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Australian soap Neighbours is ending forever

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cyberdad
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28 Jul 2022, 4:47 pm

KitLily wrote:
Yet underneath it all, Frasier and Niles have good hearts and mean well.


I agree! there is a concurrent theme in all drama that people who appear flawed have some redeeming factor (even minor) that enriches their character development but provides hope to many people that despite bad qualities they see in themselves there is a chance for them to redeem themselves.

Certainly a lot of character development in Neighbors for permanent characters who play the bad guy (cough* Paul Robinson cough*)



cyberdad
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28 Jul 2022, 4:52 pm

DuckHairback wrote:
I can identify strongly with that idea of not being what the father expected or wanted his son to be, and the hurt that causes on both sides, but ultimately still loving each other. .


This is certainly another theme explored over the years in Neighbours involving family dynamics. The most interesting to me was the interaction between Dr Carl and Susan Kennedy's kids and the parents during their turbulent marriage.



cyberdad
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28 Jul 2022, 4:59 pm

DuckHairback wrote:
I struggle a lot with British television. Not so much the older stuff I grew up with, but modern drama and comedy. For some reason I find British accents really hard to take in TV shows and films, it just sounds fake to me. Fortunately there's plenty of excellent US stuff to watch.


It may surprise a lot of Brits but a lot of Australians love the British accent (I think it's popular in the US as well). My sister even started to imitate her British born husband's accent which was amusing.

I have to admit that I preferred listening to an educated british voice read the news or do the commentary on the cricket or a documentary. Some type of ASMR quality but it could be conditioning (not sure?)



KitLily
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29 Jul 2022, 7:23 am

cyberdad wrote:
KitLily wrote:
Yet underneath it all, Frasier and Niles have good hearts and mean well.


I agree! there is a concurrent theme in all drama that people who appear flawed have some redeeming factor (even minor) that enriches their character development but provides hope to many people that despite bad qualities they see in themselves there is a chance for them to redeem themselves.

Certainly a lot of character development in Neighbors for permanent characters who play the bad guy (cough* Paul Robinson cough*)


Yes indeed. VERY well put. I am an editor and I have learned that books with completely evil or boring characters don't succeed. People need some kind of hook to make them want to keep reading (or watching a show) and the best hook is a character you can root for.

Paul Robinson's redeeming feature is that he loves his family and will do anything for them.

If you watched the show Blake's 7 (made in the 1970s/80s), all those characters are horrible. Yet they all have redeeming features which made people keep watching.


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KitLily
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29 Jul 2022, 7:27 am

cyberdad wrote:
It may surprise a lot of Brits but a lot of Australians love the British accent (I think it's popular in the US as well). My sister even started to imitate her British born husband's accent which was amusing.

I have to admit that I preferred listening to an educated british voice read the news or do the commentary on the cricket or a documentary. Some type of ASMR quality but it could be conditioning (not sure?)


That's the ironic thing. There isn't a 'British accent.' We all speak differently- there's English, Welsh, Northern Irish, Scottish. Plus the dialects- Cockney, Scouse, West Country, Midlands, Geordie, Yorkshire etc. There are dozens of dialects.

What you're thinking of as 'a British accent' is probably the posh, BBC announcer pronunciation that nobody really uses anymore. That is an English accent.


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KitLily
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29 Jul 2022, 4:48 pm

And there we have it. Neighbours has ended forever. What a beautiful ending. It is very significant that A list stars returned to pay tribute to it and the fans. :heart:

It was quite funny to see the look on our 16 year old daughter's face when I said 'Dad and I have been watching Neighbours since we were 16, before we even knew each other and long before you were born.' 8)


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cyberdad
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29 Jul 2022, 6:49 pm

KitLily wrote:
And there we have it. Neighbours has ended forever. What a beautiful ending. It is very significant that A list stars returned to pay tribute to it and the fans. :heart:

It was quite funny to see the look on our 16 year old daughter's face when I said 'Dad and I have been watching Neighbours since we were 16, before we even knew each other and long before you were born.' 8)


I think Craig Mchlauchlin and Russell Crowe were the only ones missing. But for completely different reasons :lol:



cyberdad
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29 Jul 2022, 7:50 pm

KitLily wrote:
What you're thinking of as 'a British accent' is probably the posh, BBC announcer pronunciation that nobody really uses anymore. That is an English accent.


The Australian broadcaster (ABC TV) prior to the 1960s required all newscasters to have a British accent. I am not sure what that means but I do know that prior to this period that to get a professorship in an Australian university in the early 20th century mean't having a degree from Oxford or Cambridge. I assume this might mean newscasters were supposed to have "Oxford" type "educated" accents but to be honest I'm just guessing.



KitLily
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30 Jul 2022, 5:48 am

cyberdad wrote:
I think Craig Mchlauchlin and Russell Crowe were the only ones missing. But for completely different reasons :lol:


There were loads of them missing but it was good enough.


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KitLily
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30 Jul 2022, 5:54 am

cyberdad wrote:
The Australian broadcaster (ABC TV) prior to the 1960s required all newscasters to have a British accent. I am not sure what that means but I do know that prior to this period that to get a professorship in an Australian university in the early 20th century mean't having a degree from Oxford or Cambridge. I assume this might mean newscasters were supposed to have "Oxford" type "educated" accents but to be honest I'm just guessing.


