History Main / HollywoodNewEngland

Contrast California ValleyGirl speak.

* '''North Shore''': Fishermen, townies, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick heroin]]. Also has some LovecraftCountry features, especially since Salem--yes, of the [[SalemIsWitchCountry witch trials]]--is located here. If you're venturing up here, you're probably either going to a large gathering at the Kowloon or passing through on your way to the New Hampshire Seacoast. If it's the month of October, you are ''not'' making it into Salem unless you get there at the very beginning of the day. If you live here, you're either a townie or you work in Boston or Cambridge but don't want to live there (or can't afford to) or don't want to commute from New Hampshire (or can't afford Portsmouth housing prices). Lynn and Revere used to be much worse than they are now and will certainly get you a lot of bang for your buck if you find a good living situation, but both still have areas that you don't want to go walking in too far after dark[[note]]Revere semi-infamously did see a multi-person physical assault in a trailer park get captured by a Google Earth camera in 2022[[/note]], and Lynn still has the stench from the wastewater plant and the horrific summer traffic from people trying to get to Nahant and Swampscott to contend with.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of the Pilgrims, [[NewEnglandPuritan Purtians]], and Minutemen. Plymouth Rock and Walden Pond. UsefulNotes/IvyLeague universities like Harvard and Yale.l[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]][[/note]]. Dunkin' Donuts and Ben and Jerry's. The [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Patriots]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], and [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of the Pilgrims, [[NewEnglandPuritan Purtians]], and Minutemen. Plymouth Rock and Walden Pond. UsefulNotes/IvyLeague universities like Harvard and Yale.[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]][[/note]] Dunkin' Donuts and Ben and Jerry's. The [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Patriots]], [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], and [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of Pilgrims, [[NewEnglandPuritan Purtians]], Minutemen, Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, UsefulNotes/IvyLeague schools like Harvard and Yale,[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]][[/note]] Dunkin' Donuts, Ben and Jerry's, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Patriots]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

On the one side, we have the highbrow intellectuals who attend those Ivy League universities, write books, dabble in philosophy, and end up as magnificent eccentrics. Many of these people are scions of the "Codfish Aristocracy" or "Boston Brahmins", ''uber''-exclusive, old-money WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant families who can trace their ancestry back to the ''Mayflower'' passenger list.[[note]]None of whom were named Kennedy, incidentally. That family is famously [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish Catholic]] rather than WASP, and made their money in real estate, the stock market, and Prohibition-era bootlegging.[[/note]] All of this snootiness comes in very handy when a producer requires a BlackSheep... or just wants an excuse to film in and around Kennebunkport, Hyannis, or Martha's Vineyard.

On the one side, we have the highbrow intellectuals who attend Ivy League universities, write books, dabble in philosophy and end up as magnificent eccentrics. Many of these are scions of the "Codfish Aristocracy" or "Boston Brahmins", ''uber''-exclusive, old-money WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant families who can trace their ancestry back to the ''Mayflower'' passenger list.[[note]]None of whom were named Kennedy, incidentally. That family is famously [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish Catholic]] rather than WASP, and made their money in real estate, the stock market, and Prohibition-era bootlegging.[[/note]] All this snootiness comes in very handy when a producer requires a BlackSheep... or just wants an excuse to film in and around Kennebunkport, Hyannis, or Martha's Vineyard.

On the other side of the coin, we have the tough immigrant laborers, folksy down-home farmers, and of course the crusty flannel-wearing fishermen who give us the seafood we so crave. All of these people will be veritable founts of down-to-earth wisdom, generally dispensed using as many goofily inscrutable metaphors as possible ("Cold enough to freeze the skin off a beanpole!")

Come to think of it, fish is brain food, so maybe it all fits together after all...

