Amy too country for Memphis?
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Amy too country for Memphis?
Marcieb | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 01:05 pm     I have to say that I'm so glad for this thread... I've been thinking all along that "Hillbilly" is really a New York City stockbroker who's been putting this on for us as a kind of Walter Mitty escapade. I'm releived to know you're truly from Arkansas, Hillbilly, and not just funnin' with us! |
Hotty_Toddy | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 01:40 pm     Oh! another thing about accents--Jason doesn't really have one most of the time because he's being doing radio since he was 12. If you are in radio or TV you have to get rid of your accent, whether it's Alabama, Noo Yawk, or Wisconsin. Most actors do absolutely horrible Southern accents. They will study a Scottish or English dialect, but then come up with the most abominable, overblown, inaccurate, stomach-turning Sothern drawl imaginable. See: Charlize Theron, The Legend of Bagger Vance. One of the few I have noticed who has sone a really good Southern accent is George Clooney in Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? It's consistent, realistic, and quite charming throughout the film. The only problem I had with it is that he was supposed to be from the Mississippi Delta and it defintely wasn't the right sound. Later I saw him saying that he sent a tape recorder to a relative in Kentucky (uncle, maybe?) and had him read all of the dialogue into it, then George cribbed his accent. Pretty clever, and he actually did his homework. It even kind of worked out in the end because that more gentle accent worked on that character really well, as he was a little slick. |
Adorable67 | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 04:26 pm     God you guys are too good. I enjoy catching up on my reading....keep posting Hillbilly and Puck..almost died laughing so hard! Let some of the rest of you, I've been from CA,WA,MD,VA,WV, and now live in OK....what a hoot over dialect! No offense ever taken on my part! In fact, I get that I'm just a yankee down here (since I sound more like a Jersey girl! ha) |
Mystery | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 04:44 pm     I used to work with a lady who grew up in Ireland and moved to California in her 20s. Even though she was in her 60s when I knew her, I thought she had the most charming Irish accent. She and her sister went back to Ireland to visit and they were very taken aback when someone came up to them and said "Pardon me, I hear from your accent that you're American...." |
Squidvicious | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 05:04 pm     I LOVE THIS THREAD! Before reading everything I was going to jump on the "She's got a dead-on Arkansas accent" bandwagon. Which she does. I've lived in different areas of Arkansas all my life (delta, Ozarks, foothills of the Ozarks and Central) and have seen the vast range of accents our state has. Amy's is most definitive to the delta. Memphis is a big college town as well as a major metropolitan city, so you won't really find a unique accent. But step across the border and it's a completely different situation. I also agree that actors can't do southern accents to save their lives! They all sound like either Jesse Helms or Scarlet O'Hara. To hear Amy's accent on the teeyuhvee makes me proud! I'm expecting to hear her say "worsh" any day now. "Hay, have yew worshed the tayalls yeyat?" |
Wcv63 | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 05:06 pm     Worst New Orleans accent of all time was Dennis Quaid in the "Big Easy." Made me want to slap him AND his dialect coach. |
Twiggyish | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 05:30 pm     I hate a fake accent. I was watching one actress who felt the need to say, sugah after every other line. (Like we really say that!!) Amy at times, sounds a bit like Krista. |
Kapow | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 07:22 pm     Just a thought - Amy seems to always "dress" for evictions/competitions. I like that about her. She knows that she is going to be seen and tries to look "together". Lately she has been wearing the robe, which seems out of character for her. I appreciate that Amy typically chooses to dress nicely for TV time...shows her southern heritage of dressing up when the occasion requires it. |
Wcv63 | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 07:26 pm     Twiggyish...I know what you mean!!! Anytime someone is trying to imitate a LA dialect they say "cher" and "chile" (long "i" stands for child) in every sentence. There are the stereotypes types as well. Voodoo and Zydeco music to name just 2. |
Twiggyish | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 07:46 pm     Oh but Zydeco is so cool. But, I know what you mean about stereotypes, though. |
Squidvicious | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 09:04 pm     Don't forget the fact that no one in a John Grisham movie has any air conditioning. We southerners are of the belief that AC should be mandatory in homes, public places and automobiles. Yet in all "southern" films and television, no matter when they take place, fans are blowing and women in big dresses, hats and gloves are fanning themselves! UGH! Dialect coaches and screenwriters need to take notes from Amy. |
