MovieChat Forums > Merlin (1998) Discussion > what's up with morgan's accent?

what's up with morgan's accent?

posted 17 years ago by amanda0392
17 replies | jump to latest

just wondering, i thought it was peculiar that even after she had kinda "matured"* a bit after frik made her beautiful, she still said things like "i want the cwown", "being wude is being weak" (though it could've just been baby talk)

*or did she mature? i'm not exactly sure. i thought when frik cut the string on her kite it was symbollic that she was done with childish games

i don't know why but i'm realy interested in why helena bonham carter chose to speak like that for her character. it was an odd choice, but i'm a huge HBC fan and being the amazing actress she is, i'm sure she had a reason for it.

[–] softballchickn00 17 years ago

we watched the movie in English class and asked our teacher why she talked like that and she said that it was probably a speech impediment. frik made her look older but he didnt necessarily make her speak as if she was older also.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] YesmarStar 17 years ago

I believe both 'ugly' and 'beautiful' Morgan were played by Bonham Carter, who has never had a speech impediment, to my knowledge.

______________
When they say people in a couple are supposed to have things in common, they DON'T mean relatives!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Morgan_Muffin 17 years ago

They definitely were both played by Helena Bonham-Carter, who does not have a speech impediment, but I think Morgan's inability to pronounce the letter 'R' was just to remind the audience that the beauty really was just an illusion and although Morgan may appear immaculate she has only matured on the outside. We were told earlier in the movie that magic can't affect the heart, and I don't think it can affect anything to do with the soul or personalities either, which explains why her voice didn't change.

~ Mrs Edward Cullen, it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] PinkArrow 12 years ago

I think you are right!

[–] danosgood2 17 years ago

Frik only created the illusion of beauty for Morgan, she still looked and talked exactly the same but people saw her fake beauty instead, the illusion had no effect on her voice which would explain why she still had the speech impediment throughout the film.

[–] timgdx 17 years ago

Perhaps she was welated to Pontius Pilate?

[–] LilTeapot 17 years ago

Why would it be peculiar? Being beautiful doesn't mean you don't have speech impediments. Haven't you ever seen "Singing in the Rain"?

Why settle with words what you can settle with a flamethrower?

[–] calydu 17 years ago

I now that I am popping in late on this, but I am just now able to say that I watched all of it but the first 15 minutes of it.

In many soap operas and weekly shows use this kind of trait when they are going to bring in a twin or impostor for a main story character. They want to show how far on the spectrum that the characters are from each other before they do the "twist".

I personally believe that the other poster had it right about showing her with the speech impediment so that she doesn't get too confident in her new "power" as 2nd in line for the crown but then the Mother of the King's son. As Queen Mab speeds up Mordred's aging, cruelty, and power.... you had the comparison against his Mother, so you see that he was the one maturing.

In Morgan's case, they wanted to show that a child, even a child of a King at that time, is pushed off and in the shadows when they are deformed. They end up being looked over and raised with the children of the slaves/help. She would never really mature as a woman, and it wasn't probably until the last moments of her life that she felt the mature love for Frick. In those 10-20 seconds, she felt more love between them than she received in her whole life.

Many people knock soaps, but my Art Professor said that they were the best places to go to learn the "tricks of the trade". The movie had another good example in the voice of Queen Mab and her sister, Lady of the Lake. Miranda Richardson has great pitch and there needed to be a way to see and hear the difference. The same way that they did when she played twin sisters in Sleepy Hollow.

[–] my_gothic_hell 16 years ago

First of all, I agree, the speech impediment is to show that Morgan has a human side, despite the obvious evil in her.
Secondly, when she becomes beautiful, it's symbolic that her speech impediment doesn't go away. It shows that no matter how much someone can change on the outside, they are still the same on the inside, whether they're good or evil. Beauty is a matter of appearance (which you can change), but if your soul is bad, it will never change.

[–] ctomvelu-1 16 years ago

I am not a fan of Carter, but in her defense, clearly the reason for the coninued childlike lisp was to let us know Morgan hadn't really changed at all, regardless of her newfound beauty. This was probably a decision on the part of the writers and diretor. Worked for me.

[–] BB-15 16 years ago

Carter's character having a speech impediment was very distracting. Every time she said; "cwown", "Mordwed", or other dialog with the letter "r", it pulled me out of the film. The explanation that Morgan is always a weak child who couldn't control her speech is contradicted by her cleverness and psychic powers in the beginning of the film. She is also a strong character in the film "Excalibur" and in the King Arthur legend.

A second problem for me was with Miranda Richardson's voice for the character Mab. That raspy, hissing voice often was annoying and unpleasant which decreased my enjoyment of the TV series. Also the character of Mab is new to the Arthur legend and so held less interest for me.

But overall I did enjoy the TV series but it is not close to being as good as the movie "Excalibur" imo.

BB ;-)

it's just in my humble opinion - imho -

[–] actionmanrandell 14 years ago

its a lisp it has nothing to do with maturity

[–] mimababs 14 years ago

I thought it was because the young actress who played a younger Morgan spoke like this, so to keep with continuity HBC spoke the same way.

Hello.My name is Inigo Montoya.You killed my father.Prepare to die.

[–] Ninja-Robot 13 years ago

It was a speech impediment, not an accent. The reason she kept that voice when she was made beautiful is because that only changed her physical appearance. Everything else remained the same.