accents and drawls

azing at the very tiny screen and trying to relate to harry potter's accent, i can't help feeling a tinge of envy, this assemble of talents in the movie franchise enunciates beautifully. granted that robbie coltrane is scottish (and we've all heard of scottish accents, right?) but he could change drawls in a click, just like james mcAvoy, who was so impressive in shameless sporting a manchester tongue. the other members of the harry potter cast-- maggie smith, david thewlis, richard griffiths, emma thompson, alan rickman, julie walters, gary oldman, i can go on and on are stalwarts of british theatre. all capable of speaking posh and probably spoke posh in their normal existence.

     

daniel radcliffe, emma watson, rupert grint had lived comfortable lives, gone to public schools (term for private learning institutions in britain) and by a stroke of good luck made even richer being cast in the harry potter film series. these kids need not go to university, read literature at cambridge (oxbridge grads are set for life anyway and reading i think is a very english term for a bachelor's degree), get stuck at dead-end jobs. glancing through her profile, emma watson attended headington school, a very expensive learning hide-out for the rich and a stone's throw from my former abode in oxford.  while both daniel and rupert attended all-boys schools.

as i currently read and try to grasp stephen fry's first novel, i think of hugh laurie and my dilly-dally decision not to have acquired the dvd of the first season of house. the high brow comedies with both fry and laurie such as blackadder and a bit of fry and laurie comes to mind as well as those members of the cambridge footlights revue -- fry, laurie, emma thompson, ben elton and their success stories. before a peek of blackadder, i didn't even know that mr. bean graduated from oxford and through a profusion of coverage in british publications, these hollywood deities attended oxbridge; actors rachel weisz, rosamund pike, hugh grant, even kate beckinsale though she didn't finish her degree at new college oxford, directors' paul greengrass and stephen frears. adding those intellect to their specialized talents endowed them to parlay their creative side. hollywood though is a great leveller. la lohan didn't even go to high school but continues to make a dent with her projects and tabloid exploits. only two people from the cast of friends graduated from college -- lisa kudrow and david schwimmer, but it made the ensemble of six comfortably rich.

we may not be able to decipher the hierarchical differences in american accents except through geography i.e. southern, redneck ( i'm addicted to jerry springer), boston, texas. in britain, it's not only through the intricacies of the map, the endless deviations in the class system never cease to create an imprint in people's lives. although being northern is considered prosaic by southerners. just like the rest of the world, the level of connections and/or gaining access into the best schools provide great support for a noteworthy career.