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Henry V, Playstation III, Same Diff [Videogame commercial]
Just saw a commercial for the Playstation 3 videogame system. In it they show clips of a variety of games, while the narrator does the "Band of Brothers" speech from Henry V. That's different.
The games include Meta Geal Solid 4, Little Big Planet, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.
In case you're more videogame fan than Shakespeare fan and you came looking for the words, they are:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon this day.
That's how they say it in the commercial, which is edited from the actual text. Most notably, in my text, it says "upon Saint Crispin's day", not "this day".
UPDATE: Found it!
8 comments:
But why the Scottish accent?
I HATE this commercial. I saw it last night, and when I heard "We band of brothers" I looked up, very excited. And then was disheartened to see it was an ad for Playstation. I see no point in attaching something so great and poignant to something so dumb. Everyone knows Xbox is better than Playstation anyway.
I see it differently, Alexis. If a bunch of people who otherwise sit behind their videogames all day hear this commercial, think "Wow, that is cool, what is that from?" and then upon googling for it discover something about Shakespeare they wouldn't have otherwise known, I call it a win.
Alan - Maybe he was channeling Orson Welles' Macbeth? ;)
I suspect it's quite a famous actor! Popped up singing and dancing in France and went to his own star wars.
I agree with you Duane - a win.
I love it - I really think there are elements in the images which link strongly to the words and the excitement of the ad is spot on for the text.
Can't comment on the games.
I should keep reading... i mentioned this in my comment for the current first post...
and i do think it is a win. I wish they'd been able to license the voiceover of Brannagh doing the speech instead of the one they have. It really would have been a super-win.
i like playstation better than x-box. but refuse to go buy a PS3, no matter what they use for the commercial. as long as they keep making games for the PS2 and as long as it continues to play my DVDs... I don't need an upgrade (oh, and as long as it isn't a bajillion dollars too).
Ok...the commercial that you're referring to and the Shakespearean speech in it...you refer to is as the "Band of Brothers" speech...I thought that this particular excerpt from a Speech by Henry V was referred to as "Saint Crispin's Day" speech...anyone out there know exactly if there is an actual or formal name for that speech...
you are correct that the last part as is written in the play should be "on Saint Crispin's Day" not "this day" as is in the commercial...they also left out the "England" part when referring to the "gentlemen now-a-bed"...I'm sure that was all on purpose...
I didn't think that the voiceover had a Scottish accent...this accent was far too soft when compared to the "royal" Scottish accent...then again...what the heck do I nor anyone else know what the "royal" Scotsmen sounded like in the late 14th and 15th centuries...who knows maybe that is a Scottish accent after all...
Have a great day everyone and thanks for letting me contribute...
There's no particular name for it, I just referred to it that way because a) it's the first line and thus more recognizable, b) the commercial edits out the St. Crispin's Day part anyway, and c) HBO did a pretty popular series called Band of Brothers relatively recently so I thought perhaps people would recognize the term better.
the sound clip is from the movie henry v. hope this helps with why the accent maybe different. the director may have had a certain intention of his own for his movie.
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