Re: Amazons' class (Was The S&A Films


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Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 04, 2006 at 12:09:51 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.

In Reply to: Re: Amazons' class (Was The S&A Films posted by PeterH on September 04, 2006 at 10:58:15:

Can we all define or re-define our own class and ensure that other people observe our self-definition?

Somebody once said (spot accurately) that "An Englishman's cast mark is in his mouth". I reckon speech and accent are the main defining element- although it gets blurred by fashion. Think of Mick Jagger with his estuarine whine. In fact the fellow is from a thoroughly middle class background and went to the LSE (along with Keith Richards). But he's very intelligent indeed and has a sure feel for what plays well... Also remember that, long before him, a mockney twang was a fashionable high society affectation in the early part of the 20th century, certainly into the '30s. Even so, if you listen to Jagger the underlying middle class sound is clearly there. Whereas his colleague Charlie Watts is the authentic working class article- and when he speaks, which isn't that often, you can hear it.

You can redefine your class, notably through accent. Classic example Ludwig Koch, Czech boy made good (by a certain definition of 'good') who morphed into the genuinely gallant captain 'Du Maurier' and then into 'Robert Maxwell', the famous bully and crook who ran Pergamon Press and the Mirror Group. In his final incarnation he was the perfect city financier. He'd jumped the class barriers by sheer energy and charisma. His English was perfect fruity Financier Speak.


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