The Representation of the Scottish Accent in Hollywood Movies and TV Series

Abstract

Both Scottish culture and the Scottish accent have been oft misrepresented in Hollywood movies and TV series starting in the 20th century and continuing into the 21st. The purpose of this paper is to analyse said misrepresentations, determine why characters are given Scottish accents, how that accent contributes to their characterisation and what kind of character types tend to receive the Scottish accent. The paper concludes that the Scottish accent is selected for certain characters because the previous success of Scotland-based Hollywood movies has made the accent popular among audiences, thus Hollywood, utilising what has worked before and seeing the popularity of the accent, decided to bestow the accent to more characters. It is also given to characters to make them humorous; the accent sounding foreign makes it funny for American audiences, thus many comic relief characters have got it. Tough-as-nails and masculine characters can likewise receive Scottish accents. Moreover, certain archetypes are assigned with the accent in mind by default, such as the Highlander warrior and dwarves, its usage in their case being questionable notwithstanding. Lastly, having a Scottish accent is integral to characterisation, which is exemplified by analysing Shrek, McDuck and three other hyper-stereotypical cartoon characters.