History Main / MajorCharacterMainstreamAccent

* Although ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' knows Southern, Appalachian and RP English, the main cast and major recurring side characters speak Midwestern English (with the odd unintentional [[CanadaEh Canadian]] intonation). It is no coincidence that Applejack and Rarity (who sport a Texan and a Mid-Atlantic accent respectively) are often considered to be the least developed characters of the "Mane Six".

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' was filmed in Australia and most of the cast are Australian and speak with their natural accents, with the exception of lead character (and TokenHuman) John Crichton, played by the American Creator/BenBrowder.

* Parodied in the Creator/FoilArmsAndHog sketch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3gyQLgr8m8 Regional Accent Discrimination]]'', where a couple of stereotypes "afflicted" with various strong UsefulNotes/BritishAccents hire a professional accent coach speaking a soft, inoffensive and unplaceable RP-esque accent in order to help them break into mainstream media. [[spoiler:The sketch ends with the coach becoming so annoyed with them that [[OohMeAccentsSlipping he slips back into his own native lower-class Dublin]]]].

* ''Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon'': In the movies, the protagonist Hiccup sounds American even though all the adult vikings sound Scottish. Similarly, all the teenage characters sound American when their parents don't.

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'': While it's implied that the franchise takes place in England, and Christopher Robin does have the accent to match (with a few exceptions), most of the LivingToys[[note]]Except for Owl, sometimes[[/note]] (who are more prominent than Christopher Robin) sound American in the animated versions. However, in ''Film/ChristopherRobin'', most of them (except for Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger) do sound British.

* Famously (or infamously) ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' features Creator/KevinCostner playing Myth/RobinHood in his own American accent while everyone else sounds English. Even his fellow American Creator/ChristianSlater, playing Will Scarlet, attempts an English accent [[OohMeAccentsSlipping with mixed success]].

Notably, this almost never extends to the protagonist of such a setting. Depending on the place of origin of the work (or indeed its intended target audience), the main characters will speak in the most neutral, mainstream variation of the language dominating the locale (specifically the seat of the author or entertainment industry). Curiously, this tends to extend to the main antagonists as much as to the heroes (at least when EvilBrit is not in play). The rule of thumb is that the more central a character is to the plot, the more screen-time they receive and the more development they experience, the ''less'' likely they are to speak in a (possibly distracting) distinct accent instead of a generic one.

This is not limited to English either: GermanMedia tend to have their leads speak ''[[UsefulNotes/GermanDialects Hochdeutsch]]'' ("High" German as tendentially spoken in Hanover) rather than regional dialects like ''Bairisch'' or ''Platt'' (which even extends to SwissMedia, where the neutral dialect is known as ''Schriftdeutsch''); JapaneseMedia leads tend to speak [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseDialects Tokyo]] rather than, say, Nagoya or [[TheIdiotFromOsaka Kansai]].

This might sometimes be a result of more famous/mainstream actors being more likely to play major characters (see NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize), and said mainstream actors are likely to be from the area where the entertainment industry is or, more likely, [[GotMeDoingIt receive their theatrical education there]]. The omnipresence of this trope makes aversions even more notable, most often when an actor (with typical 'offenders' being the likes of Creator/LiamNeeson, Creator/SeanConnery or Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) [[OohMeAccentsSlipping either accidentally or purposefully reverts to their natural (and very much non-neutral) accent]].

See also PeriodPieceModernLanguage, VanillaProtagonist and HomegrownHero.

[[/folder]]

* ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'': The Politburo members all speak TheQueensLatin (well Russian), with most of the Anglo-American ensemble embracing their natural accents. That said, almost all the actors default to either RP or Midwestern English, with the notable exception of Stalin (who speaks Cockney and dies halfway through the first act) and Marshal Zhukov (who has a thick Yorkshire accent but otherwise remains a OneSceneWonder).

* ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'': The Politburo members all speak TheQueensLatin (well Russian), with most or the Anglo-American ensemble embracing their natural accents. That said, almost all the actors default to either RP or Midwestern English, with the notable exception of Stalin (who speaks Cockney and dies halfway through the first act) and Marshal Zhukov (who has a thick Yorkshire accent but otherwise remains a OneSceneWonder).

->'''Old Cockney-speaking woman:''' It's a time before time! Oh no, here come the fucking dragons!
->'''Old RP-speaking man:''' We need a hero, or evil will reign for two thousand generations!
-> '''Protagonist:''' I'm only a humble blacksmith with a Californian accent... How can I possibly rise up and conquer evil without a montage?

