The historical film ‘The King’s Speech’ highlights the very private struggle endured by King George the VI of England. In 1934, Prince Albert, Duque of York, (nicknamed by his family Bertie, played by actor Colin Firth) underwent very unorthodox methods to overcome a stammer. After the death of his father King George V in 1936, his brother King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry Wallace Simpson, a twice-divorced woman from Baltimore, forcing Prince Albert reluctantly to accept the throne becoming King George the VI. Although the last words of King George V were: “Bertie has more guts than all his brothers put together,” he was unable to ever compliment directly his son Bertie or show him his love and acceptance.

Prince Albert had struggled since childhood with low self-esteem and could not recall a time when he did not struggle with a strong stammer. Moreover, being the Duque of York his official engagements required often public speaking, which was emotionally draining given his stuttering condition. To help his troubled husband deal with the condition, his wife Elizabeth contacted an Australian speech language therapist Lionel Logue (played by actor Geoffrey Rush). The film brilliantly focuses on the unique relationship between Prince Albert, later on King George the VI, with his speech therapist Lionel Logue. Lionel insisted with his peculiar methods to help the Prince find the psychological roots of his speech impediment to help him regain self-confidence.

During the therapy sessions which methods were so unorthodox that border into hilarious, we learned about the psychological traumas that Prince Albert endured as a child. Like many stammers, he was naturally left-handed but was forced to become right handed. His youngest brother Johnny had died at age 13 from epilepsy, and during his childhood the Prince remembers being raised by nannies that threatened to punish him for no reason. The relationship with both his father and mother was very distant and cold because of royal protocol. His father was authoritarian and screamed at him un-patiently when he struggled with his speech: “Get it out boy”! His older brother David verbally abused him and mocked him when he stammered. After many private speech therapy sessions, in which Lionel insisted to call him Bertie and make him relive his traumatic childhood, the Prince started to face his fears, and learned to breath, and pause to overcome his speech impediment. Overall, Prince Albert learned not only how to improve his speech but most importantly how to let go from the fears that scared him as a child. Lionel’s therapy also helped the Prince accept that he was as deserving and perhaps more capable to become the new King of England than his brother who chose to abdicate the throne.

Interestingly, despite the psychological traumas that Prince Albert endured during his childhood, his relationship with his daughters was remarkably just the opposite of the one he endured as a child with his father and mother. The caring and close relationship with his daughters Princes Elizabeth (now the Queen of England) and his sister Princes Margaret was highlighted when he asked them for their opinion about how well he delivered the speech to declare war against Germany in 1939. Remarkably, Lionel’s speech therapy skills were not gained from a medical degree, but from experience after being exposed to soldiers that returned traumatized from WWI.

After watching the King’s Speech I couldn’t help but feel a sense of empowerment. It was truly inspiring to see a king, whose people look up to him and regard him so highly, go through such a burdensome struggle and overcome it. Even a king can be imperfect. As I was watching Bertie struggle to get his words out as if they were stuck in his throat, I felt frustrated as if it was me up there in the stadium humiliated and ashamed in front of my own people. While the movie was definitely moving and well-made, it was of course quite predictable. Continuing to watch Bertie struggle and lose patience with himself in his sessions with Lionel, I was just waiting for his moment. The moment he speaks without hesitation. The moment he just lets go. When that moment finally came, I was relieved for I believed in him as if he was my friend. And of course the highlight of that scene was Bertie’s line in response to Logue’s comment about his struggle with enunciating his w’s: “I had to throw in a few so they’d know it was me.”

Lionel’s character fascinated me in that he had no formal medical training and managed to cure not just anyone, but the king. He had such a great responsibility in his hands, it was up to him to treat the leader of their nation. And he handled it in his own peculiar ways, but ultimately succeeded. Although the movie was predictable and somewhat cliche, I don’t think we can ever have too many movies telling us to push ourselves past our self-imposed limits.

