This is retarded
"Shhhhh! We're hunting protestors."
Reason No. 278 we’ve become way too politically correct as a society. According to The New York Times, a “coalition of disabilities groups is expected as early as Monday to call for a national boycott of the film Tropic Thunder because of what the groups consider the movie’s open ridicule of the intellectually disabled.”
Ridiculous. And unfounded, if you’ve actually seen the movie (which is flat out hilarious, for the record).
Know who really has an axe to grind? Dustin Hoffman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks and any other actor who has attempted to play a mentally handicapped character for Academy recognition. Which is the joke made in Tropic Thunder. The key word being “joke.”
To quote the beautiful Simple Jack, this protest makes my eyes rain.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Clearly, someone in charge is trying to go “full retard”, which is always a mistake.
:)
BILL
August 13th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I saw the movie in a screening. In my mind it’s offensive, not hilarious, but that’s why they sell chocolate and vanilla, right?
Unless you walk in the shoes of a family with special needs you might miss the point. And, just like Ben Stiller has the right to use offensive language without thinking about the implications, we have the right to protest. It’s what makes America great.
Something to think about. They use the N word one time in the film. Know why? They called in consultants to make sure that the African-American community were not insulted by the film. Guess how many times they used the R word? SEVENTEEN times, and yes they didn’t think about how it would affect the special needs community and called in no consultants on that. Despite what you might think, people living with cognitive impairment get it. My daughter might have cognitive impairment but she is far from stupid.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Here’s what bother’s me: I think the boycott may bring undo attention too. But, I am glad the use of the word brings people with disabilities to stand up for themselves. I am a *famous* poet and professor with cerebral palsy. I have no intellectual disabilities at all, yet I cannot count the times I’ve been called ‘retarded’ by people with clearly less education and success. Most blogs won’t allow to post the words fag or nigger — why retarded?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
[...] representing my filmcritic.com brethren I talked about Tropic Thunder — and its “controversy” – this morning on 92.9 Dave FM in Atlanta. Big shout out to my man Zakk Tyler in the [...]