Hi Gang! Sorry for the delay, but here we are--two blogs left to go! This week we can focus on special occassion speeches, either eulogies, introductions, commencement addresses, holiday toasts or even roasts! From a film you either love or hate, describe a great special occasion speech! Did it work? Why or why not? How did the rhetorical situation play into the audience expectations for the speech?
I would first like to apologize if i slightly deviate from the prompt.
ReplyDeleteThe film i would talk about is actually a genre. The genre is war films. Films such as Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot, and much more. In these movies, and in real life, we see normal people, from all sorts of backgrounds, doing extraordinary things, such as risking ones own life, to protect the US, and fellow soldiers and civilians. We also see the same thing in firefighters, police officers, and other rescue personnel. (A free idea for movie about firefighters being hero: Ladder 49). Once a year, Americans recognize these heros on Veterans Day. On this day, we recognize these veterans to be hailed as a hero, businesses offer discounts or freebies (with proof). Although movies are made to appeal to the American public, and often have a happy ending, it does show the bravery that these ordinary people have had on American history.
To add to my above comment. Various actors (i am not sure there are very many actresses in war movies) had to give a short speech to corral their fellow soldiers to muster up the courage to enter enemy lines, and risk their lives, even for a small objective, like finding a soldier (as in Saving Private Ryan). The soldiers found it in themselves to throw themselves in the fight. This short speech showed that fighting in a war is about bravery in the face of dying.
ReplyDeleteI hate the way you talk to me
ReplyDeleteand the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car;
I hate it when you stare.
I hate your big dumb combat boots
and the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick.
It even makes me rhyme
I hate it -- I hate the way you're always right;
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh;
even worse when you make me cry
I hate it when you're not around
and the fact that you didn't call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you --not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.
This is a poem that the female charcter had to read in front of the class in "10 Things I Hate About You"
I believe it worked because it showed her pain. It showed that this tough girl had a weakside. That she really did fall for the rebel of the school...I believed it spoke to young girls every where. It's okay to show your real feelings. Be vunerable (sp) I also feel that it was a relief for her to write that and also let it out. I will always remember that part in that movie. It has always stood out for me.
RIP Heath Leadger
~Stephanie~
Cast the Giant Shadow (1966)
ReplyDeleteI watched the movie “Cast the Giant Shadow” during a The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Through Film seminar. This film helped me to examine the depiction of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in this dramatic film setting. Through the principal subject matter of this film I will try to analyze the themes, tropes, and stores of the conflict that the film maker chose to emphasize and how the historical evolution of the conflict contributed to changes in the way the film maker have depicted it.
Background – Israel has absorbed US $100 billion foreign aid in the last 43 years, and the US has considerable leverage on Israel. The Zionism movement is an ideology for Jewish to move back into Israel, and it is also an identity. The United States was the founding forced behind the United Nations, and Henry Ford was an anti semitic American. This US ha a very long and rich history of anti semitic behavior. Prior to the WWI you can find anti-semitic, anti-non-white, and anti-Asian behaviors in American society.
Genre / Purpose – The purpose of making this film is to show that a group of folks faced world wide slaughter, and they are facing another persecution in Israel. The audience of this movie is American people.
Hate against Israel
Khaled’s friend asked: Why does your father limp?
Khaled: During the first Intifada, Isreali soldiers broke into our house. They let him choose which leg he wanted to keep. He chose the right. I would have let him break both rather than be so humiliated.
Jamal is brain washing Said
Jamal: What can you do when there is no justice or freedom? The individual has to fight for it. If we give into the law, that the strong devour the week then we reduce ourselves to the level of animals. That is intolerable. Death is better than inferiority. Whoever fights for freedom can also die for it. “You are the one who will change things.”
Getting ready for the mission (SETTLEMENTS ISSUES)
Khaled: Now it is our turn.
We have no other ways to fight. Israel views partnership with and equality for the Palestinians under the same democratic system as suicide for the Jewish state. Nor will they accept a two-state compromise even though that is not fair to the Palestinians. We are to either accept the occupation forever or disappear. We have tried with all possible means to end the occupation with political and peaceful means. Despite it all, Israel continues to build settlements confiscate land, Judaize Jerusalem and carry out ethnic cleansing. They use their war machine and their political and economical might to force us to accept their solution: They either we accept inferiority, or we will be killed. As a martyr, I am not afraid of death. This is how I will overcome their threats and emerge victorious over their military and political forces. Let me die as a martyr.
