Adults watching movies tend to judge the overall worth any given character based on his or her words and actions. This is why the movie industry places great value in talented and proven writers. If I keep saying it, it will come true.
Kids, on the other hand, come to their conclusions a little bit sideways. Movie executives, aware of this, make sure that in any given animated feature, their target audience can know very quickly whether a character is good or bad, trustworthy or sneaky. The way they do this is, in large part, how a character looks and sounds.
Here we'll be focusing on, you guessed it, the "sounds," specifically the accents given to certain types of characters. While this may seem arbitrary to you, keep in mind that nothing comes about by chance in movies, especially kids' movies.
These accents directly correlate to how the fat cat movie execs want you to think of these characters. Producers and directors know how kids react to certain accents and what it can do for their movie, thus playing upon racial and societal stereotypes and widening the gap between cultures.
STEP 1- IDENTIFICATION
We'll be exploring the accents of 15 movies over several decades (though most in the last 20 years) and 3 1/2 production companies (including Pixar, though the majority are out of Disney studios). I've split these movies into 3 categories:
1. Movies with accents all from all over the place
2. Movies with accents for all but the main characters
3. Outliers
If you pay attention, you'll begin to see some definite trends across the board.
A quick note- when I refer to an "American" accent, I'm speaking about a plain old midwesterner, knowing full well that we speak plenty of ways here in Freedom Land
1. Accents all over the place
This category features five movies whose casts include many different accents, some of which are pertinent to the plot and setting and some of which are not.
Anastasia
Setting- Russia/France
American accent-
Anastasia and Dimitri
French-
Sophie
Russian- Everyone else
Greek?-
Bartok
Lion King
Africa
American-
All good lions, plus Timon, Pumbaa and Shenzi
British-
Scar and Zazu
African- Rafiki
Latino-
Banzai
A film, if you took Race and the Media at NAU, about the subjugation of racial minorities
Beauty and the Beast
France
American- All the humans, plus Beast and Chip
French-
Lumiere and the featherduster
British-
Cogsworth and Ms. Potts
The AristoCats
England
American- Kittens, O’Malley, detective dogs Napoleon and LaFayette and drunk Uncle Waldo
Hungarian- Duchess
British- Everyone else
Rise of the Guardians
Burgess, Pennsylvania
Russian- North (Santa)
British- Pitch (Bad guy)
Australian- Bunny
American- Everyone else
2. Accents to all but the main characters
This category includes movies who generally give accents to all characters except the leads
How to Train Your Dragon
Setting- Imaginary Scandinavia
American- All the kids
Scottish- All the adults
Pocahontas
America
American
with Native accent- All Native Americans except Pocahontas
British- All sailors except John Smith
American-
John Smith and Pocahontas
Really, Disney, John Smith who just got off a British ship with British sailors from Britain?!
101 Dalmatians
England
British- All humans and adult dogs
American- All puppies
Ratatouille
France
American- Linguini, Remy and the rats
British-
Anton Ego
French- Everyone
else
Peter Pan
England
American- Peter Pan
British- Everyone Else
Treasure Planet
England
American- Jim, his mom and Jar-jar Binks. I mean B.E.N.
British- Everyone else
3. Outliers
This is a category for films whose characters generally speak plain American, with some odd exceptions
Lilo & Stitch
Setting- Hawaii
British- Grand
Councilwoman (in-charge alien lady)
Russian- Jumba (Stitch's creator)
American (with Hawaiian accents where appropriate)- All humans and some aliens
Nightmare Before Christmas
Christmastown
Southern-
Oogie Boogie
American-
Everyone else
Shrek
Duloc
Scottish- Shrek
American- Everyone else
The Little Mermaid
Portland
Jamaican- Sebastian
American- Everyone else
STEP 2- CLASSIFICATION
Now that we've laid out the different accents in all these movies, it's time to group up characters with the same accents. Characters whose accents match the setting of the movie will, generally, be omitted because their accent choice is less about characterization and more about atmosphere. So, let's see whose accents do not match their setting.
Expat Americans:
These are all characters whose American accents don't agree with the setting
What do you notice?
If you're noticing that most of these characters are the leads in their respective films, then you're thinking along the same vein as I am. With, arguably, the only exception being 101 Dalmatians, every single one of the movies listed above features main characters and children with American accents. The only conclusion that I can draw is that producers want so desperately for kids to connect to the title characters that they white-wash world culture and disallow children to be exposed to important faces that are different from their own. I mean, for crying out loud, the whole point of Pocahontas is to accept people who are different than you which is not exactly hard if they miraculously speak perfect midwestern English.
Immigrating English
Here are the British characters whose accents are somewhat out of place
What have we here? Looks like 2 1/2 bad guys, three sour-pusses and only one genuinely caring face. And let's be honest, Ms. Potts would have been American to remind you of your mom if Angela Lansbury weren't the bomb. I will say this- cast a misplaced Brit in your movie and he or she will sound intelligent and well-mannered, but also stuffy and cunning.
Freelancing French
I know, these three technically exist in their country of origin, but the point is still valid
That's right, your overly romantic kissy smoochy characters- French. Or Gomez Addams. Either way, this is how I thought all French people were until Ratatouille.
And now I know they're all overly romantic people who are also excellent cooks.
Roving Russians
Ok, North is on the fence and Vlad is downright legitimate, but there is still a trend.
They're big. They're foreign-sounding. They're Russian.
Scots
Which reminds me, how weird would HTTYD have been with Scandinavian accents?
Scots- also big, but with a big heart and apparently often found with their mouths hanging open.
STEP 3- CONCLUSION
I'm not going to say that this practice of characterizing via accents is inherently bad. Anyone who's traveled to another country can tell you that the difference is not just in language, but in behavior and culture. In the words of Strongbad,
Wouldn't you buy a shirt with this on it?
I do take issue, however, with two practices, both of which are present if not epidemic in Hollywood:
1. Playing upon racial and cultural stereotypes. You can think of examples.
2. Shielding children from being exposed to new cultures in an authentic fashion.
Both of these points really come back to the same thing- kids need to come to understand and love people of all kinds. Movies can either provide a help or a hindrance to that end. They hinder when they show cultures only at their silliest or classify someone as foreign because of the way they talk. They help when they present a wide array of characters all from the same background, so that kids can see that both good and evil exist in all cultures.
Here are a few movies I feel do pretty great with their accents:
I'm sure I forgot some great ones, let me know in the comments below!
