British accents in American films?

They always seem to be either Queens English or Cockney! Don't American film directors ever know about any other British accents?



And why do they always sound so unrealistic? Where do they find these British people from?



Wierdly enough, the most realistic cockney accent I heard was Spike from Buffy (who - oddly enough is an American and yet does a brilliant and very authentic English accent!)



and Daphne from Frasier who has a Northern accent.



Surely Americans don't really believe that British people have only those 2 accents?

British accents in American films?
I quite like southern californian accents! lol. I am british and am aware that they are many different dialects throughout the US. It is a shame that Americans cannot think the same about us. There are some great local accents in the UK. The accents people have in southwestern england (devon and cornwall) are amazing. They all sound like farmers. lol. Also nothern English Georgie accents are great too. Think Americans are only aware of the accents that they see in Hollywood films and these tend to be one extreme or the other , ie Cockney or the Queens English.

What about Scottish and Irish accents? They are part of the UK too. Americans seem to always think that the UK consists of only England. lol

It also annoys me how they use posh english accents for villains and bad guys in films. Like someone who sounds more educated is more evil or something. lol. haha Too many stereotypes.
Reply:LOL - the bad guys in films always sound Posh! That's so TRUE - not that we can talk about stereotypes mind,



Americans always sound brash in British films so we have our own guilt about stereotyping people! lol
Reply:Americans just can't do it, the same as most english really cant do an authentic american accent.



I remember my old drama tutor trying to teach us how to do accents and it was all about the position of the tounge for certain letters and the amount of strain on vocal chords for certain sounds.



You naturally end up with your accent and use your tounge and vocal chords in a certain way and to change that is very difficult because your body is naturally tuned one way.



I still cant do any accent to save my life.
Reply:Spike from Buffy does a perfect Cockney acsent (sp?) I didn't even know he was American at first.



I lived in East London for many years and it sounds authentic to me
Reply:Queens English or Cockney are most recognisable to Americans as being chiefly British. I've been told that some other British accents are difficult for Americans to understand.

I myself am English, and I haven't come across anyone that talks like Spike in Buffy!

I'd also like to know what "British people" you are referring to. Unfortunately people just dismiss well-spoken English as "Queens English", which is inaccurate.
Reply:What about phill cool in the 5th element
Reply:I agree, Spikes accent is very good and it sounds totally authentic.



Maybe (as one of the posters said here) the Americans find the more regional accents to difficult to understand - sometimes it isn't easy, even for British people to understand strong accents.



I always have trouble with Glaswegian accents and some of my friends have trouble with the Brummie accent! lol
Reply:This is an interesting observation. But we could say the same thing about British actors because whenever they portray an American, it's almost always with a Southern Californian drawl. But let's face it, it's not the accent that is important, but more the capability to keep up the same accent throughout, without slipping back to their native one.
Reply:No we realize that, but Hollywood doesn't. Hollywood still thinks everyone in England sounds like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. haha
Reply:because those are the only 2 we can understand - the rest is undecipherable gibberish
Reply:I have no idea about the different English accents. I thought there was only one. So how many different accents do English people think Americans have?