The article states that over the course of history, politicians have changed their accent in order to gain appeal with the voting population. The primary examples used are George W. Bush adopting a Texan drawl and Barack Obama adopting a slight Chicago accent on certain vowels. Of course we then hear over-exaggerated versions of their accent in late night television (mainly SNL) which then buys the politician publicity. It is possible that politicians will try to adopt odd speech patterns and accents to not only gain approval but to also become a source of comedy to make them relateable?

Writing Due: Your Accents, Identity, and Stereotype project is due this week: Accents, Identity, and Stereotype

You can either turn in your project to the front desk of the Writing Center by 3pm on Tuesday. Or, if you choose to revise by having an appointment in the Writing Center or working with a peer during class time on Tuesday (in the classroom), then you can submit your project on Thursday in class.

My grading rubric for the project: Project 1 Rubric

 

Reading Due:

Tuesday: no reading. Please remember, there will be no class today.

Thursday: first chapter of Articulate While Black (Nah We Straight) and Smitherman interview (Smitherman Interview).  You do NOT need to read Chapter 7 of Language, Society, and Power.

 

The reading mentioned several T.V. shows that influenced their view of the South and how they perceived Southern people to speak. What are some T.V. shows, movies (or any other pieces of audio) that contributed toward your stereotype of Southern people? Did the characters all speak the same? How did they shape the way you view the South?

Emilee McCubbins, Marcel Elkouri, Hannah Sullivan, Gerald Dryden

Disney’s Treatment of Accent

1. In Zootopia, there is typically just stereotypical, general American accents reminiscent of the northeastern United States whereas the character Gideon Gray and his family—childhood bullies of Judy Hopps—have a regional American accent. The character Gideon Gray, played by Phil Johnston, does not reflect his actual speaking voice in a normal, everyday manner, whereas the rest of the cast use their own manner of speaking.
2. The film is about the importance of respecting each other’s cultures and diversity, making the urban setting an important aspect of the movie. That being said, it is a little inaccurate to make each character speak in a general American accent over anything else as it builds more prejudice along the way against people who speak differently.
3. In Gideon Gray’s case, he is the only character with a regional accent that is used to highlight his idiocy and his status as a villain. In the case of the Italian mice, this builds their character in a stereotypical way as a beacon of Italian mafia villainy. There are a few other representations—a Caribbean yak, an Indian elephant—but none of these do anything more than to further stereotypes about their idea of people who speak the way they do. Meanwhile, the heroes maintain their “standard” general American accent.
4. This film has more subtle, subliminal choices compared to the pre-2000 Disney films that Lippi-Green cites in her analysis, making the treatment of one’s accents something you may not notice unless you are explicitly searching for it. While it is nice that there is not as overt racism or stereotyping in Disney films, it does make subtle stereotype building even more insidious in our children’s television and movies.

1. Language varieties
   1. Mr. Incredible – GA (Craig T. Nelson)
   2. Edna Mode – GE (composite)
   3. Syndrome – GA (Jason Lee)
   4. Frozone – RA (Samuel L. Jackson)
   5. Gilbert Huph (Bob Parr’s boss) – GA (Wallace Shawn)
   6. Mirage – BE (Elizabeth Peña)
2. Context and Choices
   1. Post-heroic “golden age,” 50s-60s United States
   2. Anachronistic, but effective for what the movie is trying to accomplish
   3. Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone) was probably hired for voice recognition, but the rest of The Incredibles cast seem to just be good voice actors in general.
3. Treatment of Language Varieties
   1. Language variety does seem to be used to build character (Mr. Incredible as an average joe, albeit with super-strength; Syndrome as nasally and villainous, but also tragic)
   2. The only voice that is portrayed negatively throughout the film is that of the sinister British spy Mirage.
   3. Most of the characters have “general American” accents. Frozone speaks in vague AAVE, Mirage in BE, and Edna in a composite GE, but none of these are necessarily shown to correlate to gender or class-based character identities.
4. Disney Comparison
   1. The choices for portrayal and overall treatment in The Incredibles, a joint Disney / Pixar romp, are not very similar to what Lippi-Green found in the analysis of pre-2000 Disney films. Whereas Lippi-Green finds many blatantly racist portrayals, and some not-so-blatant ones, in older Disney flicks, The Incredibles uses talented voice actors to masterfully play unique, strong caricatures. The voices presented in this film maximize comedic and otherwise appropriate value characteristic of their respective characters.