Colin Stokes's Speech Analysis

In today’s date Americans are able to work together, play together and build together as equals, but for some reason Hollywood movies don’t seem to portray that as frequently as one would hope to see. Colin Stokes speaks out about this conformity seen in movies, as well as exceptions. In his speech Stokes also speaks out about how using a Bechdel Test can help improve the outlook that both boys and girls have growing up, as well as their influential role models. Stokes’s speech was presented on a TEDxBeasconStreet event in 2012 in Brooklyn Massachusetts, in front of what seems a large variety of people. By using light humor and visuals, as well as providing personal stories about his family Stokes is able to connect with his audience and drive his speech forward, not only as a father but as a husband as well. Stokes begins his speech with, “You know, my favorite part of being a dad is the movies I get to watch.”, with that, he is breaking that prospective that although he is the speaker he is still a father and a person
More notably in how, although both films have iconic characters, both heroic and villainous, “The Wizard of Oz” has considerably more female characters. Stokes ties this comparison between the two films with his opinion that he would rather his children watch films that encourage them to make friends with everyone and become a leader, like Dorothy did in her movie. Stokes then makes another statement, “the movies are very, very focused on defeating the villain and getting your reward, and there’s not a lot of room for other relationships and other journeys”. The reward Stokes is referring to is the idea that the reward of a hero at the end of the journey is the praise or kiss of the princess, or “getting the girl” and as a father to both a girl and a boy, he does not want that idea being absorbed by them