Accents in Wonderland: An Attitudinal Study of the Use of Accents in Disney's Originals and Remakes

Abstract

This thesis is a study of language attitudes which aims to investigate how various English accents are used in Disney films. The data consists of 16 Disney films including eight original films released between 1950 and 1991, and eight remakes released between 2010 and 2018. The original films and their remake counterparts are analysed and compared in order to see whether there are correlations between the use of accents and character traits. This thesis also aims to detect possible diachronic changes between the two sets of films, and whether these changes are related to social changes as well as changes in the film industry.