Talk:Christian Bale

He is NOT English. He is WELSH!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.143.33.146 (talk) 23:15, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 29 June 2022

change 'English actor' to 'welsh actor' — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.69.100.200 (talk) 21:13, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Bale was born to English parents, left Wales at a young age and self-IDs as English, though not to spite the Welsh I might add.--SinoDevonian (talk) 16:36, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Christian Bale nationality.

He was born in Havetfordwest, so that makes him WELSH not English.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 37.77.115.83 (talk) 10:26, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Born to English parents, lived nearly all of his life outside of Wales and from a young age. Not Welsh, just like myself, and I'm nearly half Welsh by maternal descent.--SinoDevonian (talk) 16:35, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Not quite right

• "Known to be very private about his personal life..." seems a little tautological for a Featured Article. It's not far off "known to be very private about his private life, as "personal" and "private" are pretty much synonyms in this context.

• "He has also been noted for portraying roles with an American accent." In an encyclopedia article, we only write about things that have been "noted"; we even have a policy about notability. So it seems superfluous to say what he has been noted for. We could add this form of words to almost every sentence in the bio, but that wouldn't be right. As a general reader, this particular factoid frankly doesn't seem all that surprising in an actor. Are there sources to say that he does an American accent particularly well for an Englishman? That might be a good way out of this. But honestly, if all we have is that he has portrayed characters who speak in an accent other than the actor's native one, this must apply to almost every actor who has ever lived.

I tried to improve these infelicities, but was reverted with the edit summary "(partially reverted User:Wubslin's changes; being private and valuing privacy are not the same; this also pertains to his personal life in particular, so it's inappropriate to generally write what he values; it's important to specify that sources *note* the American accent aspect of his roles rather than just say he has done the accent; the same applies to his versatility (i.e., we wouldn't neutrally write "Bale is a versatile actor"))"

In a spirit of collegiality, I thought we could discuss this here. Any thoughts? Wubslin (talk) 15:24, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

"Personal" and "private" are not synonyms here. "Known to be very reserved about his intimate life" would denote a similar context but take away any synonymous nature. We also wouldn't write "known to be very secretive about his secretive life".

Yes, we only write about things that have been "noted", but how the things are noted in sources is important as well. Writing on Wikipedia that a subject is noted for being something is entirely different from neutrally saying a subject is said thing (e.g., The Dark Knight is the best superhero film ≠ it is regarded as such). I also disagree that the American accent is insignificant. Actors are also supposed to transform for their roles. Should Bale's transformations be removed? Surprising or not, sources have highlighted these aspects for them to warrant inclusion. KyleJoan^talk 16:06, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

I think the thing he did with his weight is genuinely interesting and worthy of note. I think the fact he has performed roles with different accents is entirely uninteresting and not worthy of note, even though it can be sourced. It's something almost literally every actor who has ever lived has done. We could possibly find sources that he has a UK driving licence, but we would not need to say that he was noted for being a licenced driver, as it's so extremely common. This is almost at that level, it seems to me. --Wubslin (talk) 16:13, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

The American accent is noted in sources as being more significant than simply something he does in character, so this goes back to how sources note things. The Atlantic lists him among those who "work least in their native accents", while The Independent highlights audiences' confusion toward how he does not speak in an American accent in real life. These aren't random articles mundanely mentioning that Bale speaks outside his native accent for his roles like all actors do. If sources highlight a UK license and stress its importance to Bale's status, then it would be appropriate to discuss including that. KyleJoan^talk 16:24, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Two solid sources highlighting his use of an American accent seems worth a mention. I would prefer a more specific summary of the sources, something like Although Bale's natural speech uses a Cockney accent, in most of his roles he has portrayed American characters. (<---needs fine-tuning but you get the idea) Schazjmd (talk) 16:28, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Yes, this is what I was driving at when I asked "Are there sources to say that he does an American accent particularly well for an Englishman?" We would be far better off saying something like "The Atlantic lists him among those who 'work least in their native accents'", than saying "He has also been noted for portraying roles with an American accent." in my opinion. --Wubslin (talk) 16:30, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

I thought the English actor who played Eddie in Stranger Things did a really good job with the American accent, but I'm unsure if the actor in question is known for doing American accents all the time, whereas Christian Bale is. Poorly-done and well-done accents are commented upon a lot so I think it is worth a passing mention as well.--SinoDevonian (talk) 16:33, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Some good suggestions there. I just don't think we can run with "He has also been noted for portraying roles with an American accent." Something more explicit and descriptive would be better. --Wubslin (talk) 21:50, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

Totally. I think the fact he is British yet nearly always uses an indistinguishable American accent is noteworthy - it's an interesting facet of his acting. A compact description would also be in order as well.--SinoDevonian (talk) 16:41, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

I've gone with User:Schazjmd's suggestion for now. I think it looks a lot better. --Wubslin (talk) 17:38, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

And I see I have been reverted again. Is "During interviews to promote films in which he puts on an accent, Bale would continue speaking in the given accent." really important to keep? Again, I think if it is it needs to be more carefully worded. Do we mean that he always or usually does this? That's what "would" implies. --Wubslin (talk) 18:36, 7 July 2022 (UTC)