12 November 2020 - Bad Irish accents in movie trailer reignite discussion on accentism
Wild Mountain Thyme trailer blamed for Irish accent emergency
Rory Carroll (The Guardian, 11/11/2020)
A trailer is all that Ireland has seen of Hollywood’s latest romantic comedy, but that has been enough to declare an Irish accent emergency.
Wild Mountain Thyme stars Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan as star-crossed lovers – and farmers – on an emerald isle posing as Ireland.
Dornan’s characters talks to a donkey and trips into a lake while Blunt, her hair turned auburn, stomps around fields.
Wild Mountain Thyme: Is an Irish accent the hardest to master?
Shane Harrison (BBC News, 11/11/2020)
The trailer for the film Wild Mountain Thyme, starring Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt, has prompted howls of derision for its Hollywood "Oirish" accents and clichéd paddy whackery.
The film, also starring Christopher Walken and Jon Hamm, is a romantic comedy set in rural Ireland. It almost inevitably has a subplot about the inheritance of a farm.
Some critics say the actors rival Tom Cruise in Far And Away for worst Irish accent ever in a Hollywood film.
Accentism is alive and well – and it doesn’t only affect the north of England
Monika Schmid, Amanda Cole, Ella Jeffries (The Conversation, 26/10/2020)
“It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him,” George Bernard Shaw wrote in the preface to Pygmalion in 1913. Recent headlines suggest that accent prejudice (or “accentism”) is no relic of the past but continues to blight the university experience of many students. Even at northern universities, students from the north of England face commentary and ridicule for their accents.
There is a hierarchy of accents in Britain which has changed little over the years. The accents of Britain’s highest classes are seen as neutral, “accentless” and correct, while others are seen as divergent or inferior and are often stigmatised. As such, those who have “non-standard” accents are seen as legitimate and admissible targets for comment and judgement. They are also saddled with an apparent responsibility to change how they sound.
Accent bias and expert ways to combat it
Maria Coole (Marie Claire UK, 10/11/2020)
Accent bias is very much alive and kicking. Research by academics from the University of Manchester found last year that accent bias against broad regional accents can be a barrier to social mobility. Could the way you talk be costing you your career?
The issue accent bias, it seems, is less about regional accents and more about any deemed to be ‘broad’ – as opposed to ‘general’ or ‘neutral’ varieties of the same accent. Some people are even turning to elocution experts to help soften their accents.