Why do Romans have British accents in the movies?

[MrScorpio]

I could never understand this.

[Elidor]

1. Because they recognized the superiority of British culture

Even before it existed.

[DS1]

2. Good answer

[Tallison]

3. I noticed this in Last Temptation of Christ

Scorsese deliberately had the Romans speak w/British accents, and the Jews w/American ones. Is there another movie in which this is the case?

[democracyindanger]

4. Because Romans actually spoke english first

Italians didn't start speaking italian until 1968 or thereabouts.

I'll see if I can find you some links.

[djeseru]

5. The guys on the Death Star had British accents.

Dunno if it means anything tho'.

[nytemare]

17. LOL, I was just thinking the same thing.

The bad guys in the original trilogy were pretty much all Brits.

[Not_Giving_Up]

41. Alec Guiness (the original Obi-Wan)

Was British...and he wasn't a bad guy.

Funny, my first thought was "So do a large number of humans in the Star Wars movies" when I saw this thread.

[nytemare]

43. Yes, and in the new ones Ewan McGregor is, too.

Is Liam Neeson British, he would be a British good guy.

It does seem like ALL the bad guys except maybe the storm troopers, were British in the Original trilogy.

I think one of the DVD Documentaries even commented on that, the good guys were American, bad guys Brit. I think that made it easier for the kiddies to figure who was good and who was bad, or something?

:shrug:

[DerekG]

42. Most of the PT villains had British accents, too

Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Palps...

[nytemare]

44. And Jango had an Australian accent, which is kinda British.

Go figure!

[Kellanved]

46. It is a trait normal for Empires

Their minions do have British accents.

[FloridaPat]

6. Because America hadn't been "found", so they couldn't have Southern

or NY accents.

[flakey_foont]

7. Spartacus didn't have a British accent

but then again, Spartacus wasn't a Roman......

nevermind

[XNASA]

8. It would make more sense if they had Romanian accents.

Am I right?

[kcwayne]

9. This is pure speculation on my part

but my guess is that most of modern Western culture got their sterotypical ideas of what Romans were from Shakespeares Julius Ceasar, and the rendition of the plays through the ages largely enacted by Brits codified a formal British accent into the words spoken by the chracters. This codification was picked up by the movies.

[WCGreen]

14. Ditto....

[MrScorpio]

21. Those are my thoughts too

[jpgray]

10. Ask Myles Falworth (nt)

[crispini]

11. Romans, go home!

Centurion: What is this then? Romanes eunt domus, "People called Romanes they go the house"?
Brian It-it says, "Romans, go home"!
Centurion: No, it doesn't! What's Latin for "Roman"? Come on, come on!
Brian: Romanus!
Centurion: Goes like?
Brian: Annus!
Centurion: Vocative plural of annus is...?
Brian: Anni?
Centurion: Romani. And eunt? What is eunt?
Brian: "Go"! Let-
Centurion: Conjugate the verb "to go".
Brian: Ire; eo, is, it, imus, itis, eunt!
Centurion: So eunt is...?
Brian: Third person plural, present indicative. "They go!"
Centurion: But "Romans, go home" is an order, so you must use the...?
Brian: The... imperative!
Centurion: Which is...?
Brian: I!
Centurion: How many Romans?
Brian: I.. Plural, plural! Ite, ite!
Centurion: Ite. Domus? Nominative? But "go home", it is motion towards, isn't it, boy?
Brian: Dative, sir!

No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! The... accusative, accusative! Domum, sir, ad domum!
Centurion: Except that domus takes the...?
Brian: The locative, sir!
Centurion: Which is?
Brian: Domum!
Centurion: Domum... -um Understand?

Now, write it out a hundred times!
Brian: Yes, sir, thank you, sir! Hail Caesar!
Centurion: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off!
Brian: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir!

[supernova]

12. Britons are often cast as the villains

in American folklore, ergo the Romans with Brit accents.

It's often an unconscience thing on our part, but it does happen. I read an article a couple of years ago complaining about it. The Brits, as well as being our best friends, are also our favorite whipping boys.

I'll see if I can find something about it.

To our UK DUers: I personally don't think this way. I love you guys and I think your accents are delish. :grouphug:

edit: here's a fun read from the earth-bound version of Hitchhiker's over at the BBC:

concepts: that of stereotype and that of the connotations of the English accent in America.

The Power and Convenience of Stereotypes

Most of the biggest-grossing Hollywood movies, for all their merits, are generally not replete with plotlines driven by unique or complex characters. The age of such productions as Lawrence of Arabia, in which the character of one of the most fascinating men ever to have lived is explored over the course of nearly four hours of film, is decidedly over. Today's moviegoing audiences won't stand for it, and even if they would, the big movie production houses are rarely willing to take the risk. They prefer to populate their movies with characters that are instantly recognisable: The Down-and-out Little Brother, the Amusing Ethnic Guy, and the Tough, Bitchy Battleaxe Who Is Revealed To Be Warm-Hearted At The End, Coming To The Aid Of Our Less Experienced Heroine. These are stereotypes, massive distillations of recognisable trends and tendencies. You may know people like this, but stereotypes have none of the uniqueness that makes the individual. Real battleaxes and ethnic guys you know are real and individual. Stereotypes provide the audience with prepackaged characters, often accessorized with easily recognisable motivations and predictable one-liners, sparing everyone (producers and audience both) the need to develop and understand a unique persona. With the valuable screen minutes thus saved, moviemakers can add more explosions and gratuitous sex scenes.