Walking into the room, I honestly had very low expectations of The King’s Speech since Academy Awards aren’t always right in my opinion. I am glad I was proven very wrong and that this movie was actually a beautiful story. While still vastly unrelatable (not all of us are royalty that have to worry about our image and reputation all the time), the movie boiled down to a very basic societal problem; pride rules all. It is hard for people to let go of their pride, admit their weaknesses, and seek help. This was especially true for the king who thought Lionel was lesser than him. It was nice to see the king eventually accept Lionel and ultimately improve his speech skills, but the movie all-in-all was cliche. It was the same generic prideful main character realizes he’s human too after he’s lost something; however, I don’t know how else the movie could’ve played out.

I like that the Rose events aren’t just about modern, fun movies like Moana because a movie like The King’s Speech has more depth and seriousness to it. I hope to see more events like these!

The King’s Speech was an inspiring film that brings together two age-old concepts: the power of our psyche and the power of our own will.

Throughout the film we slowly see future King George VI’s  improvement in overcoming his stammering as he begins to accept help, particularly from his wife and the speech pathologist. This progress becomes more evident as he begins to relinquish his personal feelings and family secrets of his own free will. He begins to find personal motives for overcoming a challenge he has faced all his life once he sees what he is capable of through the recording he was given. Sentences became more fluid through his speech and he demonstrated more confidence in the presence of others. Even the doctor emphasized that he could only help the future king with such a condition if the king truly and sincerely seeks aid in overcoming his stammering. It really drove home the point that our will to do something, or the lack thereof, can represent our limits in the ability to reach our goals.

Yet there is an opposing force that the future king faces all the while he tries to chip away at his condition. His past experiences, along with his insecurities, manifest themselves in his speech when he experiences unpleasant onset of emotions. We see this whenever his father pressures him or his brother pokes fun at him. This particular notion of emotional well-being affecting a physical condition is truly prominent throughout the film.  I appreciate that this film emphasized this mental health perspective because it really is something we could use more reminding of in such a competitive and demanding school environment. I was able to relate particularly well with this aspect of the movie, as I become less productive when I start feeling stressed.

This movie was more inspirational to me than anything else, because nothing is more motivating than seeing someone you can sympathize with overcome their own challenges, despite how different they may be from your own. I believe that seeing others succeed, and helping them succeed, can lead to successes of our own.

The King’s Speech follows King of the United Kingdom, George VI in his time as the Duke of York, and then after his brother’s abdication, his ascension and early days of his reign as King of the United Kingdom. The film focuses mostly on his speech impediment and the various lengths he goes to cover up and suppress it. I found the film’s depiction of the monarch’s role in U.K. nationalism during the periods right before and during World War 2 to be interesting.

As the film points out, with even George himself saying it at one point, why does it matter if he is an effective speaker? The King had not held and significant power in the UK government for more than a century and was just a figure head by the time he ascended. It would make sense that the prime minster be the face of the nation during war time as they are the most powerful individual in the U.K., and not the king who might as well be a glorified celebrity. During a few points in the film George’s pedigree is symbolized and stated. In his first speech as king to his government officials, George stands in the great hall and looks upon all the portraits of the kings before him. Legendary figures who will be talked about in history books for many centuries to come, and there he stands there a stuttering man, holding the most legendary office in the kingdom. He feels he must hold himself to a higher standard as to him and many people, it is not the power of the crown that influences nationalism among the population as it does not have any, it is what the crown represents. It is not just an entity of power, but also an entity of the culture of the nation, and as its head him must fulfill his duty as the cultural leader of the UK, and rally them during wartime behind their nation.

I first saw The King’s Speech when I was 13 on a plane ride home. At the time, I knew that it was a good movie and I thought I completely understood it, but only after watching it all these years later do I see the true value of this film. What I see now that I didn’t see then was the message of overcoming that the film held. Even someone as great as a king, who many might assume is flawless, has his own personal challenges to overcome. And in addition, it’s about acknowledging one’s problems and be willing to fix it. While King George IV knew that he had a speech problem, it was his own attitude that kept him from truly overcoming this issue. It wasn’t until this was dealt with that he was able to start fixing his speech impediment.

At first glance this is simply a historical piece about a king’s speech impediment. But in reality the movie’s core messages are ones that everyone should learn from. While knowing you have a issue is important, perhaps what’s more important than this is being able to face the issue head on, even if this means facing parts of yourself you may not want to.

