Isn't it odd no one in the US minds when an English character is portrayed negatively in movie after movie. It seems to be different case if a character is portrayed by an ethnic minority or even a white actor playing a homosexual.
I'm a Brit - and one that's forgotten to have a surname ending in a consonant - like Raymond Calitri.
I don't know, i've seen a lot of movies where the "Brit" is usually the more levelheaded/mature character than the American character. I don't watch many foreign films but man i can only imagine the kind of characters Americans are portrayed as o_O. In any case if there is some kind of reason behind it; it could be because Brits and Americans are probably(just guessing) less likely to cry descrimination for being the "bad guys".
shareBritish films generally don't have Americans in them. And if they do, no doubt a lot of the money to fund it has come from America!
shareBritish films generally don't have Americans in them. And if they do, no doubt a lot of the money to fund it has come from America!
You bastards stole Spider-Man, Batman AND Superman. SUPERMAN! We saved your butts in World War Z, James Bond is the least you could give us...but we'll also accept Doctor Who.
shareSo you're gonna completely ignore the other British hero type character and only harp on the negative one? You're almost as bad as the "THATS RACIST" clowns on every board. Looking for crap when it's not there....
shareYour being spoiled. You're not taking stock of just how many positive characters are played by British actors and actresses. Not to mention how many British are now playing Americans in big budget Hollywood movies that could be played by American actors/actresses. One could almost say that the Hollywood movie industry has had a "British Invasion" much like the sixties American music scene.
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Sphinx is from the UK & he's a good guy
shareOf course you don't know that until the last ten minutes.
shareJust because he's a monster in fight scenes and carried a knife which he threatened Mirror Man didn't mean he wasn't a good guy. He was just a guy who could handle himself and defended his friends when they were in a pinch. That's why he came to help Memphis from Johnny B. after Memphis called him.
shareYou're not taking stock of just how many positive characters are played by British actors and actresses. Not to mention how many British are now playing Americans in big budget Hollywood movies that could be played by American actors/actresses.
"Are you referred to American characters being played by British actors or British characters being played by British actors?I think the OP was referring to the number of Hollywood films, historical dramas aside, where the villain is British, and in particular, English.There are plenty of Hollywood films where they'll get a British actor to play a German or Russian but more often than not, English."--Helvetica Font
American actors being played by British actors and sometimes actresses.
BTW, they are quite good because I often get fooled and am astonished when I look up their bios on IMDb and see they were born and raised in the UK.
But then again, I've seen British shows like Tales of the Unexpected and the actors do a horrible job of what passes for an American accent.
But then again, I have yet to see an American-born actor or actress speak with a British accent convincingly and I am American. I'd wager the accent must sound horrendous to a British audience's ear.
As for English characters being the heavy, well...
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Everybody always refers to Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent as Burt in Mary Poppins.
Aside from that there's Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven and many more.
The OP wasn't talking about British or Irish actors playing American characters, they were talking about the fact that the villains are usually British, but more specifically, English. So even if it's a Scottish or Welsh actor they'll still play it as English.
I appreciate that there people who don't know the difference between British and English and as I've said there are historical dramas where it's justified but also historical dramas where it is, like Titanic. If there are any English good guys then they are usually secretly evil, incompetent or nerdy and incompetent.
I could go on and list all the Disney films where the hero is American and the villain is English but Disney's subtle racial profiling and stereotyping is well documented.
"The OP wasn't talking about British or Irish actors playing American characters, they were talking about the fact that the villains are usually British, but more specifically, English. So even if it's a Scottish or Welsh actor they'll still play it as English. I appreciate that there people who don't know the difference between British and English and as I've said there are historical dramas where it's justified but also historical dramas where it is, like Titanic. If there are any English good guys then they are usually secretly evil, incompetent or nerdy and incompetent." --HelveticaFont
Count me as one of those who are not aware that there is a difference between English and British. I guess America is pretty much a melting pot and specifics as to geographic, ethnic differences are not stressed with the exception of RACIAL groupings. There is no doubt that there is an awareness of Hispanic, Black , White and Asian races. Many Whites are aware of ethnic differences among Whites and some Whites pointedly consider European Jews as not White.
Is this right? No.
BTW, I don't know if you realize how someone with a Englis accent is usually deferred to as being more "cultured" and "educated". White males with English accents do well with the females in America. So whatever negative stereotypes there are in Hollywood movies, the perception in real life is quite different.
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The difference between Britain and English is racial it's just geographical.
Britain or Great Britain is the island made up of England, Scotland and Wales, while the United Kingdom is made up of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
It was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the partition of Ireland when 26 of the 32 counties gained their independence to become the Republic of Ireland and the 6 counties in the north east of Ireland were retained as Northern Ireland.
This video will clear it up for you but it wrongly includes the Republic of Ireland as part of the British Isles, this is often viewed as incorrect because it is outdated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10
So the difference between Britain and England is that England is a country in Britain and contains London which is the capital of both London and Britain, however when people talk about the British Empire they forget that Scotland and Wales were part of the forces colonising other nations.
