1. ‘The Iron Lady’ & ‘The Lady’
English 2 (ENGL 0205)
Assignment 2
YAP ZHI JUN ( 0310738 )
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

2. PRE-WRITING
Paragraph 1
- Historical movie taught us a lot of moral values. Historical movie was a kind of movie
was a detailed description of one event in the past that was important to many people.
Paragraph 2
-‘The Iron Lady’ story about rise and fall of trailblazing politician Margaret Thatcher
-‘The Lady’ story about Aung San Suu Kyi as she became the core of Burma's
democracy movement
Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4
Compare the two movies on how both of them became the leader of their country, their
love of their lovely family and the end of the story.
‘The Iron Lady’
- Main character is Margaret Thatcher
- She decided to run for head of her political party
- She became the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom
- She imagined about her husband was still alive and staying with her in the house
- She lost the support from her Cabinet colleagues
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

3. - She resigned as Prime Minister
‘The Lady’
- Main character is Aung San Suu Kyi
- She devoted herself into activities to get freedom for Burma with the support of the
Burmese people
- Her husband, Aris was terminally ill but she was unwilling to leave Burma to be with
her husband as she feared she would not be allowed to re-enter the country
- The end of the movie was Suu Kyi won in the election in the parliament but the result
never recognized.
- She spent many years under house arrest at her lakeside home-cum-prison
ESSAY
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

4. Movies played an important role in our life. We learnt through movies, especially
historical movies. History of a nation could be shown to everyone who was interested in
by using historical movies. (Robert A.Rosenstone, 1955) Historical movies told history
as a story, a true tale with a beginning, middle, and an end. From my opinion I thought
that historical movie was a kind of movie was a detailed description of one event in the
past that was important to many people.
‘The Iron Lady’ was a story of the rise and fall of trailblazing politician Margaret
Thatcher through the lens of her own latter-day life. While ‘The Lady’ was the story of
Aung San Suu Kyi as she became the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her
relationship with her husband. Both of the movies talked about the story how heroine of
the country saved the people. I compared these two movies with three parts that were
how both of them became the leader of their country, their love of their lovely family and
the end of the story.
For the first movie, ‘The Iron Lady’ the main character was Margaret Thatcher.
She was so brave and worked so hard to become the leader of the country. Since
young, she listened to the political speeches of her father and this was why she so
struggle in politic. She believed that “those who can do, must get up and DO”. Thatcher
decided to run for head of her political party to solve all the problems in the country. Her
family disagreed with that but she still not willing to change her mind. She met with
political consultants planning her run for the leader of her party. With the help of the
political consultants, she has been restyled and had voice lessons. At the end, the
election resulted roll in and Thatcher became the first and only female Prime Minister of
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

5. The United Kingdom. Secondly, the movie showed how the love of Margaret Thatcher to
her family. Margaret Thatcher thought back the happy moment of her with her family.
She imagined about her husband was still alive and staying with her in the house. She
could clearly remember the conversation she had with her husband and the detail of
their past life. She switched on all manner of domestic appliances, radio, and television
to make her mind clear and not to think about her husband anymore. Thatcher packed
up all her husband’s belongings and told herself to let him go. Besides, Thatcher also
missed her children, Carol and Mark. She was so busy in her monetarist policies until
her children were left out. She watched a DVD of them playing in the beach which was
recorded long time ago. She kept on rewinding the video, thought back the most
precious moment that she had with her family. At the end of the story, Thatcher ranting
aggressively at her Cabinet, refused to accept that the Community Charge was
regarded as unjust, and fiercely opposed to European Integration. Her deputy resigned
after being humiliated by her in a Cabinet meeting. She lost the support from her
Cabinet colleagues so she had no choice but to resign as Prime Minister. She back to
her normal life but she won’t forget about the past
For the second movie, ‘The Lady’ the main character is Aung San Suu Kyi. Her
determination and braveness helped her to become the leader of Burma. Suu Kyi’s
father, Aung San leaded Burma to independence. When she visited her mother in the
hospital, she met the people were wounded during the Tatmadaw’s crackdown. So she
realise Burma should has political change and reformation. She devoted herself into
activities to get freedom for Burma with the support of the Burmese people. For the first
political action, she sent open letter to government, asking for formation of independent
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6. consultative committee to prepare multi-party elections. With her determination and
support from people and family she was the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Peace
Prize.Not only that, Suu Kyi loved and missed her family a lot, especially her husband.
Aung San Suu Kyi was busy to raise awareness of injustice in Burma and forced to
separate with her husband and two children. She has less chance to meet with them
and she missed them so much. She didn’t want them to follow her because she was
worry about their safeness. Her husband, Aris was terminally ill but she was unwilling to
leave Burma to be with her husband as she feared she would not be allowed to re-enter
the country. She was so worry about him until can’t eat and sleep well. Suu Kyi wrote
letters and grabbed chances to call her family to ask about each other situation when
she was not around with them. The end of the movie was Suu Kyi won in the election in
the parliament but the result never recognized. She spent many years under house
arrest at her lakeside home-cum-prison, where her family once. She was released from
her house attention, after 7 years of lock-up. Tens of thousands of her supporters
reportedly waited patiently outside her residence to get the first glimpse of the Lady of
Burma once freed. She is forever the ‘mother’ of the Burmese people.
Lastly, both of the movies showed were how both of them became the leader of
their country, their love of their lovely family and the end of the story. I was so touched
when watching these two movies. Through them, I learnt to be strong and determine on
what you have decided. Not only men can rule the world but women can too ! Aung San
Suu Kyi said “If you choose to do something, then you shouldn't say it's a sacrifice
because nobody forced you to do it."
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

7. REFERENCES
Langan, J. College (2010) Writing Skills, (8th ed.)New York: McGraw Hill
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738

8. Language Institute Web Server (2013) Historical Movies: Advantages and
disadvantages of historical movies, retrieved 14 March 2013, from
http://web.li.gatech.edu/~rdrury/600/write/sp1_06/history/nations.htm
U.S Campaign For Burma (2012) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, retrieved 14 March
2013, from http://uscampaignforburma.org/learn/leaders-learn/daw-aung-san-
suu-kyi.html
Robert A. Rosestone (2013) The Historical Film as Real History, retrieved 14
March 2013, from
http://www.publicacions.ub.edu/bibliotecadigital/cinema/filmhistoria/Art._Rosenst
one.doc.pdf
FNBE JAN 2013 - ENGL 0205 English 2 YAP ZHI JUN 0310738