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of Pilgrims, [[NewEnglandPuritan Purtians]], Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, UsefulNotes/IvyLeague universities like Harvard and Yale,[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]][[/note]] Dunkin' Donuts, Ben and Jerry's, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Patriots]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, UsefulNotes/IvyLeague schools like Harvard and Yale[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]].[[/note]], Dunkin' Donuts, Ben and Jerry's, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Patriots]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

On one side, we have the highbrow intellectuals who go to Ivy League universities, write books, dabble in philosophy and end up as magnificent eccentrics. Many of these are scions of the "Codfish Aristocracy" or "Boston Brahmins", ''uber''-exclusive, old-money WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant families who can trace their ancestry back to the ''Mayflower'' passenger list.[[note]]None of whom were named Kennedy, incidentally. That family is famously [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish Catholic]] rather than WASP, and made their money in real estate, the stock market, and Prohibition-era bootlegging.[[/note]] All this snootiness comes in very handy when a producer requires a BlackSheep... or just wants an excuse to film in and around Kennebunkport, Hyannis, or Martha's Vineyard.

On one side, we have the highbrow intellectuals who go to UsefulNotes/IvyLeague universities, write books, dabble in philosophy and end up as magnificent eccentrics. Many of these are scions of the "Codfish Aristocracy" or "Boston Brahmins", ''uber''-exclusive, old-money WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant families who can trace their ancestry back to the ''Mayflower'' passenger list.[[note]]None of whom were named Kennedy, incidentally. That family is famously [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish Catholic]] rather than WASP, and made their money in real estate, the stock market, and Prohibition-era bootlegging.[[/note]] All this snootiness comes in very handy when a producer requires a BlackSheep... or just wants an excuse to film in and around Kennebunkport, Hyannis, or Martha's Vineyard.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, UsefulNotes/IvyLeague schools like Harvard and Yale[[note]][[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Brown and Dartmouth]].[[/note]], Dunkin' Donuts, Ben and Jerry's, the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Red Sox]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeauge Patriots]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation Celtics]], the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague Bruins]]. And chock full of fish.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, UsefulNotes/RhodeIsland, UsefulNotes/{{Massachusetts}}, UsefulNotes/{{Vermont}}, New Hampshire, and UsefulNotes/{{Maine}}. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution. Home of Plymouth Rock, Walden Pond, Harvard, Yale, Dunkin' Donuts, Ben and Jerry's, the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins. And chock full of fish.

* When made man Nicky Cavella first appears in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'', he and his partners arrive in New York from Boston. The first thing his liaison to the local mob families asks him is, "So you guys are from Boston too, huh? Did ya leave ya cahh inna pahkin' laht?"
* While the ComicBook/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Mirage}} originated in New York, after getting chased out by the Shredder they spent a while in and around Northampton, Massachusetts, which is where their creators hail from.
* Averted, surprisingly, in a DC Elseworlds book: The main story takes place in a fantasy realm with high fantasy counterparts of the Justice League, but the opening and closing pages faithfully depict areas in Brattleboro, VT.
* As of ComicBook/TheNew52, Black Manta was born in and has as his base of operations Gloucester, MA.
* The Dark Horse miniseries ''Colder'' is set in Boston, but averts this: The artwork gets the geography right.
* New England is, together with neighboring [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState upstate New York]], one of the [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield most popular guesses]] as to the location of Riverdale, the [[EverytownAmerica all-American small town]] setting of ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. Bob Montana, the initial artist for ''Archie'', based the high school on the one he attended in Haverhill, Massachusetts, complete with a replica of Creator/AugusteRodin 's {{sculpture|s}} Art/TheThinker. The TV adaptation ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' largely keeps to this, with the Blossom family's wealth shown to have been built on their maple syrup business (maple syrup being a big industry in northern New England).

* ComicBook/CarolDanvers is from Boston, and the miniseries ''The Life of Captain Marvel'' is largely set in Harpswell, Maine, where her family spent their summers.

** Arguably the ultimate example: none of them were from Vermont, the state they're most associated with, and only one of them ''is even from New England''. They're controversial in the state itself for propagating a certain view of the state as a hippie paradise, which is often at odds with the reality of the situation.

* The real world portion of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' takes place in Storybrooke, Maine.

