Katharine Hepburn: The Lion in Winter ("It's 1183") Monologue

[studebaker62]

Part of the shear joy of the Lion in Winter IS the verbal jousting as a metaphore for the relationships enjoyed (I'm using that in the ironic sense lest anyone complain that these people seemed to enjoy nothing) by these historical figures.

Trust me - in real life, I doubt if they were this entertaining.

[Mitchellfw]

I like how little she tries to hide her accent.

[Tootsy39]

Oh my piglets.

[misterdeadly1]

Great speech, but it would be better without the anachronistic word 'syphilis', which wasn't used in print until 1530.

I know I'm being hopelessly picky to some of you, but that kind of thing is jarring--it pulls (this) educated viewer out of the moment, lessening the impact of the speech.

Reminds me of Star Wars: the Millennium Falcon 'making the Kessel run in less than four parsecs.' Why needlessly disconcert viewers who know a parsec is a unit of distance, not a unit of velocity?

[nanderson1965]

@misterdeadly1 Don't let those types of usage bother you...

The writer is bringing history along for an amusement and not as a 'History'.

As far as Han Solo's amazing feat of making the Kessel run in a shorter span of distance... maybe he found a short cut!

Peace and

[hammertapping]

@misterdeadly1 anachronisms in the play and movie are intentional ( as is near breaking of fourth wall ). perhaps writer and director, expected what you call 'educated viewer " to get that . :-) 

[misterdeadly1]

@hammertapping Perhaps you are correct--I'm no scholar of the play or the movie, so it is possible I am falling for a trap the writers set for middle-brow nitpickers like me. But perhaps you are giving the writer(s) more credit than they deserve, and they were ignorant about their anachronistic use of the word syphilis? If you have documentation for your theory please provide it--it is somewhat plausible that they knew syphilis was an anachronism but simply liked the way it sounded.

[hammertapping]

@misterdeadly1 lol. i don't think anybody cared enough then or now to set traps for you. ( odd how you prefer to lose your individuality in vague group identities; 'mid-brow nitpitkers' etc )

anyway it seems you did not notice all the other anachronisms (look at this monologue alone and what she says, may be you think anyone in 12th cent. thought and said anything like that?) and near breaking of fourth wall. such obviousness is proof enough i would think of intention.

[hammertapping]

@misterdeadly1 since you call yourself a nitpicker (silly one imo), even though i agree about anachronism(& think it intentional,see my other comments) i will nitpick ur argument for fun.

syphilis existed long before the word. it was called other things .

these royals didn't think of themselves as english and spoke a dead french dialect for several generations.

one can argue that using 'syphilis' instead of whatever they called it then is no more an anarchism than use of any english in here.

lol

[misterdeadly1]

@hammertapping While it is possible syphilis existed in the Old World prior to 1492, the evidence for that is weak--indisputably the incidence of the disease in Europe spiked dramatically shortly after Columbus' return from the New World. My belief is that syphilis is the one major disease that was the reverse of the much more familiar story of Native American populations being devastated by Old World diseases. So my quibble is not simply to the WORD syphilis, but to the disease itself.

[hammertapping]

@misterdeadly1 now you go off in a tangent (typical tactic when an argument is lost) about origin of decease syphilis; where it originated is debated among experts, u no authority to judge which side is 'weak'.

word btw was borrowed from greek myth.

ur original point focusing on 1 'anachronism' 'jarring' 'educated viewer' fails, by not recognizing many (imo intentional) anachronisms there.in addition for a self styled 'nitpicker' like u, use of any modern english word should be anachronistic

[misterdeadly1]

@hammertapping My reply was no tangent, it addressed your specific point that even if the term 'syphilis' was anachronistic, knowledge of the disease itself would not have been--I disagree. The source for my opinion that syphilis originated in the New World is Jared Diamond's Pulitzer-Prize winning "Guns, Germs, and Steel." I'll concede the widespread anachronisms in the movie--this one bugged me. It didn't bug you. Fine. Neither reaction is 'wrong', they are simply different. Thanks!

[hammertapping]

@misterdeadly1 lol.origin of decease is a tangent to original point. and you are still going on that line (typical tactic when main point is lost). even in tangent you rely on one side of a debated argument taken from one book.

you are free to focus on 1 anachronism & miss (imo intentional) many & thus have purely individual reaction according to your mental & emotional capacity. you are not free to to attribute your limited reaction to 'educated viewers' in general as you did originally.

[misterdeadly1]

@misterdeadly1 My original post: "I know I'm being hopelessly picky to some of you, but that kind of thing is jarring--it pulls (this) educated viewer out of the moment, lessening the impact of the speech."

So. To you I'm being hopelessly picky in my objection. My original statement takes your view into account. I further qualified my reaction--I did not say "all educated viewers"--rather, I took care to include the qualifier "(this) educated viewer." I suggest you learn to read or STFU.

[whitewingeddove70]

yes a good person indeed rriverstone

[rriverstone1]

It's a week 'til the 2010 elections. man, I needed to hear this

[whitewingeddove70]

overrated performance by old wobbly head

[rriverstone1]

@whitewingeddove70 takes a real mench to mock a disability

[themangonium]

Where can I find this as a printed text monologue... i want to use it for school.

[rriverstone1]

@themangonium try an internet search; learn to do for yourself

[chapatuwi]

best script EVER

[trecooldabomb]

this is my monolouge, its so awesome

[bookkeeper57]

Eleanor lectures her ambitious brood about the origins of war. Great line:

"we all have knives, it's 1183 and we're

all barbarians".

[poeticjournalism]

SO. DAMN. POWERFUL. yeesh. it's almost too much, this wonderful filmmaking =)

[dsim200000]

I'm viewer 6500

[thewomaninthemoon]

I bow down to the amazing writer of this script!

[wickedfan7681]

haha Its 1183 ofcourse he has a knife...we are barbarians. Great line.

[tashkenty]

masterpiece. finest actress who ever lived.

[cherokee1002]

Wow. Just wow.

[nisiriti]

katharine hepburn really deserved the oscar!!!!

[dsim200000]

she won it in 1968.

[Largo64]

@dsim200000 But shared it with Barbara Streissand.

[Pedropaulocastilho]

@nisiriti She was OUTSTANDING, WONDERFULL, AWESOME...

[5023849465]

Nonsense.? That we are the instruments of war? Who else?

[MADasinger]

The play is very historically inaccurate- the playwright himself has admitted to this. There are mentions of Christmas Trees as well- at least in the play. I'm not sure about the film.

However, historic accuracy is not the point of this play. Even this meeting did not take place historically. This is about the feelings and lack thereof of one of history's most ruthless families. Breaking down the thoughts and feelings behind the script and analyzing it for historical accuracy ruins it.

[22silviu]

O admiraţie infinită pentru acest film extraordinar!Şi pentru Katharine Hepburn şi O Toole