"The King's Speech"

"The King's Speech" is a film that focuses on the fact that every individual has a flaw, even royalty. Albert, the Duke of York, has had a speech impediment since about five years old. His wife, Elizabeth, constantly tries to find a cure for her husband. She finds Lionel, a child speech therapist. On their first meeting together in Lionel's home, he asks Albert when his speech impediment started. When the prince replies that he has been this way all his life, Lionel states that no one is born with a speech impediment, it is only developed at a young age. We later find out that Albert has not had an easy life. As a child, his nanny rarely fed him, resulting in stomach issues. Albert's older brother and his father, the King, contantly moked Albert for his speech. The King realized that his eldest son, David, will disappoint his family and his country if he inherites the thrown. The King's life long frustration with his son's speech is obvious in the scene where he orders Albert to read the speech that the King himself had just read. When Albert struggles, the King yells out without hesitation, "Just read it!" The King's disappointment in both of his sons is made completely obvious throughout the film.

The credibility of this film is told through the idea of the way things really are. No one is perfect, most people are alright with grasping onto that idea, but this film focuses on the flaws not of a commoner, but of royalty, a soon to be king. This brings the main character down to our level and allows us to examine him not as royalty, but as one of us, a person going through the stuggles of everyday life, just like us. This examination of Albert's flaws both inside and out help us connect with him. This is also re-enforced when Lionel refuses to call Albert "Your Royal Highness" or anything like that. This is because it brings Albert down to Lionel's level, to our level, so we can see that Albert has weeknesses just like us. This makes us sometimes forget about the fact that Albert is indeed royalty when having his sessions in Lionel's home office.

Just like "Good Will Hunting," the action displayed in "The King's Speech" is presented both externally and internally. The external action that takes place within the film are characterized by Albert's frequent outbursts of swearing and vulgar opinions. The internal action again takes place within the main character. Albert is fighting with himself. He does not consider himself worthy of the thrown because, "A King is the voice of his country, and I can't speak." This ongoing battle is only put to rest at the end of the film where, with the help of Lionel, Albert flawlessly delivers one of the most important speeches of his life. He then realizes that he does deserve the thrown because of the perseverence he possesses.

The significance of the title "The King's Speech" also has a double meaning. The title refers to the fact that the King's speech is not very good because of his speech impediment. It also refers to one of the most important speeches in the new King's life, the declaration of war on Germany. Both meanings are very different, but are also connected in a very meaningful way. The double meaning refers to the fact that even though the King does have a speech impediment, he overcame it and delivered the best speech of his life.

Characterization through dialogue is also very prominent in the development of the main character. We learn about Albert through his struggle with his speech. We then realize that not only does he struggle with his speech, but he also struggles with the negative views everyone has on him because of his speech impediment. We begin to relate to him through the use of characterization through dialogue.

Characterization through choice of name is also made reference to in "The King's Speech." When Albert realizes that he will become king because his older brother gave up the thrown, he is asked what name he will take up. It is suggested that he takes up George the VI, after his father. Although he does take up his father's name, Albert has no intention of doing some of the things that his father did as king, such as the Christmas speech. This lets the viewer know that even though Albert does not plan on doing some of these things, he still respects his father as the King before him.

Albert and his older brother David are two completely opposite characters in this film. This distinction makes David the foil of Albert. We start to develop this idea throughout the movie through the presentation of David's risque lifestyle, but we start to completely understand the role of David as the foil when their father dies. Everyone in the room realizes what has happened, but everyone remains calm and remains strong, except for when David breaks down and starts crying, stunning everyone, and runs out of the room. This scene gives us a clear distinction between the two brothers, telling us that David is weak and is in no way fit for the throne like his younger brother Albert is.

"The King's Speech" is a film that focuses on both the internal and external conflict of an individual we least expect, a King. Through watching this film, we begin to examine our own conflicts and develop ways to overcome them, just like Albert.