Comments on: "...with God's help, we shall prevail."

"...with God's help, we shall prevail."

zarq — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:46:08 -0800

A new movie, The King's Speech, (official site / trailer / clips) depicts King George VI of England's struggle to overcome his problem with stuttering and find his voice, in time to deliver the historic radio speech that prepared London for WWII. The film is being hailed as a potential Oscar-contender, for its unique, sensitive portrayal of stuttering -- a sharp contrast to the way movies traditionally present those who suffer from the disorder.. Slate offers a slideshow of ten video clips: A History of Stuttering in the Movies

PDF containing transcripts of some of King George VI's wartime radio broadcasts.

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:40 -0800

By: estherbester

estherbester — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:03:32 -0800

Great timing; I was hoping earlier today to find some of those historic broadcasts on my own, and now you've saved me the trouble! I watched the film a few weeks ago and enjoyed it enormously; I had no idea what the film was going to be like, and had only gone in the first place because of my longstanding, er, admiration for Colin Firth, but it was really delightful -- great writing and performances. The entire theater practically gave it a standing O at the screening I attended. The LA Times has had several stories about the film lately that are good to read -- the writer of the film, David Seidler, was a stutterer himself, as a child.

By: Omnomnom

Omnomnom — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:19:53 -0800

The entire theater practically gave it a standing O at the screening I attended. Wow, I've never given a standing O to anyone! (I am looking forward to this movie. Colin Firth is always delightful.)

By: numberstation

numberstation — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:43:40 -0800

Sounds interesting and good to see a film shining a light on an interesting subject that is usually reserved for use in awkward comedys. As for the standing o, from my experience it seems the barrier is rather low Stateside - Americans woul;d give a standing ovation to a change in wind direction.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 03:31:07 -0800

It's remarkable that after so many centuries humans remain so easily swayed by audible fluency and flourish. The trailer's scene with the King watching Hitler is paramount. Here are two leaders, at war's edge, with hopelessly mismatched firepower. It's not what you say, but how you say it. And how you say it in public, before a crowd. This even now, in the age of the soundbite, when all speechifying is reduced to easily digestible clips and all rhetorical value is extruded to the barest minimum, which is also why we impute such importance to verbal slip-ups. Dubya the recidivist is the poster boy, but all politicians -- indeed, anyone who speaks regularly in public -- has those moments. Thanks for this post; the film looks very interesting.

By: londonmark

londonmark — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:31:28 -0800

Not forgetting the st... st... stutter rap.

By: TedW

TedW — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:33:51 -0800

Isn't he the one who said "This stammer got me a home in Buckingham Palace, and I'm not about to screw with it now"?

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:37:01 -0800

I was going to cite Derek Jacobi's portrayal of Alan Turing in Breaking the Code for humane treatment of stammering, but further research implies that the stutter in the original play was, at best, a misinterpretation of Turing's real-life affect. In addition to this, Jacobi has had a prominent stutter in two other films (well, a film and a TV series): "Dead Again" and, of course, "I, Claudius," which is also about a king who stutters.

By: fairmettle

fairmettle — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:42:46 -0800

I still dig A Fish Called Wanda - - comedy can occasionally transcend ridicule.

By: Faze

Faze — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:43:26 -0800

How about a history of stuttering in music, beginning with the Who's "My Generation", David Blowie's "Changes," the Large Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" (the stutter of exasperation), Elvis's "Baby Let's Play House" (the stutter of sexual anticipation), the Rivington' s "Papa Oo Mow Mow" (the stutter of psychosis), Janis Joplin's "Ball and Chain" (the stutter of creative vocalization in the absence of talent). I'm sure there are more.

By: Wolof

Wolof — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:53:47 -0800

I was once directed by Geoffrey Rush in a State Theatre of South Australia production. I think it would be fair to observe that his career has gone a bit bigger than mine.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:18:58 -0800

"Colin Firth's King George gulps and strangles himself trying to get the words out, yet retains his dignity and invites our empathy." There is something about watching someone struggle to get a word out that does invite empathy. Howard Stern selected "Stuttering" John Melendez to ask embarrassing questions of celebrities "premised on the idea that celebrities would not want to look bad by refusing an interview from a stutterer." He was right. Before Melendez became famous and could no longer get away with it the strategy worked brilliantly. Quite the opposite of the King who tried to play down his difficulties by avoiding certain words, Stern's idea was to use the stutter for the set-up, so writers would give Melendez questions specifically crafted with words and phrases that would invoke his stutter.

By: Omon Ra

Omon Ra — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:44:55 -0800

I haven't seen this movie but I've been following the controversy over it's R rating, which is a disgrace: In yet another not-so surprising lame decision by the MPAA, "The King's Speech" has been rated R. Yes, the festival favorite, historical epic and leading Oscar contender has been deemed unsuitable because of one scene where the future King George VI (Colin Firth) unleashes a slew of expletives at the encouragement of his speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush). This would be shocking if it wasn't typical of the film ratings board.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:52:57 -0800

Nobody thought it could be done, but they did it - they constructed a movie out of pure Oscar bait.

By: Threeway Handshake

Threeway Handshake — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:02:22 -0800

Nobody thought it could be done, but they did it - they constructed a movie out of pure Oscar bait. Am I supposed to be a man, am I supposed to say, "It's OK, I don't mind, I don't mind"? Well, I mind! I mind big time! And you know what the worst part is? I NEVER LEARNED TO READ.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:20:03 -0800

Nobody thought it could be done, but they did it - they constructed a movie out of pure Oscar bait. I take it you've never seen Crash.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:35:45 -0800

I'm so glad they included It-- never was there a more realistic depiction of stuttering caused by childhood trauma involving a space clown.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:39:51 -0800

...a fucking spider...

