# Good lord, why can't they make movies with real Southern accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477 "2009-10-12T02:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/41 "2009-10-13T15:25:40Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Well, suddenly that movie makes a hell of a lot more sense. I was forced to watch this movie at a summer program in my teens, and I was never really clear what the hell he was supposed to be doing with those kids that was so mega-huge. The book is well worth it, if you like Pat Conroy’s style. Of course, all of those places are gone now - replaced by beach McMansions, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/42 "2009-10-13T15:55:49Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > How were the accents in the movie based on John Grisham’s A Time To Kill (set in Mississippi, I believe)? Were they terrible, OK, or very good? I don’t remember the accents, but I do have one major complaint about that movie. It was set in the 80s/early 90s, right? Well, even in Mississippi, people have air conditioning. Law offices have ac. Restaurants have ac. Old farm houses often have ac. Sure, it’s hot, but people don’t hang out dripping sweat all the time unless they really have to. The south is not completely stuck in the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/43 "2009-10-13T16:36:52Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Yeah, because a real Southern accent is completely opaque? Dude, we’re not Glaswegian. Where are you from that you can’t understand a Southern accent? This immediately made me think of an episode of Dirty Jobs that was filmed at a brick plant in North Carolina. One of the guys from the plant kept pointing to various piles and talking about “shell”; it was several minutes before Mike was able to determine that the guy was saying “shale”. There was a similar case on my local news station, where they occasionally have a little cooking segment in the morning. One day, the lady who hosts the cooking segment kept talking about “fresh deel”, and how wonderful this “deel” would be in various salads. One of the anchors was even seen shrugging in confusion; when the segment was handed back to her, she haltingly complimented the cooking host on her use of “deel”. (Of course, a camera close-up had revealed that this wonderful ingredient was _dill_.) And that’s pretty much what I came in here to post…movies rely on Hollywood’s version of a southern accent because most of the audience probably wouldn’t be able to understand true accents from some parts of the south. I grew up less than two hours from where I currently work, and there are times that I have trouble understanding certain co-workers. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/44 "2009-10-13T16:51:48Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > They are, but I’ve heard numerous complaints that they affected accents different from their natural ones in the movie, which people found distracting. I haven’t seen the movie myself, but if it’s true I can see that being a negative. I didn’t doubt the authenticity, I doubted the necessity. It was indeed very distracting. That and all the people getting shot in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/45 "2009-10-13T17:08:36Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > One of the things that I liked about the Matlock series is that it showed a Southern person, with a Southern accent, with Southern courtesies, who could also out-think any damyankee he came across. The Matlock series had its flaws, but I did get a kick out of the way Matlock would smile and beam and be very polite, and a Northerner would think that he was dealing with a dumb hick, and then Matlock would show that being from the South doesn’t mean that he’s stupid or ignorant. I think part of the appeal of _My Cousin Vinny_ is that it turns the dynamic on its head: it’s the small-time Brooklyn lawyer and his girlfriend who are initially looked down upon by the Southern patrician class and are challenged to prove themselves. Fred Gwynne: “What’s a ‘yute’?” ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/46 "2009-10-13T17:32:11Z")
Short answer: because as long as it doesn’t interfere with their profit margin, they don’t care. If the success of your Southern Gothic picture relies on the seal of approval of genuine Southerners, then paying attention to the Byzantine labyrinth of Southern dialects might be a wise decision. The cold, heart, fact is, however, that _The Prince of Tides_, _Crimes of the Heart_, _Steel Magnolias_…heck, even _Gone With the Wind_ were intended for general, nationwide release. In the long run, only 2% of the viewing audience would be the slightest bit concerned with the authenticity of the accents. Something else to be considered is that accents are elusive things, and don’t hit everyone’s ear the same way. I have yet to hear of any actor’s attempt at imitating an accent that met with universal acclaim. There will always be _somebody_ who “knows better”, whether or not they’re qualified to make a distinction. So while actors may owe it to the audience to give a role their utmost, there’s little point in shooting for total authenticity. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/47 "2009-10-13T18:59:09Z")
Oh, nobody in the world has anything bad to say about Hugh Laurie’s American accent. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/48 "2009-10-13T19:43:54Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, nobody in the world has anything bad to say about Hugh Laurie’s American accent. Would that it were so. :rolleyes: A member of my old theater company brought a guest to one of our performances. When asked afterward for her opinion, the guest stated that the only thing she didn’t like was the horribly phony British accent of the lady who’d given the curtain speech. As it happened, the lady giving the speech was the only one in the company with a _genuine_ English accent. Of course, that’s just plain ignorance masquerading as expertise. It’s my finding, though, that even experts hear what they want to hear, and those inclined to carp will do so for no other reason than for others to hear them. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/49 "2009-10-14T00:41:10Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Short answer: because as long as it doesn’t interfere with their profit margin, they don’t care. Probably the correct answer. > [@Kizarvexius](#): > > heck, even _Gone With the Wind_ were intended for general, nationwide release. Indeed, one of the returning Confederates tells Melanie that Ashley was captured at Bull Run instead of the Battle of Manassas as it is known in the South. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/50 "2013-06-10T21:26:03Z")