* '''Metro West''': So named by the local newspaper ''Middlesex News'' in 1983 to define its coverage area, a cluster of towns in western Middlesex County, but the definition is malleable, with many organizations including towns in the 495[=/=]128 belt as far north as Wilmington and as far south as Foxborough, making the term a sort of catch-all for the arc of suburban sprawl between Boston and Worcester. During Massachusetts's economic recovery and pivot towards pharmaceutical research and technology, this area became known as the "Arc of Innovation" because of the presence of dozens of Massachusetts's fastest growing companies. Playing host to one of the densest clusters of colleges and universities in the nation, and the resulting academia-to-industry pipeline, has given this region a reputation as a brain trust of sorts. More negatively, the towns here are very posh and it's ''de rigeur'' that the houses and colleges here are out of reach of basically everyone but the wealthy -- especially in places like Sudbury and Weston. Places like Framingham, Natick, and Marlborough are generally considered more working class and affordable, but this area, by its nature as a hub of the educated professional class, is always gentrifying. If you live here, you are probably a professional working in pharma, IT, or the defence industry. If you're visiting, it's to look at Revolutionary War-era houses and monuments, view the fall foliage, or to attend a Patriots game at Gillette Stadium.

* '''Metro West''': Lots and lots of extremely posh towns you can't afford to live in (especially Weston), and about as many elite private colleges that you can't afford to go to. If you can afford to live anywhere around here, it's probably Framingham, Natick, or Marlborough.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' is touched by Bostonian influences, as the PBS station in Boston is responsible for the academic portion of production. A few episodes mention Boston Creme Pie, and the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is parodied.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also takes place in New England- specifically Rhode Island, or [=RhoDYlan=] as the natives call it. Peter and Lois have prominent Rhode Island accents. Indeed, the show's creator, Creator/SethMacFarlane, is a Connecticut native and went to college in Rhode Island. Seth based Peter's voice on a portly Rhode Island police officer he got into a situation with while at art and design college.

* Creator/ADVFilms' English translation of the ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' manga gives Osaka an exaggerated New Englander accent in her earliest appearances as a form of AccentAdaptation; in the Japanese version, she speaks with a KansaiRegionalAccent. ADV would switch over to a SouthernBelle-style Texan accent after a few strips to keep in line with their dub of the anime adaptation, and later translations (both official and fan-made) have followed suit.

** A notable exception is "Chinga" which was written by Stephen King, set in Maine.
** "Chimera" was set in Vermont, and is notable for having some [[ShownTheirWork accurate small details,]] like area code and zip code, but also for opening with a green outdoor picnic... in early April.

** '''Nashua''': Maze-like, absolutely nonsensical urban design and some of the most egregious suburban sprawl in central New England. Good luck navigating South Nashua and its endless labyrinth of one-ways without a GPS. If you're here, you're probably either mall-hopping or on your way to Manchester, Salem (for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canobie_Lake_Park Canobie Lake Park]]), or Merrimack (for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrimack_Premium_Outlets the outlets]]).

In reality, New England is one of the oldest regions of the United States: six separate states,[[note]]Writers have an annoying tendency of treating New England as a single legal entity rather than six states that handle their affairs every bit as separately as the other 44--sorry, ''Series/OnceUponATime'', but orphans from Maine would not be sent to foster care in Massachusetts.[[/note]] with a mountain range[[note]]Technically the northern end of the Appalachians, although the region is located well outside of what most of us think of as UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}.[[/note]] running up the middle and the Gulf Stream just offshore, meaning the climate and geography are all a lot more variable than that found in most other regions of the country. (Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes.) Consequently, seacoast Massachusetts is a very different place from the suburbs of Connecticut's Fairfield County, the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, the "Northern Plantations" of Maine, or the Green Mountains of Vermont,[[note]]which actually means "Green Mountain"[[/note]] and each area has its own variations of culture, accent and traditions. All of which is pretty much lost on Hollywood.

The standard protocol is for the lowly, regardless of region, to be given a generic [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Down East accent]]. The grand get the Boston-specific version, as heavily popularized by JFK and family. The irony here is that no other person in New England actually speaks like the Kennedys. Their infamous accent actually has a touch of the Queen's English mixed in, because the founding generation spent a fair amount of time in the UK while growing up (family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., was Ambassador to the Court of St. James's 1938-1940 and had other business there as well).

