Films/DVD Asylum

Is it offensive?

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: The accent is purposely exaggerated and clunky.... posted by afilado on November 19, 2009 at 08:43:05

Thanks for responding to this.

When I saw the first ad I was quite surprised that foreign accents were being used for comic effect on mainstream media in 2009 but - despite myself (your point about low comic effect) - I've grown to love them.

They remind me of Peter Sellers's Indian accent in the films The Millionairess and The Party and, of course, his duet with Sophia Loren, Goodness Gracious Me: I know Indians who both love and loathe it.

I suppose the effect has more than a little to do with the socio-economic status of the group being satirised. Fortunately, for example, the UK film industry has long got over its 'cheeky Cockney' phase.

Some of the most prominent Russians here currently are the so-called 'oligarchs' like Roman Abramovich, yet last week I bought The Big Issue magazine from a homeless Russian woman in Oxford Street.

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