on the accent of the language they would logically be speaking in the time
and setting of the story.
If a French accent is meant to remind viewers that the story is taking
place in France, then logic would require that all the characters in that
story speak with a French accent. But this is not the case in animated or
live action; for the most part, in movies set outside English-speaking
countries only a few actors will contrive the accent of that country. The
decision about which actors will try to sound French, for example, is not
random, but follows logically from the dominant stereotypes (or in some
cases, from the actor’s native language). Consider Disney’s Beauty and the
Beast (Trousdale and Wise 1991, directors) set in France (Table 7.1). All
of the major characters speak English with American accents with three
exceptions: the sexy chamber maid, the amorous butler, and a
temperamental cook are voiced by actors contriving French accents.
Table 7.1 Animated characters speaking French-accented English
The exact opposite approach was taken with The Hunchback of Notre
Dame, also set in France; in this case, there were no French accents used,
but those voice actors who were portraying the dark-skinned Romani took
on inconsistent and unidentifiable L2 features.
A final consideration that is very relevant to analysis of language
manipulation in these films has to do with a new direction in casting that
began in the 1960s with the production of The Jungle Book. This was the
first animated feature in which voice actors were cast on the basis of
public recognition and popularity. Actors and musicians who had already