Awful and Unrealistic British Characters

[BobbyShazam]

I'm loving the show so far but is anyone else annoyed at the completely unrealistic British characters?  Clearly their parts were written by nobody who has ever been here! Rhona Mitra certainly doesn't speak like that in real life.

 

I've lived in Britain for more than 40 years and I don't know anyone who sounds, looks or acts like the "British" people on the show.  Tip: if we were on a sub under attack or were angry/frustrated at an American ship for getting away we would *not* be saying "Oh bloody hell" etc. And we never *ever* refer to ourselves as Europeans.

 

If we're going for stereotypes then all the American characters would be 30 stone in weight, wearing cowboy hats and with supersized cheeseburgers in both hands, wondering what these things called "other countries" are :-D

 

Great show though and plenty of potential although it bears more than a slight resemblance to the British show "Survivors" from a few years back.

Edited July 18, 2015 by BobbyShazam

[Cigale]

That!

I mute the sound and put on the subtitles whenever we are in the British sub.

[BobbyShazam]

From the latest ep:

 

"Punters like us"

 

"Let's bugger off back to England"

 

...said no British person EVER.  Such a shame as I'm really getting in to TLS but the awful characterisation is spoiling each scene.  I'm just waiting for a butler called Nigel to turn up on the sub.

 

Also the writers seem to be suffering from this common US affliction of failing to know the differences between England/English and Britain/British....

[HalcyonDays]

I'm wondering if we should change this thread to focus on the other unrealistic portrayal of characters.

 

Russian Captain Ruskov, anyone? And isn't Patient Zero (totally forget his name) supposed to be Russian. His accent is weird.

 

That, and the fact that either the characters on the show are a) on a powertrip, looking to become leader and take over via violence and force or b) act like sheep who are easily swept into a cult-like community.

 

Otherwise, the only good selfless people being portrayed are those on the Nathan James.

[ottoDbusdriver]

And isn't Patient Zero (totally forget his name) supposed to be Russian. His accent is weird.

 

Patient Zero is Norwegian.  Back in Episode 1E07, he was shown working in Oslo, Norway.  And that's probably where he lived since his wife was with him.

Edited July 22, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[MissLucas]

Well at least the XO (I think it was him) was able to identify an Irish accent. I also enjoyed bad Brit screaming 'Oy!' into the receiver after the NJ had taken out the relay beacon.

[BobbyShazam]

"Bloody hell" this, "bloody hell" that, WE JUST DON'T SPEAK LIKE THAT!!!

 

And after this week's episode, we wouldn't say "trailer park" - we'd say Caravan Site.  Sean's accent is the worst attempt at a cockney dialect I've heard in a long time too. Nobody sounds like that!

Edited July 28, 2015 by BobbyShazam

[millennium]

Oh you yellow whiny wankers!

 

But seriously, this show literally and metaphorically sank to new depths aboard the submarine apparently helmed by The Young Ones.   This storyline is awful, awful, awful.   And there's no bloody end in sight.   Bloody hell.

 

Rhona Mitra's British isn't she?   How come she's intelligible?  Why isn't she running around the Nathan James shouting "Where's my bloody primeval sample you simpering sods?  I'll need some corn flour with spam, mice with spam, spam, spam and spam!"

 

I can't stand Patient Zero either, whom I refer to as "Siegfried" (yes, I know he's not German, but ...) 

Edited July 28, 2015 by millennium

[Raja]

Oh you yellow whiny wankers!

 

But seriously, this show literally and metaphorically sank to new depths aboard the submarine apparently helmed by The Young Ones.   This storyline is awful, awful, awful.   And there's no bloody end in sight.   Bloody hell.

 

Rhona Mitra's British isn't she?   How come she's intelligible?  Why isn't she running around the Nathan James shouting "Where's my bloody primeval sample you simpering sods?  I'll need some corn flour with spam, mice with spam, spam, spam and spam!"

 

I can't stand Patient Zero either, whom I refer to as "Siegfried" (yes, I know he's not German, but ...) 

Time to go to the what I learned from the board thread. I thought Spam was a Hawaiian and  Filipino thing.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Raja

[ottoDbusdriver]

Time to go to the what I learned from the board thread. I thought Spam was a Hawaiian and  Filipino thing.

 

@raja -- how have you never seen this clip of Monty Python's Flying Circus from 1970.  Don't forget to stay for credits at the end of clip.

 

Edited July 28, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[MissLucas]

This quote from the episode by @Millennium is just perfect:

 

The British bad guys are so freaking ridiculous that the Benny Hill theme ought to be playing in the background of every scene on the sub.

[HalcyonDays]

But seriously, this show literally and metaphorically sank to new depths aboard the submarine apparently helmed by The Young Ones.   This storyline is awful, awful, awful.   And there's no bloody end in sight.   Bloody hell.

