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A friend of mine teaches writing in Uni and she's looking for an example of a personal narrative from a movie which expresses social significance.

Her students are writing a personal / public argument. This means they tie a personal narrative to an aspect of greater social significance. For example, "My sister was in a wheelchair and it really hurt me knowing that she couldn't come to all my basketball games with my family. *explain how it hurt you here*. --- All private high schools should abide by the same laws as public schools for handicapped accessibility." OK- this is a poor example and pretty lame social significance, but you get the idea? She's looking for a movie/video clip that does the same thing. She was hoping to find a Batman speech where he explains how his parents were killed and then immediately says how criminals in Gotham should be punished, but apparently Batman doesn't actually use the words- they actually did a visual flashback. She needs a scene where the speaker uses words to describe their experience, then words to explain how it relates to society as a whole / what needs to change / how it exists on a larger scale / etc.

She almost did the To Kill a Mockingbird courtroom scene, but it's not a personal narrative since Atticus is talking about the defendant's situation, not his own.


I'm not a movie buff by any means, but thought perhaps one of you might know of a suitable scene. Thanks in advance.

The first and only thing that jumps to mind is the personal narrative of Mr. Lebowski in the big Lebowski. Hey, he was even in a wheelchair.

"It's funny. I can look back on a
life of achievement, on challenges
met, competitors bested, obstacles
overcome. I've accomplished more
than most men, and without the use
of my legs. What. . . What makes a
man, Mr. Lebowski?

DUDE
Dude.

LEBOWSKI
Huh?

DUDE
I don't know, sir.

LEBOWSKI
Is it. . . is it, being prepared to
do the right thing? Whatever the
price? Isn't that what makes a man?

DUDE
Sure. That and a pair of testicles.


That's all I got.


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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

MEAN GIRLS!

Cady: [narrating]And that's when I realized,making fun of Caroline Krafft wouldn't stop her from beating me in this contest. Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.

This post has been edited by Phunbaba on 7th September 2010 18:31

First, if you don't want to use the To Kill a Mockingbird court scene, use any other socially/personally significant scene from the movie.

But, I personally like this one. But there are many others.

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Praise Be To Helix!

'Attica! Attica!' Dog Day Afternoon I think it's called. I watched the film after a little introduction which mentioned the importance of it.

A Prophet has a lot of modern French issues, supposedly. I liked the film but I can't remember anything that stands out. There are plenty of interesting social issues within the film to look at if she fancies it.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 7th September 2010 21:26

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 7th September 2010 17:06)

'Attica! Attica!' Dog Day Afternoon I think it's called. I watched the film after a little introduction which mentioned the importance of it.

A Prophet has a lot of modern French issues, supposedly. I liked the film but I can't remember anything that stands out. There are plenty of interesting social issues within the film to look at if she fancies it.

Man, leave it to you to find a better Al Pacino movie to use instead. That one is great, but there's another one to that is famous. In fact, Pacino has a lot of great movie scenes like that.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Thanks, all! I let her know and she too thanks you.

[Feel free to continue with suggestions; she hasn't evaluated them yet.]

One of my all-time favorites (careful, it's a little long). Network's portrayal of TV sensationalism probably seemed outlandish in 1976, but in 2010 it almost seems like prophecy.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (laszlow @ 7th September 2010 19:17)

One of my all-time favorites (careful, it's a little long).  Network's portrayal of TV sensationalism probably seemed outlandish in 1976, but in 2010 it almost seems like prophecy.

Great one! My favorite speech from that, by far, is this. I don't think it fits the criteria, but it's still brilliant. Great movie.

Oh, and this is the other Al Pacino scene. It's fantastic.

...And Justice For All ending

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Praise Be To Helix!