Why Is The Villain Always British?

An Analysis of American Attitudes Towards British English And the Influence of Media, Using the Example of the Movie “Gladiator” (2000)

Trabajo , 2013 , 17 Páginas , Calificación: 1,3

Filología inglesa - Lingüística

Although they have been separated by history for many centuries, their common language often deceives into attributing America and Britain with equally common cultures, ideologies and communicative conventions. In this case, the English language acts as a “faux ami”. This is nowhere more apparent, than in the attitudes both nations developed due to the perception of each other's English. These “language attitudes” are generated, expressed and modified in many ways and differ substantially. But what attitudes do Americans have towards British English? How are these attitudes generated, expressed and modified? And what influence do the American media have on these processes? This paper answers these questions by presenting previous attitude studies and analysing their results, using the movie "Gladiator" (2000) as an example for American media.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Previous Research
2.1. British and American Language Ideologies
2.2. Language Attitude Studies
2.2.1. “Accent and Social Class Effect on Status and Solidarity Evaluations” (1985)
2.2.2. “Pax Americana? Accent attitudinal evaluations in New Zealand, Australia and America” (2001)
2.2.3. “Attitudinal data from New Zealand, Australia, the USA and UK about each other’s Englishes: Recent changes or consequences of methodologies?” (2005)
2.3. The Media Influence on Language Attitudes
2.4. Summary/ Research Questions

3. Analysis of the Movie “Gladiator” (2000)
3.1. Data/ Methodology
3.2. Analysis
3.3. Discussion

4. Conclusion

5. References
5.1. Internet Sources
5.2. Literature

• Universidad: University of Münster
• Calificación: 1,3
• Autor: Dominik Poos (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2013
• Páginas: 17
• No. de catálogo: V233422
• ISBN (Ebook): 9783656508243
• ISBN (Libro): 9783656508083
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: villain, always, british, analysis, american, attitudes, towards, english, influence, media, using, example, movie, gladiator”