The Legacy of "The King's Speech"

It's been about a month since The King's Speech was honored as the 83rd winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, and all the anger and frustration should have faded away to some degree by now. There is obviously some lingering angst amongst those who are perhaps a little too invested in the highly subjective awards show. I learned pretty quickly that the measure of what film wins Best Picture is not a definite record of what was unanimously the best film of that year. If I were to have my own way, I'd have had Black Swan walk away with the top prize that night, but I would've settled for The Social Network. It didn't turn out that way, and that's honestly fine.

What's not fine is that the film that did win was so quick to change for the general public. A PG-13 version of The King's Speech is set to release next Friday in over 1000 theaters, and all I can help but wonder is why they would make this decision. The film has already made $132.9 million, and that was with the R-rated version that it won the Oscar with. Of course it's probably only going to omit pieces of those two scenes of King George swearing his ass off, but it still honestly feels like they're just pandering, and even more troubling, compromising their initial vision. I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the film, but I thought it was very entertaining and inspiring, even if greatness evaded it.

This brings us back to why the film won at all, which is because it was amongst the more optimistic features nominated this year. The Social Network, Black Swan, and Inception all had less than optimistic end notes, and I guess the Academy was looking for something a little on the lighter and less bitter side. Not to mention the obvious favoritism of the older Academy members towards the older protagonist of King George, played by under-rewarded actor Colin Firth. I guess it appealed to them as an underdog story in the same vein as Slumdog Millionaire, a much better film than this. If we're going by general quality, The King's Speech wouldn't have a shot. This year was more about favoritism.

So how will The King's Speech be remembered at the end of the decade, if it is remembered at all. I doubt that Gladiator made it towards the top of anyone's "Best of the Decade" list last year, and one can expect something similar here. The test of time is a very relevant one, and I don't believe The King's Speech will pass it. It will, and very much should, be remembered as a film that appealed to the optimist inside us, rather than the dominant portion of us that recognizes greater quality over trivial happiness. There's a truly pessimistic thought for you to dwell on. However, I'd love to hear what you have to say on the subject after these past few weeks. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!