McKenzie Sanchez
Jennifer Hudgens
WRD110
11/17/15
Documentary Storyboard
The opening scene for my documentary will be muted video clips of the Special Olympics, as the clips are rolling I will introduce to my audience to what the Special Olympics is by giving a brief summary of the history and purpose. I will say, “Founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics has become the largest sports organization for anyone with an intellectual disability. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Eunice recognized the unfair treatment people with intellectual disabilities were receiving”(Beaudoin 1). I will then flash some picture from 1968 Special Olympics Games and say, “In Chicago, Illinois at Soldier Field, in 1968, the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held. This was a beginning to something amazing that now today, impacts over 4.5 million athletes with intellectual disabilities in 170 countries” (Beaudoin 1). This will be the end of my introduction and my documentary will now address an issue within the Special Olympics community.
For the Special Olympics community I am addressing the issue of people misusing the word retard and making fun of Special Olympics. To grab the attention of my viewers I plan to start my documentary off with a video clip of Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View speaking about the issue of how people crack jokes about The Special Olympics, specifically Barack Obama on Late Night with Jay Leno. I think this will draw in my audience because it shows how even the President of the United States inappropriately mocks the Special Olympics. This happens regularly because people use the terms as a way to degrade people or joke when they do something foolish. After Elisabeth is done talking I will include the actual clip of when Obama said this on Late Night. After this video clip, my documentary will lead into showing how not only the President conforms to this poor word choice but also all of society.
To express how all of society is involved in using the R-word and making fun of Special Olympics my second scene will be opening up with Whoopi Goldberg on The View. In this clip, she explains how the word retard or retarded is used in T.V. shows, commercials, etc. so often that it has become a “part of our language for describing folk”. My documentary will then transition to multiple video clips of examples of when T.V. shows, movies, and comedians have misused the word retard and made fun of special olympics. My examples include a scene from the Hangover, Rick and Morty, Tropic Thunder, Jennifer Aniston on “Live with Regis and Kelly”, and a clip from a comedy act. I think the inclusion of these short clips are important because they will help people realize how often the R-word is misused in multiple different situations. After the video clips, I will insert a small clip from of a youtube video of a teenage boy saying “You retards are pissing me off, stop being so retarded with the word retarded”. I think this will grab everyones attention because of how straight forward and blunt the boy is about the topic. This video clip will be the end of the examples of the issue and it will lead a black screen that says “Everyday people uses the word retarded without considering the innocent people they are hurting”. I am inserting this slide to change the tone of my documentary to be more serious. I will have the song Ludovico Einaudi by Nuvole Binache playing in the background, it is a sad slow piano solo. I chose this song because it dramatizes the importance of this issue and will help pull at the emotions of my audience while they are viewing it.
After the black slide, my interview with a Special Olympics coach/Special Ed teacher, Mrs. Winarski, from Saint Charles East High School will be inserted. In this interview my questions will be: What do you think about people using the word retard at inappropriate times? and What are some examples of when people have misused the R-word and/or made fun of Special Olympics that you have experienced? As I play her recorded answers to my questions Ludovico Einaudi will continue to play in the background of the video but in a more softer tone so the viewers are able to comprehend what Mrs. Winarski is saying. I am hoping this interview will help open up my viewers eyes to how big of an issue it is to misuse the R-word and how hurtful it can be. I helped Mrs. Winarski coach Special Olympics all four years of high school so I know how strongly she feels about her athletes and students being treated fairly. I find it important to include this interview because it will give my viewers an insight to how Special Olympic coaches and Special Ed teachers feel about people disrespecting their athletes and students. This interview will then transfer to another black screen with a message.
The black screen will say “The R-word hurts because it is exclusive. It's offensive. It's derogatory”(Gang 1). Right after the black screen, I put a PSA that Lauren Potter and Jane Lynch from GLEE are a part of. In this PSA people from different classified groups state how it is not acceptable to call them a slur name in order to discriminate against them. For example a black man said “It is not acceptable to call me the N-word”. This PSA is a way to help get the point across to people of how inappropriate it is to say the R-word. Saying the R-word is just as bad as saying the N-word, both minority slurs are used to discriminate against a certain group of people in a hurtful manor. At the end of the PSA Lauren says “It is not acceptable to call me a retard or call yourself or your friends retarded when they do something foolish”. This clip is important because she is an actress with an intellectual disability taking a stand for not only herself but also all the other other people with intellectual disabilities in the world.
