Hollywood New England: Difference between revisions

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Contrast California [[Valley Girl]] speak, which, like, migrated over to the northeast, found it wicked awesome, and stayed.
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{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
 
* The old-money life is spoofed with abandon and made gangsta in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgPHPxQWI_Y this ad for Smirnoff Tea]. "High tea in the pawlah makes the ladies hawlah!"
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OvOEFFLpYU "Pepperidge Fahm remembahs!"]
* There was a fast-food commercial where a recent{{when}} trade to the Boston Red Sox was eating his burger as he listened to a tape teaching him how to speak New Englander. "Hahd. I like to play wicked hahd. Hahd."
** It was an ad for Dunkin Donuts featuring Curt Schilling, the Sox' star pitcher at the time. The ad played on the fact that there are two things that make Boston great: the Red Sox, and Dunkin Donuts.
** 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). "Best Broadway show ever?" "''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]''"!
*** There's another one in the same vein where a guy quizesquizzes his girlfriend on her New England trivia.
* Southie accents get a workout in an ad for the Hopper sattelitesatellite dish system.
* Tourism advertising for the states themselves often falls into this. If you listen to Massachusetts' tourism board, the entire state is Cape Cod and the Freedom Trail. Similarly, Vermont is happy to tell you at length about its trees and skiing. And apparently, all Connecticut consists of is two enormous casinos.
 
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*** People from Dorchester (pronounced "Dah-chestah") actually tend to just call it "Dot" as in "Dot Ave" (Dorchester Avenue).
** And ''The Town'' takes place in Charlestown, another Boston neighborhood. Maybe we should just rename this trope Ben Affleck New England.
*** There is a line in one trailer for ''The Town'' that the Boston-based [https://web.archive.org/web/20101026025745/http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/09/20/filmcast-ep-116-the-town/ SlashFilmcast] couldn't let pass without comment. Apparently, there are "over 300 bank robberies in Charlestown" every year. Which means that we should be hearing about at least ''[[Crapsack World|one bank robbery per day]]''.
* ''[[What About Bob?]]'' was set in rural New Hampshire but actually filmed in southwest Virginia.
* ''[[The Perfect Storm]]'', though Gloucester, Mass. doesn't actually figure much in the story.
* The [[Cold War]] comedy ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' takes place on a fictional island off Gloucester.
* ''[[Summer of '42]]'' is set on Packett Island, a fictionalized version of Nantucket.
* ''In the Bedroom'' is set in coastal Maine.
* [[Tom Hanks]] in ''[[Catch Me If You Can]]'' has one of these accents, making his [[Precision F-Strike|memorable]] "knawk-knawk" joke all the better. Especially cute in an outtake where he tries to speak with a mouthful of food, flubs the line and says "But you could hear the accent, right?"
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* ''[[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]] and the Witch's Ghost'' is set primarily in a Hollywood New England town. Complete with accents, autumn foliage, legends of witch trials, and a replica pilgrim village. A major character in the movie is a rather obvious expy of Maine native [[Stephen King]].
* ''[[Jumanji]]'' has the town being located in New England. The film was shot in Keene, New Hampshire (where the film is supposedly set) as well as North Berwick, Maine (the location of the Parrish Shoes Factory).
* ''[[Beetlejuice]]'' was set in the fictional village of Winter River, Connecticut; -the exteriors were filmed in East Corinth, Vermont.
 
