Here Comes the 'Tropic Thunder' Retardgate
They want Congress to label it as 'hate speech'
NOTE: The word "retarded" is used in this article, but I want you to know it is not used out of hatred or malice. It is used in conjunction with the argument at hand. I only say this to encourage constructive conversation should you decide to comment on the article and its language. I realize the word "retard" and "retarded" are sensitive words that can arouse emotions just as can the words "nigger" and "spic", which are also used in this article, and once again, not in any attempt to breed hatred but in line with the topic at hand. If you do have a comment after reading the article it is welcomed, but please also try to be sensitive if you decide to use these words as well.
According to the New York Times a national boycott of Tropic Thunder is set to begin today as a coalition of disabilities groups claims the movie openly ridicules the intellectually disabled. Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, told the Times, "Not only might it happen, it will happen." Shriver's group and others are expected to picket the movie's premiere on Monday evening in the New York Westwood district.
The problem seems to derive from the use of the word "retard" in reference to a spoof film portrayed by one of the characters in Tropic Thunder, a film that spoofs the film industry itself. The use of the word in the film comes as Ben Stiller's character portrays an intellectually disabled person in a movie-within-the-movie called Simple Jack and a subsequent scene in which the phrase "nobody goes full retard" is used by Robert Downey Jr. playing Kirk Lazarus, an Australian Oscar-winner who goes through skin pigmentation alteration in order to play an African American in the film.
Chip Sullivan, a DreamWorks spokesman, is quoted in the Times article describing the film as "an R-rated comedy that satirizes Hollywood and its excesses and makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the-top characters in ridiculous situations." The best part is that Sullivan also says, "No changes or cuts to the film will be made." Let me tell you why this is a good thing and it is not me advocating the use of hate speech against the intellectually disabled as that seems to be the proper terminology.
Shriver is actually taking his case to Congress hoping for a resolution condemning what he called the movie's "hate speech" and calling for stronger federal support of the intellectually disabled. "The most disappointing thing, the most incredible thing, is that nobody caught it," said Shriver. Personally, I don't think Shriver "caught it" and by "it" I mean the film's true intention.
Photo: DreamWorks Pictures
In Tropic Thunder Ben Stiller plays the character Tugg Speedman, an actor known for playing an action star, but he has a desire to be respected as a "real" actor and not just someone that can star in action films in which things blow up and people shoot guns. In his attempt for such notoriety he takes on a role of a character named Jack in a film called Simple Jack. Jack, is a severely intellectually disabled character and the underlying message in the film is that this move was over the line. The film's tagline is, "Once upon a time there was a retard." To put it plainly the film flopped due to how severely disabled Jack was.
In a scene in the film Speedman has a conversation with Lazarus about the role and it goes as follows:
If you weren't able to catch it, the intention of the scene, and the character in Simple Jack, is not to make fun of intellectually disabled people, but instead to poke fun at the way they are portrayed and used in Hollywood to garner praise on actors and films. Lazarus references Forrest Gump and Rain Man saying how both the main characters weren't "full retard". What isn't shown in the clip above is a reference to Sean Penn's performance in I Am Sam and how it didn't win the Oscar. We are led to believe because Penn acted too "retarded". Of course Hoffman and Hanks both won for their performances in Rain Man and Forrest Gump.
If you are digesting the scene properly you should come away realizing Lazarus is pointing out that acting "retarded" and passing it off as an "art form" and saying you are an "artist" is stupid and is just one more example of Hollywood's patronizing approach to the disabled. On top of that, the whole point of saying "you never go full retard" is saying, in not so many words, that it is offensive to take it to such extremes.
I actually never saw I Am Sam for the reasons Tropic Thunder points out. It became obvious Hollywood was using the disabled in an attempt to gain prestigious attention. We were on an overload of actors using disabled characters as Oscar bait for too long. At the point of the film's release in 2001 we already had Rain Man in 1988, My Left Foot in 1989 and Forrest Gump in 1994. Dustin Hoffman won for playing a man in Rain Man that was autistic, not retarded. Daniel Day-Lewis won for playing Christy Brown in My Left Foot, a man with cerebral palsy, not retarded. Tom Hanks won for playing a man in Forrest Gump that was certainly not retarded; actually I can't remember if they ever said what disease caused Forrest to be a little "different" but he certainly wasn't retarded. The point being that Stiller's character in Simple Jack (by way of Tropic Thunder) had taken it too far.
Now, on top of all things Shriver wants the film to be labeled hate speech? Did I miss something here? Where are we living? Hate speech? Really?
Hate speech, to me, would be to walk up to a disabled person and call them "retarded", laugh in their face and mock them. That, should not be tolerated and I wouldn't mind if a law was passed against folks like that. Hate speech is calling an African American a "nigger" or calling a person of Hispanic descent a "spic" or any other myriad of words used to demean and spew hatred on any person or group of people. Again, pass a law against these folks, I am sure the majority won't mind.
Of course, I am a white American male with a middle-class upbringing and I have no real right to speak on any certain terms for any person or group dealing with hate speech. It would be ignorant of me to say words don't hurt people because they can, but I do think if people in Mr. Shriver's position want to start a boycott against a film or any other art form they should take a second to look at the intent of what they are boycotting. What does he think the true intent of Tropic Thunder is? It appears he thinks it intends to hate on the disabled, but I can't see how he can come to that conclusion especially after how dumb Stiller's character was made to look for being proud about his performance in Simple Jack as evidenced from the clip above. That is just me.
David C. Tolleson, executive director of the Down syndrome group who saw the movie, told the New York Times he "came out [of the screening] feeling like I [he] been assaulted." I really don't know what to say about that quote, but I am sure he wouldn't mind elaborating if you give him a call.
The Down syndrome group, the Special Olympics, the Arc of the United States, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the American Association of People With Disabilities and others are expected to begin their boycott today and I am sure we have not heard the last of this. The controversy surrounding The Golden Compass last year was tame in comparison to this, but hopefully something good comes out of it.
I don't think this film encourages hate speech or will influence people to degrade people with mental handicaps. I am someone that believes people that would do that already have a problem and are going to do that regardless of what happens in a Ben Stiller comedy. Of course I am speaking of those that have the sense to realize what is right and what is wrong. I find it hard to know what ignorant people may be thinking and due to their ignorance I tend to ignore them.
RSS Feed
| 24 comments so far 
news feeds