‘Tropic Thunder’ boycott expected
August 10th, 2008By Michael Cieply in the New York Times:
A coalition of more than a dozen disability groups is expected to announce plans for a national boycott of the DreamWorks film “Tropic Thunder” in response to language and scenes that advocates regarded as open ridicule of people with cognitive disabilities. At issue are repeated uses of the word “retard” and the subplot involving “Simple Jack,” played by Ben Stiller.
“Not only might it happen, it will happen,” said Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, of the expected push for a boycott. Shriver said he planned to join in the picketing personally on Monday at the film’s Westwood premiere.
Mr. Shriver said he had also begun to ask members of Congress for a resolution condemning what he called “hate speech” in the movie, and for stronger federal support of the intellectually disabled.
“The most disappointing thing, the most incredible thing, is that nobody caught it,” said Mr. Shriver, who, as a co-producer of the DreamWorks film “Amistad,” is no stranger to the studio. He spoke of what he described as the studio’s and filmmakers’ blatant disregard for the disabled, even as they stepped more carefully around potentially offensive references to others, notably when Robert Downey Jr. plays a white actor who changes his skin color to play a black soldier.
Shriver said that the lack of a substantive response from DreamWorks persuaded him that a far more aggressive public posture on behalf of the disabled was needed. “The movement needs to enter the public eye, and not just be talking among ourselves,” he said.
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August 14th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I haven’t watched the movie so I can’t say whether the movie was targeting disabled people or not. It doesn’t seem that way from the trailers or commercials. It’s just unfortunate that they release the movie close to the Special Olympics. It’s because of the aftermath it will cause from people watching the movie then watching the Special Olympics. I don’t think the movie will condone making fun of people with disabilities, but it’s the stupid people in the world who do. There will always be stupid people who will pick on the less fortunate. So boycotting this movie isn’t going to lower the number of stupid people doing stupid things. Why do people take things so literally?
August 14th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Also- to the person who wrote that society hasn’t crumbled yet — hello??!!! — look around !???
Where do you live!??
And also — with the “dont like it , dont go see it” HOW are we supposed to know what the movie is about if we do not go see it — the trailers only show so much, and the rating system is flawed to say the least!!
August 14th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Yes, it is awful they use the “r” word — very awful — but , are we not forgetting the NASTY words they used besides the “r” word!?? Are we so brainwashed we did not notice the “p” word that was used a dozen times!?? How DARE people not remember that WOMEN actually watch this movie as well,and we found THAT very offensive!!! It was just as derogatory as the “r” word!!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’ve kept quite about this issue since it first came out, but as a mother of a special needs child, I need to speak out….Sorry Please Says, I’m not a miserable human being just trying to protect my tube-fed, non-verbal, epileptic child from people like you.
There is a sub-plot in Tropic Thunder about a character named Simple Jack. The headline for Simple Jack is “Once there was a retard whose brain was small but his heart was big.” Later, Jack Black tells Ben Stiller to “never go full retard.” Why is this funny? Please, someone tell me what’s funny about that. It’s not; it’s crossing the line.
Advocates asked Dreamworks to take the Simple Jack sub-plot out…they refused. Yes, this movie is geared to adult audiences, but I guarantee you it’s only a matter of time before the phrase “never go full retard” is heard on the playgrounds.
I am all for humor. I loved Ben Stiller until he pulled this. But many people who have cognitive delays aren’t verbal or have a much lower language base. They can’t engage in this dialogue we’re having now and tell us how they feel. Isn’t it our jobs, as a decent community to protect those who can’t protect themselves?
August 14th, 2008 at 6:34 am
It’s just a word. Words aren’t even real things. They are just man-made concepts for us to communicate. Are people who go see this movie going to run out into the streets afterwards looking for mentally challenged (is that the PC term this month) people to attack? Um no. And it is TOTALLY obvious that the people throwing around the word “retard” in this movie are shallow, stupid actors who would not know any better. Like Ben Stiller said, the context is 100% clear. We’re not allowed to make movies about people who would say the word “retard” now? Are we in Cuba? Don’t like it. Don’t see it.
P.S. – Kids have been throwing around the “R” word on playgrounds for decades and society hasn’t crumbled yet.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I’ve been reading a lot of these posts and I see both sides of the argument.
A word is just a word, unless you make it something hurtful. I’ve been called many words, b**** being my favorite (my friends have called me that while joking), c*** being the worst when an angry stranger called me that. I don’t think this movie aims to direct the word retard in a hurtful manner to anyone with disabilities, but I can see how people would be upset if they, or someone they love, have been called that in anger or ignorance. But a word can be turned around and made tame. Look at the N word. A white person saying it in anger or ignorance is using it incorrectly, a black person saying it in a greeting or term of endearment does not get any grief, they’ve taken the word back.