I don’t want to make new thread on this same topic . But I was watching the walking dead and I’m shocked how such a terrible job they did of the accent of the south .Some parts the walking dead are more of west coast accent , other parts stronger fake accent and some parts this one girl the British accent was popping in the show in some parts. The walking dead TV series , movie JFK ,Mississippi burning are just so fake. It sad they just can’t get proper people born in south to play in movie or spend more money on voice coach. I guess Hollywood wants a strong southern accent and it just does not exit these days in the US because of the media , people moving to the south and immigrants !!! The southern accent is weaker now than it was 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/51 "2013-06-10T21:50:35Z")
Its a weird example of Reality Is Unrealistic. Southerners do have distinct accents – note the plural – but because our natural accents don’t sound that much like Foghorn Leghorn, Yankees think we don’t sound ‘authentic’ enough. I’ve lived in NYC for three years and people still come up to me every couple of days and ask if I’m British. Y’all, no one in my family has lived in Britain for 300 years. Few Southerners are cast to play Southerners in movies, and most of the real Southerners have had their accents trained out of them in acting class. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/52 "2013-06-18T01:35:58Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I don’t want to make new thread on this same topic . > > But I was watching the walking dead and I’m shocked how such a terrible job they did of the accent of the south .Some parts the walking dead are more of west coast accent , other parts stronger fake accent and some parts this one girl the British accent was popping in the show in some parts. The walking dead TV series , movie JFK ,Mississippi burning are just so fake. > > It sad they just can’t get proper people born in south to play in movie or spend more money on voice coach. > > I guess Hollywood wants a strong southern accent and it just does not exit these days in the US because of the media , people moving to the south and immigrants !!! The southern accent is weaker now than it was 50 years ago. > [@Mississippienne](#): > > Its a weird example of Reality Is Unrealistic. Southerners do have distinct accents – note the plural – but because our natural accents don’t sound that much like Foghorn Leghorn, Yankees think we don’t sound ‘authentic’ enough. I’ve lived in NYC for three years and people still come up to me every couple of days and ask if I’m British. Y’all, no one in my family has lived in Britain for 300 years. Few Southerners are cast to play Southerners in movies, and most of the real Southerners have had their accents trained out of them in acting class. So it was what I was saying? The accent is too weak and in movies they want a strong accent that stands out.. I remember reading that most of strong accent in south are more closer to eastern part in south Carolina and Kentucky . ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/53 "2013-07-08T22:03:19Z")
I was watching some movies this past week and I’m shocked how Hollywood is so uneducated when it comes to southern accents take the movie [Boys Don't Cry - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_Don%27t_Cry_%28film%29) or [The Gift (2000 film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_%282000_film%29) Why can’t they hire real southern people than getting people from other areas and putting on fake accent. And what up with Hilary Swank she was born in Nebraska and doing southern accent.I don’t get that . It seems Hollywood is going from bad to worse. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/54 "2013-07-08T22:10:40Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Why can’t they hire real southern people than getting people from other areas and putting on fake accent. We don’t have to wear shoes to do voiceover work! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/55 "2013-07-08T23:50:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Look, if they made a movie where the setting was really, really important, and it was a South Carolina coastal island, you’d roll your eyes and be kind of pissed off that your intelligence was insulted if it was, you know, the wrong ocean, and filmed in Malibu. Or Maine. Or Vancouver. It’s the same thing, only more people can figure out that there aren’t a lot of pine forests in Vietnam than can tell that, whoa, those are six different accents and they’re all totally fake. Really? Huh. Well, I wouldn’t generally know which were fake, yeah. I find that some TV shows have actors whose voices are similar enough that over time they come to _sound the same_ because their accents rub off on each other. It makes it hard to follow who’s saying what if their mouths aren’t in frame. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/56 "2013-07-09T03:05:31Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Really? Huh. > > Well, I wouldn’t generally know which were fake, yeah. > > I find that some TV shows have actors whose voices are similar enough that over time they come to _sound the same_ because their accents rub off on each other. It makes it hard to follow who’s saying what if their mouths aren’t in frame. Exactly. I might notice really big differences, but those aren’t big. As long as there aren’t mountains where there are no mountains, and no references to places that don’t exist in that general area, I’m fine. And that’s about equivalent to not caring about a normal accent. I mean, yes, I guess I’d notice if the movie was supposedly set in an area I knew well, but it wouldn’t bother me. It’s just that getting it right is a plus, not that getting it wrong is a minus. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/57 "2013-07-09T03:50:44Z")
Has anyone that’s been watching House of Cards say anything about Kevin Spacey’s accent (he’s supposed to be from Gaffney, SC)? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/58 "2013-07-09T19:42:41Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > Has anyone that’s been watching House of Cards say anything about Kevin Spacey’s accent (he’s supposed to be from Gaffney, SC)? Well, I haven’t been watching _House of Cards_, but his accent was godawful in _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/59 "2013-07-09T19:44:36Z")
Clark Gable didn’t think he could do a good Southern accent, so he didn’t try. I respect that. I’d rather see more actors take that stand rather than deliver a terribly-faked accent. It would be less distracting. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477/60 "2013-07-09T19:49:15Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Well, I haven’t been watching _House of Cards_, but his accent was godawful in _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_. It didn’t sound that bad to me, but I’m not from South Carolina. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-lord-why-cant-they-make-movies-with-real-southern-accents/513477.md?page=4)