Conclusion – The US is proud to be the first nation to recognize the state of Israel. I first did not understand the importance of Jerusalem for both Palestinian and Israeli, but now I do. It is not surprising that modern day Israel feel insecure. The sensitivity to this conflict comes from the basic humanity that recognizes the suffering of both Palestinian and Israeli people that encourage their endurance. I think Israel and Palestine will never have peace until both parties recognize the same rights and the same peace for each other.
~Nayyar Sarfaraz~
The Lion King
ReplyDeleteAdult Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back will mean facing my past. I've been running from it for so long.
[Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick]
Adult Simba: Ow! Jeez, what was that for?
Rafiki: It doesn't matter. It's in the past.
[laughs]
Adult Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.
Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it.
[swings his stick at Simba again who ducks out of the way]
Rafiki: Ha. You See? So what are you going to do?
Adult Simba: First, I'm gonna take your stick.
[Simba snatches Rafiki's stick and throws it and Rafiki runs to grab it]
Rafiki: No, not the stick! Hey, where you going?
Adult Simba: I'm going back!
Rafiki: Good! Go on! Get out of here!
[Rafiki begins laughing and screeching loudly]
I'm not sure if you would exactly call this part a speech but what stood out to me about this movie was "The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it." I felt that this short saying was helpful because to this day I use this quote in my everyday life. I feel that many others probably feel he same about this short saying. He is teaching that you don't have to let your past control you. That it can help you in the future.
Giavanna Stalling
"Elizabeth A Golden Age" Starring Kate Blanchet. The Spanish are on the footstep of England preparing to invade the British Isles. They have amassed a giant fleet outnumbering the British 8 to 1. She is dressed in a gleaming suit of armor and sitting atop a beautiful white steed at the sea shore. There she rallies her soldiers to be brave and face the enemy head on. To die or be free. Its her personal strengh and obvious courage. She chose to stand and not to run in the face of danger. It was very moving. Fortunally for herself and her countrymen, the Spanish fleet was nearly destroyed by the English Channel itself. BY MARK SHELTON
ReplyDeleteRatatouille Pixar film (2007)
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant.
It is the final speech from Anton Ego, who wrote a review about Remy‘s dish called Ratatouille. Anton liked this dish a lot because it reminded him of his childhood. After knowing that the dish was made by a rat, his perceptions towards Gusteau’s motto: Anyone can cook changed. This speech captivated me, because in life no matter if you are disabled, large, small, or tall, if you are talented in something don’t let others, like critics bring you down, because anyone in life can do something extraordinary if they set their minds to it. Like what Anton say as he concludes his speech, “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”
-Nancy Yu
It was a russian movie called The Wedding in Malinovka. The guy was going to propose to the girl he loved and he actually had prepared the whole speech beforehand.He was going to tell her how much he loved her, why he loved her, why she should marry him and how happy she will be if she says yes to him. He practised the speech many times in front of the mirror. When he finally asked the girl out and they met he was so shy that he even could't say a word.Several times he tried to start but every time he got almost sick. The girl at the end got mad at him because she didnt even know what he wanted to tell her. Finally she left.the guy was a really bad speaker, he didnt have enough confidence to proove his feelings.
ReplyDeleteVera Andrievskaya
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Akeelah and the Bee.
ReplyDeleteThis quotes has really been an inspiration to me. It enables me to fudge ahead knowing that my deepest fear is myself.
- Beatrice.
Movie "Lean on Me" (1989)
ReplyDeletespeech by Morgan Freeman
"In one hour, you are going to take an exam administered by the State to test your basic skills and the quality of education at East Side High. And I want to tell you what the people out there are saying about you and what they think about your chances. They say you are inferior. You are just a bunch of n-----s and spics and poor white trash! Education is wasted on you. You cannot learn. You're lost!...But you can turn that around and make liars out of those bastards in exactly one hour when you take that test and pass it and win!...So, here's what I want you to do. When you find your mind's wandering, I want you to knuckle back down and concentrate -- concentrate! Remember what's at stake!...And show them what East Side High is all about: a spirit that will not die!"
This speech is very inspirational which is addressed to the audience as a "us against the world" speech. He gives the students confidence by basically saying that even though no one else believes in you, I do. The students pass the state exam, and the principal accomplishes his goal.