By: Threeway Handshake

Threeway Handshake — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:42:01 -0800

In yet another not-so surprising lame decision by the MPAA, "The King's Speech" has been rated R. Yes, the festival favorite, historical epic and leading Oscar contender has been deemed unsuitable because of one scene where the future King George VI (Colin Firth) unleashes a slew of expletives at the encouragement of his speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush). This would be shocking if it wasn't typical of the film ratings board. So sad that this pure gift of joyous art will not be able to be watched by children without the supervision of their parents. Oscar sheds a single tear.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:05:04 -0800

In yet another not-so surprising lame decision by the MPAA, "The King's Speech" has been rated R. Definitely stupid but I can't imagine very many American teenagers will be trying to sneak into theaters to see a costume drama about speech therapy.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:25:39 -0800

"It's K-K-K-Ken! C-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me!"

By: Wossname

Wossname — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:32:19 -0800

Three blind mice, I have a stammer myself and find this to be absolutely true. As a child, it fed a severe phobia of using the telephone. I could just hear the "oh, you poor dear" in the other person's tone, and their "helpful" attempts at trying to finish my sentences only made the situation that much more damaging to my self-esteem. Despite the problems I had with the phone, I found I really did enjoy public speaking.* My job requires I give (frequent) presentations. I've learned to roll my stammer** into a high-energy and personable presentation style; it helps me portray a sense of overflowing enthusiasm, even on days when I'd rather be doing something else. I get frequent compliments on my presentations and they're not the "you're so brave to speak in front of everyone" kind. I still have problems with the phone. I find that when I speak publicly, my use of body language and eye contact with the audience shows that I don't think of my stutter as an impediment... and thus, you shouldn't, either. But the phone erases that and puts me solely at the mercy of my voice; it's sometimes a struggle, even though I'm no longer that self-conscious child. * There is some irony with having no fear of public speaking, yet being saddled with a speech impediment. ** And what an odd, unpredictable beast it can be. Anything from repeating syllables to entire phases... then suddenly a FULL STOP inability to pronounce certain sounds.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:47:00 -0800

Definitely stupid but I can't imagine very many American teenagers will be trying to sneak into theaters to see a costume drama about speech therapy. Or paying any attention to it at all if rated PG-13. If your goal is to nab the teen market, rating it "R" is not the worst strategy. A variant of the Streisand Effect.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:50:47 -0800

People try to put us down

By: zarq

zarq — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:00:29 -0800

Nobody thought it could be done, but they did it - they constructed a movie out of pure Oscar bait. Interestingly enough, many reviewers seem to be acknowledging this, but say that Firth, Rush and to a lesser extent Bonham Carter turn in such good performances and the subject of the King's stammering is handled so well, that the movie is worth seeing.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:04:28 -0800

Or paying any attention to it at all if rated PG-13. As Donald Glover said: PG-13 is the handjob of ratings: It's got some good stuff in it, but you always feel like you could have done it better yourself.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:12:59 -0800

Working long hours one-on-one with an engineer that stuttered, I found myself on the verge of stuttering, and even my internal monologue was stuttering a bit. I wonder how much they have to wind down to get their normal voices back.

By: rocket88

rocket88 — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:29:49 -0800

Faze: There's also "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdive. The stuttering in the song song has an interesting backstory.

By: Gelatin

Gelatin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:27:01 -0800

From the Slate link: A Fish Called Wanda is widely considered to be the most offensive depiction of stuttering. Wha...? "Offensive"? Since when? Michael Palin's character's stutter makes him a profoundly sympathetic character.

By: Jpfed

Jpfed — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:10:28 -0800

Michael Palin's character's stutter makes him a profoundly sympathetic character. Not to mention that the only person that makes fun of him is portrayed as the dumbest person in the movie.

By: Trochanter

Trochanter — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:03:44 -0800

Derek Jacobi's stutter in the Turing movie made me lose respect for Derek Jacobi's stutter in I Clavdivs, which, when I was a kid, I thought was the BEST ACTING EVER!!! Would anyone like to play a game and name three songs I'm thinking of? Buh, Buh, Buh... Chuh, Chuh, Chuh... y'know, y'know, y'know...

By: Trochanter

Trochanter — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:06:29 -0800

Actually the second one should be Chuh, Chuh, Chuh, Chuh...

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:27:26 -0800

The cha cha?

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:11:47 -0800

Derek Jacobi's stutter in the Turing movie made me lose respect for Derek Jacobi's stutter in I Clavdivs What was wrong with it? I didn't see the Turing movie. And why did it make you lose respect for it in a totally different movie?

By: Trochanter

Trochanter — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:26:28 -0800

What was wrong with it? It was pretty much exactly the same thing. It made his Claudius less special. It was such a novel and different portrayal of a stutter.

By: Trochanter

Trochanter — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:28:40 -0800

Doing it again made it seem like a trick. (I don't mean to overstate it though. I liked both performances.)

By: zarq

zarq — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:41:55 -0800

"The King's Speech," the film about a stuttering member of the British royal family and the speech therapist who helps him deliver a crucial oration, was the most nominated movie at Tuesday's announcement of the Golden Globe nominations, receiving seven nods including best dramatic motion picture, as well as nominations for actors Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, and its director, Tom Hooper. Other films with multiple nominations included "The Social Network," "Black Swan," "The Fighter" and "Inception," which will all vie for best drama at the awards ceremony on Jan. 16.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:54:23 -0800

Derek Jacobi's stutter in the Turing movie made me lose respect for Derek Jacobi's stutter in I Clavdivs He also stuttered at the end of Dead Again.