视听Lecture CA-The Importance of Accent.doc

The Importance of Accent One important aspect of performance is accent. In films, accent is never neutral; it is value-laden and highly significant. Accent is a powerful weapon for the director. Since accents are associated with certain racial, national, ethnic or regional groups, they can be used as a shortcut for expressing character. The process works as follows: Character’s accent Implies Racial/national/ethnic/regional groups Implies Certain stereotyped characteristics Implies Character possesses those characteristics In practice, how are the accents of English used by film makers? Consider the following examples: The Star Wars Trilogy The virtuous rebels (Luke, Hans Solo, Princess Leia) speak with white-American accents, the leaders and generals of the evil Empire speak with English accents. Yoda, the small Jedi master, speaks with a Japanese accent and unusual “Chinglish” grammar. The evil merchants of the Trade Federation speak with Japanese accents. Jar Jar Binks speaks with an African-American accent. The Lion King Simba (the hero), his father Mufasa, and girlfriend Nala all speak with white-American accents. Scar, the evil dictator-King, speaks with an English accent, as does Zazu, the pompous and wordy royal official. Some of Scar’s minions speak with “white trash” accents and others with African-American accents. A Beautiful Mind The protagonist Nash, a genius, speaks with a white-American accent. He gradually loses his mind, and (in the process) creates a seemingly friendly alter ego who gradually starts threatening him. This alter ego speaks with an English accent. The stereotypes could be simplified as follows: White American = heroic, honest, brave, intelligent African-American = amiable but easily led and easily deceived English = rigid, evil, imperial, authoritative, dictatorial, sinister, deceitful, two-faced, pompous, divine, fairylike Japanese = either a source of ancient wisdom or a modern economic threat The problem with this met