In Northern Ireland people generally refer to themselves as British or Irish depending on whether they feel they want Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom or reunite with the Republic of Ireland. People from Northern Ireland can have dual citizenship if they choose. It's generally the Protestant population descend from Scotland who want to remain part of the UK and Catholics who feel the greatest connection with the Catholic south.
Scotland will be voting this year on whether they want independence. They already have their own government and their MPs can vote on matters in Westminster that affect the whole the UK too and while Wales and Northern Ireland have their own assemblies to decide on their own policy there's no English parliament where English MPs can decide on matters that affect England exclusively.
Are you following this so far?
I'd doubt that many people know where Wales is or what a Welsh accent sounds like.
As for the English accent sounded more 'cultured', that's because it's the same two or three English accents that Americans are exposed to whereas there are at least ten or more regional accents in English which can within miles of each other.
Here's a few English accents.
Newcastle(Geordie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKtauWcErd4
Liverpool(Scouse)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YcWkvkEZUg
Manchester(Mancunian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBzAnabFLpY
Bolton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5vSHiAOAE
Birmingham(Brummie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPYKhERM9_U
London(Cockney)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVkP-B1LQ6o
fep70,
I think the simple answer is that English actors make for some of the best villians or characters you wouldnt want to argue with ie Vinnie Jones, Ray Winstone, Jeremy Irons, Christopher Lee, Charles Dance, Ray Stevenson, Alan Rickman etc
@strangerfromuk I was reading your list thinking, "Hey, where's Rickman?!" But there he was, yeah.
share@fep70 Do you mean negatively as in being a villain? Because it's not just Brits who play villains in American movies.
share[deleted]
stereotypes much? lols!!
Ahhhh though, Some UK dialects to lend themselves well to playing 'menacing' and playing the bad guy ;)
Though am I wrong in thinking there was never a Brummie dialect Bad Guy?
"Forget acting. It's all about rock 'n' roll."
Brendan Fraser
OK its Black Country rather than strictly Brummie, but I've now got the image of Noddy Holder in my head as a Bond Villain.
Cornish could be fun as well
Another think about the British: British actors make by far the best Nazis! Check out "Conspiracy".
Unc John: We makin' trouble?
Stacy: Yeah
Unc John: What kind?
Stacy:...The forever kind
I've seen this a couple of times now, and each time picked up on one or two of the cast as being British (other than the obvious pair of Branagh and Firth), but this time I realized that other than Tucci/Eichmann, everyone around the table is from over here.
Even Loki is lurking in the background
Or a complete Lancashire Baddie Bond person? Like Fred Dibnah?
"Forget acting. It's all about rock 'n' roll."
Brendan Fraser
Guinness is Irish. Just saying.
==============================
The Space Shuttle Discovery, Kenny Loggins style: http://youtu.be/3krnu1p58d0
Well, I don't watch football, never have and never will. There are far worse hooligans in the world, East European and South American for instance. And I certainly don't have bad teeth or know anyone with bad teeth. I also haven't been into a pub for decades because I don't drink alcohol.
Not sure where you get your information, have you ever been to England? Do you even know where England is? At least we don't go around shooting each other because we've had a bad day at the office! And my mum isn't my sister either.
As for Brits playing bad guys? Why not, I like the Brit playing the bad guy, as I suspect do audiences in the USA. I suppose they come across as suave and sophisticated maybe. Or they sound good. I don't know the answer, maybe someone in Hollywood could give us the answer.
Anyway, I don't think using Vinnie in this film is a bad image, he IS a hard man, playing a hard man, as am I?
Oh and not everyone from London has a Cockney accent. Cockney is from East London.
In truth, I have seen few movies that overtly demonize the English. I vote them down and don't watch them again.
The rest is all about the actors as far as I am concerned.
There does seem to be a strange appeal for the 'BBC' accent in the US. Link that to a villain and somehow it enhances the villainy.
The fact that in recent years: Idris Elba, Christian Bale, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, Damien Lewis, Tom Hardy, Ralph Feines, Ken Branagh and Colin Firth (off the top of my head) have played non-English bad guys, with various degrees of accent. So it isn't just being English
Image and training are perhaps the real issue. In Hollywood building a profile/image seems a big deal, so that can mean talented US actors not to taking on roles that could impact them negatively.
The same is true over here to an extent, but far more actors are much more interested in a meaty part; whether hero or Villain. If you are open to both, bad guys are far more fun to play.
In the end, its less Hollywood picking on the English, and more that the English play so many bad guys because they are good at (and willing to) play them.
The OP is just a whinging pom ;)
shareIt's true.
Come now, we still hear about gun enthusiasts arguing for their constitutional rights to bear arms which I believe is pretty much in there because of the war of independence vs the Brits. Even now there is paranoia vs Brits and I have heard it. Oh sorry, I meant to say redcoats or limeys.
If the cold war was on there would still be dirty Russian stereotype characters as the villains.
Well what are the use of my brains if I'm tied up with a dumb cluck like you?
There are still dirty Russian stereotypes in Hollywood.
shareMaybe you should ask yourself why British actors are incapable of turning down such roles.
share