasionally in areas like Savannah and Charleston again the same areas that were considered classy.
They weren't perfect but they were better than a lot of the ones I've seen in movies over the years.
Watch Varsity Blues and then watch this movie and then come talk to me about *beep* southern accents.
I was about to say the same thing. Not only are they trying to do a southern accent, but a period southern accent.
Being from Gerogia, i agree that southern accents are diverse. Dialects change with each region. I didn't have an issue with their accents at all.
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I'll have a virgin cuba libre
RedPelvic? *eyeroll* I'm not a plant or a troll. I can't understand why people would think such stupid things simply because I disagree with them. I don't think the movie was awesome. I just don't think it sucked as much as a lot of other people say it did. I also don't think the accents were that awful. I have repeatedly stated that I am a southerner and have even used examples that people's dialects change depending on the community in which they live. Even twenty min. away, people sound differently than we do where I live. Southern accents are especially diverse and I actually have heard people speak the same way that the actors in the movie had. Saying their accents were horrible and not realistic is just plain ignorant. You may not have liked the way they sounded, but they were authentic as a southern dialect. The only thing I am unsure about is if they were authentic for that particular area of the south, as I have not been to that part of the south.
shareYes there are a variety of southern accents, there are also a variety of NY accents.
Regardless some of the accents were awful in this. In fact BDH goes from trying to sound southern into a Boston accent in some scenes...LOL.
As another poster said many actors have done great jobs with accents that certainly weren't their own.
Look at Vivien Leigh in GWTW.
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I'm a Southerner and hearing Southern accents shouldn't be jarring. We're used to them. When you hear it and go, [ack! that is definitely a fake accent], you know it's not good.
Bryce could've been much better.
Real LOSERS spell 'loser' looser!