== Literature ==
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* Nearly all of [[Stephen King]]'s books are set in Maine, which is perfectly reasonable considering [[Write What You Know|he lives there]]. In fact, the isolation of its island communities provided the entire plot of ''Storm of the Century''. "According to Stephen King, there's something nasty buried under every small town in Maine."
* Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books in her Nyeusigrube series take place around Massachusetts. ''In the Forests of the Night'' takes place specifically in Concord and the main character, Risika's, house is based on a real house where a friend of the author lived. In ''Persistence of Memory'', Erin is given a phone number with <s>Boston</s> Suffolk County's 617 area code.
* Almost all of [[Jodi Picoult]]'s novels take place in New England, usually either Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
* Most of [[John Irving]]'s novels (''[[The World According to Garp]]'', ''[[The Cider House Rules]]'', ''[[A Prayer for Owen Meany]]'') take place in New England. [[Write What You Know]] applies again.
** The same holds true for the other well-known "Johns" of mid-to-late 20th century American literature, Cheever and Updike. When their stories weren't set in Manhattan they were generally set here.
** Updike's ''[[The Witches of Eastwick]]'' cross-pollinated Hollywood New England with [[Lovecraft Country]]. The fictional town of Eastwick has since become conflated with the actual town of Ipswich since much of [[The Film of the Book]] was filmed there, while the setting of the book was modeled after a small village in Rhode Island named Wickford which looks pretty much like a cross between the two.
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* In ''[[30 Rock]]'', Jack Donaghy's love interest Nancy Donovan grew up with him in Boston. Nancy is played by Julianne Moore with a painfully forced Hollywood New England accent.
** The exaggerated accent was spoofed in the next season when [[Author Avatar|Liz]] is [[Show Within a Show|writing a TV movie about Jack and Avery]], with Nancy played by [[Sex and the City|Cynthia Nixon]] with an equally horrible Boston accent. When she asks why she has to do the accent, Liz says that all people from Boston sound like that to her.
* The whole crew from ''[[This Old House]]'' but especially Norm Abrams and Tommy Silva.
* The '60s sitcom version of ''[[The Ghost and Mrs. Muir]]'' was set in a Maine fishing village. Other than a few supporting background characters, no one in the cast had anything sounding like a Maine accent. While Carolyn Muir and her children were from out of state and obviously wouldn't sound like natives, one would expect that Captain Gregg and his descendant Claymore would.
* In ''[[News Radio]]'', a botched speech therapy session has Lisa speaking in her native Boston accent, which she had dropped for being too embarrassing. It's also implied that it might have been intentional to ruin her radio voice.
** Also in the series finale, Jimmy James retires and moves to New Hampshire, and wants to take the rest of the staff with him. In the second to last episode he actually takes a chair and sits down in NH in the middle of a field of cattle.
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** One particularly egregious example was the portrayal of Vermont; the season seven episode "Chimera" was set there. The timestamp places the story in early April, and it opens up to an Easter picnic scene. The grass is green, the children are running around in little suits, and it's apparently warm enough that no one needs a jacket. Never mind the fact that in early April in Vermont, the average temperature hovers somewhere around 40 and there is usually a good deal of snow on the ground. And if there isn't snow, it sure as heck isn't ''green''. It's called "mud season" for a reason. This seems rather humorous, since other details like area code and zip code were absolutely correct—according to the episode, the fictional "Bethany, Vermont" is actually Bethel.
* On the recurring ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch "Boston Teens", starring [[Jimmy Fallon]] and Rachel Dratch as Sully and Zazu, a teen couple who fight and makeup constantly and are obsessed with Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.
** When [[Glenn Close]] hosted in 1992 they did a game show sketch called [https://web.archive.org/web/20131009012733/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92ibestway.phtml "Whats The Best Way?"]. In it the host and all three contestants were New Englanders and the questions were all about the best way to get from one place in New England to another:
{{quote|'''Host:''' Ok folks, back to our game. From Hartford to Sturbridge -
(Katie buzzes in)
'''Katie (Glenn Close):''' Ok, now that's straight on route 84, but you're gonna want to avoid the tourist traps up there, now, if you go up Manhill Road,you'll see a pretty Bed and Breakfast in Bradford - but that's a little out of your way, but it's very reasonable. And there's a farm (fahm) down the hill where you can get fresh Maine blueberries, of course, but that's only in the summer -
(wrong answer buzz)
'''Host:''' Sorry Katie, I didn't finish the question. From Hartford to Sturbridge, how many Dunkin Donuts along the way? }}
* ''[[Dawson's Creek]]'' was set in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, but actually filmed in North Carolina. The only character that had a New England accent on the show was Jen's grandmother.
** Then there's the episode that had them skinny-dipping in November. In Massachusetts.
* The '90s drama series ''[[Providence]]'' was set in that Rhode Island city, and most of outside filming was shot there during its first season. Naturally, the local [[NBC]] television station ''would not shut up'' about the show for months. By the time of the second season, only establishing exterior shots were shot in Providence and the rest in [[California Doubling|California]].
* The North American remake of ''[[Being Human (USA)|Being Human]]'' is set in Boston but shot in Montreal. And it turns out Montreal is not the best Expy for Boston: the geography is all wrong (their neighborhood could maybe pass for the Back Bay or the South End, but the streets are still too wide). This Boston-resident Troper didn't even realize it was supposed to be set in Boston until he saw the establishing exterior shots.
* Season 6 of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' had the Ricardos and Mertzes moving from New York City to Westport, Connecticut.
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* The short-lived '90s [[Molly Ringwald]] sitcom ''Townies'' was set in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
* Due to the fact that WGBH, Boston's PBS affiliate, produces a fair chunk of their programming, many of PBS's syndicated shows are shot in Boston or the surrounding areas.
 
 
== Music ==
* [[New Kids on the Block]]. And, you know, we probably ought to mention their infamous [[Band Toon]] here but... the [[The Poor MansMan's Substitute|voice actors]] and the writers [[They Just Didn't Care|Just Didn't Care.]]
 
* [[New Kids on the Block]]. And, you know, we probably ought to mention their infamous [[Band Toon]] here but... the [[The Poor Mans Substitute|voice actors]] and the writers [[They Just Didn't Care|Just Didn't Care.]]
* You can't talk about music and Boston without mentioning "the bad boys from Boston", [[Aerosmith]]!
* Boston, obviously.
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* ''[[Questionable Content]]'' is a rare exception to the "western Massachusetts doesn't exist" rule, taking place in Northampton. Of course, this is because the creator [[Write Who You Know|lives in that area]].
* ''[[Misfile]]'' is also set in western Massachusetts in the fictional town of Tempest which appears to be somewhere in the Berkshires, not that far from Springfield. However other than a few references to Boston and one trip to Cape Cod the comic could take place anywhere since the New England setting doesn't much figure into the story, and no one ever uses any New England coloquiallismscolloquialisms.
* The 21st century parts of ''[[The Dreamer]]'' are set in Boston, MA.
* ''[[American Elf]]'' is set in Burlington, VT.
** It is also published weekly in ''Seven Days'', the local Burlington alternative weekly newspaper.
* ''[[Something*Positive]]'' takes place mainly in Boston, with sidetripsside-trips to Texas since that's where two of the three main protagonists originate from.
 