Making fun of someone with a disability is NOT right. My cousin was disabled so maybe I’ve come to respect them and see them as regular people more than others might, but I admit, I’ve used the term retard before. Never in a hurtful manner, just to describe someone who’s being silly, or even myself if I’ve done something dumb. I haven’t done it to make fun of anyone, but it’s a word I grew up hearing, so like any other word, it was adopted in my vocabulary. When I use the word, it’s used when someone should know better and still does something dumb. I’ve never used it to describe someone who was born with a disability or acquired it later in life (ie., brain damage from something like an accident), and might not know better.
Are some people over-reacting, possibly. Have you even seen the movie? Don’t pass judgment if you’ve never seen what your protesting against. How can you tell what context it’s given in if you’ve never experienced it?
A movie won’t make me go out and start making fun of people with disabilities. If you want change, people need to make it in the homes and in the schools. Kids need to learn from an early age that it’s OK to be different, it’s what makes everyone so special in their own way, and that it’s wrong to make fun of someone just because they are different.
I’m not going to watch this movie, why? Because I think it looks stupid, but I’m also NOT going to protest it. If I protested every movie that I thought might be insulting in someway, I’d never be able to watch movies or TV.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Okay, for all those people that don’t want to see this movie because of the word retard, you are r*******. Call me a moron for enjoying life and loving to laugh ever so often. I can’t wait to see this movie over and over and over again. Imagine a world where you can not make jokes because you are afraid of offending a person, group or organization. There would be no comics to sitcoms no color in life. Has any one here ever listened to a comic, everything they say is making fun of someone or themselves. Is this really a way to live your life? If I got upset every time I heard a guy tell their son they throw like a girl, I would still be in my room crying. According to you that is offensive and I should sue every movie out there that has said this because it has allowed it to become “normal.” Please people, get a life and stop with, “I have a child with a disability.” Okay, so you do, now move on with life because you obviously are a miserable human being.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Please Listen, you have no idea what you are talking about. This isn’t about a passing use of the word “retard”. The major sub-plot of the movie is an attempt at dehumanizing those with intellectual disabilities. Ben Stiller wrote and directed the movie. The idea that it’s just characters saying lines is absurd. They are his words. This is not social commentary like To Kill A Mockingbird or Of Mice and Men. This movie is ignorance at best and a direct attack at worst. This cannot be compared to calling your friend a retard when he does something stupid. We actually do understand the difference. I hear retard all day long. I understand that it is part of the lexicon and that most of what I hear is not directed at the disabled. THAT is the line. Nigger was once an innocent part of the lexicon. Then it became offensive. Now, it’s not socially acceptable. The same thing needs to happen to “retard”.
This movie proves that people with intellectual disabilities are not given a second thought and seen as less than humans. They are exploited as needed to get a quick laugh and make a quick buck. This is a pure exploitation movie. Period. Animals are given more respect than your fellow human beings.
Persons with intellectual disabilities are not morons, moronic, stupid, or imbeciles – which this movie directly implies with the dialog between Stiller and Downey. Morons and imbeciles are educated people like you who should know better and just eat up whatever big Hollywood star gives you. You eat it up greedily and fill up your ignorant belly. It is YOU who lack the ability to form an independent thought. You are so entranced by an industry that really provides nothing to the survival of humanity that you can’t even think for yourself. It’s sad. I love movies, but I am not so in love with them that I will ignore this insult.
Maybe you think it’s fine to call people retards. You have that right. You also have the responsibility of bearing the consequence when you offend someone. In this country, you are not prevented from doing anything. We have unhindered liberty. You can even kill someone. We don’t stop it. We can only bring consequence in the aftermath. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. That’s what separates true intellectuals from the wannabes.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:56 am
“please listen” you might be “bright enough..” but there
are millions of ordinary people and millions of bigots who will see this movie as licence to continue to toss the word retard as an insult. The word merely describes a “medical” condition. It’s bigots and the ignorant who make it into an insult. And it is insulting.
People are arguing that it is only satire. That doesn’t really hold water. Satire can be wrong too when it perpetuates discrimination.
How many kikes, niggers, dumb blondes or fat pigs like to see those words used to exemplify financial stinginess, less than a white man, stupid because of hair colour and gender or weighing more than the average? None I bet. And they wouldn’t put up with it either.
Someone commented somewhere that racism and sexism is worse than ablism or disablism. They obviously haven’t experienced disability discrimination and the exclusion and rejection that comes with it. I have and it sucks.
Disability discrimination is insidious and generally either accepted or ignored by the general public. I think it makes the abloids (those who think they don’t have any disabilities) feel superior. Well goody for all of you. I Guess you must need that false feeling purely because you have doubts.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:03 am
While I support anyone’s right to avoid seeing this movie or giving anyone involved with it their money, I think it’s a little silly, to be honest. I think too many people have painted those involved in the film as Snidely Whiplashes sitting in their Hollywood studies, twisting their mustaches and thinking of ways to harm the mentally challenged, when in fact, I truly believe the movie is trying to do just the opposite by showing how ridiculous studios and actors can be when it comes to using such a role to further their own careers and fatten their wallets.
