Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 09:23:27 -0500

From: Robert Kelly kelly[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LEVY.BARD.EDU

Subject: Re: Stereotyping of Accent on Film/TV



I suspect the answer (Why the upper class British accent = villain) is

less a British vs Other issue than a class one:



the Upper Classes are (naturally enough) perceived as the ancient and

traditional victimizers of the lower classes



In Britain, accent reveals class far more dependably than elsewhere in

the anglophonia.



Whoever sucks the blood of the victim (cf pop Marxism) is a "Count" or

"Baron;"



Isn't it the case that in British movies as well, the villain is very often

just that upper class (British Hitchcock, pre-Hollywood, was full of U-speaking

villains)?



RK