Connor Dawkins
Rebecca Peters
HUM 3321-03
18 November 2012
Term Paper
The Clash of Classes
The issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality have been around in film since movies
first started, and they are still present in every movie made today. In the movie The King’s
Speech, the issue of class is the main multicultural issue that is addressed and faced. The entire
film revolves around the association and friendship that is formed between the rich King George
the sixth and the middle class speech therapist Lionel Logue. This movie does what most movies
do not, and goes against the classic standards of the rich being portrayed as better than the poor.
In Avatar the dominant human class demolishes the lower class; in the Hurt Locker, the upper
class Americans kill the lower class Arabs; and in Moneyball the rich baseball team beats the
poor baseball team. As made evident by these movies, Hollywood typically produces films that
portray the upper class society as superior to the lower class. The King’s Speech shows that while
class differences will always be around and will always be evident, people can choose to rise
above and ignore these differences. The philosopher Karl Marx says in both of his articles that
money is the most important factor in society. He states that money dictates everything that
happens in someone’s life. By breaking the class barriers, Logue and The King (Bertie), prove
Karl Marx wrong and show that wealth does not have to be a dominant influence in life.
In Lynn Webbers article, she talks about how different the issue of class is from the
issues of race, gender, and sexuality. She says, “The dominant ideology of social class is that it is
not binary, polarized or biological” (Weber). Race, gender, and sexuality are all unchangeable,
you can’t change if you are male or female, and you can’t change the color of your skin. Another
characteristic of these three multicultural issues is that they are all social constructs whose
definitions come from the struggles of groups. On the other hand, class is something someone
can work to change and it is not permanent. Another main difference with social class is that “In
the case of social class, however, unfair hierarchy is obscured by referring to ability and effort
rather than by referring to biological superiority” (Weber). While all four of these issues present
problems, class presents its problem in a different way than the others.
Initially the movie begins by portraying the typical class relationship. This is made
evident in Bertie and Logue’s first meeting together. The two gentleman are sitting across from
each other and the Duke is sitting cross legged straight up on a sofa while Logue is sitting in a
dinky old chair with his legs spread and he is slightly slouched. This is the directors’ way of
showing the audience that at the start of their relationship their class differences play a role in
how they act. The Duke insists on being called by his full name, Albert Frederick Arthur George
while Logue just wants to be called Lionel. This is the only instance in this film where all of the
typical class distinctions are shown and in place. The Duke is acting like he is better than Logue
because of his hegemonic position of authority in a higher class. These barriers are almost
immediately broken after they first meet. Logue refuses to call the Duke by the long name and
says he will just call him Bertie. In most movies, the lower class individual would never
contradict someone in the class above him. But Logue refuses to acknowledge they are different
in any way. Later in the scene Logue offers Bertie tea, and Bertie refuses it. Logue goes on to
make tea for himself anyway. When Logue says smoking is bad, Bertie said all of the good
therapists who have been knighted say it is a good thing. This implies that Bertie thinks that just
because they are rich and “knighted” they are smart. Logue begins to break the classic class
barriers in this scene by not treating the Duke special because he is rich; instead, he treats Bertie
no differently than any other patient.
By the middle of the film, the class barriers are almost completely broken and most of
Marx’s statements in his article “The Destructive Power of Money” are refuted and proven
wrong. Marx says “As an individual I am lame, but money provides me with 24 legs” (Marx
279). This quote states Marx’s belief that money is the driving force behind everything and man
is nothing without money. Marx later goes on to say “What all my individual faculties are unable
to do is made possible by money. Money, therefore, turns each of these faculties into something
which it is not, into its opposite” (Marx 279). Both of these statements are proven false in The
King’s Speech. His first statement suggests that if an individual has no money, said individual
has nothing. Logue does not have as much money as Bertie, yet he is extremely talented, smart,
and cultured. He is arguably more cultured than Bertie. Logue acts in plays, reads plays to his
kids, runs an impeccable speech therapy business, and does everything without being wealthy
like a King. This shows that even an individual without a plethora of money is not lacking
culture, and can often contribute more to society than a rich individual. The second statement by
Marx is proven wrong throughout the entire film. According to his statement, all of the
expensive doctors should have provided Bertie’s stutter cure, “Money…turns each of these
faculties…into their opposite” (Marx 279), yet not a single one of the expensive doctors did
anything to help Bertie progress. The less well known, unlicensed, middle class speech therapist
is the one who actually gave Bertie a legitimate chance at learning to speak without a stutter.
This perfectly demonstrates that money does not buy change, but finding the most skilled person,
no matter their class, is what can enable true change.
The end of The King’s Speech shows a complete disappearance of the class barriers
between Bertie and Logue. During the Kings main speech to the entire nation, Bertie has Logue
by his side helping him the entire time. Bertie does not care what others think about Logue’s
lower class, he knows Logue is the best therapist and he trusts Logue more than anyone. It is
because of Logue that Bertie is successful at speaking, and Bertie knows that without Logue his
speaking would not be as fluent as it is during the climax of the film. The resulting friendship of
the two men continues to defy class barriers for the rest of their lives.
This whole film demonstrates that money is not the most important thing in life, and it
shows us that people can rise above and ignore class differences. People can bond and become
friends despite differences in the amount of money one has. In Marx’s second article “The
Perversion of Human Needs”, he says “Man becomes increasingly poor as a man; he has
increasing need of money…” (Marx 281). This statement is directly proven wrong by the
friendship of Bertie and Logue. Money plays absolutely no factor in their friendship. They grew
close because of their relationship as therapist and patient, not because they were in the same
social class. This movie shows that social class status does not have to dictate who people
associate with or how they behave. The King’s Speech shows that while class differences are still
an issue, it is possible to rise above them and not let money and class control ones life.
Works Cited
The King’s Speech. Dir. Tom Hooper. Perf. Colin Firth, Geoffry Rush. The Weinstein
Company, 2010. Film.
Marx Karl. “The Destructive Power of Money”. Multicultural Film: An Anthology Fall 2012.
Eds. Kathtyn Karrh Cashin and Lauren Martilli. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012:
277-280. Print.
Marx, Karl. “The Perversion of Human Needs”. Multicultural Film: An Anthology Fall 2012.
Eds. Kathtyn Karrh Cashin and Lauren Martilli. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012:
281-286. Print.
Weber, Lynn. “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and
Sexuality”. Multicultural Film: An Anthology Fall 2012.
Eds. Kathtyn Karrh Cashin and Lauren Martilli. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012:
13-29. Print.