: Tolkien may very well have been writing the book in response to
: the overseas, specifically American, popularity, but he was
: still creating a "mythology" for England; he was really just
: telling a tale.

This is a common misunderstanding among many fans. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is not a part of the "mythology for England". It's just a sequel to THE HOBBIT, which is also not a part of the mythology.

THE BOOK OF LOST TALES was the mythology for England, and by the time Tolkien wrote LOTR he had long abandoned that concept, although he adapted it into a more general mythology. We could call it a mythology for the Elven languages but it's not a mythology for England. Almost nothing of the original mythological cosmos remains in LOTR (or in THE SILMARILLION).

The requirement of English accents is arbitrary and certainly not in line with what Tolkien himself envisioned. He said the accents were irrelevant to the story. The idiom he selected is intended to convey different regions in Middle-earth, not "this is a mythology for England".

No movie producer should ever feel bound by the fannish requirement to use only English accents. That stifles creativity and originality. In a way, I'm glad Jackson has the courage to use multiple accents. But the way this information was leaked to the online fannish community leads me to believe it's not really an artistic decision but rather a political one, or a marketing decision.

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Parma Endorion: Essays on Middle-earth