The White Council

Accents - MORITURI TE SALUTAMUS

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : There are plenty of movies out there that are powerfully filmed. There are plenty of movies out there that are very nice to look at. But are those they types of movies that become masterpieces? I don't think so.

: So many different things have to come together for a masterpiece to be created. I'm not saying that it's easy.

: But the cinematography and the look and feel of a movie should only be the backdrop to the story, the characters, and the dialogue. From everything I've read, it seems like Jackson really will capture the look and feel of Middle-earth.

: But will he capture the grandeur of The Lord of the Rings? Will he capture the beauty of the story and the beauty of the language? I'm beginning to be a little skeptical. People scoff at accents, thinking that they're minor and not important. But we have to sit through two hours of listening to characters, and accents play a large role, like it or not.

: I have nothing against American accents. But I just don't understand why anyone would want to put them voluntarily into an obviously British book with obviously British dialogue. It will be more of a distraction than some would think.

Who said they'll use American accents? They may not. But if they do it will be (or may be) because the producers have erroneously assumed that American filmgoers need to hear American accents or the film will flop. I recall that when Mad Max was released in the U.S., Mel Gibson's voice was dubbed over. This xenophobic crap is more in the minds of producers than a reality I suspect. I also wish that that Lucy Lawless would use her New Zealand accent rather than an American one. I mean it's not as though most Americans haven't heard her speak or don't know she's from NZ. This belief that American's won't be able to relate to "foreign" accents is complete "BS". It's as bad as using white people to play Charlie Chan when there are so many talented Chinese actors available. Bruce Lee developed a concept for a wandering Shaolin Priest in the Old West, only to see his idea stolen and a white actor playing the part. "Try to snatch the name of this TV show from my hand Weedwhacker" says the blind monk. So if the LOTR is basing its casting decisions on the assumption that American's won't go see it because there aren't any Americans in it, I'm against it.

On the other hand, and please don't think me hypocritical, if the acting is good, and the "grandeur" of the book is maintained AND it makes a lot of money, then there is a better chance that other "quality" films will be made in the Fantasy genre, and that the 2nd and 3rd parts of the LOTR won't go directly to video.

As I've said many many times here, I'd PREFER British accents for the Hobbits and many of the main characters. Certain lines will sound better (to my ears at least and I KNOW to yours). But I can also make an argument for Eowyn and the people of Rohan having a bit of some other accent (I usually imagine a germanic type accent, but that's not actually correct is it?) After all, Westron is a 2nd language for them. The Elves, who taught others to speak and have a love of language and writing would I assume speak British English.

But in the end, the film will not be ruined for me if Elijah Wood speaks with a neutral American accent. Now if he spoke like he was from Tennessee (or the Bronx), I'd have a problem. I love Tennessee accents, but I think it would be inappropriate for the film. And I disagree that with you RSS, that the accents are essential to "capture" the beauty of the language. After all, the film will be distributed to other countries and various languages where it will have to stand on its merits as a story. From what you're saying if the film is dubbed it won't be able to convey the majesty of Middle-Earth as Tolkien wrote it. But the book is in numerous languages and folks in Russia, Finland and other countries seem to love the book as much as we do, and have also gotten the sense of majesty and grandeur that you speak of. How can this be if Britsh English is so important to revealing the grandeur of the work? And let's not get into the debate of "it's better to read the book in the original language." Yes it is. Reading Homer in Greek, or Tacitus in Latin or the Bible in Chaldee or Aramaic would be better (so I'm told). But it's not a reasonable proposition. The whole world isn't going to go and learn English for this film.

So basically I agree wholeheartedly with you, except I disagree with you.