Robin Hood: Dialect Thief

Last week, we added Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves to our DVD Collection. Remember that movie? The one where you got a glimpse of Kevin Costner's butt and for months on end Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" was on every time you turned on the radio? (At least it was in America!) I always liked the movie and we got a good deal on it at Wal-Mart.

I hadn't seen it for a long time, so today I decided to watch it while I cross-stitched. (I started a new project today.)

The first thing I noticed while watching the movie with fresh eyes was that the dude that plays the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham had an uncanny resemblance to the dude that plays Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. So when the credits rolled I noted who the Sheriff was (Alan Rickman) and double checked in the Internet Movie Database. I was right! The Sheriff of Nottingham was played by none other than Professor Snape!

However, what really struck me was Kevin Costner and Christian Slater's (lack of) English accent.

The time period of this movie is around the time of the First Crusades (around 1100 AD). At this time, the English language was in a state of change. Old English was dying out and Middle English was becoming the standard dialect. Some scholars even think that the accent of Middle English sounded closer to that of American English than present day British English. (Whether or not this is actually true, isn't really the discussion here. I am only mentioning this so that I can eventually come to my point...)

In the movie, Alan Rickman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and most of the other actors spoke with what I would consider a British accent. However, Kevin Costner and Christian Slater didn't even TRY to adopt one.

The movie takes place in England. Today we identify the English with a particular accent/dialect, so I would have thought they could have at least hired Costner and Slater a dialect coach to give the audience the impression that they were actually English.

Or... if we go with the premise that early Middle English sounded more like American English, everyone else could have spoken like Costner and Slater. Either way, I think everyone (except Morgan Freeman who plays a Moor) should have been speaking with the same accent and in the same dialect. (Nottingham uses the word "twit" at one point, is that a Middle English word? No, according to my Oxford Dictionary of English, "twit" meaning a silly or foolish person originated in the 1930s.)

Overall, I think Costner made a decent Robin Hood and Slater an alright Will Scarlet, but their lack of an English accent really troubled me...

* * * * * * * * * *

Disclaimer:
Lest my British, English, Scottish, Irish, and/or Welsh readers be offended, I want to point out that I do know about the difference in the dialects/accents between you. However, like you might have a difficult time pointing out where in the US I come from by my accent/dialect, I have some trouble differentiating amongst your dialects/accents. I also know that Britain is made up of more than just England, so I hope in the spirit of my post you will understand that I am not trying to pigeon-hole you, just complain about the lack of consistency in this movie!