I don’t know why but I’ve been into James Mcavoy lately. I haven’t seen his acclaimed movies Atonement and The Last King of Scotland. The only ones I’ve seen were Wanted and Becoming Jane. Thanks to Youtube I’ve seen snippets of the two movies I mentioned first. 

I got interested in Mr. Macavoy not because of X-men: First Class, which I haven’t seen and only hope to see when it comes out in DVD (don’t ask why). He piqued my imagination because of his talent and the fact that according to internet articles, he has remained humble, simple, down-to-earth, and a very private kind of guy which makes him so unlike other Hollywood actors/actresses.  In fact, if online tabloids are to be believed, he lives in a modest second floor flat with his wife and son in a non-fashionable side of London and drives a 10-year old Nissan Micra (a small car). How’s that for a Hollywood actor.  More importantly, though, I enjoy listening to his very thick Scottish accent which he shamelessly flaunts whenever he is interviewed, claiming that he couldn’t be other than himself when the cameras aren’t rolling.  He even related in one interview that Robert Redford, his director in the American period film “The Conspirator,” asked him to stick to the American accent even off-camera because Mr. Redford simply couldn’t understand James when he speaks with his Scottish accent even if it is English!  Hah! Really. 

I envy Mr. Macavoy and all the other people who proudly speak English with their own particular accents.  I wish that people from where I come from will not try hard to sound like they are Americans even outside America for the simple reason that they are not Americans.  How I wish that we could get out of that mindset and be like James who said on American TV, still referring to Robert Redford’s directive:  “I am not American! It will be strange for me to say “‘Hello, darlin’” (presumably to his wife, using American accent) to someone who is back home in London.”  Way to go, Mr. Macavoy.  Such Scottish pride, which I hope that my people and I will someday have — that pride in one’s country of origin so that we can do away with aping the white people whom we learned to worship because of three centuries of colonization which sadly continues today via mass media and the almighty internet.