The next scene included will be parts of an interview from John C. McGinley on Fox 31 News Everyday, in this interview he discusses how you should treat the R-word as any other bad word because “when you use the word retard or retarded, it perpetuates a negative stigma about a population of people who didn't do anything to you”. John also explains how there is a difference in using the R-word compared to any other minority slur word. The difference being, that there is no consequence for the people misusing the R-word. Meaning, they are picking on a population of people who will not do anything back to them. My purpose for including this video of John is that I am hoping for my audience to realize how rude and inconsiderate it is to make fun of a group of people who are innocent.
The last clip is of Jonny Knoxville and Eddie Barbenell covering the issue of calling people retarded. Eddie has down’s syndrome and inspirationally says “Break down every wall you can. I break them. I broke that obstacle, the obstacle will never get in my way. And if anybody puts me down and makes fun of me, you know what, they're not my friend”. As Eddie speaks I plan to insert clips of a Special Olympic event. I want to mute the video of the sport event and have Eddie’s voice be a voice over of it. I have not yet chosen my video for this selection yet but I plan to find a video of an Special Olympic athlete competing in a track competition and I will put the video in slow motion to enhance the deepness of Eddie’s motivational words. I want this section of my documentary be very motivational and moving to my viewers. I want to motivate people with out an intellectual disability to stop using the R-word and I want to motivate people with intellectual disabilities to not let the label hold them back in life. This motivational scene will lead to my next scene which is my call to action.
The beginning of my last scene will begin with another black screen that says “Spread The Word To End The Word” with the song I Lived by One Republic playing in the background. I chose this song because it is inspirational and it gives people motivation to do what they want. I will first have another part of the interview with Mrs. Winarski inserted, I will ask her: What does Spread the Word to End the Word mean? After her response the music will continue to play and I will have multiple clips of people holding up a sign towards the camera saying “Spread the Word to End the Word” with clips of video footage from Special Olympics Games in between each video clips of the people speaking. I will include one more black screen, the first one saying, “There are 576,593 online pledges, join us to Spread the Word and End the Word” (Gang). I am hoping this last scene will help to get the point across so that I can feel as if my audience will be left inspired when my documentary is over. As the song continues to play the credits will begin to roll and my documentary will be over.
Work Cited
"ABC's "The View" Discusses the R-word." YouTube. EndtheRword, 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/5_mFm0c0jDg>.
Barack Obama Special Olympics Insult. Perf. Barack Obama and Jay Leno. YouTube. ColonelCurtiss, 6 June 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/2HOBTUCv4o0>.
Beaudoin, Lisa. "Help Us Make a Difference!" Special Olympics: History of Special Olympics. Perfect Sense Digital, 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www.specialolympics.org/ history.aspx>.
Beaudoin, Lisa. "Help Us Make a Difference!" Special Olympics: Special Olympics Mission. Perfect Sense Digital, 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www.specialolympics.org/ mission.aspx>.
"Daniel Tosh - Retard Joke." YouTube. RicoLen1, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https:// youtu.be/qL6jOqKOJtY>.
Gang, David. "Spread the Word to End the Word." R-word. Perfect Sense, 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www.r-word.org/Default.aspx>.
"He Was a Retard - Hangover Clip." YouTube. Ryan Carey, 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/V8ftMh4MKKw>.
"John C. McGinley Talks R-word." YouTube. EndtheRword, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/04Ser5wmPSA>.
"Johnny Knoxville, Eddie Barbanell and the R-word." YouTube. EndtheRword, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/RfMlrTV_5vY>.
"Never Go Full Retard." YouTube. The Necromancer, 4 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https:// youtu.be/oAKG-kbKeIo>.
"Not Acceptable R-word PSA." YouTube. EndtheRword, 20 May 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https://youtu.be/T549VoLca_Q>.
"Rick & Morty - Retarded." YouTube. Three14, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https:// youtu.be/eOBoKxEcVAA>.
"The Word "Retard"" YouTube. OnisionSpeaks, 8 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <https:// youtu.be/_coCM-KGJIU>.
