Why are fantasy world accents British?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

As for movie accents in fantasy flicks, perhaps if there is a predominance of English accents that simply reflects the sense that fantasy belongs to early ages, the Medieval world, rather than the modern world. Blade Runner offered an interesting view of language change in an SF context.

Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange offers a brilliant use of argot or slang in a dystopian context, as did Orwell in 1984 with Newspeak, the official, acronymal pronouncements of Ingsoc. Victor Hugo in Les Miserables uses argot to great effect in the character Gavroche, who actually epitomizes and introduces the slang that other characters of the lower social orders use.