Introduction
Canning, I. (Producer) & Hooper, T. (Director). (2010). The King’s Speech. {Motion Picture] United Kingdom, Weinstein Company.
The movie that will be discussed in my essay is The King’s Speech. It was produced by Canning, I and its director was known as Tom Hooper. The movie was produced in 2010. The movie was based on a book with the same title and it had been written by the following journalists: Mark Logue, grandson of Lionel Logue, and Peter Conradi. In addition, David Seidler was the movie screen play writer. The movie is placed in the category of historical drama as defined in the scenes. The King’s speech movie is about an Australian speech therapist called Lionel Logue who was been retained by the Duke of York so that he could assist him to rectify his stammering disability at the time of the abdication crisis (Walker, 2011).
Identification of the Disability Character
The disability character in the movie is Collin Firth (King George VI). Collins is considered to be disabled since he was experiencing speech problems, he was a stammer. He suffered from a debilitating speech impediment. The disability character is built with the desire and passion to lead his country despite his weakness in speech delivery. One of his strength is that he welcomes the efforts of his wife Elizabeth by allowing the eccentric speech therapist to treat his disability. He welcomes the therapist in open arms so that he could receive treatment. The greatest strength of all is that the King overcomes the speech challenge and he can deliver a speech fluently. He goes a step further to address the citizens through media so that they could join hands to fight their common enemy. The King succeeds to unite his people in the battle and starts to fight with a spirit to conquer and win the World War (Canning & Hooper 2010).
Role of Disability Character
The major role of Collin Firth (King George VI) is that he is considered the auxiliary character in the movie. He brings out the theme of transformation in a clear way making the movie more interesting. The disability character helps to transform the protagonist, Dr. Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who is considered the transformer due to his abilities to bring back the king’s speech back to normal. The auxiliary character plays an important role to make people respect the disabled in the society. Through him we get to learn that disability is not inability.
The auxiliary character, Collin Firth, makes his speech therapist to come out as a hero. This is illustrated by the speech that he delivers through the radio and it helps to unite his people at the war. The disability character plays a role that changes the perception that lies in the society about the disabled. Despite his appointment lying on a weighing balance and receiving criticism from various quarters, the King is ready to learn on how to auto-correct the disability and stands in the frontline to ensure that he brings his people together and they fight against their enemy.
Message of the Film
The King’s Speech movie brings out the message of one triumphing over his or her fears since it shows how the king remained focused to lead his people and unite them in the war despite the constraints that he faced when delivering speech. The king says that,” England believes I can speak for it, but I have no speech.” The King stands firm to declare war against the Nazi of Germany. He ensures that he overcomes the prevalent arrogance, insecurity and rage that seem to affect his country at that time. The King comes out as a warm husband, a cheerful leader, a true father, and a friend to his people. The theme of normalization emerges since people perceive the great speech of the king as remarkable because at first he suffered from a speech impediment. Music has been used to show how the King struggles for control despite the disability (Hooper & Tom, 2011).
Use of Disability
Collin Firth (King George VI), the disabled character, is very key in promoting and communicating the message of one triumphing over his or her fears since he learns on how to deal with his speech impediment and comes out victoriously when he delivers a perfect speech that declares the stand to fight the enemy and at the same time uniting his people.
The symbolic aspect in the movie is stuttering. The triumph emerges after the King learns more about speech delivery after being assisted by Dr. Lionel Rogue. It is a great achievement to the speech therapist after the King delivers a very superb speech through the radio. In the movie, disability is used to show that all human beings can overcome the fears and challenges amongst themselves and emerge triumphant in the events (Logue & Conradi 2010). It can be said that the movie was a success and it helps the society to appreciate the disabled people within themselves and stop the trend of criticizing the disabled.
References
Logue, M., & Conradi, P. J. (2010). The King's speech. New York: Sterling. Read more Select
Sawyer, J., Hooper, T., Firth, C., & Revolver Entertainment (Firm). (2011). King George VI: The man behind The King's speech. West Hollywood, CA: Revolver Entertainment.
Canning, I & Hooper, (2010). The King’s Speech. {Motion Picture] United Kingdom, Weinstein Company.
Hooper, Tom (21 January 2011). "The King's Speech director Tom Hooper answers your questions – live!". The Guardian Film blog Retrieved on 6 July 2011. (archived by Web Cite on 6 July 2011).
Walker, T. (20 January 2011) "Colin Firth was the third choice to play George VI in The King's Speech". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
