Identifying Jayne's accent

POSTED BY: hisgoodgirl
UPDATED: Sunday, April 15, 2007 17:49
VIEWED: 6585
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WYKED

Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:36 AM

One of the things I do enjoy about Firefly are the accents. I don't know where some of you folks are posting from, but being from Texas, it's refreshing to see characters in SciFi with more of a country flair.

As for the whereabouts of the accents. I have lived in many places, and have visited even more:

Jane - His is the most 'Western' of the accents far as I can tell. No real Southern inflection. Like a mix of Midwest and Nevada.

Mal has more of a nearly contemporary Southern accent than a Western one when he lays it on. And there's plenty of folks what speak alike hereabouts. ;) A typical example from EP -7 from Mal: "Why you still arguing what's been decided?"
Is pretty much how I'd word it myself in the company of friends.

An accent isn't only a twang. It is also the phrasing. It ain't what all how you said it, but also what alls been said. ;) We Southerners will clean it up some so that Yanks can understand us. So many visitors to The South haven't actually heard a 'proper' Southern accent.

When Mal speaks up, or wants to make himself sound clear, he does the same thing - loosens his accent. However, in Mal's case, it is the actor simply stepping out of his character's accent because it is unnatural for him to speak up or try to enunciate while using it. I've not heard him speak, but I do know there's plenty of Canadians that can be very country.

Simon is the preverbial Yank stuck on a Confederate ship(and does ANYONE else notice the civil war-type Confederate Vs Union undertones?)

Zoe, Wash, and Kaylee seem to fall in and out of accents(or don't stick with one particular type) often. Though, occasionally, Kaylee can lay on a pretty good thick Southern accent; she's done better in the film than in the series. Not bad for a Canadienne.

As others have mentioned, it IS entertaining to see actors from Chicago and New York on a 'Western'. At least they aren't butchering the accent like in msot other shows.

WYK

NCBROWNCOAT

Sunday, April 15, 2007 5:26 AM

Even within the states there are different accents. I usually can tell if a person is from Hyde county (a far more rural, fishing, farming area just to the north) than from my native Beaufort county The accent is even different down near Wilmington where I grew up. It's also very easy to tell the difference from eastern, mid and western NC.

I'm not sure about Jayne's accent. I'd guess a mixture of West Virginia, Tennessee with a smattering of maybe Western NC. The people of that region of Appalachia are generally of Scotch Irish descent, hard working, and very self reliant with a bit of a wild streak that comes out sometimes.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

ZZETTA13

Sunday, April 15, 2007 12:02 PM

As far as accents go IMO I feel that in FF it was combination of the script writing and the actors own flare of what they felt the characters accent would be. Mal,Zoey,Kaylee and Jayne all show signs of this(as being southern) where as Simon, River,Book, Inara and Wash do not. It is exactly as it should be. Now we ain't talkin bout earth that was accents. This place is in a verse that is far removed from where we are today. None of the folk in the Joss verse of FF were around,nor have they spoken to anyone that would still be living from that time. The accents have changed, mutated or whatever and I'll bet nobody on that boat ( other that Simon, River and maybe Book) have even heard of north or south USA unless they would get a history lesson from Simon. The planets and moons have divided the ppl into different groups. Each seeking out their own comfort zone in the verse. This is evident with River and Badger when in the SHIDIG eps he states " Nice seeing someone from the 'ol omestead."

Where she replies "Not really. Tell me if someone interesting shows up."

Badger " I like 'er."

Z

RIVERGIRL

Sunday, April 15, 2007 1:21 PM

hasn't Adam said something about just basing his talk on old westerns

Also, I can kill you with my brain.

DONCOAT

Sunday, April 15, 2007 1:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by wyked:
...does ANYONE else notice the civil war-type Confederate Vs Union undertones?

Of course. It was a major theme of the series. Joss stated that one of the inspirations for the show was the book "The Killer Angels", which describes the battle of Gettysburg and was the basis for the movie "Gettysburg". A great read, if you've never.

I find it interesting that, just as in the Civil War, neither side of the Alliance/Independent conflict is (or is portrayed as) wholly evil. There's a difference in worldview, one that creates evil results in some cases on both sides... but there's no Lord Voldemort at work. More or less like the real world -- "everybody's the hero of his own story". Even the Blue Hand guys, I'm thinkin'.

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I'm pointin' right at it!

DONCOAT

Sunday, April 15, 2007 1:31 PM

Oh, and on the question of Jayne's accent -- my "ear" isn't tuned well enough to identify a specific locale. All I can say for sure is that Adam does use a specific tone or accent, and a pretty strong one at that, for Jayne. I've talked to him when he was using his own voice, and it's far less gruff and higher-pitched than Jayne's.

You really notice it when he drops into character to illustrate a point. He did that in our conversation to illustrate a few alternate "readings" of one of Jayne's lines. If you're curious, the line in question was "That'll be an interesting day."

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I'm pointin' right at it!

WYKED

Sunday, April 15, 2007 5:49 PM

This is a given that it's Sci Fi and there's an explanation for about everything. However, we're mostly talking about the accents the actors have chosen to give their characters. It's interesting to see what the actors seem to be basing them upon. Afterall, it is quite evident that they are using western and southern dialects as a guide. Add in the fact it is overtly a western in space, and there ya have it. I mean, how much more western in space can ya get than inter-planetary cattle rustlin'?

As was stated previously, Jayne seems to be more taken from Westerns. Mal seems to be more of a southern accent. And, if you listen to Shania Twain speak, you can see that Kaylee seems borrow from a Canadian accent(whether this accent is considered country or not, I cannot say. I just noticed they sound familiar). This makes a lot of sense being as Jewel is from Canada. I haven't heard Jewel herself speak, so this could be her usual accent for all I know. Perhaps I'll grab the "Making Of" media.

We are generalizing quite a bit, of course. As accents do change rather quickly even from county to county sometimes. However, those changes are quite a bit more subtle more often than not, than they are from state to state, region to region, and certainly from country to country.

I just thought it was refreshing because, being a Texan, most of the time I see someone trying to speak with a southern accent that isn't from the South, they utterly butcher it. Not only do they miss the inflections, but they also ruin the phrasings. However, when it comes to Mal, he gets it spot on as often than not. That was a big surprise because it not only meant the actor was putting in the effort, but likely that the writers and directors were doing some research, perhaps reading old Civil War writings, and paying attention to Southern dialects as well. And, as I stated previously, the fact that Mal was in the Alliance Civil War, is likely why his accent is more Southern VS Western.

It's refreshing because, by and large, we Southerners get the short end of the stick when it comes to Hollywood. Just look at how Deliverance painted the South, and how much it's tainted many peoples views. Or recently, that horrid wreck of a show 'Wild Wild West', etc. It's good to see a hero with a southern accent.

WYK

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