Last Friday’s movie, The King’s Speech, concerned the journey of a duke becoming a King, all while living with the challenges of having a stutter. The stutter impacted virtually all aspects of his life, from being able to read a bedtime story to his daughters to giving a public announcement. Although the story of how King George overcame his lifelong struggle with his stutter is remarkable, the highlight of the movie for me was the unique, and frankly unlikely, relationship he formed with Lionel, his speech therapist. At first meeting, King George’s distaste for Lionel was clear. Considering himself above Lionel in social class, he would often question Lionel’s actions, beliefs, and advice. The turning point in this relationship, in my opinion, came at the time of King George’s father’s death. At this time, George went to visit Lionel after-hours, where they shared drinks and we saw, for the first time, George open up about his personal life. The two shared conversations and a sense of trust that continuously built on throughout the rest of the movie. Another major progression of their friendship came after, despite hearing Lionel’s confession of not being medically trained as a speech therapist, King George decided to continue working with Lionel. It truly seems that the impactful friendship Lionel and King George shared played a significant role in the success King George had with his stutter. Without the friendship with Lionel, it’s unlikely King George ever would have been able to target the emotional roots of his stutter problem.

The King’s Speech took an otherwise mundane topic and managed to make a film that was gripping and entertaining. After the movie, the GRF asked us to theorize why Bertie’s stammer arose and why it deeply manifested itself. I personally believe it is because he was always his father’s choice to become the next king but had no support system in the form of his mother. Moreover, his father’s will to make him his successor may have come off the wrong way leading him to believe his father didn’t believe in him and rather that he despised him.

However, what ultimately alleviated Bertie’s stammer was the constant support of his wife and his friendship with Lionel. Having a strong support group allowed Bertie to persevere and prevail over his impediment while providing a source of calmness for the British people during such a turbulent time. Having to face his biggest fear under the circumstances Bertie was in, depicted how in the end, he was fit to be a King.

Last Friday, I attended Rose’s screening of the Academy Award winning movie The King’s Speech. Despite its accolades, in all honesty, the synopsis for the film sounded like a bore to me and thus I was never inclined to view it. However, I can now say that I was wrong. The movie was enthralling, the actors were tremendous, and the narrative was beautifully portrayed.

The film tells the true story of British King George VI (played by Colin Firth) who, fearful of public speaking due to a stammer, sought the coaching of speech therapist Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. It made me realize that I have taken the power of speech for granted, which is surprising, considering it makes up a vast portion of our everyday lives. Speech strikes the heart and can drive people to righteous behavior or, on the other end of the spectrum, immoral actions. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches moved Americans to fight racism, while Adolf Hitler’s speeches pushed many to embrace Anti-Semitism and inflict harm upon their neighbors. King George VI’s anxiety probably stemmed from his recognition of speech’s potency, and thus he wanted to make speeches where the words rather than the seemingly weak man behind those words would be focused on.

However, I think that George VI’s disability actually made him that much stronger of a leader. During his reign, the Nazis bombed and battled the UK, striking fear into the hearts of women, children, and men alike. Therefore, I feel that George VI’s attempts to fight his own disability functioned as a sign of hope and strength for British citizens – just as George VI was fighting his own impairment to show strength for his people, he would also fight off the Nazis to protect his people. Therefore, the man behind the words was actually just as important as the words, standing as a symbol for endurance, toughness, fortitude, and courage in the face of adversity – exactly what the terrified British citizens needed in a time of turmoil.

It was actually my second time seeing this movie but almost cried a little bit in the end.

We all know pretty well about the King’s daughter Elizabeth II who has been Queen since 1950s. However, we don’t know much about his father. Probably what all I learn is that he acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. Only from this description, people may tend to think the King was really lucky to have the throne. However, after seeing this movie, we understand the difficulty he faced and significant pressure he had during the early period. He seemed to have the greatest power but he was still restricted by some unseen power which ashamed him whenever he did not behave well.

To some extent, I really think it’s a great story for director to film on since now we know this person not only by biographies on the website but also his personalities. Also, this film kind of healed me in the Friday evening after all the exams and homework in the prelim week. We all have our duties and problems to struggle with and nobody is free from other people’s opinions.