== Web Original ==
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* Although set on the Great Barrier Reef, the stereotypical Bostonian accent appears in ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' courtesy of a lobster (a New England culinary staple) who relates part of the tale of the fishes' adventure ("...and so they go all the way down into the dahk, it's like wicked dahk down theah...") The director, Andrew Stanton, is native from Massachusetts.
** "Hayeh, hayeh, hayeh, hayeh, hayeh!"
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Elzar's accent is, contrary to popular belief, a ''New Bedford (Bedfid)'' or 'Fawl Rivah' accent. Elzar is, of course, ethnically Neptunian, but apparently hails from MassachussetsMassachusetts anyhow. He ''is'' supposed to be an Emeril Lagasse [[Expy]].
* As mentioned below, ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has Mayor Quimby and his family, Kennedy parodies all. One episode has Quimby's nephew Freddy harassing a French waiter over his pronunciation of "chowder". "Shau-dere? Shau-dere? It's 'chowdah'! Say it right!"
** New England is very proud of its claym chowdah. Unlike that inferior Manhattan kind.
* The same accent is used to great effect by the JFK clone in ''[[Clone High]]'', which is strange, considering that his foster parents who raised him from birth arentaren't from New England (Theyrethey're a male gay couple with somewhat generic American accents).
* In ''[[The Mighty B!]]'', one time character Sissy Sullivan has a stereotypical Boston accent.
{{quote|'''Sissy:''' Pahk tha cah in Hahvahd Yahd.}}
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== Real Life ==
 
* [[John F. Kennedy]], of course, and his broad and varied extended family. Also various parodies, notably his ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' counterpart, Diamond Joe Quimby, and the teenage JFK clone in ''[[Clone High]]''.
** Same for the mayor of thaCittaBossun, Thomas "Mumbles" Menino.
*** Mumbles doesn't have an accent, he has a speech impediment. That or he is certifiably insane. Thank woo!
*** Knowing Menino it's probably a bit of both, since he is from Hyde Pahk.
* The Low family was settled in Salem as well as in NY and were noted among the shipping families. Helen Auger wrote a history of them titled, ''Tall Ships to Cathay.'' It is a hard book to get unless you run across it by chance or happen to be shopping online.
* [[Ben Affleck]] and [[Matt Damon]].
* [[Stephen King]]
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* [[Frank Miller]], the man behind graphic novels like ''300'' and ''Sin City'', was raised in Montpelier, Vermont.
* Jay Craven, film director and screenwriter, is from Vermont. One of his first films was the above Vermont native Howard Frank Mosher's book ''A Stranger in the Kingdom''.
* Grace Potter, singer (and her band, The Nocturnals), are from Vermont. She just did a duet with Kenny Chesney recently{{when}}.
* Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was from Vermont.
* M. Emmett Walsh, actor, was raised in rural Vermont.
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* [[Mandy Moore]] is from Nashua, New Hampshire.
* John Irving, author of ''The Cider House Rules'', was born and raised in New Hampshire.
* A surprisingly large number of popular webcomicweb comic artists all live in Massachusetts, including [[Xkcd|Randall Munroe]], [[Andrew Hussie]] and [[Questionable Content|Jeph Jacques]].
* Samuel Clemens, ''aka'' 'Mark Twain', was born in Missouri and became famous in California, but actually spent most of his life living in Connecticut. The "If you don't like the NE weather, just wait five minutes" quip is one of his.
* The Dulles family, which has an airport named after them. One of them was a [[The Spymaster|spymaster]], one a diplomat, and one a priest. One wonders a bit about what their ancestors getting off the ''Mayflower'' would think about that last one.
* Samuel Eliot Morrison was a Boston man, a scholar and the go-to guy for the history of the World War Two US Navy.
* [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] from Portland, Maine was long one of America's favorite poets and his works have stood the test of time despite intellectual fashion. He was also an all-round nice guy who loved his wives (his first unfortunately died), counted many friends among fellow academics, and was a [[Friend to All Children]]. He was basically the "Grandfather" or maybe "Uncle" of New England. He wasn't the sort of stereotyped intellectual who liked womanizing and plotting revolutionary politics and ended up doing something weird. He liked his books and his [[Fire of Comfort]] and his [[Local Hangout]] and was very much a [[Gentleman and a Scholar]].
* The "Codfish aristocracy" literally was so. That was how many families bootstrapped their way to power and many kept a finger in that. They latter branched out into merchant shipping, whaling, and so on and some made a stab at more stereotypically inland investments like fur and cattle (fur actually had a connection because it could be gotten from Oregon and was one of the few things that would sell in China). They made Hawaii a rich port of call, and through a convoluted and long political process a US possession. The sea was as much New England's Frontier as the West, perhaps more so.
 
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