Given the fact that any language used in such a movie is going to be wildly unlike the language spoken in the time and place of the movie, I think that’s a mild anachronism
Old English / Norman French etc would be practically incomprehensible to anybody.
There was an interesting TV show called Barbarians a few years ago where all the Romans spoke Latin but with Italian accents but they had the Germanic barbarians speaking modern German. Not sure if that would please anybody.
Props to the movies that shout the “Loose!” command
As I understand it, that’s still not very historically accurate. It was not really a thing for archers to nock and loose together like they do in the movies.
for the haters :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volley_fire#Bows
The co-ordination and timing could probably be resolved with musical instruments, which were used to relay orders, messages etc.
EDIT : Also, what did OP expect, for all the characters to speak Old English?
Well, this is going to bug me for the rest of my life.
Thanks.
Something I dislike in movies is when a movie is set in a non-English-speaking country, but all the characters are speaking English. I would rather have the characters speak the proper language for the country, with English subtitles. But I guess the movie execs have calculated that subtitles will make the movie less profitable.
Even worse in my opinion is when they use a generic British accent as a stand-in for literally any time and place in history. Ancient Rome? British accent. Ancient Greece? Also British accent. Ancient Persia? British accent again! Ancient Egypt? You guessed it! British accent! Even when the actors aren’t even British, the accent is. It makes no sense. It’s lazy and arrogant.
If I had a billion dollars, I’d make the most painstakingly realistic movie about Samurai in feudal Japan, and have all Japanese actors using a SoCal Chicano accent. Or maybe a hyper realistic Viking epic with a full Nordic cast, but they all talk like surfer bros.
The audience needs to be forced to see how insulting that shit is.
Yeah I can understand speaking English and avoiding subtitles, but there are basically three options for accent:
- American, with some allowance for “urban” vs “country”
- Not American - English
- Evil - Russian or German, depending
The English accent is often used for evil empires too, eg Star Wars.
Also lots of evil mastermind types in spy movies and whatnot. They also like to eat while being evil, which I have a whole theory about.
There are a lot of interesting discussions around the use of food in movies. Even ones that aren’t directly about food.
Regular food intake is critical for our survival so it makes sense that it takes a large social role.
As a general rule, making and sharing food is considered “good”.
- “Everybody eats when they come to my house.” - Cab Calloway
- “You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant.” - Arlo Guthrie
Taking and consuming food is “bad”.
- “Get in my belly!” - Fat Bastard
- “Mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down with?” - Jules
The exception is when food is offered. In that case, graciously accepting the food is also good.
- ET and Sloth (from Goonies) accept the candy.
How does Valentine serving Sir Galahad McDonalds on a silver platter in Kingman Secret Service fit into that?
I’ll take a stab at it but I don’t remember that movie well so I had to re-watch the clip.
I’ll start by reiterating that the above stuff is generalizations. Some authors ignore them and some intentionally break them. I thin Kingsmen falls into the latter category.
The movie is full of class shibboleths and makes a point of dissociating etiquette from kindness or morality.
To start with, it’s rude of Valentine to offer McCdonalds. There’s an expectation of generosity towards guests and McDonalds certainly doesn’t meet that expectation in that sort of setting.
Sir Galahad’s response is that of a perfect guest. He doesn’t argue with his host or call him out. Instead he accepts what is offered and humbly supports Valentines implication that it’s the height of epicurean delight.
The larger context is to set up a contrast between Valentine and Eggsy. While booth violate high-class etiquette rules, Valentine does it out of aggression and selfishness and Eggsy does it to save the world.
