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Plumbers: A common focal point for marital strife?
Scenes from the films "Malice" and "True Lies"
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Introduction
Some of the best moments in films for language learning are the seemingly
unimportant scenes that contain language functions from everyday life.
Whether it takes place in the bathroom in the morning getting ready for work
or talking about family finances with your wife while walking
down the street, these scenes often contain more of value than the
important action-packed scenes that advance the plot of the film.
Cary Grant in "North by Northwest" seems to spend an inordinate amount
of time in the beginning of the film talking to receptionists,
paging people, leaving messages for people, asking taxi drivers
to go to certain places, etc, etc. The film is a gold-mine for the type
of scenes you find in beginning ESL textbooks and definitely more
entertaining.
A lot of script writers also seem to work neglected but important
aspects of everyday life into the script.
The excessive plumbing bills that the husband-wife couples
in the following two popular films deal with
are a good case in point.
In many places plumbing bills
or locksmith bills or car repair bills or home repair bills...
and especially hospital bills
aren't nearly as large and frightening
as they are in the United States
where they often seem to be a focal point of marital strife.
The scriptwriters also use the plumbing bills to further their own ends.
The plumbing bill in "Malice" opens the door for the
rather unexpected deus ex machina of this film.
The plumbing bill in "True Lies" turns into a humorous symbol
of the married couple's uneventful married life.
Once again, the point can't be stressed enough,
the important scenes aren't necessarily
the best for language teaching.
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Transcript: Malice
[Video CD time: 9:30-10:15]
As they walk along the sidewalk,
a wife tells her husband about how much some plumbing work on the house
is going to cost.
- Wife: Well, we got the estimate from the plumber this morning.
- Husband: And?
- Wife: You ready for this?
- Husband: How much?
- Wife: It's thirteen-thousand and change.
- Husband: How much change?
- Wife: It's fourteen-thousand.
- Husband:(laughing) All right, forget it. I'm going to do the work myself.
- Wife: I got a better idea
- (He knows what she wants to suggest even before she suggests it.)
- Husband: No.
- Wife:(in a frustrated tone of voice) Well, just for a little while.
It'll pay some bills. We'll rent it to some visiting lecturer or something.
- Husband: I don't want to rent out the third floor.
I don't want a stranger in the house.
- Wife: All right, suit yourself.
It would have been nice if we had a home with running water, but...
I'm a simple girl.
- Husband:Hey, I'm going to pick you up after work.
- Wife: No, that's ok.
- Husband:Forget it. I'm going to pick you up.
There's a maniac loose in this town.
- Wife: Karen can give me a ride.
- Husband: She can?
- Wife: Yeah.
- Husband: You sure?
- Wife: Yes!
- Husband: Make sure she waits until you're inside the house.
- Wife: I'll have her provide air cover, if you want.
- Husband: (with a little chuckle) That's funny...I married a funny woman.
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Warm-up Questions: Malice
Ask some questions to get students thinking about what they'll
be reading about (or listening to) in the movie scene.
- In your culture does the man make all the important decisions
regarding family finances? Who actually pays the bills?
- Have you ever had a bad plumbing problem in your apartment
or house? Was it expensive to get it repaired?
Did you have the option of not getting it repaired?
- Are home repairs expensive in your country?
- Have you ever heard of the term "home handyman"?
Are they very common in your country?
- Do women in the area you live in have to be careful
after dark when they are out of the house? Do they have to
take special precautions?
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Discussion Questions and Issues: Malice
- How much did the plumber estimate the repair work is going to cost?
- When her husband hears how much it's going to cost what does
he decide he's going to do?
- How does his wife want to cover the costs?
- Why does he object to his wife's idea?
- Why does he want to pick his wife up after work?
- How does she say she's going to get home instead?
- What does his wife mean by the phrase "provide air cover"?
- Do you think that he is amused with his wife's little
remark that she'll have her friend "provide air cover"?
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Language Functions:Malice
- preparing someone for something surprising you're about to tell them
- telling someone that they had better forget about doing something
they were planning to do because some unforeseen contingency has arisen
- trying to change someone's mind about something they're dead
set on doing
- providing reasons for a controversial decision
- giving up in an argument over something
- indirectly expressing your dissatisfaction with something
- trying to get someone to agree by conceding something and making it
more attractive
- politely declining an offer to help
- insisting on doing something that you feel is necessary
when other people don't want you to do it
- checking that someone is sure about something they said
- making sure that a woman going somewhere at night (e.g. going back home)
is safe
- making sure that all contingencies have been planned for
- making fun of someone's excessive concern
- laughing off something that someone said or did that you found
irritating, annoying, insulting, rude, unfriendly, etc.
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Transcript: True Lies
[Video CD time: 17:30-18:08]
It's the morning and a husband (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
and his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis)
are in their bedroom getting ready to go to work.
First, they talk about the business trip he just returned from
and then she changes the subject to the expensive plumbing work
they just had done on their house.
- Husband: I'm late.
- Wife: Yeah, me too. How did it go at the convention?
Did you make all the other salesmen jealous?
- Husband: Oh, it was fantastic. You wouldn't believe it.
You should have been there. We were the big hit of the show.
With that new model ordering system, the six-eighty I told you about...
- Wife: Hm, Hmm.
- Husband: I can write up an order and immediately as soon as
the customer's name come's up you see what his credit line is,
what he has ordered in the past, what discount he has gotten,
every little detail.
- Wife: Sounds great. (speaking as she brushes her teeth
with toothpaste in her mouth, what she says is hard to hear)
- Husband: It's fantastic. I love the computer business.
- Wife: Listen, the...ah...plumber called, says he has to dig
under the slab or something, it's going to cost six hundred dollars.
- Husband: Hm, that's ok.
- Wife: Well, it's not ok, it's extortion.
- Husband: So what did you tell him?
- Wife: I slept with him and he...said he'd knock off a hundred dollars.
- Husband: That's good thinking. Bye, honey. (kissing her goodbye)
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Warm-up Questions: True Lies
Ask some questions to get students thinking about what they'll
be reading about (or listening to) in the movie scene.
- How long does it take you to get ready for work in the morning?
- Do you talk much with your family in the morning?
- When do you usually talk about important family business
or financial matters?
- Does your wife or husband ever joke with you or tease you?
If you don't have a wife or a husband, what about your sweetheart,
father, mother, brothers, or sisters? Or do you tease them?
- Do your family members ever bore you with long descriptions
of what they've been doing at school or the office? Do you bore them?
- Do you (or someone you know) sometimes talk with your mouth full of toothpaste
or food? Can they understand you when you talk?
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Discussion Questions and Issues: True Lies
- What did he do on the business trip he just got back from?
- How did the business trip go?
- What business is her husband in?
- What did the plumber have to do to repair the plumbing?
- According to his wife, did she have to pay full price for the plumber?
Is she serious?
- Do they both seem to be concerned about the price?
- According to her, how much of a discount did the plumber give her?
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Language Functions: True Lies
- telling someone politely that you're late and you have to hurry
- asking someone how an important meeting or business trip went
- expressing your satisfaction that something you did recently was a success
- describing some fascinating technical detail that most would consider boring
in a way that they are not bored
- sharing someone's enthusiasm or excitement about something
- getting someone's attention to tell them about something important
- disagreeing with someone when they find something acceptable and you don't
- telling someone that you think they did the right thing in a difficult situation
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