Linguist Studies Why Brits Made Good Baddies in Movies

2016 – Lucasfilm(NEW YORK) — The late Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber in Die Hard; Peter Cushing’s Tarkin in Star Wars; Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter; Tom Hiddleston as Marvel’s Loki.

Examples abound, but just why do Brits make good baddies?

Writing in the online academic journal Jstor, linguist Chi Luu notes “Whether it’s Nazis, Romans, countrymen, or other bad guys of yesteryear (regardless of actual country of origin), it seems the prestige accent of villainy … has typically had something in common with the Queen: namely, the Queen’s English, a dialect that is at the same time both terribly posh and deliciously evil.”

She analysed the tongues under those famously stiff upper lips, and found that to those Americans she surveyed, British accents come across as “more educated but less trustworthy … sincere and friendly” than non-RP [non-British accented] counterparts.

Writing in the online academic journal Jstor, Luu said that makes for, a “good start for a villain.”

What’s more, Luu cites studies that reveal we “love” hearing different accents, and part of the appeal of a British accent is that it’s just more exotic sounding to those in the former Colonies.

Interestingly, however, the roles are reversed with popular music, with British acts often affecting American accents when they sing.

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