“I Have a Voice”: Deconstructing Power in The King’s Speech from “A blog about culture, writing, and pedagogy”

Ultimately, the film argues, the King of England is a man who has never been able to get past the age of five, when his caregiver deliberately starved him without his parents even noticing, when his father encouraged his brother to verbally abuse him for his stammer, when his knock-knees were placed in excruciatingly painful metal braces, and when he was forced to use his right hand instead his left. The Throne, which Logue in a more brilliant-than-itseems-on-the-surface scene shows to be a just a chair in which people have irreverently carved their names, represents a power so monolithic and impenetrable, so layered in arcane traditions and pieties that it eclipses the subjectivity of everyone in its shadow–even that of the man who sits in it.

The film opens with text that talks about the fact that King George V ruled a quarter of the world’s people, and the film visually telegraphs the fact that this is about to come to an end, that the dominance of the British monarchy is pretty much over, but that it’s ability to terrify, to abuse and oppress remains very much alive. Ultimately, Firth’s character says, he only has power because the people believe that he speaks for them, and he cannot even do that much. But as Logue eventually gets him to say, he deserves to be heard not because he is royal but because he is a man with a voice just like every other man.

“Voice is Power” the authentic use of your voice in assertiveness training From an advertisement for a training course BEFORE WE START... Just stop and think for a few moments of all the great leaders and true inspirers, past and present, who have been and are great communicators. Think about what makes them stand out from the crowd. What makes them truly unique? WHAT ABOUT YOU? Whether you are a senior executive, an entrepreneur, an ambitious manager, a coach or an academic, ask yourself these questions:






In the pursuit of your professional and personal ambitions, how important do you think the personal physical delivery of your message is? Have you ever stopped to properly consider how good you are at it? What impact would it have on your career and your life if you were the best at it in your office, or your organization, or your sector or the world?

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Voice is power WHAT IS VOICE IS POWER? Voice is Power is a groundbreaking and powerful event, designed to help you maximize your leadership influence through the power of your voice, the transparency of the authentic you and the impact and clarity of your message. OBJECTIVES


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Present and communicate with impact




Improve your presentations in English if it is not your first language

WHY DO I NEED IT? Your leadership effectiveness is dependent on your level of influence. To truly influence others you need to have mastered your communication skills. To be a highly successful leader you not only need to have the wisdom, insight and relationships to recognize new opportunities and deliver results, you also need to have the power of presence: a sense of center, of being in the moment, of fully understanding the authentic you, of absolute confidence in your message and the ability to deliver it with a strong, commanding, inspiring voice. Our goal is to help you master these vital skills and embody them 100% of the time through conscious awareness. This will enable you to be the very best you can, to never tune out, to never switch on to auto-pilot and to always aim for excellence in your leadership. HOW DOES IT WORK? Voice is Power™ is a groundbreaking program in Communication Mastery, combining the physiological, psychological and spiritual aspects of the human voice. It teaches highly specific techniques in vocal presence including richness, resonance, depth, gravitas, intonation, range and speed, as well as body language, expression, and conscious awareness to achieve meaningful and powerful communication and life-mastery skills. It incorporates aspects of Vocal Awareness™, the proprietary work of Arthur Joseph. FACTS In any face-to-face spoken communication there are 3 areas that convey the message:


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Voice is Power™ empowers you to make a strong impact on your audience on all three levels simultaneously and that the audience is impacted:


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Egypt and The King's Speech: Will You Stand Up and Raise Your Voice? 02/12/11 - Author: Leonard Sweet, BBC Why is it that the first directive every teacher learns how to give is “Okay, everybody, sit down and be quiet?” Or less politely, “Sit down and shut up!” When did learning become yoked to being sedentary and silent? When did learning have more to do with anesthetics (that slow down your senses) than with aesthetics (that wake up your senses)? Sure. Sometimes we have to “listen up” in order to learn. But how can we get answers if we cannot first voice our questions? The best teachers and the most gifted learners know this: the more voices that contribute, the more learning will happen. Finding your voice. That is the theme of the surprise Academy Award favorite movie “The King’s Speech.” Royal watchers and romantics have focused forever on the king who gave up the throne for the woman he loved, Edward VIII, never giving much thought to the “spare” who replaced the “heir.” With a profound stammer and knock-knees, Prince Albert, aka “Bertie,” hardly rated a second glance until he was suddenly his country’s “second chance” at having a new king. The greatest obstacle preventing Prince Albert from becoming King George VI was his inability to find his own voice. The movie focuses on how the royal monarch’s relationship with a gifted speech therapist, Lionel Logue, enabled a stumbling stammerer to become a beloved sovereign. Logue is self-taught and without credentials. But he utilized the most advanced technology he had at hand to help his royal student. He even used phonograph recordings of the king’s own voice so that Albert could truly “hear” himself for the first time. But Logue also used something more important and powerful: the age-old power of relationship to tune and tone the king’s voice. It took years of coaching, learning to trust each

other, and building respect for each other, before Logue could declare to Albert “You must have faith in your voice!” But when that point came, it was their relationship that enabled the man no one ever thought would be king finally to respond “I have a voice!” Do you have faith in your voice? Have you used your voice? In the past week young pro-democracy protestors in Egypt have shown they “have faith” in their voice. Even when the electronic, high tech versions of their “voice” were silenced by the government when it cut all internet connectivity; Even when pro-government supporters used old-fashioned camel drivers to incite terror and violence; Even when the army, the “peace-keepers,” looked away and let violence prevail: The voice of the protestors remained strong and sure. They knew their message and they used their voice: “Mubarak must go.” Yet the sound of a voice being raised is not enough. Our voices must have something beautiful, good and true to tell. Powerful voices can bring POWER, and if that power is abused the result is tragedy and evil. Anyone want to deny that Adolf Hitler had a powerful, persuasive voice? Of Joseph Stalin? Or Pol Pot? Or Idi Amin? Or the Ayatollah Khomeni? Or Osama bin Laden? Strength is not the measure of what should carry a voice. Truth is. Beauty is. Goodness is.