However one stereotypical character you've probably never met in real life is the Evil Genius. And this presents a problem for filmmakers.

The English Accent in America

The solution they came up with was admirably clever. Drawing on the legends of such gentlemanly criminals as Edward Pierce, and combining them with the American perception of the English accent1, the Sophisticated Evil Genius was born, to populate villainous roles in film on countless occasions.

More at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A891155

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Because upper-class Brits start studying Latin at a very early age, and

they come to believe that they're Romans. :-)

[supernova]

15. Romulus and Remus

Then there's that whole mythology about the British being the decendants of Romulus and Remus. :D I,e, the inheritors of Rome.

[morningglory]

16. How 'bout an Italian accent? nt

[JVS]

18. In movies, Empires tend to have British accents.

Maybe it's because the British Empire was the most dominant in recent history and also spoke English. The rule works for Star Wars too.

[Old_Fart]

19. Because the movie was made in England?

n/t

[JAbuchan08]

20. The british accent is the last refuge of a poor actor

Everyone from the British to the French to the Spanish, anyone who is a character in a period piece has this accent. It's the "aristocrat" accent and the actors who employ it remind me of 15 year olds playing D&D in the rec room.

[expatriot]

23. and poor acting the last refuge of the british

nt I don't really mean that, so don't flame me.

[JAbuchan08]

28. You've been brain washed

all the horrible british accents have confused you into thinking that the Brits consistently forget how to pronounce their own language as soon as they get on camera.

[expatriot]

22. stylistic historic analogy: center of "civilization," world empire....

pretentious, etc.


This reminds me of a line from some old black and white World War II movie that either was British or just was about Brits. I totally forget the plot but some major project was being worked on and there was this very ambitious deadline. Some lady says to this general "Rome wasn't built in a day, sir." He responds, "The reason for that is very simple, ma'am. Rome was not built by the British."

[NNadir]

24. When the Romans conquered Britian, they not only learned to boil

all of their food in a wholly bland way, but they also learned how to talk funny.

[vixengrl]

25. Your film Roman hasn't a scouse

nor a Cockney, nor I daresay a Yorkshire lilt. My best guess is that they are trying to standardize the English by making it as Oxford-pretty as they can. There were no southern drawls nor Philadelphian nasal short o's two thousand years ago (no, there wasn't English either, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.). It wouldn't do if every one sounded...different,would it? Also, the British did have an empire. Fast example of how we can equate the Romans of old with our more contemporary UK--the Colleen McCoullough Caesar books. Please read them. (You will be rewarded with such historic perspective!) They are long but quite good. But when the centurions get to talking, one almost expects someone to come out with, "Oh, the things I do for Old Blighty." Betwixt that and "I, Claudius", which I suppose is forever England, we're stuck with it.

[mcscajun]

26. Because of a long-standing association in the American mind...

...that British accents represent privileged, highly cultured classes, well-versed in the Greek and Roman classics, lots of old money and tweed, breeding and sophistication. This makes them natural choices for the imperious aristocrats of the Roman era, indeed, of almost any era...and good villains anytime.

:)

Doesn't matter that most everyone's seen (or at least heard) the Cockney accents in "Alfie" or "My Fair Lady" -- they don't seem to ruin the mindset.

[Orsino]

36. Bingo. Inferiority complex...

...dating to the days when the nation was younger. The Romans, as the so-called center of civilization in the world, must be given appropriate imperial accents.

And it ain't just Romans. Half the villains in movies have upper-class English accents, 'cause we just love taking people down a peg.

[sakabatou]

27. Same thing in Star Wars.

There is no Britain in space...

[Anarcho-Socialist]

29. American film producers want English-speakers that "sound foreign"

and British accents seem to serve this purpose. This enables the audience to quantify American accents with "the good guys" and British accents with "the bad guys".

I've never been comfortable with this, but then I'm British.

[tjwmason]

35. I'm used to it - but it is definitely prevalent.

I don't mind so much when they get somebody who can actually do a half decent accent - but most of the time American actors' accents sound closer to a cat being strangled than an Englishman.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

30. dupe

[carpetbagger]

31. Because they can't be Canadian or Australian...

"G'day Caesar! I'm just gonna plunge this dagga into ya."

"Et tu Brute, eh?"

[sasquatch]

32. I guess for the same reason Leone was on of the best western directors

[Tom Kitten]

33. maybe they just liked British accents

Michael Moore once did polls on TV Nation, and on one poll he reported that
"37% of Americans agree that while they would hate being British, they wouldn't mind having a British accent."

[kodi]

34. well, my high school latin teacher was british

but he did have a lisp

[Robeson]

37. Because the best actors have always came from Britain.

[Bridget Burke]

38. I seem to remember the reasons given in "Ben Hur"....

The Romans were the occupying power so they had British accents. Ben Hur & the other oppressed colonials were mostly Americans. (At least we were saved from Charlton Heston attempting an English accent.)

[datasuspect]

39. why do macedonians

sound like scotsmen?

[Bassic]

40. Because it sounds cooler than, say a hillbillie.

[billyskank]

45. Bad guys are always played by British actors

Don't ask me why. :shrug: