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Counter Rant: Tropic Thunder Deserves ControversyBy Katey Rich: 2008-08-07 01:01:57
Another week, another group getting upset over something offensive in a major Hollywood movie. It's almost to be expected now, and half the time it's just a group trying to drum up publicity, and the media starved for a lack of something better to report.But the people who are upset about Tropic Thunder's cavalier use of the word "retard" actually have a better point than most. Yes, they're asking for some insane stuff-- an apology from Ben Stiller, and a complete re-edit of the movie to remove all mentions of the word "retard." Obviously that's never going to happen. But for once, people are getting upset about a movie before they've seen it, and that's the whole point. The only direct result of the complaints from the Special Olympics and other groups that represented disabled Americans is that DreamWorks has taken down a fake website promoting Simple Jack, the fake Oscar-bait movie in which Ben Stiller's character played a mentally challenged farm hand. The site apparently consisted of nothing but a picture of Stiller looking like an idiot and the tagline "Once upon a time... there was a retard." Simple Jack plays a big role in the movie, both as a plot point and a hilarious conversation between Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr.'s character about which kind of retard is better to play. Within context, it all works-- it's not making fun of anyone with disabilities, but about Hollywood actors who play disabled people in hopes of getting an Oscar nomination. The word "retard" is tossed around freely, coming from the mouths of deluded actors who think all of this is perfectly acceptable. But the Simple Jack promotional site was out of the movie's context-- even if you know it's a promotional site for a movie, there's no way of knowing that the lazy, stupid tagline is making fun of other lazy, stupid taglines. It's a few too many layers of irony that, rightly, went over the heads of most people who saw it. Of course they're complaining about the movie before they've seen it; the movie doesn't come out for another week, but the promotion has been there for months, glibly throwing around the word "retard" without offering any context. DreamWorks obviously shouldn't edit Tropic Thunder to take out any possible offensive words or phrases; because Tropic Thunder is a good movie, it uses these controversial subjects in a funny and clever way. But the people promoting this movie knew they were playing with fire with some of the movie's topics. That's why we've heard endlessly about Robert Downey, Jr. only playing a character who dresses up in blackface. DreamWorks was rightly concerned that people would be offended, so they got out in front of the controversy and kept it under control. Now they've clearly realized they should have done the same for Simple Jack. Better luck next time, promotion monkeys. Read Josh's original rant - Save Tropic Thunder.
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