Insensitive Hollywood People Thought It Felt Right to Use Hate Words Against People Living with Disabilities
Once upon a time there was a retard...
Is that phrase acceptable to you?
How about...
Once upon a time there was a nigger...or
Once upon a time there was a spic...or
Once upon a time there was a faggot...
Are any of those phrases acceptable to you? Well, none of them are acceptable to me.
However,"Once upon a time there was a retard" is a phrase acceptable to Hollywood and many other people.
The creators and stars of "Tropic Thunder", Ben Stiller's latest creation, chose to be very sensitive to the portrayed images of and hate labels given to people...except people who are intellectually challenged. They bent over backwards to not include hate words in referring to any group of people...except people who are intellectually challenged.
Sure it is a spoof, a movie intended to poke fun at Hollywood and actors, but it perpetuates the misconception that people living with special challenges are not and should not be a part of mainstream society. That they are incapable of a fulfilled life. That they are laughable. That they are less human. That it is acceptable to verbally abuse them, hurting them and the people who love them.
I have a roaring sense of humor. This is not funny...at all.
Think I am over reacting? Everyone, including a mom of a son with an intellectual disability, is entitled to an opinion. But...
It isn't "just a movie" and it isn't "just words". These words hurt the same as if they were the N-word being directed at a black child. In fact, the cast and crew WERE sensitive to people of color, so much so that they stopped mid-production to get a feel for "what felt right". Sadly, it never occurred to them to ask how it might feel to be a person born with an intellectual disability and hear the word retard time after time after time. Or to be the parents of that child.
"Tropic Thunder" is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly this week with an interview with the three stars where they discussed how careful they had to be with the issue of Downey playing an African-American. Here is an excerpt and link:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The challenge with that character was to find the right line. You want to make fun of this pompous actor, but if you play it wrong, it verges on being minstrel-like.
Your costar Brandon T. Jackson told me there was a scene in the script where Osiris uses the N-word and that he said it went over the line.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR.: Brandon might have saved the movie that day.
BEN STILLER: For sure. We were rehearsing in Hawaii and we got to that scene and I said to him, "What do you think of this?" Brandon said, "This feels wrong." It was definitely a constant process of feeling it out.
Brandon T. Jackson "saved the movie". Too bad also being sensitive to people living with intellectual disabilities wasn't considered necessary to save the movie. Hollywood's lack of humanity equates to the mindset of...Those people are too stupid to have feelings...to be upset...or to defend themselves. We don't have to be concerned with them.
The promotions of this film included "Simple Jack" trailers, which is a movie-within-the-movie of Ben Stiller's character portraying a person who is intellectually disabled. Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed in his bid for an Oscar as "Simple Jack," a man with an intellectual disability. "Simple Jack" features Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth.
The film within-a-film' s slogan is "What he doesn't have in his head, he makes up for in his heart." A satirical plot synopsis quotes a critic as saying that Speedman's Jack was "one of the most retarded performances in cinema history."
The advertising campaign includes posters saying "Once upon a time, there was a retard" (beneath the title in the poster pictured above). A scene in the movie has Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. discussing Stiller's role as "Simple Jack" and Robert Downey Jr. telling him to "never go full retard".
Clearly, it does not "feel wrong" to people associated with the film to copiously refer to intellectually challenged people using the R-word. This movie could have been made without including the insensitivity directed toward people living with intellectual (or any) disabilities. They could have done better.
Already, the term "go full retard" is in the popular lexicon. It is already on t-shirts. The movie has not yet even premiered. In perhaps the single most offensive scene in the film, Matthew McConaughey, who plays a Hollywood agent, speaks to the film's main character who wants to adopt a child. "Well, at least you still have a choice. I'm stuck with mine," states McConaughey while pointing to a photograph of his teenage son who appears to have an intellectual disability. It is worth noting that over 90% of prenatally diagnosed babies with Down syndrome are killed through abortion, and that figure is climbing.
There has been mounting outrage from the disability community as the film's content is gradually becoming known. For excellent coverage of the issue, see http://www.patriciaebauer.com/
This feels wrong because it is wrong. Do you agree? What if someone you love with all of your being lived with an intellectual disability or other special challenges? Would you then think it right?
Think of the impressionable young people who will see this movie and the message they will take away...the t-shirts they will wear...the new in-slang they will use...because adult filmmakers etched it upon their minds.
The movie carries an R-rating, but you know as well as I that does not prevent underage children from being admitted to movies. You also know a person does not have to be under the age of 18 to be impressionable and follow the crowd in the latest trends.
Go ahead...look him eye to eye and call him a retard...laugh about it. In my opinion, anyone who supports this movie by spending money and time to see it, is doing just that.
If you agree with me, please boycott this movie. Consider voicing concerns in a blog post. Consider emailing your contacts and talking with friends and family asking them to boycott "Tropic Thunder".
Above all, please think before using words which hurt. Change begins with me...you...him...her...the child you raise...the people who go to movies...the people who choose not to go to movies...
Comments are open. It is safe to offer your thoughts here. Even when my opinions do not align with yours, I will never denigrate you.
A Conversation About Tropic Thunder With A Child Living With Intellectual Disabilities
Be informed:
Once Upon A Time There Was A Retard...
Mental Disability Groups Protest 'Tropic Thunder' (they previewed the movie)
"Tropic Thunder" Boycott Expected
What "Tropic Thunder" Thinks Is Funny
Nationwide Thunder Boycott in the Works