The King’s Speech followed the ascension of Prince Albert as King George V to the throne of England and his struggle with speech impediments. I first saw this movie about 7 years ago, and it left no lasting impressions and I remember disliking the movie, thinking it boring. Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention or my taste in movies has changed, but this time around, I thought the movie was humorous and moving, and the characters were well-developed.

My biggest takeaway from the movie was how impactful personal relationships are in an individual’s life. The King’s childhood was strewn with people who overlooked him such as his family members. Lionel, the speech therapist, becomes a close friend of the King’s and genuinely believes in his capability and wishes him only the best, even risking treason to do so. This relationship serves as a secure safe haven for the King and allows him to become a more confident person and overcome his speech impediments. On the other hand, the King’s brother associates himself with a woman of loose morals and this affects the path his life takes as he is forced from the throne and loses respect from others. The connection between the people we surround ourselves with and our life outcome is clear. We are easily influenced by those around us and it’s important to choose our friends carefully.

“Because I have a right to be heard. I have a voice! ” If King’s Speech is only a story about a successfully overcome stammer, it would be much less appealing. It’s about lack of self-confidence.

King was not born with stammer. He voluntarily adopted it during his childhood. Since then, he has reinforced that “fact” on himself, convinced that he has stammer. Ever time he tries to overcome it, he failed. It’s not because he couldn’t overcome it. It’s just there’s nothing to overcome.

I remember when I was a little girl, my mom sometimes linger behind to whisper about my walking movement. “Her left leg is always leaning inward.” I would become very conscious and alarmed of my walking movement, and then try to correct it. But it became even more obvious after that. I could walk normally for a while, without constantly thinking: is my left leg inward?

Until days later, I was walking with my dad and was too engaged in the conversation that I forgot about my walking “problems”. When we meet with mom, I suddenly remembered and stopped walking. My dad learned what was going on and said to me in a determined, comforting voice, “There’s nothing wrong with your walking. Now come on, tell me more about your dream last night…” He took my hand, and I started talking excitedly about the giant castle and spooky green lights.

Now when I look back after watching the King’s speech. King George probably didn’t have stammer at all. When Lionel put a headset on him so that he couldn’t hear himself, and recorded his speech, it was perfect. It is very hard to overcome an obstacle that does not exist.

To be completely honest, I did not have very high expectations for the King’s Speech at first. While I did see that it won many awards, movies about historical monarchs do not always interest me. However, I quickly learned that The King’s Speech was about more than a stuttering King. The movie details King George VI’s ascent to the throne and his speech impediment that has bothered him and his family for his entire life. King George VI receives the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue to try to overcome his horrible impediment so that he will be able to confidently deliver the speeches. Lionel uses very unconventional tactics such as making the King sing his speeches, use swear words, or have him drown out his voice by playing insanely loud classical music. All of these approaches help the King in a way, but would not be suitable to use during his speeches. As war time hits, the King must give his first big speech, and thanks to the help of Lionel, he does a great job of delivering the speech with very few stutters.

Later in the movie, we learn that Lionel and the King became friends for life and that the King continued to deliver speeches without stuttering. This movie showed me a few things. First it showed me that even the most powerful and famous people, such as Kings, have problems just like I do. In fact, I do have a speech impediment myself and still do fear public speaking to an extent. Second, the movie showed me that friendships can truly come from anywhere. The King and Lionel should never have crossed paths, but thanks to his wife, they became great friends. Colin Firth did a great job of playing the King and I now look forward to enjoying more historical movies in the future.

I wasn’t very excited at first to watch The King’s Speech, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie.  The plot follows King George VI’s rise to power and his struggle to overcome his stutter.  I thought Colin Firth did a great job of giving the viewer an idea of how a person’s speech impediment—even a world leader’s—can make public speaking even more difficult and intimidating.  He had many people, including his own father, attempt to impose their ideas on him on how to fix his stutter, but all of them were not helpful.  He finally meets a man named Lionel who uses unconventional methods to help him speak without a stutter.  I especially liked how Lionel utilizes music—making him speak while listening to classical music and sing out his sentences—to help him achieve his goal.  By the end of the movie, King George does still have a slight stutter, but now he is able to speak much more succinctly and keep his composure in front of other people.  What I liked most about this movie, besides the historical significance behind it, was the idea that King George was willing to do whatever it took and exert a lot of time, effort, and mental fortitude into achieving his personal goal of beating his stutter.  His determination with regards to his personal life inspires the viewers of the movie to face the challenges in their lives with the hope that they too can overcome them.