Yes they probably meant a posh English accent. Like Boris Johnson has. And the actor Stephen Fry. I'm trying to think of other examples. The Queen and her family. It is called 'Received Pronunciation' for some reason.

Ordinary people in Britain don't talk like that.


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30 Jul 2022, 6:01 am

It’s the accent of the “elite.”

People aren’t “better” merely by virtue of having an “elite” origin. Boris is a prime example. He’s a very profligate individual. Not classy at all.



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30 Jul 2022, 6:04 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s the accent of the “elite.”

People aren’t “better” merely by virtue of having an “elite” origin. Boris is a prime example. He’s a very profligate individual. Not classy at all.


Exactly. 99% of us aren't elite in Britain so we don't talk like that.

As you say, many of the elite aren't classy or even nice.


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01 Aug 2022, 5:03 am

KitLily wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
It’s the accent of the “elite.”

People aren’t “better” merely by virtue of having an “elite” origin. Boris is a prime example. He’s a very profligate individual. Not classy at all.


Exactly. 99% of us aren't elite in Britain so we don't talk like that.

As you say, many of the elite aren't classy or even nice.


It wasn't so long ago that regional accents weren't permitted on the BBC - presenters had to speak Received Pronunciation - it's 'received' because it isn't a regional dialect, it's an accent that is taught. This wasn't just elitism - the BBC broadcast across the world and was a considerable source of soft power for us. It would have been alienating for foreign listeners to have to deal with some of our regional accents (which even some Brits struggle to understand). The BBC did a study of accents and found RP to be easiest to understand for most people, which is why they chose it. But it is also inherently elite, being non-geographical and most closely correlates to how and where you were educated and how wealthy your family is.


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01 Aug 2022, 11:19 am

DuckHairback wrote:
It wasn't so long ago that regional accents weren't permitted on the BBC - presenters had to speak Received Pronunciation - it's 'received' because it isn't a regional dialect, it's an accent that is taught. This wasn't just elitism - the BBC broadcast across the world and was a considerable source of soft power for us. It would have been alienating for foreign listeners to have to deal with some of our regional accents (which even some Brits struggle to understand). The BBC did a study of accents and found RP to be easiest to understand for most people, which is why they chose it. But it is also inherently elite, being non-geographical and most closely correlates to how and where you were educated and how wealthy your family is.


The class system in Britain is ridiculous. It's outdated. I wonder if the reason the Tory party is continuously voted into power is because 'the peasants' are still brainwashed into thinking 'posh people' know what's best for them and the country. It should be obvious now that they do not know best or care what happens to the majority of Brits.


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cyberdad
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01 Aug 2022, 4:56 pm

KitLily wrote:
Yes they probably meant a posh English accent. Like Boris Johnson has. And the actor Stephen Fry. I'm trying to think of other examples. The Queen and her family. It is called 'Received Pronunciation' for some reason.

Ordinary people in Britain don't talk like that.


I have heard of this phenomena where the accent of the expatriate populations start to diverge from their home country. This is certainly the origin of the Australian and NZ accent which may have originated from English cockney but now sounds completely different (I have heard recordings in the Australian national archives of settlers in the 19th century Australia and they have to my ears decidely English accents).

In Australia the educated class like my parents and grandparents all went through private schools and lived in specific areas so I think our accent is different to the broader "Paul Hogan" stereotypical Aussie accent. I've been told I pronounce my syllables so perhaps this is some type of "Received pronounciation". However English people I have known think I still have an Australian "twang" like a guitar string they can hear :lol:



KitLily
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02 Aug 2022, 4:49 am

cyberdad wrote:
I have heard of this phenomena where the accent of the expatriate populations start to diverge from their home country. This is certainly the origin of the Australian and NZ accent which may have originated from English cockney but now sounds completely different (I have heard recordings in the Australian national archives of settlers in the 19th century Australia and they have to my ears decidely English accents).

In Australia the educated class like my parents and grandparents all went through private schools and lived in specific areas so I think our accent is different to the broader "Paul Hogan" stereotypical Aussie accent. I've been told I pronounce my syllables so perhaps this is some type of "Received pronounciation". However English people I have known think I still have an Australian "twang" like a guitar string they can hear :lol:


Yes, I'm sure expatriate accents would diverge, that's logical. Like white Jamaicans have a very different accent to native English people.

The settlers undoubtedly would have English accents.

There are so many different versions of English that we can tell which is which, you see. Like the actor Alexander Dreymon (Uhtred in the Last Kingdom). He sounds English to Australians, but he does in fact have a German accent (because he's German-American).

Slightly off topic, but if you really want to know what native English people are like (as in our character, behaviour and attitude) watch the series 'Detectorists.' We don't have posh accents. We are generally pretty mild and hate confrontations. We often have weird hobbies.

'Detectorists' is a masterpiece of Englishness. It's hard to define. It's not a sitcom, or a drama. It's probably best defined as 'a gentle comedy drama.' Highly, highly recommended.


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