According to a recent survey of Preply, British accents wreak havoc with American viewers. 72% of young people, those who are included within Generation Z, use subtitles to be able to follow series or movies in which actors with an accent appear as Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba o James McAvoyalthough the artist that these viewers understand the least is none other than Tom Hardy, an artist who has gone through fictions such as Peaky Blinders and various tapes from Christopher Nolan’s filmography. It is not the first time that Hardy’s accent has been discussed, since in 2018 he promoted articles published in Vulture as “Tom Hardy Needs to Learn How to Enunciate“(Tom Hardy needs to learn how to enunciate).
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Tom Hardy is one of the main characters in Peaky Blinders, a series where he causes more confusion
In general, he is an artist with a rather closed British accent that he pronounces in a somewhat strange way, everything is said, but it is not impossible to understand. He’s difficult, of course. In series like Peaky Blindersin which he plays Alfie Solomons, Hardy applies a diction and tone that baffles viewers in the United Statesbeing in fact this series that can be seen on Netflix the most difficult to follow without subtitles. Taboo, which has a confirmed season 2 with Steven Knight, is also not far from that need for extra help to be able to follow Hardy’s lines. English speakers such as Sofia Vergara, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan are also mentioned in the list and the only american actors that appear are johnny depp and brad pitt. Although in this case the reference may be directly to his characters as Jack Sparrow and the Irish boxer from Snatch.
The aforementioned survey also indicates that 57% of US viewers have used subtitles to better follow actors with an accent seen in series like Outlander, Derry Girls, Downton Abbey, Los Bridgerton, Skins o Doctor Who. There is always the option of dubbing, yes, to be able to follow the series or movies as each one wishes, but in the original version it seems that there are problems to maintain the conversions of certain artists.
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