Review: The King's Speech
Dec. 24th, 2010 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreThis is an amazing movie and, imho, Colin Firth deserves an Oscar for it.
I don't talk about my own speech problems earlier on in life. I never stammered, as the late king did, but I did freeze up when put on the spot.
My college required speech class in order to graduate. They still do. (link, p. 45)
I enrolled in speech several times -- seven, I believe -- before I finally was able to complete the class. (At that time, California community colleges permitted dropping classes without penalty.) I'd get almost to the speech, then drop the class in a fit of sheer terror. Once I gave a speech, froze in the middle, then dropped the class.
The last time I took it, the teacher had the rather clever idea of having everyone introduce themselves, say one quirk about themselves, then introduce everyone to the left of them. By the time we got all the way around (about 35 people), we had all stumbled over each others' names and there was a cameraderie about it. We'd pretty much all embarrassed ourselves, so might as well continue to do so in a group you knew, right?
That was in 1989, and I was able to get through the class. You know I have spoken at science fiction conventions (the first of which was a Worldcon, no pressure), and I've spoken at LinuxWorld and MacWorld Expo. I've taught classes, and not just in grad school and as a part of my bachelor's.
It took me a while to get my groove as a speaker. What I discovered: I can't really write a word-for-word speech and deliver it. That's a sure way to freeze me up. I need to write down things I want to talk about, maybe time it some, add some extra stuff in there in case I go quickly because I'm nervous. Then I'm fine, or at least fine enough.
So I can imagine how much worse it would be for someone who suddenly became king because his brother abdicated -- and he'd always been a stammerer, and he had to deliver important speeches.
Truly worth seeing.
I don't talk about my own speech problems earlier on in life. I never stammered, as the late king did, but I did freeze up when put on the spot.
My college required speech class in order to graduate. They still do. (link, p. 45)
I enrolled in speech several times -- seven, I believe -- before I finally was able to complete the class. (At that time, California community colleges permitted dropping classes without penalty.) I'd get almost to the speech, then drop the class in a fit of sheer terror. Once I gave a speech, froze in the middle, then dropped the class.
The last time I took it, the teacher had the rather clever idea of having everyone introduce themselves, say one quirk about themselves, then introduce everyone to the left of them. By the time we got all the way around (about 35 people), we had all stumbled over each others' names and there was a cameraderie about it. We'd pretty much all embarrassed ourselves, so might as well continue to do so in a group you knew, right?
That was in 1989, and I was able to get through the class. You know I have spoken at science fiction conventions (the first of which was a Worldcon, no pressure), and I've spoken at LinuxWorld and MacWorld Expo. I've taught classes, and not just in grad school and as a part of my bachelor's.
It took me a while to get my groove as a speaker. What I discovered: I can't really write a word-for-word speech and deliver it. That's a sure way to freeze me up. I need to write down things I want to talk about, maybe time it some, add some extra stuff in there in case I go quickly because I'm nervous. Then I'm fine, or at least fine enough.
So I can imagine how much worse it would be for someone who suddenly became king because his brother abdicated -- and he'd always been a stammerer, and he had to deliver important speeches.
Truly worth seeing.