Hotty_Toddy | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:17 pm     LOL Squidvicious! I still can't figure out what era A Time To Kill is set in. Everybody just sits around and sweats throughout that entire movie. Southern courthouses are especially un-air conditioned in the Hollywood version, and do ALWAYS have people waving paper fans to keep cool. I was in the Shelby County courthouse just last week. The heat index was 110 outside, but I had to wear a sweater, it was so cold in there. And it wasn't some quaint, historic building with columns, either. It was a big ugly building built in the 70's. Truly, I am aghast when I hear that there are regions in this nation where air conditioning is not de rigeur. People will say, well it doesn't get that hot here. I say if it ever gets over 72 degrees, you need AC. One day sitting around being hot and sticky in your own home is one day too many for me. I spent a summer week in Maryland once without AC, and it was hot up there. I thought I would die. It was awful. It doesn't get that cold down here, but we have the good sense to have heaters! People in Chicago dying by the hundreds every year because of the heat; it's awful. We like it COOOOOLD. The South still is a foreign country that many people don't bother to study. I am very proud that Amy and Jason counteract the most popular and erroneous Southern stereotype: that all Southerners are racists. For all that Amy a hard-partying Ole Miss twangy Arkansas spoiled beauty queen twirler, she has never done a single thing to imply that she has even a drop of prejudice or racism about her. In fact, it is the very opposite. Jason's accomplishment is less impressive, just because he is so nearly perfect anyhow. |
Dutchlizzy | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:33 pm     As a newbie who started this thread, I am so pleased to see it go in so many directions. I am liking Amy more and more. My name is Elizabeth, and I think her middle name might be Elizabeth. Any clarification on this? I loved Billy Bob Thornton in Monster's Ball. Talk about an actor with an authentic Southern accent. We need more of 'em and quick. I hate it when we get an actor who plays a southern man so well, like Matthew McConahey, and he worries about getting typecast and loses it. Kind of like Mel, bring on that Aussie accent boy. Can't get enough. Same thing with Russell. Why ask that man to lose that sexy Aussie accent? I don't get it. But southern accents are even harder to fake than Aussie's. I would love to hear Jason turn it on. Why sound midwestern when your accent adds so much to your character? I love it when Roddy turns on the Joey, and when D turns on the ghetto, and especially when Marcellas turns into his momma. I love this thread too. Keep it alive! Namaste |
Dutchlizzy | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:36 pm     Kapow, I love your comments about Amy dressing. This is exactly the type of thing I was talking about at the beginning of the thread, asking if she was country. All of my country relatives are dressed , coiffed, hair and nails done, and they manage to wear makeup in 90 degree weather with 90 percent humidity. Amy could be one of their daughters. Talking about grabbin the gun to shoot those noisy birds. She cracks me up!!! GO AMY! |
Cyn | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:37 pm     yeah, amy's middle name is Elizabeth. Danielle has addressed her as Amy Elizabeth Crews, anyway. another notable mention for this thread is amy said earlier that Lisa Marie Presley opened a Church of Scientology one block from her house in Memphis, and "oops, there goes the neighborhood." The only address listed on the registry for Scientologist in TN is: 1440 Central Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104 Does that help anyone pin point her dialect more precisley? I mean is it on the border of Arkansas? |
Dutchlizzy | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:46 pm     My grannie lives near Dalton GA, just across the border from Chattanooga. I was there in May. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Her family's accent is so beautiful, entertaining just to hear. People in the south just know how to sit. I live in the Northeast and it's rush, rush, rush. Down there, it's rocking chairs on the front porch, occupied most every day. |
Squidvicious | Tuesday, August 27, 2002 - 04:47 am     Cyn, it doesn't really pinpoint her dialect because Amy is from West Memphis. All you have to do is do a search on "Amy Crews" "West Memphis" at Google.com to find her out. Or hear her talk about where she's from and she says she's _from_ Arkansas. |
Wyndie | Tuesday, August 27, 2002 - 05:28 am     I love this thread! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time - mainly because I have found a group of ppl that GET it! So funny, "Hay, have yew worshed the tayalls yeyat?" - Squid, I almost spit my OJ on the screen. Um, but, for the record, in my family you would be smacked for saying "worshed" or for that matter, my all-time favorite (NOT!) tared. "I'm soooo tared!" ugh. Don't eeeeeven get me started on no AC! What are ppl thinking?! Oh yeah, they aren't. You won't find this girl without her AC cranked. I run it in the car in the winter sometimes because I get hot. I will NOT live without AC. Lived in Erie, PA for a few years and NO ONE had AC there. What is up with that? Um, it didn't get hot long but it did get hot there. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E (and that is just partly due to no AC ;) |
Bigsister | Tuesday, August 27, 2002 - 06:14 am     Regarding Jason, I have a hunch about his accent. I have known a few people from the Mobile area, and they had very little accent at all. People from others parts of Alabama, on the other hand, have an accent so thick you can cut it with a knife. Is anybody here from the area around Mobile, Alabama who can fill us in on this? Squidvicious, where are you in Central Arkansas? I am in Little Rock. Maybe we are neighbors. |
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