 

Ha! So true. And besides running around calling each other wankers, the only other sentence they can speak is "SHUT IT!" Even The Youngs Ones were not as dysfunctional as these bickering dudes. I suspect the crap accent is to show how low class/thuggish/riffraff-ish the guys on the sub are.

 

Rhona Mitra is English I think, but I guess she gets to keep the "posh" accent, since she is one of the people who is obviously intelligent and is trying to save the world.

[Human]

I must admit that the ridiculous British speech has been some a lovely addition.  It just fits right in with all of the other outrageous stuff.  It's like the writers are sitting around a table giving zero fucks about how realistic this is - indeed, probably making sure they can find all the places from which they can erase realism from the script - just so long as the fight scenes are good and explosive.  I've never loved such a dumb show so bloody much. 

[BobbyShazam]

Ha! So true. And besides running around calling each other wankers, the only other sentence they can speak is "SHUT IT!" Even The Youngs Ones were not as dysfunctional as these bickering dudes. I suspect the crap accent is to show how low class/thuggish/riffraff-ish the guys on the sub are.

 

Rhona Mitra is English I think, but I guess she gets to keep the "posh" accent, since she is one of the people who is obviously intelligent and is trying to save the world.

In America they're generally only aware of 2 British accents (even though there are possibly hundreds), the upper class version and Cockney.  As Mitre's character is meant to be very different to Sean they've clearly been told to exaggerate in order to display that contrast.  It's always amusing though when the Brits use the American version for some of our expressions.  You know, let's not have them be "too" British ;-)  For example the other week Sean said something about being on "POTUS" duty - nobody from Ireland of the UK would say that as it's not an expression we're familiar with or ever use - after the show I had to Google it as I'd never heard it before in almost 40 years,

 

You can't totally blame the writers for it though, I get the impression in the majority of American tv shows where a British character is featured as long as they sound 'British enough' then who cares how bad they sound to people who will know better.  Plus Irishman Brían F.O'Byrne is the one actually creating Sean's "accent."

 

For any Americans who isn't "getting" our criticisms of the show's Brits, just imagine a UK show where all your country's characters have accents that none of your countrymen actually use, wear 10 gallon cowboy hats EVERYWHERE, shout "YEEEHAW" at every point, are 10 stone overweight, threaten to sue each other for "emotional injury" whilst telling everyone "we don't do it like that in the States".....

 

It's not all bad though,we do call people "wankers" a lot though.  The irony though is if one of our own shows used the word as much as they do on TLS it would get booted off the air.  But don't worry, we have just as many different swear words and insults as you lot  ;-)

Edited August 2, 2015 by BobbyShazam

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Are y'all trying to tell me that Downton Abbey isn't a current-day documentary of English life?  I'm telling you now, the Dowager would kick Chandler's behind from Dover to Delaware.  Without benefit of Her Majesty's Navy.

[Raja]

 For example the other week Sean said something about being on "POTUS" duty - nobody from Ireland of the UK would say that as it's not an expression we're familiar with or ever use - after the show I had to Google it as I'd never heard it before in almost 40 years,

 

I never heard of it until Rob Lowe used it on the opening scene on the pilot of The West Wing, and he had to explain it to that night's hook up on the show along with us, the audience. It might only be used by the partisan political press

[Mars477]

I never heard of it until Rob Lowe used it on the opening scene on the pilot of The West Wing, and he had to explain it to that night's hook up on the show along with us, the audience. It might only be used by the partisan political press

POTUS (which stands for "President of the United States") has been around for centuries and is used by everyone, from Washington insiders to the Secret Service to the military (although this overlaps with "National Command Authority") to the POTUS himself.  After all, his Twitter handle is @POTUS.

[OSM Mom]

POTUS (which stands for "President of the United States") has been around for centuries and is used by everyone, from Washington insiders to the Secret Service to the military (although this overlaps with "National Command Authority") to the POTUS himself. After all, his Twitter handle is @POTUS.

And the first Lady is FLOTUS.

[BobbyShazam]

Are y'all trying to tell me that Downton Abbey isn't a current-day documentary of English life?  I'm telling you now, the Dowager would kick Chandler's behind from Dover to Delaware.  Without benefit of Her Majesty's Navy.

Try Eastenders mate ;-)

[BobbyShazam]

So after a great few weeks they finally bring Sean Ramsey back.....his speech about the 'special relationship' was wasted on me - generally do Americans viewers really think his accent is authentic? It's really distracting, NOBODY sounds like that....except British characters found in American films/tv.....

I know I'm keeping on...but it's ruining a good show. We don't say things like "cell phones", we say "mobile phones". We don't recognise the authority of your president but Sean and his mates treat him like he's the new saviour.

