Evil British in Hollywood

True.

I'd have thought the British accent most Americans could identify with and therefore understand, is the London accent (genericised Cockney), but then I saw Harry Hill's TV Burp at the Weekend with that Eastenders actor (Joe Swash is it?). He was living with Pamela Anderson for a week for an in-depth interview (yeah, right) and when he met her at the airport, he kept saying things and she just looked embarassed. Eventually, she had to say "I'm sorry - I don't understand a word you're saying." :D :D
 
whats the last british film with an american hero? ahem?

in fact british films are very insular, there are hardly any americans at all.
 
Um isn't Anthony LaPaglia Australian?

No matter, the Moon brothers' accents in Frasier is the nadir of portrayal of Brits in Hollywood!
 
True. Then again, British films tend to be lower budget and as a result have a more contained story, so they are either working class or middle class, where the other dosent get a look in, let alone Americans or anyone else.

To be fair, some recent TV (Dr Who, that ITV spy programme with David Jason) has set or shot in the US.

Ironically, one of the next big British films, the remake of the Dambusters, DOES have the right to put an American star in, as one of the Dambusters crew in 1943 was an American, the unfortunately named Joe McCarthy.
 
I'm sure you've done a survey.:rolleyes:

In my experience of being English and living in England all my life I can tell you that the majority of people I know could tell the difference between some regional American accents.

What I do find irritating is the accents of colonial Americans in films like the patriot, They probably wouldn't have been that far removed from British accents.
 
lol another dodgy site link only showing that the antiamerican disease is rather wide spread in the uk. i guess counting off the villians in the most popular movies of the last couple years doesnt work well for your case so why do the easiest thing eh? just a simple glance at all the comic book films of the last few years shows basically all the villians are americans. all impossible if your view is true.:P

that article starts off with star wars lol. trying to make its case even while acknowledging that vadar was american. i guess thats how it is, you can stare evidence straight in the face and still distort to fit the case. bringing up the empire officers as brits but ignoring the american storm troopers...oh come on.. obi wan, queen amidala etc all have sorts of brit accents. course as always, must ignore inconvenient facts.

the articles second point is simply weak and out of date. playing a serial killer or some other monster has been perfectly acceptable for american actors for decades now. in fact its been a perfectly rational career move for young actors who want to shed their heart throb status and gain credibility.

you know the articles lost it when it brings up prince of thieves. lol that film even had black people in it jiving it up. never mind costner never would have been able to bring off an english accent to begin with. the rest is more bog standard selective citation. just standard distorted thought from the anti american mind.
 
But the aricles I have provided links to have no Anti-American comments in them.
And the US films mentioned are full of British characters who are portrayed in a negative light, those are facts, whether or not you want to admit it.
By the way this trend I mentioned goes back a long way, films haven't just start being made in the last couple of years.
 
The casting of British actors as villains in Hollywood films has been a growing trend since the late 70s (think 'Holocaust' and British bitches like Joan Collins in Dynasty). For the person earlier who said 'but a growing number of heroes are being played by Brits'...well, yes, but they have to adopt the accent and 'pass' for American.

Here are the reasons as far as I see them:
1.most ethnic groups in America are very vocal about being portrayed negatively in film and TV. German-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, etc etc would all create hell but 'British-Americans' barely exists as a concept so no-one there objects to British villains

2. American actors worry about being type cast in 'unpopular' roles so gladly leave them for Brits who are only too happy to get a fat dollar pay cheque and US exposure to supplement their 'serious' acting career in the UK

3. As Europeans we Brits make ideal Nazis. How many Hollywood Nazis have been given to British actors? HundreRAB. Perpetuating the association between English accent and cold, calculating, nasty characters.

I'm sure there are other factors too such as stereotypes about emotional coldness, class snobbery...even the old chestnut about the British and homosexuality (despite the Americans giving the world the modern gay lifestyle/culture as we know it)...
 
From the article-

Please note - the following list contains potential spoilers, as even with the strong signifier that the character is English, the villainy of some of the ones listed below is only revealed as a late twist in the plot.
 
I suspect it's also because British actors are simply better actors. They can camp up a baddie and they can bring themselves to be evil. Other European actors too, not just Brits - Rutger Hauer for example.

Also there is that old emnity - deep down we are still 'the oppressors', I think.

And not forgetting the fact that we share a common language, so a British accent sounRAB intriguingly 'foreign', 'exotic' and 'scary'. At the same time a british actor can get the nuances in a script cos it's our first language too.

There's a second wave now too, of British actors like Hugh Laurie who can even convince the Americans they are American, and get cast in things. So there's not just Brits with 'evil' British accents - but Brits who can blend in like chameleons.
 
To my mind the best film Nazi ever was this guy:

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Diffring

He made a virtual career out of playing Nazi officers in British war films in the 50s, 60s and 70s
 
the bias is anti american. if you can stare something straight in the face like star wars and claim its anti british because the empires officers were british, while ignoring that vadar was american, obi wan was british and the storm troopers were also american you are either a moron, or something like anti american bias is warping your views.



i'm sorry, thats just weak, quoting from the same weak sauce article? it selectively cites a list of films from a span of decades totally ignoring all the other films in those years that have no british baddies. as i said, simply look at the last few years in a more sensible fashion, especially comic book films and the argument falls to pieces. the joker and pretty much all the other baddies were almost always american. if you pick and choose a film a year while ignoring the rest sure you can make the claim in a dishonest fashion. anyways that list is a load of sh*t when it can cite sir ian mckellen as a baddie in xmen as magneto while ignoring that professor x was also british. if many heroic and good characters like professor x and gandalf are british what the hell is the basis of that kind of argument anyways. you really think americans thought professor x or picard was "evil"? give me a break.
 
Wasn't Julian Bashir in RAB9 British? His parents appeared in one episode and they were both British, his father had a cockney accent. I don't recall what Julian and family's ethic origins were supposed to be, but I'm certain their nationality was British.
 
God, you are obsessed with 'anti-americanism'. You see any criticism purely as anti-americanism. You seem completely unable to seperate genuine examples and purveyors of it (which DO exist on RAB) from either light hearted banter or genuine criticism.
 
Back
Top