I agree–it’s not Ireland marketing itself, but Irish marketing has to navigate the images presented in that kind of thing.
I remember years ago watching “the Quiet Man” and aside from the obvious points thinking “when is this supposed to be taking place?” I mean it could be anywhere between 1910 and 1960: a couple references put it after 1922; there are telephones and cars but the whole thing is in this weird timeless state. “Wild Mountain Thyme” is sort of the same way: is it 1930 or 2010?
is it 1930 or 2010?
Well, therre’s the egg freeze reference but as some commenter said ‘they are wearing shawls for godsake’. It just doesn’t mesh together, it’s phantasy island.
I was worried about that too, we can’t be too careful about feral whistles getting loose.
Do they make a McNeela Civilised Irish Whistle? That would interest me more.
Oh dear me.
I thought we were past that sort of thing.
There are so many good Irish actors, why not use an Irish cast?
why not use an Irish cast?
You have fifty shades of Jamie Dornan right there..
Never mind that Wild Mountain Thyme comes from a Scottish song, not Irish.
Moonstruck is one of my favourite movies, thanks to Norman Jewison, I guess, not John Patrick Shanley.
Wild Mountain Thyme comes from a Scottish song, not Irish.
The McPeakes may have a few things to say about that.
Irish Whistles that marketing departments are working on:
The Dullahan Itinerant Drifter Whistle with uilleann air pump attachment (popular in low D)So might Robert Tannahill.
@ RoberTunes
Awesome! I definitely need #3 
.
To fend off invaders or rats?
Home defense . (has a serious background but I don’t wanna go into details – the post was still hilarious!)
I particularly like the way that the #8 has been transformed by the power of emojis. 
Sorry I meant an “Irish cast” as opposed to an international cast, which results in one or more fake accents.
My wife was victimised by the Sisters Of Mercy Model of #4.
Sorry I meant an “Irish cast” as opposed to an international cast, which results in one or more fake accents
I was a bit tongue in cheek there. Dornan’s attempt at a sort of midlands accent was also widely ridiculed. So there’s really no guarantee actors from the island will get it right.
People in the Irish filmindustry are forever complaining any film with an Irish cast will be Very Hard to find backers for. Money will be put up only if there are international names added to the bill. They wouldn’t have been able to make ‘Michael Collins’ if they hadn’t agreed to having Julia Roberts in it, generally seen as teribly miss-cast for the role, but what could they do? Plenty of examples like it. There’s also the perception other speakers of English won’t be able to grasp a true Irish accent, which will lead to made up Oirish accents that nobody in reality speaks.
That’s such an aggravating thing with so many of the Hollywood suits.
There are exceptions, or at least near-exceptions, with Game Of Thrones having a British and Irish cast save for Peter Dinklage and his fake accent.
Thing is, our family and many other people here in the USA watch almost no local television. The shows we watch are English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Australian, and (in one case) Danish. Once in a while American shows like Boardwalk Empire and Stranger Things will grab our attention.
The last thing we want to see is a token American shoved into a show that has no call for one.
The crazy thing is that Dornan is himself Irish and still manages a godawful Oirish accent. Sure, he’s from the North, so an Irish person wouldn’t believe he’;s from Mullingar or wherever it’s supposed to be set, but it’d still be better than what he manages there.
Obviously these are a couple of examples spread across decades, but a few Irish movies with mostly-unknown Irish casts have become critical darlings in the US. Wakign Ned Devine, The Commitments, Once, all very popular with American audiences. If only studios realized that there’s a profit to be made there! I would mind seeing some Brian Friel plays given the same treatments August Wilson’s plays have been given in recent years.
Well there’s Meryl Streep doing an Irish accent in Dancing at Lughnasa, based on Friel’s play. Apparently she did a good job–I’ve never seen it.
Somebody should make a movie of Translations–it’s the great work on colonialism
As an American television and film watcher for way too long I’ve seen things go the other way too. Nichole Kidman, Russel Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Laury, Dominic West, Paul Bettany, are a handful of actors from other linguistic backgrounds that try with some success to get the American accent down. There seems to be a bit of “forcing” a harshness in their early attempts that eventually evens out (sort of forcing their voices through a meat grinder in a tube.) I guess this as well as many other skills takes time. Ruth Wilson seems to have done the best job of Americanizing quickly. Although there may be many other actors who have just done such a good job I haven’t noticed them as non-native speakers.
It seems like Meryl Streep has been one of the few actors that can pull an accent out of her hat as a one off for a film. Another may be Daniel Day Lewis.
One of the most famous American leading men for decades, Cary Grant, was actually Archibald Leach from Bristol. His early work in film is in that silly Mid-Atlantic accent that Hollywood was pushing when talkies first came out. Fortunately that weirdly forced strangulated accent died a natural death by WWII.