Comments on: What happened to the ‘Simple Jack’ trailer?

By: ed

ed — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:03:10 +0000

Does anyone have a right to not be offended?

By: tar

tar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:20:12 +0000

Maybe I’m a little bit late to this comment feed, but I’ve read through most of what you people have had to say, and all issues with the movie aside…

“the history of disability being taught in elementary school”

The history of disability? Do you honestly think kids ages 6-11 will understand concepts like genetics, mutation, and the biological perspective of psychology? If a given disabled person - let’s call him Jimmy - wasn’t disabled in elementary school, the kids would have found something else to tease him about. It’s what kids do.

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:27:58 +0000

Jennifer,

Please never have children. I truly fear that the propagation of your genes will RETARD the progress (technological and otherwise) of our society.

Seriously, girl, you need to relax. As a lot of people have mentioned, they’re not making fun of the fact that Simple Jack is …well, simple. They’re laughing at how exaggerated the whole situation is. Exaggeration = funny. If I look at things through your eyes, I should be incredibly offended by the Chuck and Larry movie (the one where Adam Sandler pretends to be gay), I’d be offended by The Nutty Professor (I mean really… their portrayal of a crude, over-the-top overweight black family… heart-breaking, truly)… the list can go on for a while.

No one is bending your arm to go see this movie, or any other movie for that matter. I love film because it allows a person to express themselves however the hell they want to be expressed and it’s because of pretentious and up-tight people like you that these expressions are being reprimanded and shunned. I think Tropic Thunder was hilarious and I see no reason why anyone should take offense to the movie.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:19:36 +0000

Jennifer, why don’t you follow your own advise and step out of your own point of view and see the big picture: we are not laughing at the ‘ mentally disabled,’ we are laughing at ben stiller’s ridiculous and inaccurate portrayal. We aren’t the insensitive baffoons you make us out to be. I haven’t seen anybody laugh while watching I Am Sam or Radio. Those are serious and sincere portrayals of people. We know when it is and isn’t okay to laugh. Oh, and also take a hard look at yourselves, those supposedly protectors of PWD, you do more harm to them by labeling them as ‘mentally challenged etc.; they are people like you and me. They may need a little more help than other, but they are people, stop treating them as less.

By: James Boxton

James Boxton — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:27:40 +0000

Oh come on. People protesting this movie are hypocrites. We all laugh at and make fun of retarded people (if only in private). Anyone who says they don’t is lying. Everyone in this world gets made of for something. Black, white, Asian, gay, straight. Everyone. We make fun of retarded people, just like they may make fun of amputees or some other group. Same as making fun of someone’s ethnic background. No one is protected from being made fun of. That’s the way we deal with life. Just because you wear a crash helmet doesn’t make you off limits.

By: elaine z

elaine z — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:00:56 +0000

I love the comment that mentally impaired would not know if someone is making fun of them. Sorry to inform you, but you are wrong. But everyone is upset because people have the right to go see the movie if they want. No one is saying they don’t have the right; however, we also have the right to voice that we are offended. Most established societies are judged by how they treat the less fortunate in their society. Remember the Nazis killed the disabled people first. Of course, we don’t do that here in the USA; we just pay millions of dollars to the people that can think of ways to humiliate them.

By: H

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:06:04 +0000

Dear Jennifer B,

I can understand where you would be coming from but at the same time people have the choice to see or not see this movie. That is a fact. It is also a fact that this movie was making fun of Ben’s character and not the mentally impaired.

I’m African American. Does this mean that I should fight for all history textbook manufacturers to remove any references to Jim Crow laws and the likes? Let’s face it… these groups aren’t fighting for the mentally impaired(they wouldn’t understand the “insults” anyway) they are fighting in an attempt to numb the pain that comes to you when someone you love is mentally impaired. And there isn’t anything wrong with that at all.

By: John Wayne

John Wayne — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:31:14 +0000

The movie was hilarious.
Simple Jack was hilarious.
Mentally handicap people are too “intellectually impaired” to get offended. Who is it hurting? Answer: overprotective parents and other stupid (or retarded, if you will) people.
Mentally handicap people are cool, just like that one dude up there my little brother is mentally handicap and I don’t take offense to the word, “retard.” It’s just a word, you can’t let everything piss you off.

You all need to calm down and think like intelligent people, this country is becoming too censored, too politically correct and imo it’s destroying what this country stands for. For the love of God, it’s people like you who want “..under God” taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance!

That’s just my 2 cents anyways

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:08:34 +0000

Two people wrote in on behalf of PWD. Why don’t these people write in for themselves?

I hope PWD mobilizes and does a full-scale march as people have in Paris and Costa Rica. Any ideas? This is not about a stupid movie or a word. This is about the systematic exclusive of ALL PWD from employment, housing, schools, affirmative action and so on. I say we should finally mobilize, march, and stop being the tail end of the civil rights movement.

By: Erik

Erik — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:21:26 +0000

Nobody is making fun of mentally challenged people. The idea behind the trailer is making fun of how an actor can play a mentally challenged individual and automatically be nominated, no matter how insensitive or offensive the performance/film may be. If anything the trailer would be an advocate for the rights of the mentally challenged as it is lampooning the patronizing works that we so often see.