Re: SJA Set Photos (one spoiler)

I was hanging out with the cool kids in rec.arts.drwho when
Agamemnon got out a spraycan and scrawled the following:
"The Face of Po" <gkennington@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:h0c0u9$6uu$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was hanging out with the cool kids in rec.arts.drwho when
Agamemnon got out a spraycan and scrawled the following:
"The Face of Po" <gkennington@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message
news:h0bqga$g0l$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was hanging out with the cool kids in rec.arts.drwho when
Agamemnon got out a spraycan and scrawled the following:
"Monsieur Tabernac" <mtabernac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9vmi25pb6u9rrapt6gfvm5313bpbos899k@xxxxxxxxxx
http://io9.com/photogallery/sarahjanedate/1008601491

One spoiler appears to be the actor who is playing Sarah Jane's love
interest... that actor is:
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
.
<SPOILERS>
.
.
.
Nigel Havers


Well, just as long as he's not playing someone with a Jewish name without
doing the appropriate Jewish accent, he should be ok.

I have a Welsh name. Do you think it's unrealistic that I don't have a
Welsh accent?

Are you a character in a TV drama? No, I didn't think so. If someone is
given a Welsh or Scottish or Jewish name in a play or drama, then they are
expected to conform to that ethnicity, otherwise why bother giving it to
them. People's ethnicities need to be respected.

It's a hell of a leap from respecting ethnicity to applying stereotypes
based on people's names. I was quite pleased that the Torchwood

If you don't intend to use the appropriate stereotype then why bother giving
them a foreign name.

There's a difference between stereotype and culturally appropriate
representation.

regulars included a character with a name of (probably) Welsh origin but
*not* a Welsh accent - though this might be more forgiveable in the
context of him being an exception from the rest of the characters that
*do* have Welsh accents.

If you mean Ianto, he sounded Welsh to me.

I mean Owen.

Gone are the times when
black people and Asians were played by minstrels who put boot polish on
their faces. Look at the Italian guy in Ashes to Ashes for an example of how
its should be done. If he were played by an English actor doing an English
accent, it would be an insult to Italians. Look at the Polish builders in
Ashes to Ashes as well. It would have been insulting to Polish people if
they were played by English actors doing upper class English accents.

I agree that it's ludicrous to cast a white actor blacked up in the role

They've moved on from that by casting black actors in parts written for a
white person and behaving like a white person and socialising only with
white people and listening to white music like brit-pop, which is almost as
bad. It's insulting tokenism instead of actually sitting down and
deliberately writing a part for a black person or an Asian or some other
ethnicity.

of a POC... but above you appear to be proposing that if an RP-English
speaking actor plays a Jewish character they should put on an accent.
Is that not a subtler version of the same thing?

Not necessarily an accent.

That was what you suggested above.

They should act Jewish and talk the way Jews
talk, on the subjects they always talk about and use Jewish slang, otherwise
why bother making them Jewish. Jewish people watching will want them to
sound Jewish not English upper class.

If the character is Jewish, and not simply someone with a surname common
among Jews, then you're right that they should be *written* in a way
respectful to their ethnicity. Just applying stereotypes based on
accents or slang, or perhaps a costume touch such as a skullcap, isn't
really getting there.

It was bad enough in Eastenders when the Italian family always spoke English
to each other instead of English.

(Assuming you meant to type "Italian" instead of that second
"English"...)

That's more about producing a mainstream soap than insulting tokenism.
Plenty of people have soaps on in the background, without paying
attention to the screen the whole time, so including regular scenes with
subtitles would be offputting.

It was stupid when they did it with the Russians in that "Lock,
Stock..." series.

For the record, I get mildly pissed off at actors putting on a northern
accent if it's unconvincing, but I wouldn't be at all bothered at a
character written as being from present-day Yorkshire being played with
an RP accent. But I am not claiming to speak for everyone from
Yorkshire. And I know I'm in a fairly privileged position in all of
this, so using a northern accent as an example is to an extent clutching
at straws. That don't oppress me much ;-)

They should get someone from Yorkshire to play the part.

Which part? For the accurate northern accent, it'd be helpful, but for
the character who (quite realistically) happens to be from Yorkshire
without a distinct accent...?

I'd prefer to see a character with a BBC-sanitised Yorkshire accent to
another bloody flat-cap-wearing, ferret-down-the-trousers stereotype.

--
Happiness will prevail
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: This week on Dancing with the Stars Re: The Business Memoir - the ``whom question
    ... This was about an actor speaking with the express purpose of having ... An actor attempting to imitate an accent is absolutely, ... One character speaks with a Manchester ... Hugh Laurie's General American is impeccable in *House*, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: SJA Set Photos (one spoiler)
    ... One spoiler appears to be the actor who is playing Sarah Jane's love ... <SPOILERS> ... just as long as he's not playing someone with a Jewish name without ... doing the appropriate Jewish accent, ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: SJA Set Photos (one spoiler)
    ... One spoiler appears to be the actor who is playing Sarah Jane's love ... just as long as he's not playing someone with a Jewish name without ... doing the appropriate Jewish accent, ... If he were played by an English actor doing an English ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: SJA Set Photos (one spoiler)
    ... One spoiler appears to be the actor who is playing Sarah Jane's love ... <SPOILERS> ... just as long as he's not playing someone with a Jewish name ... doing the appropriate Jewish accent, ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: SJA Set Photos (one spoiler)
    ... One spoiler appears to be the actor who is playing Sarah Jane's love ... <SPOILERS> ... just as long as he's not playing someone with a Jewish name without ... doing the appropriate Jewish accent, ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
Loading