What I want to know is where was the protesting when movies like “The Other Sister”, “Forrest Gump”, and “I Am Sam” were released, for those are the types of films Stiller and the others are taking aim at. I look at this movie, if it’s done correctly, as one in the line with something like “Blazing Saddles”, which made fun of racism while profusely using offensive language and turning stereotypes around on the characters.
As far as people taking the lines out of context and using them on t-shirts or in the hallways of our schools and workplaces, I think the blame for that rests at the feet of the individuals who purchase those shirts or use those phrases (again, out of context). Honestly, those are the types of people who will find other ways to hurt and ridicule any kind of minority group that they think won’t fight back or undeserving of respect. I think it’s wrong to blame one writer or filmmaker for the wrongs that are considered acceptable by too many others in our society. In fact, I think all of this focus on Stiller’s movie takes away resources better spent on educating the public and changing overall perceptions.
I say this as a person with a loved-one who is mentally disabled and has worked with children with special needs, and I say this as a parent.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
C’mon……Keep the “MO MENTOM”!
Don’t stop now, we’re not there yet!
Boycot in ways that are seen!
Organize!
Louise
August 11th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Please Listen?
Stiller’s movies are not “satires” or “art” but personal lampoons which are characterized by the obvious virulence we see in the Simple Jack characterizations and “retard” gag.
What he did in this movie to our children, in my book, is the equivalent of using a sharpie marker to draw bikini swimwear on the David …
August 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
To all the people that find this movie obnoxious and wrong, I commend and thank you for speaking up!!!!! To all the Morons (I can call you Morons, right?? you don’t mind “labels” as you stated) who do not see the harm in this film, you obviously need to get an education. How do you think the Nazi’s conviced the masses the Jews were “bad” (through Media and propoganda) and the consquences were mass killings of millions of innocent people… The same thing is happening right now with Down syndrome. Prenatal abortion (murder) rate is 90%!! That is 9 out of every 10 babies with Down syndrome never see the light of day. This saddens me greatly as I am a decendent of a German that watched his country almost wipe out anyone that they demeaned “not of the perfect race”…. wow, as a society, are we really any better? My son has Down syndrome and he is the greatest blessing I could ever ask for. Would I take away his DS if I could?? No, then he would not be who he is and truthfully, I would not be who I am today if I had not had him. he is the son I never knew I wanted but have discoved I always needed….
To all the “morons” that think this movie is Funny or ok, you all have a disability yourselves, and that is of character …
August 11th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
i completely agree with “Please Listen”. and i too think its ludicrous that you would boycott a movie for saying the word “retard”.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I can’t believe the”please listen”response. Are you really comparing the word “retard” that is offensive and hurtfull to a nude statue. Get real!!
August 11th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
i couldnt agree more.
instead of boycotting a satire, why not boycott celebrity worship or exxon/mobil?
why not exert all that anger on something worthwhile that might actually make a change?
oh wait, you dont care and you dont think it would make a difference.
just like all of this “boycotting” is only going to make this movie more appealing , give it more press and make these insensitive jerks more money!!
August 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Okay this is simply getting ridiculous. Look, I think the word “retard” is a bad one as well. I also think the word “faggot” is bad one too. But, did I get my knickers in a twist when Martin Scorsese used it it The Departed? No. Because I was bright enough to realize that the characters were saying the word.
Just because the people in the movie say the word, doesn’t mean the people who made the movie condone it. Furthermore, the attack on Tropic Thunder is even worse because the character of Simple Jack isn’t an attack on those with special needs, but rather stupid actors who play condescending versions of them as a means of getting awards. If anything, you should be thanking the people who made this film for taking to task people who exploit disabilities for trophies.
Just because a character in a film says something, doesn’t the people behind the film believe it as well. If this continues then you will be opening up the flood gates towards censoring art, placing leaves over the penis in Michelangelo’s David, editing old movies to remove smoking, and censoring what words can be said in feature films.
Satire is satire, I’m sure Kubrick wasn’t pro-Nuke because he made Strangelove and that Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t pro-big oil because he made There Will Be Blood. If you remove elements that create conflict from cinema, then we’ll wind up with Hollywood making Lifetime movies full time.
It’s satire. It’s art. And the ability to not recognize that seems to be a bigger issue than a harmless Ben Stiller summer comedy.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I don’t have a special needs child or relative, but I know plenty of people who do. I will be boycotting this movie.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Here’s my post, Words Hurt: The “R” Word. It covers more than the Stiller movie.
I indexed all your “TT” posts.
August 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
OK, here we go. Lets get behind this demonstration. Hate speech is not acceptable no matter where it appears. Way to go Tim Shriver.