HOW TO GIVE A BETTER SPEECH THAN OBAMA and change your world - (The Iron Lady, Churchill and Hollywood) Darren Kelly, Kellcomm, Blog - Day 37

Hi,

The Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep said Margaret Thatcher left an "indelible impression" on her at a lecture at her daughter's university. The actress recently praised Thatcher for achieving success against the odds. ‘The Iron Lady’ movie, directed by Phyllida Lloyd ("Mamma Mia") has come in for some stinging criticism. Some say its purpose is to win an Oscar. Others say that it is riddled with poetic license, and they claim scenes like Thatcher wearing a hat in the House of Commons at Prime Ministers Question Time are ridiculous. However, fans of the movie say that it goes beyond policy to reach the personality, and shows the spiritual, mental and physical energy that kept Thatcher in power for so long.

Meryl Streep said that she is astounded that a woman could become Prime Minister at all. At the time, top jobs for women existed in fashion but not in a man’s arena. A serious question raises its head once again. Why are male leaders like Winston Churchill still lauded by many people when ‘The Iron Lady’ receives criticism for similar views and actions? Streep suggested recently that many people were and still are uncomfortable with a female leader.

You don’t have to be a fan; you don’t have to agree with her policies, and you don’t have to like ‘The Iron Lady’. However, even her harshest critic cannot deny that she normalised female success at the highest level. Thatcher possessed the same hope that Obama had in the south side of Chicago when he was told that nothing could be done. She possessed the same hope that Churchill possessed when France surrendered. It was that same unsupported hope that convinced her that a woman could rise to the top. If you like Thatcher, I suggest you look beyond the Hollywood view and just enjoy a movie about the human spirit. If you dislike her, I suggest that you do the exact same. We are all guilty of admiring and borrowing traits from the people we like and love the most. However, isn’t it true that sometimes people we have not connected with can teach us something too?

Tomorrow, I will share with you the number one trait that made ‘The Iron Lady’ so compelling as a speaker.

Take care,

Darren



PS: 'HOW TO GIVE A BETTER SPEECH THAN OBAMA and change your world' - is available on iTunes and Amazon NOW!
Audio Version only.
Text version in January 2012.




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