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In Disney's ''{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}'', John Smith speaks in Creator/MelGibson[='s=] American accent while the rest of the settlers sound English.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' is set in France, but the two most major characters Remy and Linguini, plus Remy's father, sound American.
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' is set in Australia, but the main characters Marlin, Nemo, and Dory sound American.

* ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' in Peter Jackson's trilogy, the protagonist Frodo (played by American Creator/ElijahWood) speaks in a soft RP accent while other characters adapt more niche regional dialects (Samwise and much of the rest of the Shire speaks Somerset, Gandalf maintains upper-class Birmingham, Saruman speaks a posh heightened RP, Gimli speaks Welsh English, and Creator/SeanBean as Boromir speaks Yorkshire).

* ''Film/{{Oliver}}'' has the eponymous protagonist orphan-turned-street-urchin speak in a schoolboy's RP while everyone else around is essentially monolingual in Cockney.

* In ''Series/SonOfACritch'', set in Newfoundland, most of the characters have the distinct Newfoundland accent, but several of the main characters, including Mark, Fox, Ritchie, and Pop use either a neutral accent or, in the case of Pop, a vaguely Irish accent
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' was filmed in Australia and most of the cast are Australian and speak with their natural accents, with the exception of lead character (and TokenHuman) John Crichton, played by the American Creator/BenBrowder.

[[folder:Standup Comedy]]
* Parodied in the Creator/FoilArmsAndHog sketch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3gyQLgr8m8 Regional Accent Discrimination]]'', where a couple of stereotypes 'afflicted' with various strong UsefulNotes/BritishAccents hire a professional accent coach speaking a soft, inoffensive and unplaceable RP-esque accent in order to help them break into mainstream media. [[spoiler: The sketch ends with the coach becoming so annoyed with them that [[OohMeAccentsSlipping he slips back into his own native lower-class Dublin]]]].
--> '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}} Scouser]]:''' Mates, mates, I did achting as a young lad in Liverpool: [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings 'Mister Frodo, Mister Frodo, I don't want ta go ta Maw-daw!']]
--> '''[[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulsterite]]:''' I'm a former member of the Belfast Amateur Dramatic Society: [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} 'To be or not to be]], [[NorthernIrishAndNasty that is the pertinent question, Minister!']]
--> '''[[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornishman]]:''' 'Moi name is [[Film/JamesBond James Bahnd]].' Arrr!
--> '''[[OopNorth Northener]]:''' Ay-up! [[Film/DieHard 'Yippee ki-yay, muthafuckah.']]

[[folder:Video Game]]
* ''{{VideoGame/Starcraft}}'' and ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': The Confederacy is basically the DeepSouth RecycledInSpace, so while most units and characters have some kind of accent (not always Southern, like the German Valkyrie, vaguely-Russian Battlecruiser, profoundly Scottish Hercules, or the Jamaican Gabriel Tosh), TheHero Jim Raynor's accent is much softer than, say, that of Arcturus Mengsk or Tychus Findlay.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Redwall}}'', the animated adaptation of the British book series, retains a wide variety of British accents (Moles speak in earthy Summerset, hares speak in a posh Sandringham, "vermin" speak in [[TalkLikeAPirate nautical Bristol]], etc), while more central characters like Matthias, Cornflower, and Abbot Mortimer (mice) and Cluny the Scourge (the BigBad) speak in much more neutral RP.

* Although ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' knows Southern, Appalachian and RP English, the main cast and major recurring side characters speak Midwestern English (with the odd unintentional [[CanadaEh Canadian]] intonation). It is no coincidence that Applejack and Rarity (who sport a Texan and a Mid-Atlantic accent respectively) are often considered to be the least developed characters of the "Mane 6".
* The ''Animated Hero Classics'' episode on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale Florence Nightingale]] has Florence speak with an [[JustAStupidAccent inexplicable mid-Atlantic accent]] while all the other characters speak in different variants of English accents.

* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' has the young protagonist (and Russian emigré) Feivel and his sister Tanya speaking Midwestern English, [[TheKidsAreAmerican despite the fact that they have never been to America and even their own parents can only speak English with Russian accents]]. Those characters that actually ''are'' American overwhelmingly speak in thick New York accents instead.

-->-- '''Dragon Brain Commercial''', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV''

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]