The King’s Speech was a great movie that made me remember the struggles so many people face that are rarely ever seen on the surface. It made me think more critically about the fact that no matter how close I am with someone, there is something I have not shared with them about my life that only my closest family members might know, and that the same applies to them also.

The movie reminded me to never judge a book by its cover and to always go into any situation with the belief that I can overcome all of my personal challenges.

The movie, King’s Speech, is based on a real story of a king overcoming his speech difficulties and making one of the most remarkable speech in the history.

The movie tells its story calmly but my thoughts did not end even when the movie ended. I have mixed feelings about the movie’s idealization of the class problem in the Britain but the struggle of this king gave me a valuable lesson. Without the help of his wife and therapist he probably would not have overcome his speech disability and he would not have become the king if his brother did not give up the position. But on the other side, his persistance was also indispensable to his success. This convinces of the words that my parents always tell me,’ the opportunity is always for those who are prepared.’

I will keep this story in mind when I encounter difficulties in my study life.

This week’s movie was very entertaining. It made me think a lot about the way we isolate and berate people suffering from speech problems just because they are difficult to understand or a nuisance to listen to. In today’s world, however, we have much better programs for identifying and correcting these speech impediments early on, so that they are no longer a problem, or are less of a problem later on in the child’s life. With programs like Speech-Language and Occupational therapy, patients can often show marked improvement, especially when they begin such programs at an early age. Although the problem does sometimes disappear on its own, it is better to be safe than sorry, and no harm is done to a child undergoing speech therapy.

Despite our now many ways of treating the problem we are still not able to locate its source. Sometimes it is obvious why a child has developed a speech impediment, obvious in the sense that we can diagnose it using medical equipment. Speech impediments caused by problems with the laryngeal webs (vocal chords) or noncancerous growths. These causes are more readily diagnosable and treatable. However sometimes an impediment will arise when there is no obvious physical reason for it to be there.

The science behind developing a speech impediment a field waiting to be explored and a lot of progress is currently being made in this field. It was interesting to learn more about medical and educational perspectives on the themes brought up in this film.

The King’s Speech is indeed a remarkable movie. Its cinematography, plot, acting, and choice of classical music (including one of the most famous uses of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony) all summed to a tasteful and engaging experience.

But what was truly remarkable about the film was not merely its acting or how it was shot, but rather its humanizing depiction of the Royal Family. One is meant to think of royalty as near deities, without faults nor true human needs nor desires. Yet, the entire premise of this movie is that these people are as faulty as the rest of us; we are exposed to their blunders and failings from Edward VIII teasing his brother to George’s unwillingness to assume the thrown because of the insecurity he feels when speaking. This disconnect between commoner and lord is acknowledged by George himself while speaking to his speech therapist, Lionel: “I’m struck by how little I know of his life, and how little he knows of mine.” To this effect, Lionel acts as the interface between he ordinary and the extraordinary kingdom of kings. The film is a reminder that everyone is a person, from the common popper to a regal deity.

It was an excellent movie with an excellent story. I would recommend it.

I really enjoyed The King’s Speech–much more than I enjoyed last week’s The Martian. I can definitely see why Colin Firth won Best Actor and why this movie won Best Movie at the 2010 Oscars. I feel as if the most important theme to take from this film was communication, or lack thereof. King George VI (Bertie) put it perfectly when he said that England expected him to be their “voice” even though he had no governmental power/authority. So to have a king that couldn’t effectively comfort the country in a tense time nor relay assertive condemnations to Nazi Germany was nerve-wracking for the kingdom, its commonwealths, and put immense pressure on an already diffident King George VI.

