Stiller, co-writer say boycott isn’t warranted
August 12th, 2008Etan Coen says family experience shaped his vision of disability
From MTV.com:
Ben Stiller and co-writer Etan Coen tell MTV that disability rights protesters have missed the point of who is being mocked in the film “Tropic Thunder.” Hollywood portrayals of disability are at issue here, they say — not people with intellectual disabilities themselves. An excerpt:
“Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we’re really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim,” co-writer Etan Cohen [said]. “The last thing you want is for people to think you’re making fun of the victims in this who are having their lives turned into fodder for people to win Oscars.”
The joke, then, is really on people like Dustin Hoffman (”Rain Man”), Sean Penn, (”I Am Sam”) and Tom Hanks (”Forrest Gump”), actors who do more harm than good by denying the painful realities of the illness and instead paint their characters as too sunny or bright, Cohen said.
“Movies about the mentally retarded is something we talked about for a long time. My grandfather was adopted by a mentally retarded man, a man who shouldn’t have been allowed to adopt a kid,” Cohen revealed. “When he saw ‘Forrest Gump,’ you never saw a guy angrier than him. It was not such a picnic to be raised by that guy.”
Coen’s filmography at imdb.com lists him as the writer, director and producer of the 2007 comedy short “My Wife is Retarded.”
And from accesshollywood.com: Disability advocates call for ‘Tropic Thunder’ protest; Stiller responds
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August 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Terri’s right!
Not only is Coen’s family experience only one, it further evidence the writer, co-writer and directors failure to
recognize that people with disabilities are as differant from each other as any other part of the population.
Further more this movie perpetuates people with disabilities as of single dimmension; only disabled!
Coen’s complaints about past portrayls of characters with disabilities as having good qualities and multifaceted lives says they were targeting exposing the “miserable life of the disabled”……………..
And if that was the intent, when was their the big colaborative meeting with people who knew?
It was totally their intent to smear this part of the population.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
So the writer’s intent was to create a negative stereotype about disability after all…
August 12th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I’d like some clarification on why Cohen’s “mentally retarded” great-grandfather “shouldn’t have been allowed to adopt a kid.” In current form that statement alone has shades of discrimination… perhaps he’d care to elaborate?
Maybe he should consider working out his family’s emotional issues in a less-public forum. Say, group therapy for caregivers of people with disabilities. Maybe then he could approach the issue with a little more sensitivity.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:18 am
The point isn’t that you didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s feelings — the point is that you DID hurt the feelings of millions of defenseless children and their devoted parents.
Even worse, you have made it okay for everyone else to do the same. I will think of you every time my gorgeous, darling daughter Molly (who is what your fans would call a retard) sees a tee shirt (already for sale online) that says, “Never go full retard”.
But everyone who knows Molly, our neighbors in our apartment building, our neighbors on the street, our dry cleaner, the mailman, the bus driver, our police officers and our firefighters, all love her and delight in her, and would do anything to protect her from thoughtless, self-absorbed, heartless people like yourself.
I agree with you that “Rain Man”, “Forrest Gump” and “I am Sam” are not realistic, but since when is that a requirement for a Hollywood movie, and what harm did these movies cause?
Do you really think that they lead parents of special needs kids to have unrealistic expectations? Your rationalizations are weak and make you look even more thoughtless. Did you even consult a person from the special needs community while shooting this movie?
August 12th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Wait. So, they are making fun of (some pretty great) actors (IMO) because they portrayed disability as too “sunny and bright”? So people (and their lives) with disabilities are dark and gloomy?
This is why Stiller and Cohen are poking fun at the actors with an entire movie/story line? For portraying disabilities as something to live with happily? Because these actors/script writers did not show the “painful realities” of disability? So, the attitude behind the movie really IS about disability and how dark disabilities actually are? How Hollywood gets it all wrong for the pursuit of pulling at heartstrings to get an Oscar?
So, Mr. Cohen, let me get this straight. In your world and the world you have chosen to portray to a (mostly) younger audience:
Disabilities are dark. There is no joy. No moments of glory or happiness. No love, no family, no friendships. Actors who have chosen to portray pieces of light and brilliance and love inside the lives of those living with disabilities were just aiming for Oscar gold? This is how you see disability? Painted by a dark family story that could have been anyone’s, raised by someone with a disability or not? Come by and visit with my cousin with down syndrome or my daughter with autism. You’ll most certainly see not a shade of darkness in the midst of all their light.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:35 am
What a s****. If they didn’t intend to offend people why did they take the time to consult black advocacy groups? It’s total *****. They should just admit that they made a bad judgement call. At this point they don’t even acknowledge that people have a right be offended.
Ironically, the movies that they are supposedly poking fun at are actually decent movies that elevate the disabled. Tropic Blunder mocks the disabled. Whatever their intention was, it failed miserably.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:47 am
I’m sorry that Etan’s loved one spent so much of his life “in pain” and that the hollywood movies are not realistic enough for his taste. So what on Earth was he thinking about the “retard” and Simple Jack gags?
Let’s focus on what is most painful to most people about how they’re family and friends are depicted?
He took a beautiful masterpiece like our children and desecrated their beauty, character, and innocence to get a laugh.