Set for release next week, Tropic Thunder, is already creating a buzz from coalitions who are protesting the movie for its insensitivity toward the mentally disabled. Â Claiming that Ben Stiller’s character perpetuates negative stereotypes, some disability advocacy groups are now picketing the Hollywood premiere and suggesting the movie be boycotted; all of this before any of them have actually seen the entire movie.
And we wonder why the the rest of the world laughs at our hypocrisy. Using taboo words and sensitive subjects in comedic satire has been a common practice since long before the invention of cinema. Â The key component (and what these special interest groups fail to grasp) is context. Â In this case, fully understanding the context is virtually impossible to them as the movie has not been released yet. So instead of writing about the actual film I will base my comments off of the trailers and reviews, as the protesters have done.
I glean that the most important issue to put into context involves Ben Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman: a character portrayed as hyperbolically moronic and offensive. That said, his use of the word “retard” and his discussion of the portrayal of characters with disabilities aims its ridicule on shallow performers and the entertainment industry. To say he is offensive to those with disabilities is correct, but misses the point. Â His offensiveness makes a statement about how ridiculous it is to refer to disabled people in such ways.
Furthermore, these protests and boycotts only exacerbate the negative stereotypes by drawing attention to them, rather than to the intended aim of the satire. Â The lack of outrage over the fact that Robert Downey, Jr.’s character is a white character playing a black character using an updated version of blackface proves this point.
Oh, but what about the children who see the movie and think it’s cool to call disabled people names? Simple. It’s rated R, case closed. The same censorship laws that apply to every other movie apply here. Â At some point we need to take responsibility for how our children act.
Written by Guest Writer Christie Ko
Photp by IMDB.com
Subscribe to our RSS Feed And checkout our coffee competition to win a $30 gift voucher to your favourite coffee shop : click here
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
5 responses so far ↓
1 Bobbie // Aug 11, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Well, with any movie something with controversy just seems to helps its publicity. Remember how religious groups protested Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ? Didn’t seem to hurt his profits.
As a parent of a child with a disability I do have a problem with the term “retard”. I totally get the satire on the film industry though. I live in this area and read enough about producers and studio heads who only look at the box office take and what would make it profitable and award winning.
I wasn’t thrilled when I first read he was doing this character but when I read it was for a bid for the “Oscar”, I laughed. My concern is about the idiot parents who don’t get it. They see it as something to laugh at. They don’t realize they are a model for their children and they don’t correct that image for them.
I know it’s rated R, but how many times have you seen young children in inappropriate movies with their “retard” parents?
2 Bobbie // Aug 11, 2008 at 9:57 pm
In my previous comment, I meant that the parents see the disability as something to laugh at and not the satire, because they don’t get it.
3 Mali // Aug 12, 2008 at 8:33 am
I don’t think that will be an issue when people see the film. The entire film is a satire of one demographic to the next. There is nothing not to get…You have Downey Jr. pretending to be black and Stiller doing a very bad job at playing a disabled person…It is quite OBVIOUS and stated in the movie that he did a bad job. They are obviously making fun of the industry they work in, NOT the groups they mention.
Someone would have to be pretty thick NOT to get it because they make it damn obvious.
4 Lindsey // Aug 12, 2008 at 12:48 pm
You know how sensitve everyone is these days. (Yep, everyone.) It’s really pathetic.
If people were as quick to pulling their heads out of their posteriors as they were to react, this would be a total non-issue.
5 Bobbie // Aug 12, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I’m glad that you’ve seen the film and see that it’s an obvious spoof, Mali. Like I said, I get it. My worry is for the people that don’t understand the industry and take their children to films like these. But like the writer said, “it’s up to parenting” and a film like this will probably make no difference in what they do anyway.
I, for one, am looking foward to seeing the movie!
Leave a Comment