02-22-2014, 05:59 PM | #1 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Durham, England
Posts: 694
|
The Shire revealed to be Gloucestershire
I was listening to a film review programme on Radio 4 that featured a dialogue coach. Among other things, he revealed that he had been involved with choosing the home accent of hobbits for the films. And the accent chosen was from Gloucestershire, on the grounds that it sounded rural without being too yokel-ish (I am paraphrasing somewhat).
Oh, and if you're not from the UK - the way you just said "Gloucestershire" in your head? It was almost certainly wrong!
__________________
I'm beset by self-doubt ....or am I? |
02-23-2014, 11:03 AM | #2 | |
Salt Miner
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: gone to Far Harad
Posts: 987
|
Quote:
It’s interesting that they chose a Gloucestershire accent. I think consensus is that The Shire is based upon an idealized version of Tolkien’s childhood in Sarehole, Worcestershire (consider your pronunciation of that, too; now part of greater Birmingham), before the death of his mother. Has the rural Worcestershire accent begun to die out? Is there a videographic record of all the accents of Britain? Many of them are no doubt gone for good; I have heard (on this side of the Atlantic) that even Queen’s English, the famous upper crust English accent, is more difficult to find because of modern mass media. The Smithsonian began a project some decades ago to record all the American accents before they vanished. |
|
02-23-2014, 02:06 PM | #3 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Durham, England
Posts: 694
|
Yep, well done!
There's a British Library resource here: http://sounds.bl.uk/ It draws together their own archive with one that was started by some academics in the 50s. There's a long-standing radio series called The Archers that is supposedly set around that way and they sound as rural as ever! I imagine the northern part of the county would be more Brummie-speaking now, though. The dialogue coach bloke said they liked the Gloucestershire accent because it had a "brittle" quality. I have no idea what that means.
__________________
I'm beset by self-doubt ....or am I? |
12-03-2015, 10:47 PM | #4 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: here and there
Posts: 3,514
|
So, what does this tell us, except that the Movie producers don't give a hoot?
They could have picked Northern Ireland, or for tax reasons Jersey? Hell..why not South Africa? Alaska? Botswana maybe? "Reveal" from the title of this thread seems a rather far fetch Draken... |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Chapter VIII and IX: The Scouring of the Shire and The Grey Havens | Nurvingiel | LOTR Discussion Project | 35 | 12-24-2007 07:12 AM |
How will the Shire be depicted in ROTK? | Black Breathalizer | Lord of the Rings Movies | 20 | 10-21-2003 03:01 PM |
Scouring of the Shire? | Yodaman | Lord of the Rings Movies | 1 | 09-17-2003 09:18 PM |
If Merry and Pippin had returned to the Shire | IronParrot | Lord of the Rings Books | 21 | 06-28-2003 11:39 AM |
The Shire Postal Service | zavron | RPG Forum | 63 | 01-18-2003 07:14 PM |