1. Compare Two Historical Movies
( The Lady and Ghandi )
English 2 (ENGL 0205)
Class Assignment 2
Toh Chee Cheng (0311122)
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

2. Pre-writing Task
Paragraph 1
• What is genre ?
• What is historical movies?
Paragraph 2
• The Lady is a story of Aung San Suu Kyi.
 Directed by Lus Besson. Main characters are Datuk Michelle Yeoh and
David Thewlis.
• Ghandi is a story of Mhatma Ghandi.
 Directed by Richard Attenborough. Main characters are Ben Kingsley,
John Gielgud and Candice Bergen.
Paragraph 3
• Their family background are slightly similar.
• Their fathers were killed by army while their children were young.
• Their fathers were government official.
• They love their country until can sacrifice their life.
Paragraph 4
• Reasons for them to join politic.
• Aung San Suu KYi saw the Myanmar army killed students who protested in the
Rangoon street.
• Ghandi was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment car, although he held
a first-class ticket, at Pietermaritzburg.
Paragraph 5
• Strategies to lead the locals toward democracy.
• Use slogan.
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

3.  “Please Use Your Liberty to Promote Ours”
 “We are Citizen of the Empire”
• Aung San Suu Kyi called for free and fair election.
• Ghandi said fight but not to kill.
• Conference.
Paragraph 6
• Similarities:
 Family background.
 Reasons they join politic.
 Strategies to lead the locals toward independent.
• Indoctrinate patriotism in each citizen of our country.
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

4. Comparison of The Lady and Ghandi
What is a movie genre? What is a historical movie? How to define them?
Movie genre is a general term used to breakdown the types of movie into few
categories. Such as, comedy movies, historical movies, musical movies and horror
movies. Furthermore, historical movie, which is the genre I have chosen is primary
focus on historical and real-life events and to be iterated. Although the characters,
incidents and dialogue may be fictional. I would like to define historical movie as
(Nelmes, 1996)
The historical movies base on real story that I have chosen were The Lady
and Ghandi. There are few similarities between two of the movies. The Lady is a story
filmed by Lus Besson and the main characters are Datuk Michelle Yeoh and David
Thewlis. This movie projected the political life of a Myanmar Lady named Aung San
Suu Kyi and her immolate for her beloved country. While, Ghandi was a movie directed
by Richard Attenborough and acted by Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud and Candice
Bergen. Ghandi showed the political life of Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi, who
known better as Mahatma Ghandi. Thus, I would like to compare two movies in the
terms of family background, the reasons they participate in government and political
affairs and strategies taken by them in leading the locals toward democracy.
The family background of Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma Gandhi are quite
similar because their fathers were government official and had died when they were
very young. The father of Aung San Suu Kyi was a famous general of Myanmar named
Aung San. When Aung San Suu Kyi was about 2 year old, her father was killed by a
Myanmar army terribly and fiercely due to political abuses. While Ghandi’s father,
Karamchand Ghandi was served as the chief minister of Porbander state in India. His
father died because of illness when Ghandi was 13 year old. So I can conclude that the
similarity of the Aung San Suu Kyi and the Mahatma Ghandi is their family background.
Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma Ghandi decided to involve in political affairs
after they experienced the unfair treatment by the government. Aung San Suu Kyi had
seen the violence of Myanmar army by shooting a student who protested on the
Rangoon street in the Rangoon General Hospital. In the other hand, Ghandi was
thrown out of a first-class railway compartment car, though he held a first-class ticket, at
Pietermaritzburg. Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma Ghandi were both startled by the
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

5. terror of the Myanmar government and the British respectively. These issues had
awaken their political awareness, they realize that they have to change to situation so
that the locals would live a better lifestyle in the future and also for the next generation.
They wanted a fair and clean election, so they stand behalf the locals and fight against
the government. But eventually, they were told that they do not have the right to
participate in election because Aung San Suu Kyi married a foreigner. Mahatma
Ghandi was banned from joining election because he have been living in South Africa
for over twenty years.
The strategies taken by Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma Ghandi were
consider same because they used the slogan to promote democracy, such as Aung San
Suu Kyi used “Please Use Your Liberty to Promote Ours” and Mahatma Ghandi used “
We Are Citizen of The Empire”. They have a same mission which is wanted a non-
violence election. Aung San Suu Kyi always called for free and fair election, while
Mhatma Ghandi persisted on fight but not to kill. They also held conference from time
to time to promote the peaceful democracy among the locals. They held it at places
with higher population to ensure everybody gets the chance to know about the meaning
of peaceful democracy and let more people to know about their party. They wanted the
locals to believe in them that choosing a right leader could improve their living condition.
However, they also went through a lot of obstacles and have to brave themselves in
succeeding their mission. For instance, Aung San Suu Kyi was home arrested before
the election and was prohibited from leaving the house for 15 years. Dring 1918,
Ghandi was also arrested for organizing villagers to improve their living conditions, it
was later claimed to be creating unrest.
Finally, I have compared the sameness in both story in the aspects of family
background, reasons they participate in political affairs and the strategies taken by the
them in leading the locals toward democracy. I had also understood that political unrest
would affect the livelihood of people in that area. The people had to be tenterhooks and
suffer in frighten. I felt that Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma Ghandi had did very well in
awaken the citizen about the importance of democracy as they sacrificed their family
and time just for their beloved country. We should indoctrinate patriotism in each citizen
of our country.
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

6. Bibliography
Langan, J. (2010). College Writing Skills. New York: McGraw Hill.
Nelmes, J. (1996). An Introduction to Film Studies. Canada: Routledge.
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122

7. Bibliography
Langan, J. (2010). College Writing Skills. New York: McGraw Hill.
Nelmes, J. (1996). An Introduction to Film Studies. Canada: Routledge.
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 TOH CHEE CHENG 0311122