Their ubiquitousness on the cultural scene, meanwhile, has resulted in 95% of Hollywood having no idea how to use a Boston accent, thus bolstering the careers of Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BenAffleck, and brothers [[Creator/MarkWahlberg Mark]] and Creator/DonnieWahlberg. For that matter, non-New Englanders generally don't realize that there are in fact four versions of the "Boston" accent, only one of which is the stereotypical version -- and in real life, it's hardly as exaggerated as depicted.

The phrase "Pahk my cah in Hahvad Yahd, 'cuz that's a good ideer" is a well-known [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth shibboleth]] of the accent, though through years and years of joking overuse of the phrase the pronunciation of it in most media (and amongst most non-Bostonians) has distorted it and exaggerated it beyond recognition[[labelnote:For a somewhat fairer/more accurate shibboleth]] In a stereotypical Bostonian or similar New England accent, "car keys" and "khakis" are pronounced nearly identically.[[/labelnote]]. By the way, the car will get towed, and saying it to an actual Bostonian or attempting to get them to say it is [[BerserkButton asking to be thumped]].

** There's a similar commercial for [=McDonald's=] coffee. Two flannel-dressed guys on a pier correct each other's New Englandisms (like how to pronounce Worcester[[note]] it's pronounced like Wus-ter, not Wor-chest-er[[/note]]). "Best Broadway show ever?" "''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''"!
*** Ironically, the UsefulNotes/McDonalds version was for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters' coffee which is based in Vermont west of the Green Mountains, which had been closer to New York City pre-Interstate and never had a nonrhotic accent.

*** The great irony with these commercials is that they are giving the quizzes as a way to show whether someone is a "true" New Englander. A true New England drinks Dunkin Donuts' coffee (though Honey Dew comes in at a close second).

** Similarly, Vermont is happy to tell you at length about its trees and skiing. The only cities that exist are Burlington (We All Live In Chittenden County is a thing in local media) and Brattleboro, the latter of which is technically a town and is known only because people coming up from MA, CT, or NYC or down from Montreal or Ottawa usually pass through it and/or stop there to get gas and food or to find some way to get their kids to shut up.
** And apparently, all Connecticut consists of is two enormous casinos and a couple of boats. Bristol sometimes gets a weak mention due to Lake Compounce.

* It's lately been a fad in Boston-area billboards to write the text in an "accent." Even the Department of Transportation [[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/10/highway-drivers-told-to-use-yah-blinkah-in-boston/ has gotten in on the act]].

* For many years Pepperidge Farm bakery ran a series of TV commercials featuring a prim, straw-hatted salesman with a horse-drawn wagon and a heavy Downeast Maine accent. ("Pepperidge Fahm remembahs!")

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' has Major Charles Winchester III, a Back Bay-bred Boston Brahmin.

** Hawkeye Pierce was supposedly the son of a lobsterman from Crabapple Cove, Maine, though (perhaps wisely) neither Donald Sutherland in the film nor Alan Alda in the series ever attempted a proper downeast accent, though it is mentioned in the original novels. In the TV series his father's profession was changed to doctor.

** Making it particularly jarring when the most UsefulNotes/IvyLeague milquetoast character on the cast was [[RetCon retconned]], in the [[Series/{{Frasier}} spinoff series]], to be from the Pacific Northwest. [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief Yeah, right]].

* ''Series/BostonLegal''; the name is a give away (even if little else is). Most of the cast being rich lawyers doesn't help. Also see such other Creator/DavidEKelley shows as ''Series/ThePractice'', ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', and ''Series/BostonPublic''.

** The writers are clearly Californians, though. In Connecticut people take "84" not "the 84," New England houses almost all have cellars, no one there has heard of tri-tip, "New Haven" is spoken with the accent on the second word(like "New York"), etc.

** "Chimera" was set in Vermont, and is notable for having some [[ShownTheirWork accurate small details,]] like area code and zip code, but also for opening with a green outdoor picnic...in early April.

* The Adam Ezra Group, a Boston-based roots-rock band, plays up just about every aspect of the urban version of this trope up to eleven in "The Devil Came up to Boston", an AffectionateParody of the Charlie Daniels classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".