Cage mocking the British was offensive
I cringed. Why do Americans think it's funny to impersonate British and point out the different words for things?
I know he was doing it as a ruse but still.
It was a ruse that relied upon being his being offensive, so you actually answered your own query.
As for the rest, perhaps it IS an American thing to imitate accents & speech mannerisms, but I imagine it is more universal than that. I'm sure there are British mocking American accents too, but so what? It's not a malicious or demeaning thing-- all in good fun.
I’ve never heard British mock an American accent.
shareHmm, I wish I could come up with a receipt here, but I'm sure I recall at least a few instances of British actors imitating southern American or Brooklynese-ish accents: not that they were portraying a character, just as a funny bit. I very definitely have heard British actors with trained received pronunciation mocking/ imitating Yorkshire, Cockney, & Scottish dialects.It's very human to imitate that which is different from our daily norm. I honestly don't see it as offensive. It's just "trying on" a different thing for fun, like dressing up for Halloween.
I HAVE noticed that very many British actors can flawlessly adapt a general American accent, whereas I have absolutely cringed at some very good American actors who have tried a British accent. Arghhh, most are it terrible at it! Honestly, I doubt it is actually possible for an American to pull off an acceptable (to British ears) accent. I dunno why, just know what I hear.
And you should know: many Americans go weak for British ANYTHING: we love our across the pond people. American Revolution notwithstanding, I'm not sure that we ever have completely gotten over the trauma of losing the original Mother Country. Mommy issues!
Not to go political, but I honestly held my breath for recent days when our President visited Britain. I was so worried that our volatile president would offend the Queen. Luckily, he pulled it off without any major gaffes. WHEW, what a relief.
Monty Python did it well, and did it often.
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