Class conflict is also a pertinent theme that relates back to communication. Bertie’s family can’t seem to understand his impediment–his dad is easily frustrated and at one point his brother mocks him. It’s as if his own family has ostracized him to retreat further and further into himself, a perfect scene of this being his awkward presence at his brother’s first party with his divorced fiance. However, Bertie was more easily able to acquaint himself with Lionel, reveal his inner thoughts, and his words flowed better around him, a failed actor of a lower class. This atypical friendship breaks the rules of ancient aristocratic behavior and ushers in an era of repaired monarchy headed by King George VI and streamlined by Queen Elizabeth and her descendants.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, gave it a 5/5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes, and will definitely recommend it to others.

“The King’s Speech” caught my interest because it’s a time and place in history that I’ve been exploring a fair bit lately. With Netflix’s “The Crown” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk”. Particularly with “The King’s Speech” and “The Crown”, It’s been very interesting to observe and think about Britain’s institution of the Monarchy, something that as an American I can say I find an interesting and foreign concept.

There was a line of the movie that struck me last night, when David asks his brother “don’t I have rights?” Similarly, later in the movie, the newly crowned King George VI makes a very interesting point to Lionel. “I’m a… a King, where’s my power?” he asks,  “Can I… can I form a government? Can I… can I l-levy a tax, declare a… a war? No!” What these two lines suggest to me is a very interesting perspective on the function of the Monarchy in a more modern Britain. They are expected not to directly interfere in the government – after all, in a modern society, for a birthright position to hold real political power might be archaic. But Archie continues to Lionel about this nature of his position “And yet I am the seat of all authority. Why? Because… the nation believes that when I s… I speak, I speak for them – but I can’t speak.”

While the movie makes a powerful and poignant picture of the King overcoming this adversity, and this is certainly not to be dismissed, I find it very interesting to think of how the role of the Monarch in Britain as evolved over time, and how it continues to justify its existence. Where before they were a true figurehead of power, now they are a voice through which the Commonwealth can, at least in theory, take solace and project a national identity onto. In my opinion, this makes the challenge overcome by King George in the film all the more impressive. The one thing he truly struggled to do was, at that point, the one thing he was asked to do.

After my first viewing tonight, I can see why The King’s Speech is such a celebrated film. It is a compelling story of trust, courage, and friendship. However, I find that I am dissatisfied with the information missing. Some of my concerns are below:

1. Lionel Logue
   • We never get to see any interaction between Lionel and his son about going to war. Shouldn’t Lionel have something to say to his son, having treated veterans in the past?
   • Did Lionel himself ever have any trouble speaking? That was my first thought after the audition scene. The insecurities we see in that scene also apparently disappear afterwards.
2. David (Edward VIII)
   • David’s behavior strongly suggests that his relationships with his family was strained long before the marriage fiasco, but we only see him interact with Bertie and, with a stretch, his mother.
   • We are clearly not supposed to like his character, since he mocks Bertie’s speech impediment. Why are we told that he and Bertie are close?
3. Other brothers
   • “Bertie has more guts than all his brothers combined” suggests that he has more brothers than David and Johnny. Where are they during all of this?

A quick Google search tells me that Bertie’s speech problems were largely resolved before he ever ascended to the throne. To what extent is this movie a dramatization/fictionalization of events? Does that detract from the film’s messages?

In 2010 film the Kings Speech the main character has a stuttering problem. Which is the premise of the movie but that’s not what I’m going to talk about. Did anyone else notice the dead pig hanging in the back of the wine cellar? That cannot be sanitary. As an animal science major I have done my fair share of working with animals and dissecting dead ones but I’m pretty sure having a dead pig in your basement is a biohazard. When we do big dissections (I’ve only done calves) you typically wear boots and an apron. I’m sure for butchering it’s different but you are going to end up tracking blood through the wine cellar. Also how long has that pig been hung up like that? It was not a focus and was in the background but it bugged me for the rest of the movie.

In terms of him having a speech impediment I think it plays into most people taking thing for granted when they aren’t afflicted with certain issues. As someone who was made fun of as a kid for having a speech impediment I think that its something most people take for granted. I think this is also an issue faced when we think about ableism. As someone who is able bodied I think I do take that for granted sometimes and something a lot of people who are able bodied take for granted until they are forced to really think about it. I think this made me think about things about myself that I take for granted.