Wednesday
06Aug2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 1:08PM
I don't have a whole lot of use for comedy that makes
fun of the mentally disabled. I certainly don't consider it inspired or daring
in any way. In fact, I kind of think of it as a very easy target that requires
no great skill to hit. I don't use the word "retard" or say "That's so
retarded," although I imply that same meaning using other words.
Am I some moralist? No, not really. I just don't find it
funny.
Ben Stiller, apparently, thinks it's fair game,
and that's his business. In
Tropic Thunder, his character, Tugg Speedman,
is Hollywood's biggest action star, but when he wants to be taken seriously, he
gets the title role in Simple Jack.
Robert Downey Jr. plays award-winner Kirk
Lazarus and tells Speedman the reason the character in Simple Jack didn't
work was because you never go "full retard."
As an industry joke, that's very funny and probably even
more accurate. But
The New York Times is reporting that the
American Association of People with Disabilities has organized a meeting between
DreamWorks and over a dozen disabilities groups to discuss the portrayal of the
mentally challenged in the film. “We want to be really plain about what our
issues are with the movie,” says Anne Sommers, policy counsel for AAPD.
Publicly, Dreamworks says that the laugh is not at the
expense of the character or mental retardation, but rather the motion picture community. That's exactly
the way I feel. Here's one of the offending clips, incidentally. See what you
think:
Behind the scenes, Dreamworks is not standing its
ground, according to
Cinema Blend, which reports that a website
dedicated to Simple Jack has been taken offline and that references to
the character on the Tropic Thunder website have also been removed. Of the
Simple Jack site, DreamWorks mouthpiece
Chip Sullivan said, ""We heard their concerns,
and we understand that taken out of context, the site appeared to be insensitive
to people with disabilities."
If you read the Cinema Blend piece by Josh Tyler, you'll
see that he's very angry about this development, charging that AAPD and the
other groups are trying to "ruin" and/or "destroy" Tropic Thunder. Funny that the guy who claims the AAPD has no sense of humor also really needs to lighten up. Also,
if anyone would "ruin" the movie a week before it's released, it's DreamWorks.
They'd be the ones to make edits and cave under pressure.
Groups like AAPD do
exactly what they're supposed to do, namely, look out for the interests and
depictions of the people it represents in the media. And, for the record, the
Times makes no mention of them demanding changes to the film. Indeed, it
says just the opposite: "Ms. Sommers said the groups, which include the National
Down Syndrome Congress and the Special Olympics, had not yet formulated specific
requests for DreamWorks."
Even though I'm not a fan of humor that goes after the
mentally challenged, I'm on the filmmakers' side here. From what I've seen, in
this grand Hollywood spoof, they're satirizing a concept within the motion
picture community, and you've heard it before: If you want to win an Oscar, play
someone with a mental or physical deficiency. So if DreamWorks does alter the
film, shame on them. Not so much for editing it, but editing it when the
pressure's on. Why not cut those things before you start production if they're
so objectionable?
I doubt they'll actually cut up the film, but stranger
things have happened. It's more likely that DreamWorks will argue that the
audience that pays to see the film can make up their own minds, which is exactly
the way the system should operate, and the studio will agree to remove Simple
Jack from the marketing, which will reach tons of more people, anyway.
On another note, I'd like to refer back to Cinema
Blend's article for a moment and Josh Tyler's complete misunderstanding of free
speech. If a company decides, for any reason, to make an edit to a film, that is
not a violation of the First Amendment. It wouldn't be censorship so much as
cowardice in this instance, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Reader Comments (1)
Anyone else catch this Ben Stiller gem on youtube?
Heat Vision and Jack