(Photo from Hartford Courant)

Lots more about the continuing “Tropic Thunder” controversy. We’ll be following it throughout the day. Let’s start here.

Stiller defends “Thunder” on the CBS Early Show. With video. Stiller says the movie is a comedy, and that people should view it in context and lighten up. (Note: Robert Downey Jr. also appeared on ABC Good Morning America, but didn’t discuss the controversy over the word “retard.” He says the filmmakers made a conscious effort to avoid offending people with racial humor involving his character, which he played in blackface.)

I appeared yesterday on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, a national Fox network program, along with David Tolleson, executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress; Eddie Barbanell, one of the stars of “The Ringer,” and Gitesh Pandya of Boxofficeguru.com. David, Eddie and I talked about why the disability community views the word ‘retard’ as hurtful. Gitesh said that protests add to the film’s appeal at the box office. Eddie’s comments definitely provided the high point of the segment. With video.

Eddie also appeared with Tim Shriver on Fox & Friends. (With video.) An excerpt from Shriver’s remarks:

We’re not questioning Ben Stiller’s intent. We’re questioning and challenging the content. We don’t know what he was thinking when he was writing. We didn’t have people on the set. Nobody invited people with intellectual disabilities to screen the film in the early days. Nobody asked us to see whether this movie crossed the line. They did ask other groups. They did not ask for the voice of people with special needs.

Film critics stand firm against ‘Tropic Thunder’ protests by advocates for the disabled in the Los Angeles Times. In a wrapup of reviews from 11 media outlets, John Horn notes: “Quite a few film critics appear to be agreeing with the studios and the filmmaker, not the protesters.” Includes excerpts from reviews in Salon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, MTV and elsewhere.

Disabilities just aren’t funny, an op-ed by Jim Flanigan in the Albany [NY] Times Union. The executive director of the Rensselaer Arc says the movie is a “turkey” and urges people to stay home. An excerpt:

The people responsible for “Tropic Thunder” claim that they were equally offensive to many groups. The movie does make fun of actors, egotistical producers, farts, agents, war movies filled with explosions and drug dealers, all of which could be considered fair game. By adding people with disabilities to this mix, Stiller, Dream Works and Paramount are sending a not too subtle message to their young audience that they, too, are fair game.

Funny or offensive? Blackface, ‘retard’ jokes may shoot down ‘Tropic Thunder‘ — Q&A with Slate.com reviewer Dana Stevens on washingtonpost.com

Also:

Protesters speak out against ‘Tropic Thunder’ film – Hartford Courant blog

‘R-Word’ sets off protests — Chicago Tribune

Letters:

• The R-word isn’t funny — Let’s give it a rest –in the Tallahassee Democrat
• Slurs are unacceptable — in the New Orleans Times-Picayune

(Video from the Hartford Courant)

Local disability advocates protested last night in various places against the nationwide release of the summer comedy “Tropic Thunder,” citing concerns about the repeated use of the term “retard” and the “Simple Jack” subplot, a satirical portrayal of a farmhand with an intellectual disability.

As part of the protests, the Special Olympics and other leading disability groups have started a national campaign to eliminate what they call “the r-word”. An excerpt from the site:

The r-word is hate speech that perpetuates the negative stereotypes that face people with intellectual disabilities every day. Yet, its use continues to gain in popularity….

For more nationwide coverage:

• LIers protest ‘Tropic Thunder’ over ‘hurtful’ word — Newsday (New York
• Protesters decry ‘Tropic Thunder’ in Vermont — Boston Globe and Protesters decry ‘Tropic Thunder’ characterizations — Times Argus (Vermont)
• Words Such As ‘Retarded’ In Movie ‘Tropic Thunder’ Draw Protests — The Hartford Courant (Connecticut) and Movie irks Down Syndrome Congress — Middletown Press (Connecticut)
• Protestors aim anger at war farce — Baltimore Sun (Maryland)
• Access Atlanta Blog: Locals protest R-word in ‘Tropic Thunder’ — Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia)
• A Premiere Protest — [Long Beach] Press-Telegram (California)
• ‘Tropic Thunder’ protest comes to Delaware — The News Journal (Delaware)

• (more…)

From CNN: Dozens protest at “Tropic Thunder” premiere

In coverage of the protest at the “Tropic Thunder” premiere, CNN’s report intercuts footage of protesters with an extended clip of the scene in which Robert Downey Jr. utters the lines “You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.”

Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver is interviewed on camera while someone holds up a sign in the background: “Words Matter.”