Michael Douglas, Wall Street:
ReplyDelete"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
Word is a sequel is in the works with Stone and Douglas on board. This would totally work given the current economic climate. This scene, where Douglas's Gordon Gekko defends his company and by turn, greed, is a classic.
Tracie Bingham said:
ReplyDeleteThe Great Debaters
James Farmer Jr. : “In Texas they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. I looked at my teammates. I saw the fear in their eyes and, worse, the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung without trial in a dark forest filled with fog. Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. Just left us wondering, "Why?" My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing. Turned away from schools, hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St Augustine said, "An unjust law in no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.”
I really enjoyed this speech for several reasons. First, I believe that this speech is the reason that they won their debate. When James spoke, the graphics of his speech was so amazingly vivid in my mine that if I were blind, I could see pictures through his words. When all the other speakers were quoting things from their notes, James had a real live first hand experience to tell. Second he did not have to practice this event, he told it from his own personal feelings which later helped him to become a great man of today’s history.
Cher: So, OK, like right now, for example, the Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, "What about the strain on our resources?" But it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I said R.S.V.P. because it was a sit-down dinner. But people came that, like, did not R.S.V.P. So I was, like, totally buggin'. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, squish in extra place settings; but by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier! And so, if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians.And in conclusion, may I please remind you that it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty"
ReplyDeleteThis was a quote from the movie "clueless". No it didnt work because it was completely irrelevant and had nothing to do with the topic.
But that used to be 1 of my favorite movies.
-Brittany S.
"Remember the Titans" is a 2000 film about the true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team in their first season as a racially integrated unit.
ReplyDeleteMost of the speech on the movie is motivated to me and I like the movie because it has powerful meaning to life that has already past and still exist in some part of the country today.
Some of the quote I like is how Coach Boone try to change his teammate attitude of racism and stop fighting between race. When he saw them fighting, he took them to a place to teach them a lesson which he describe on the following quote, "This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men. ."
First, the quote shows how change is necessary to keep relationships.
Second, the quote shows why people act the way they do.
Third, It shows how scared everyone was of change
The quote that I list from the movie above works and it brings change to the team. This movie is trying to teach as that change is important on anything. Also, This is important because there are always problems in society that must be dealt with. The lessons in this movie can be applied to any problem; not just racism.
One of the movies I enjoyed is Hangover. In the movie, one of the weirder boys made a speech right before their long night out. The speech did not work at all. He was talking about how happy he was to "increase [his] wolfpack." He wanted to tell his new brother-in-law how happy he was for him, but it didn't turn out so well. It did not go well because he basically said he did not have any friends until now. This speech is also known as the wolfpack speech on youtube.
ReplyDeleteOne of the movies that I have always really enjoyed that has stuck out from the rest of them is Boondock Saints. It a made a very compelling ending that wrapped up the movie very well. It was to inspire others and spark fear in the corrupt citizens of their country.
ReplyDelete"Now you will receive us...!
We do not ask for your poor or your hungry. We do not want your tired and sick. It is your Corrupt we claim...!
It is your evil that will be saught by us. With every breath we shall hunt them down. Each day we will spill their blood till it rains down from the skies...!
Do not Kill...
Do not Rape...
Do not Steal...
These are principles, which every man of every faith can embrace. These are not polite suggestions, these are codes of behavior and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost...!
There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth, not to push the bounds and cross over into true corruption, into our domain...!
But if you do you, one day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day, you will reap it. And we will send you to whatever God you wish...!
'...and shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. We shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be...'
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti..."
Just that you know, this movie is a huge cult movie that i must say that i am a part of.
One of my favorite speeches from a movie comes from "The Great Dictator," starring Charlie Chaplin.
ReplyDeleteNOTE:There are SPOILERS here for a large part of the plot. If this bothers you, skip to the end.
In this film, made in 1939-40 Charlie Chaplin plays two characters, one a Hitler-esque dictator named Hynkel, the other a nameless Jewish barber. Since they look exactly alike, they are eventually mistaken for each other. At the end of the film, the barber has to give a speech at one of Hynkel's victory celebrations. Rather than trying to hide who he is, he stands up before the crowd and gives a rousing call for democracy and universal brotherhood.
Obviously, this speech failed to fulfill the expectations of the (in-movie) audience, but of course that was the point. The barber did not want to reinforce the ideas of fascism and anti-Semitism, but to rally people against them. As for whether or not he succeeded, well, I can only suggest that you watch that speech yourself, as I don't hink my own words do it justice.