I'm just hoping that in season 3 the producers move away from the done-to-death "British villains" cliche and get a different enemy. How about the Australians? Generally you lot can understand them too :-D

Edited August 27, 2015 by BobbyShazam

[Raja]

So after a great few weeks they finally bring Sean Ramsey back.....his speech about the 'special relationship' was wasted on me - generally do Americans viewers really think his accent is authentic? It's really distracting, NOBODY sounds like that....except British characters found in American films/tv.....

I know I'm keeping on...but it's ruining a good show. We don't say things like "cell phones", we say "mobile phones". We don't recognise the authority of your president but Sean and his mates treat him like he's the new saviour.

I'm just hoping that in season 3 the producers move away from the done-to-death "British villains" cliche and get a different enemy. How about the Australians? Generally you lot can understand them too :-D

Seems I just had this same discussion talking about different Hispanic ethnic groups and their regional accents and cultural distinguishes on another message board. There as here the audience is American and terms used will be the terms Americans do so that the main audience is not confused. And they won't cast for the perfect dialect actor be it Russian or British,  main role or speaking extra, it is only one of many factors that go into choosing an actor.

 

As for the President the show tells us that the Immune Death Cult has already taken Europe and now Sean is here as God's messenger in his eyes needing to take the American land mass and with the legitimate heir to the presidency as stated in our constitution being one of the Chosen Immune's. So beyond his status as the new Moses or pope of humanity he has the political wing backing him in this corner of the globe and should he be able to sink Nathan James perhaps the only organized mobile military force

[Dowel Jones]

just imagine a UK show where all your country's characters have accents that none of your countrymen actually use, wear 10 gallon cowboy hats EVERYWHERE, shout "YEEEHAW" at every point, are 10 stone overweight, threaten to sue each other for "emotional injury" whilst telling everyone "we don't do it like that in the States".....

 

That's ridiculous.  We're far too busy engaging in high speed car chases through crowded city streets and driving the wrong way down freeways.  That being said, we're always courageous enough to pull a car crash victim out of the wreckage (bodily injuries be damned) just seconds before the massive explosion.

[Raja]

and remember with cell versus mobile phone issue Ramsey was making a propaganda broadcast to America. And so far they have been far ahead of the US Navy in that effort. They have a plan.

[bmoore4026]

What gets me is making the English submarine guys the bad guys when Anglophilia (or something like it) is so high in America now.  So many British actors and actresses are in demand, along with British shows.  It just seems like a bad time to make British people (especially the British military) the bad guys.  Why couldn't it have been an American submarine crew that went rogue and became a cult?  Is the answer Michael Bay?

[MissLucas]

They probably wanted to keep the scope of the show global (though that wasn't really working). And British villains have one big advantage: you don't need any subtitles (or awkward language switches).

[Human]

To be fair, they are being completely ridiculous with every sub culture and accent on the show.  That couple with the sick kid in the latest episode were apparently supposed to be representative of the Southern Mississippi Delta region and holy smokes that was the worst attempt I've ever heard.  It didn't even sound like real people.  It was the way someone would talk when they are drunk and attempting to make fun of the southern accent.  It deeply offended me.  

[MissLucas]

Yeah, I also think Russians would have a word or two to say about last season's villains.

[crowswork]

Don't let it get you down too much - the Euro Immunes are God Gift and He is on their side. He allows them to magically take over America with one submarine and a faux Irish Manson cult leader with the charisma of a potato.

[RedDwarfIV]

What gets me is making the English submarine guys the bad guys when Anglophilia (or something like it) is so high in America now.  So many British actors and actresses are in demand, along with British shows.  It just seems like a bad time to make British people (especially the British military) the bad guys.  Why couldn't it have been an American submarine crew that went rogue and became a cult?  Is the answer Michael Bay?

But it wasn't a British submarine crew. It was the coxswain and his brother, while the rest of the crew was dead. Reminds me of the FS Dessaix from Axis Of Time - the 'captain' was a Chief Mate or something who had been in charge of the helicopter bay. He was an absolute mess of a petty officer, but he was the most senior crew member to cooperate with the Nazis.

 

As far as I can see, Britain and the Royal Navy were not being portrayed badly here. It's just that two crew members who had the capability to be very nasty people were suddenly given free reign of a nuclear submarine.

[Merlin3D]

Anyone else notice how many times she has to look away when she's about to say something I'm assuming she can't remember her lines. It's really frustrating me. Oh Rhona Mitra btw. Im only on s01 e05 it's making it difficult to get into the show.

[Ebau]

14 hours ago, Merlin3D said:

Anyone else notice how many times she has to look away when she's about to say something I'm assuming she can't remember her lines. It's really frustrating me. Oh Rhona Mitra btw. Im only on s01 e05 it's making it difficult to get into the show.

I've noticed that little habit by Tom Selleck on Blue Bloods.  He's often looking off to the right (mostly) when he speaks his lines; I'm certain he's using cue cards. It's a little distracting. I didn't notice that about Rhona Mitra though. If I ever give Seasons 1 and 2 another go, I'll watch for that.