Department of English and American Studies English Language And
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Barbora Husáriková Being Bruce Wayne and Bridget Jones - Bale's and Zellweger's Accents Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph. D. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to give my sincere thanks to my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, PhD., for her unwavering support and my family for their words of encouragement. Special thanks go to my mother for her willingness to free me of other chores and my father for much needed technical assistance. Lastly, I would like to thank Renee Zellweger and Christian Bale. Without them and their wonderful performances, this thesis could never exist. Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6 1. Film Acting in English ............................................................................................. 9 1.1. Acting in an Accent ....................................................................................... 9 1.2 Christian Bale ............................................................................................... 10 1.3. Renee Zellweger.......................................................................................... 14 2. Phonetics and Phonology of Accents ..................................................................... 17 2.1. Establishing the Accents ................................................................................. 18 2.2. Theory behind Standard Lexical Sets ............................................................. 19 2.2.1. Lexical Sets .............................................................................................. 20 2.3. General American Accent ............................................................................... 23 2.3.1. Sound Features ......................................................................................... 23 2.3.2. Suprasegmental Features .......................................................................... 24 2.4 Estuary English ................................................................................................ 25 2.4.1. Origins ...................................................................................................... 25 2.4.2. Sound Features as Described by Rosewarne ............................................ 26 2.4.3. Other Features as Described by Rosewarne ............................................. 27 2.4.4. Reactions to Rosewarne ........................................................................... 28 2.4.5. Ambiguity of EE ...................................................................................... 32 3. Research ................................................................................................................. 35 3.1. Choice of Materials and Methodology ............................................................ 35 3.2. Batman Begins (2005)..................................................................................... 38 3.2.1. Positive Self-presentation ........................................................................ 38 3.2.2. Confrontation ........................................................................................... 39 3.2.3. Self-reinvention ........................................................................................ 40 3.2.4. Summary of Bale's Accent ....................................................................... 41 3.3. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) ........................................................................ 42 3.3.1. Positive Self-presentation ........................................................................ 42 3.3.2. Confrontation ........................................................................................... 43 3.3.3. Self-reinvention ........................................................................................ 44 3.3.4. Summary of Bale's Accent ....................................................................... 44 3.4. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) ........................................................................... 45 3.4.1. Positive Self-presentation ........................................................................ 45 3.4.2. Confrontation ........................................................................................... 46 3.4.3. Self-reinvention ........................................................................................ 47 3.4.4. Summary of Zellweger's Accent .............................................................. 49 3.5. Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) ........................................................................... 50 3.5.1. Positive Self-presentation ........................................................................ 50 3.5.2. Confrontation ........................................................................................... 52 3.5.3. Self-reinvention ........................................................................................ 53 3.5.4. Summary of Zellweger's Accent .............................................................. 54 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 55 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 59 Summary (English) .................................................................................................... 66 Summary (Czech)....................................................................................................... 67 Appendix .................................................................................................................... 68 Contents of the enclosed CD .................................................................................. 68 CD with recordings………………………………………attached to the back cover Introduction Accent, according to Wells, is a pattern of pronunciation, thus representing something every speaker has and is characterized by, namely in terms of geographical region, social class and a level of education (Wells 2). Furthermore, he claims that "one's accent is a part of personal identity" (Wells 34) and while there are indeed some who embrace their accent, others deliberately abandon it and adopt a different one to become accepted or refined, resulting in accent reduction. However, there is also another group of people who frequently speak in accents different from their natural ones: actors. As Paul Meier, a renowned accent coach, explains in his book Accents &Dialects for Stage and Screen: "For actors, the true delight and most solemn duty is to disappear inside their character's story, and to take on the character's behaviors, value system, fears and dreams. By this act of mimesis, actors hope to penetrate a truth not their own, and to reveal that truth to an audience" (Meier 3). It is obvious that to portray a character well, actors need to become said character, which sometimes includes losing their own accent and learning a new one. I, as the author of this study, have always been fascinated by cinema, and particularly by actors eager to undergo a drastic change to portray a character realistically. Christian Bale is one of those actors, as evidenced by his frequent dramatic physical transformations. For the role of a paranoid insomniac in The Machinist, he became emaciated, but afterwards had to quickly gain muscle for his role in Batman Begins. Between the second and third installment of the Dark Knight Trilogy, he was forced to lose weight again to portray a cocaine-addicted former boxer in The Fighter, resulting in an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The post-Batman era saw him gaining weight again, this time for the role of a comb over-sporting con artist in American 6 Hustle. To perfect the physical traits of this character, Bale slouched his posture throughout the filming, “herniating two of his disks in the process” (“American Hustle (2013) Trivia”). Despite some obviously damaging effects of such transformations, he does not avoid them. Quite the contrary, he is currently filming a biographical drama about the former vice president Dick Chaney, playing the main part. This role also required Bale to gain weight and moreover, shave his head and eyebrows (“Backseat (2018) Trivia”). In spite of my appreciation for his dedication to the craft, I was unaware of Bale's origin. Seeing him portray characters that were almost exclusively American, I was under the mistaken belief that the American accent was truly his own. This illusion of mine was shattered only recently and the revelation of Bale's English origin caused me to not only admire him on a different level but also to see a connection with yet another Hollywood actor. Renee Zellweger portrayed a London-based Bridget Jones despite being American herself. Additionally, just like Bale, she also had to gain weight, though not to look muscular but rather as a plump woman in her thirties. Willing to undertake both phonetic and physical transformations, Bale and Zellweger were extremely dedicated to truly being their respective characters. Though deeply admiring the physical change this thesis examines the other aspect