question: Why don’t I notice American Accents On TV Shows/Movies?
comment: Nothing I'm saying has scientific backing, but I think the midwest American accent has become standard in the film industry. You don't recognize likely because of the amount of exposure to it?
passages: When I wanted a Mississippi accent for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", I couldn't find a single soul at the American Embassy in London who could cough me up one. The nearest was a nineteen-years-old girl from Tennessee. [...] Maureen Stapleton and the director kept saying I was fine but I wondered whether it was Mississippi enough.
   Section::::Characters.:Sofia.
   The actors Portia de Rossi, Tom Holland, Anthony La Paglia, Katherine Langford, and Charlize Theron are examples of notable people who received such training to lose their native accents and develop American accents, even in everyday speech.
  
  With regard to English accent training, the two most distinct choices of accent reduction are the British or American pathways. However the Australian method of received pronunciation is increasingly preferred by Asian nations, given the two regions' geographic proximity; this is an important consideration given the rise of Asia's economic strength and choice in education.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Anglophone pronunciation of foreign languages
   Although it has largely disappeared as a standard of high society and high culture, the Transatlantic accent has still been heard in some recent media for the sake of historical or stylistic effect:
  
  BULLET::::- Elizabeth Banks uses the Mid-Atlantic accent in playing the flamboyant, fussy, upper-class character Effie Trinket in the futuristic "Hunger Games" film series.
  
  BULLET::::- A comedic example of this accent appears in the television sitcom "Frasier" used by the snobbish Crane brothers, who are played by Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce.
   Section::::Characters.:Carla.
   While actors in theatre are traditionally trained to have a "Standard American" accent, actors in film are instead trained to have a General American accent. Dialect coach Robert Easton said the Standard American accent was "too semi-British" and opted for General American. Easton commended British actors in learning American accents, "[They] in general are very open to doing whatever is necessary to create the character, not only in terms of dialect, but in terms of body language, mannerisms and so forth. It's an oversimplification, but the English tend to try and use themselves to find and express the character, whereas Americans are more likely to use the character to express themselves."
   Section::::History of accents in the United States.
   Section::::Characters.:Yolanda.
   BULLET::::- Evan Peters employs a Mid-Atlantic accent on "" (as James Patrick March, a ghostly serial killer from the 1920s), as does Mare Winningham (as March's accomplice, Miss Evers).
  
  BULLET::::- Actor John Houseman employs a Mid-Atlantic accent on "The Paper Chase" (as Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr., a Professor of Contract Law at the Harvard Law School).
  
  Section::::Phonology.
   BULLET::::- Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer portrayed Thurston and Lovey Howell, a millionaire couple on the 1960s TV series Gilligan's Island; they both employed the Locust Valley lockjaw and cartoonish caricature of this accent to great comedic effect.
  
  BULLET::::- In the "Star Wars" film franchise, the character Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) noticeably speaks with a deep bass tone and a Mid-Atlantic accent to suggest his position of high authority; Princess Leia (played by Carrie Fisher) and Queen Amidala (played by Natalie Portman) also use this accent when switching to a formal speaking register in political situations.
   Section::::Social factors.:Acting and accents.
  
  Actors are often called upon to speak varieties of language other than their own. Similarly, an actor may portray a character of some nationality other than his or her own by adopting into the native language the phonological profile typical of the nationality to be portrayed in what is commonly called "speaking with an accent".
   Section::::Style and structure.
   BULLET::::- In the television series "Treme", Cajun English is often used by most of the characters.
  
  BULLET::::- In the television series "True Blood", the character René Lernier has a Cajun accent.
  
  BULLET::::- In "X-Men : The Animated Series", the character Gambit was introduced as from Louisiana and is known to speak in a thick "Cajun" accent. However, his accent sounds more like the African American vernacular instead of a Cajun accent.
  
  BULLET::::- In the television miniseries "Band of Brothers", the company's medic Eugene Roe is half-Cajun and speaks with a distinct accent.
   In 2005, when Welsh-born actor Catherine Zeta-Jones encouraged Welsh singer-songwriter Charlotte Church to hide her native accent in pursuit of an acting career, Welsh film critic Gary Slaymaker and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art both decried the need for the disguise. RADA's Dominic Kelly said, "We get a couple of Welsh accents through here every year, and there's now an increasing amount of demand for them. A few years ago it was Scottish, but now Welsh is very much in vogue. As long as people can understand what you are saying, the Welsh accent is a bonus. Voices need character and individuality." Slaymaker said, "It's unlikely they'll be able to tell the difference between a Welsh or Irish accent. It'll just be seen as colourful."
   Section::::Plot summary.:Part I.
   Section::::Russian accents.
   BULLET::::- Many Disney films' villains speak either with a British accent (e.g. Shere Khan, Prince John, the Horned King, Scar, and Frollo) or a Transatlantic accent (notably, the Evil Queen from "Snow White", Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, Lady Tremaine, Vincent Price's Professor Ratigan, Jafar, and Eartha Kitt's Yzma).
  
