Star Wars: Andor

[pukunui]

Let’s not forget that Rey speaks with Daisy Ridley’s natural British accent despite having grown up an orphan on a desert world.

That alone seems to render accents in Star Wars pretty meaningless.

That and the fact that Andor didn’t lose Diego Luna’s accent despite growing up surrounded by people with different accents.

 

[jian]

Let’s not forget that Rey speaks with Daisy Ridley’s natural British accent despite having grown up an orphan on a desert world. That alone seems to render accents in Star Wars pretty meaningless. That and the fact that Andor didn’t lose Diego Luna’s accent despite growing up surrounded by people with different accents.

Yes, it’s very possible that accents mean nothing at all (or at least nothing reliable or predictable) in SW, which is completely fine.

 

[pukunui]

Yes, it’s very possible that accents mean nothing at all (or at least nothing reliable or predictable) in SW, which is completely fine.

Like, if you look at the OT only, it would seem to suggest that it's the classic American take where British accent = bad guy and American accent = good guy, with a few exceptions (e.g. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mon Mothma). Like, that even got lampooned in the Thumb Wars movie ("I have a question: Why do we all speak with British accents, when we're from outer space and there is no Britain?" Pop!).

The PT introduced a variety of non-European accents in various racist ways (e.g. the comically evil Neimoidians have a comically evil "Asian" accent) while mostly maintaining the British accent = bad (human) guy and American accent = good guy theme.

But the subsequent films and TV series have muddied the waters, and perhaps rightly so, because they have also admirably increased the diversity of peoples and accents on the screen. Obi-Wan is no longer the only protagonist with a British accent (see also Jyn, Rey, Vel, etc), and there are even some antagonists with American accents (Syril). And there are a lot more people with other accents who are both good and bad guys. Those non-Anglo-American accents aren't just for the comically evil aliens anymore!


(And let's not get started on the Mandalorians, who seem to have their own jumble of accents, even among those who aren't foundlings.)

 

[jian]

(And let's not get started on the Mandalorians, who seem to have their own jumble of accents, even among those who aren't foundlings.)

Are you suggesting that Mandalorians aren’t all space Kiwis? Let’s not mock Din’s speech impediment! Or Sabine’s, or Bo-Katan’s, or the Viszlas’…

Another obvious point is that most planets are pretty large and so there’ll be accent variation across the planet anyway. Lots of planets have a North.

 

[Ryujin]

Are you suggesting that Mandalorians aren’t all space Kiwis? Let’s not mock Din’s speech impediment! Or Sabine’s, or Bo-Katan’s, or the Viszlas’…

Another obvious point is that most planets are pretty large and so there’ll be accent variation across the planet anyway. Lots of planets have a North.

As Doctor Who famously noted...