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Sunday
10Aug2008

'Tropic Thunder' to Remain Intact, Advocacy Groups to Boycott

DateSunday, August 10, 2008 at 9:08PM
We've got an update on one of the more unusual stories of the summer. Last week, we joined the widespread discussion about Tropic Thunder and its apparent repeated use of the word "retard," as well as depictions of those with mental disabilities as the objects of humor. At the time, DreamWorks was scheduled to meet with representatives of over a dozen advocacy groups, all of whom wanting to explain their side of the story.

The New York Times reported today that many of those groups, including The Special Olympics, are not satisfied with the actions taken by the studio, and will now call for a nationwide boycott of the film, which opens Wednesday.

At the center of the storm is Ben Stiller's character in the movie, Tugg Speedman. Speedman is an actor who, in an effort to be taken more seriously, plays a mentally retarded character in a film called Simple Jack. The studio maintains that neither Stiller nor the movie is pointing and laughing at those with mental disabilities, but rather at a Hollywood system that cruelly seems to crave and reward such performances from its biggest stars.

Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, producer of the Special Olympics comedy The Ringer, and brother-in-law of Arnold Schwarzenegger, says he and his representatives are encouraging citizens to picket the film at its Monday night premiere in Westwood. One reason he's planning to picket is DreamWorks' refusal to alter the film in any way. The R-rated comedy will remain in tact, according to company spokesman Chip Sullivan. What has happened, as we speculated this past week, is the removal of Simple Jack references from the film's marketing.

Still, those who work for the cause of the disabled feel that the film is terribly offensive in that regard. "I came out feeling like I had been assaulted,” said David C. Tolleson, executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress, who saw the film on Friday.

One has to wonder whether or not this kind of publicity so late in the game will do anything but increase ticket sales for a movie that already broke one taboo by having Robert Downey Jr. play a white actor undergoing a surgical procedure to become black for a role. In reality, of course, Downey is playing a character in blackface, which represents its own kind of risk in a thin-skinned society.

I will always applaud the work of these groups who champion the rights of those who may need defenders, even to the point that they picket a film they find morally objectionable. I just don't see what good it will do them, which may be the bigger statement when all is said and done.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment4 Comments |

Reader Comments (4)

Those Retards, PC'ing everthing, next thing you know Blazing saddles will be X rated

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKAG

Seriously, Timothy P. Shriver (wonder what the "P." stands for) needs to lighten up and get a clue, not to mention account for some of his own family members' "good" deeds before pointing the fingers at others; funny-strange how he had no problem putting together a (crappy) movie like The Ringer, incidentally...

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJMK

I wonder if any of these proesters have actually seen the movie...

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterGreg

Yes, in fact, they have. DreamWorks screened it for them last week. What's most appalling to me in all this is the complete lack of delicacy I'm seeing in comments online, as if the mentally handicapped kind of deserve to be made fun of and don't deserve to have people looking after their interests and representation in the media.

The movie's not making any changes, and the groups should boycott if they feel strongly about it, but to hear some readers (particularly of other sites) rail against groups like the Special Olympics is a little tasteless.

Protests are healthy, and we all boycott things we disagree with, even if we don't think of it as any big deal. I wonder, though, what the readers who seem to now have a vendetta against these advocacy groups would have them do in the face of material they find objectionable? Of course those groups are angry. I wouldn't expect them not to be. Just let them protest and raise awareness for their cause and you go enjoy the movie. If the material doesn't offend you, neither should the protest.

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Registered CommenterColin Boyd

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