Do they sound Aussie to you? - The Cars That Ate Paris (1976) Discussion

[–] rabates 16 years ago

As an Australian, who detests the occa accent, I suspect there was a time when local film makers toned down the Australian accent in favour of something more nuetral and perhaps more appealing to an international audience. These days, it seems many Australian "celebrities" go out of their way to talk like Paul Hogan or Steve Irwin. The fact is that some of us don't speak like that at all, although I think over the last 20 years or so, people here seem to be trying harder to speak with a typical occa accent, as though it was a good thing. Cultural cringe is alive and well thanks very much.

reply

[–] floyd_dylan 15 years ago

There's us Brits thinking that we're the only ones who cringe at our regional accents.

reply

[–] odo5435 15 years ago

G'day @rabates. You're right, there was a time when we Aussies tried to tone down our accent on film as if it were something to be ashamed of, as did many early Hollywood talkie films (reportedly because it made their actors appear more sophisticated). Thankfully this stupidity is over and we all can now embrace our national and personal individualities.

What is difficult to understand is your intense dislike of our ocker accent. I, for one, embrace anything that maintains any nations uniqueness and fends off the horror of homogeneity in an ever increasingly "globalised" world. IMHO we need more Paul Hogans and Steve Irwins.

Trying to hide something wont make it go away.

That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets.

reply

[–] WarpedRecord 15 years ago

They certainly sound more British than Australian to me, but as other posters have said, there seems to be a recent trend to make a film seem more "authentic" with the Aussie accent, matey. In the '70s you had Australian films that looked and sounded British, and British films that looked and sounded Australian.

reply

[–] somemoviesilike 15 years ago

I'm not an expert on this but I read something about another of Weir's films, Gallipolli - there was criticism of the portrayal of some of the English commanders, but they weren't English at all, they were Australians with a subdued accent that was common of the time apparently. I know this is 30 yrs later but I wouldn't be surprised of the accent has just plain got stronger over that time. That's certainly the case with some places in Britain, particularly Liverpool.

reply

[–] loosersic 15 years ago

All these are true and valid reasons why many films in the mid 20th Century from Australia sound English.
You need to look at the cultural shift in Australia over the past hundred years or so since we separated from GB, as well as the acting lessons these actors would have had in their training.
The 1960s also saw a rise in popularity of 'amateur dramatic societies' brought over from the UK with the immigrants. Many of the productions were 'frightfully' British.
I have seen many news clips from the 1930s - 1950s that interview the average person in the street and the accents were extremely Australian.
At the same time you had a separate class of society that tried to distance themselves from the Australian Accent as it was a sign of culture to speak with a more British accent. Post-Menzies up into the Fraser years this would have been the same - esp. 1974 when this movie was made. Even in Crocodile Dundee, John Meillon (Walter) sounds English (or at least annunciates correctly).

reply

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Kruleworld 14 years ago

The australian accent has changed a lot since this movie was made in 1974. when watching old 50's australian film it's even more noticable how much it has changed. we're much less english and much less sophisticated in our speech.

reply

[–] Moester 13 years ago

The only one that had a standout English accent was Chris Haywood.
The rest of them were Australian enough.

reply

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

They are definitely Australian accents, but seemingly spoken in a manner that doesn't highlight the "Strine". John Meillon for instance, uses almost a formal, theatrical tone.🐭

reply