Tim Shriver: We feel it is unnecessarily humiliating and degrading to people with intellectual disabilities. We feel that they are treated with total disrespect in the film … Seventeen times in this film the R-word was used, once the N-word.

Andy Imparato, CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities: They’re selling t-shirts on the internet now that say ‘Don’t go full retard.’  Well, what kind of message does that send? What kind of bullying is that going to lead to in schools?

Ben Stiller: I am confident that people will get where we were coming from in the film. And we didn’t mean to offend anybody in any way.

Actor Jack Black: Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, obviously that’s what America’s all about. If you’ve got something to say, you are free to say it.

The report ends with a shot of chanting protesters wearing shirts with the slogan: Tropic Blunder.  People with intellectual disabilities deserve better. Eliminate the “R” word.

From the Associated Press: “Mental disability groups protest Tropic Thunder”

AP reports that “dozens” of protesters turned out for the “Tropic Thunder” premiere in Westwood, carrying sings with slogans such as “Call me by my name, not by my label.” They chanted phrases like “Ban the movie, ban the word. Among those shown in accompanying photos was Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver (at left). An excerpt:

… “When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside,” said Special Olympics global messenger Dustin Plunkett. “I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It’s the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don’t like the word retard. We are people. We’re just like any other people out there. We want to be ourselves and not be discriminated against.”

… “If you want to pick on people, as the old playground saying goes, pick on people your own size,” said Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, who is calling for a boycott of “Tropic Thunder” along with the other groups. “This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We’re sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable.”

With photos.

USA Today describes the protesters as “at least 50 people, chanting and holding signs such as “Eliminate the R word.” Headline: “Disability groups vs. Tropic Thunder.” An excerpt:

The protesters called for a boycott of the movie and want it pulled from release. Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, said: “I don’t have any illusions about that happening, but I’d like people not to see it. I’d like (disabled) kids going back to school in the fall to not have to deal with other kids saying, ‘Are you a full retard?’ “

See also:

• Is Ben Stiller a ‘Tropic’ Blunder? audio from National Public Radio. Essay by Lennard J. Davis, professor of disability studies at the University of Chicago. “If one group laughs at the expense of another, we don’t call that humor. We call that humiliation.”
• Stiller’s ‘Thunder’ under fire from disability groups, with video from ABC News
• Local disability activists join boycott of film, with video, from ABC24-TV in Memphis. In an extended interview, intercut with clips from the film, Diane Grovers says it’s time for abusive language to stop. “He’s trying to have a few laughs at the expense of my daughter, and I’m not okay with that,” she says.

Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver writes in the Washington Post that he has not yet been permitted to see “Tropic Thunder.” But on the basis of previews, excerpts and written accounts, he concludes that the film is “an unchecked assault on the humanity of people with intellectual disabilities — an affront to dignity, hope and respect.”

Shriver objects to a world in which people with intellectual disabilities routinely face discrimination, abuse, insult and institutionalization, are denied medical treatment and excluded from social movements. He cites Gallup poll data that found most Americans don’t want a person with an intellectual disability in their child’s school.

The use of language, he says, perpetuates and amplifies the public view that these people are “hopeless.”

Sadly, they’re such an easy target that many people don’t realize whom they are making fun of when they use the word “retard.” Most people just think it’s funny. “Stupid, idiot, moron, retard.” Ha, ha, ha.

I know: I could be too sensitive. But I was taught that mean isn’t funny.

… So, enough. Stop the hurtful jokes. Talk to your children about language that is bullying and mean. Ask your friends, your educators, your religious leaders to help us to end the stubborn myth that people with intellectual disabilities are hopeless. Ask Hollywood to get on the right side of dignity.

I hope others will join me in shutting this movie out of our lives and our pocketbooks. We don’t live in times when labeling and humiliating others is funny. And we should send that message far and wide.

Related coverage:

• Advocates for disabled to protest ‘Tropic Thunder’ (Reuters)
• Rant: I’m boycotting political correctness (Slashfilm.com)
• Can Angry Disabled Groups Help ‘The Dark Knight’ Stay Alive at the Box Office? (New York Entertainment)

Earlier post: Tropic Thunder boycott expected

By 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.

See other recent posts:

• Just the facts about ‘Tropic Thunder’
• What happened to the ‘Simple Jack’ trailer?

Here’s some data about the film, gleaned from an advance screening of “Tropic Thunder” arranged for me this afternoon by DreamWorks/Paramount.

This post attempts to assemble information that may help readers and advocates frame their own opinions about questions that have been raised about the language used in the film and its marketing, and the portrayal of the character of Simple Jack.

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