  BULLET::::- Mark Hamill's vocal portrayal of "Batman" villain the Joker adopts a highly theatrical Mid-Atlantic accent throughout the character's many animation and video game appearances.
   Section::::Plot summary.:Part II.
   Lawrence Christon, writing in "Variety" in 2007, said in U.S. film in the first half of the twentieth century, "actors spoke in a kind of neutralized Midwestern dialect," with actors like Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck having distinct qualities. Actor John Wayne conveyed a similar dialect even as the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan in the 1956 film "The Conqueror" with little objection. The French New Wave in the 1950s and the 1960s imported films, including "La dolce vita", "The 400 Blows", "Hiroshima mon amour", and exposed U.S. film audiences to new accents. The "Los Angeles Times" said in 2000, "Once upon a time, what characters said in a film was more important than how they said it. For years, Hollywood played fast and loose with foreign accents, generally relying on a stable of European character actors to provide international flavor, with the overall attitude being something along the lines of 'one accent fits all.'" The newspaper said many credited Meryl Streep "for raising the accent bar" with her portrayal of a Polish woman in the 1982 film "Sophie's Choice". Streep subsequently performed with other accents and became the standard against which other actors' accented performances were compared. The "Los Angeles Times" said in 2002 that female actors, including Streep and Gwyneth Paltrow, had more success in accented performances than male actors.
   Section::::Background and historical context.
   During the silent film era in the United States, Russian-born actors like Alla Nazimova were able to perform in roles even if they had Russian accents or could not speak English. With advent of sound film, Nazimova and other actors were not able to transition to speaking performances. In 1932, Hollywood released "Rasputin and the Empress", a film about Imperial Russia, though the film featured no Russian actors, and the cast did not attempt to use Russian accents. The 1933 film "Crime and Punishment", based on the Russian novel of the same name, did not depict any characters with Russian accents. In 1971, "Nicholas and Alexandra" was released in 1971 with no significant Russian actors and no Russian accents depicted. However, actor Akim Tamiroff, despite a thick Russian accent, was actively in film from the 1930s to the 1970s and featured prominently as a sidekick in films like "Touch of Evil" (1958). Maria Ouspenskaya, active from 1915 through 1949, was also known for her "unusual accent" and was often cast in "grandmotherly" roles.
   BULLET::::- Noam Chomsky — "I speak with the accent from a certain area in northeastern Philadelphia where I grew up."
  
  BULLET::::- Garrett "G. Love" Dutton — "a watered-down Philadelphian accent"
  
  BULLET::::- Tina Fey — "Pennsylvania-native Tina Fey showcased the accent"
  
  BULLET::::- Benjamin Netanyahu — "his Philly-flecked American English a vestige of his childhood years in suburban Cheltenham."
  
  Section::::In media.
   Section::::South African accents.
   The Mid-Atlantic accent was carefully taught as a model of "correct" English in American elocution classes, and it was also taught for use in the American theater prior to the 1960s (after which it fell out of vogue). It is still taught to actors for use in playing historical characters.
  
  A version codified by voice coach Edith Skinner was once widely taught in acting schools of the earlier 20th century. Her code is listed below:
  
  Section::::Phonology.:Vowels.
   Dick Van Dyke attempted a Cockney accent in "Mary Poppins" (1964). Van Dyke admitted the notoriety of his attempted accent and said that his British co-star Julie Andrews told him that he never got it right. More recently Don Cheadle's Cockney accent in the remake of "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels has been heavily criticised and compared to Van Dyke's.
  
  Section::::British accents.:Welsh.
  
presuppositions: American Accents are not noticed on TV Shows/Movies. It is difficult to come across American accents on TV shows and movies. 
corrections: American Accents are noticed on TV Shows/Movies especially the midwest American accent. The American accent is displayed in many shows and movies but overlooked due to one's exposure. 
raw_presuppositions: American Accents are not noticed on TV Shows/Movies. It is difficult to come across American accents on TV shows and movies. 
raw_corrections: American Accents are noticed on TV Shows/Movies especially the midwest American accent. The American accent is displayed in many shows and movies but overlooked due to one's exposure. 