Thursday, January 27, 2011

The King's Speech

 I, like Colin Firth's character, was born with a speech impediment (which by the way is a hard word to pronounce). In first grade I was put in speech class for my adorable lisp, a name which mocks those with the condition. My best friend and block-corner-buddy Jared Goldman was in the class too because he couldn't say "r"s. I don't know if there's a name for that but it's probably something like "rerurrarow" and all over Chinese menus. It was fun because there were only four of us and my nice speech teacher, who my mom said was a drunk, would pull us out of real school and we'd play matching games with flash cards. I loved being disabled. I got special attention and people would make squielly noises when I spoke like I was tickling their "cute" button. But my mom said it wouldn't be cute when I was old (just like she said eating off other people's plates wouldn't be cute when I was fat). And so I learned to speak "normally" and be treated "normally" and eat only off of my plate. That's socialization for you.

Colin Firth is way cuter when he talks like a deaf person. But to be King, he must assume the persona. Through the use of fun games like naming things in a workbook, Firth learns to be like everyone else but even better because he is King. This is a story of transformation. A great watch if you had a speech impediment too, because you can zone off and remember stuff like when Jared tried to say Reggie's name!

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