Posted on 05/01/2005 10:59:33 AM PDT by John Robertson
I'm sending this to all my discerning friends.
There is a very special movie on television tonight. Please make time for it in your schedule.
Rosie O'Donnell costars with Andie McDowell in a CBS Hallmark presentation of "Riding the Bus With My Sister," the story of a fat-ass retard who is so effing obnoxious you want to shoot her in the back of the head, but political correctness demands that we air stories where we find value, and learn lessons from, people we wouldn't want carrying our morning paper in from the curb. Perhaps you have seen the promos on TV the last few days. Rosie, who apparently took the role because it would require her to gain weight, does a blank-eyed stare and speaks in a honking voice that seems to issue from both the top of her septum and the bottom of her throat at the same time. It sounds like a dying sea lion, but without the dignity. She also waddles down the street like a walrus, great gobs of flesh pounding the concrete sidewalk shores as she moves (and showing impressions where she passed?). Andie McDowell, the beautiful normal sister, in a closeup in the promo, tries to show concern for this literal albatross of a sister she can't get away from (I don't know the story, but I think it's about the Andie character trying to flee this piece of family crap, and the Rosie character hijacks buses and chases her down, so there's no escape; apparently she needs a bus because no other vehicle will hold her), but Andie's eyes betray her: They shout, What the hell am I doing in this turd, trying to look like I care?! Apparently O'Donnell took the role not only because it was "important," but because playing a fat-ass retard didn't require her to stretch at all. The lighting looks flat, the dialogue sounds stilted...the special moments are going to gag 90% percent of the audience (if they hang in there long enough to see them), and make the other 10% feel really, really...no, really, really sensitive to the...uh, plight of these people with very special needs.
The only people who come off looking good are the millions of truly impaired/special needs people, who have never once been portrayed accurately in either a feature or a television movie. Actors take these parts because they need to rehabilitate or get an award nomination, or both. Rosie WILL get awards nominations for her "courageous" portrayal of an incredibly fat woman with an annoying voice. Some of the noms will garner actual awards, and she will land on the cover of one or more of the weeklies, and the headline will run something along the lines of, "Rosie's Back!"
Thank you, CBS, for airing one version or another of the same movie for four decades.
You have completely misread my post.
Completely!
I am one of the decent folks here at FR, and that is why I am outraged at third-raters like Rosie capitalizing on people who have more dignity in their little finger than she has in her entire body.
Take a breath.
The mentally handicapped have enough problems without the insult of Rosie portraying one on TV. Think that the mentally retarded should file a class-action suit against O'Donnell for defamation of character...
Not just that but a disabled person who saw past his disability, had a goal, stuck with it, and didn't listen to those who told him he couldn't do it. I worked with kids with cerebral palsy for two years as a physical therapist, and Macy did an awesome job acting the part.
What is decent about labeling a human being a "fat assed retard," "literal albatross of a sister," or "piece of family crap"?
I dislike Rosie's politics too, but your post was so vile it made me cringe.
After her little rant on Geraldo yesterday, it will be a COLD, ICY day in HE11 before I watch anything that toad is in again.
Yeah, most movies don't really capture the situation of the mentally disabled do they? I have worked with them a lot, but hollywood does not really understand their struggle, or chooses not to show it. Its harder to make a good movie about a person spending their lives struggling to be normal like everybody else, when you could make a movie with a guy like Forrest Gump doing heroism out of impairment.
Look, apparently you have certain cognitive issues.
You misread my post.
If you don't understand it from me, ask the other people who have responded to this threat.
Rosie didn't even have to audition.
Agree completely.
I think it must be, the actor's ego takes over. To do it right, an actor's persona would have to be completely subsumed by the character's real life and emotions, which would help lead to a dignified portrayal.
Thanks for the lecture.
But as I had to explain to a few people who misread my post .... you have misread the post. Completely.
I did not mock the fat, nor the mentally challenged (by the way, as long as we're pulling out the lecture book, "mentally retarded" is completely passe, and even regarded as insulting). I mocked Rosie O'Donnell, who has mocked and disrespected my president, my country, my religion and my beliefs.
bump
Friends don't let friends watch nausea inspiring television ;)
Roseanne could have taken that role from Rosie, if she had bothered trying.
Go ahead and guess which label I wear.
Not out loud!!!!
Listen, I could have plenty of fun with a comment like that. But let me be serious instead. I think that what you were trying to do, or what you sincerely believe you succeeded in doing, just didn't come off that way as widely as you believe. The insults that you directed at Rosie did not come off as limited only to her. They came off as contempt for people with those conditions.
You can argue that your later sentences were meant to show that you care very much about people afflicted with these conditions, and I accept your word that you do. But I think the lesson here is that when you have already used language as raw as "fat ass retard," and "piece of family crap," there is a very real tendency for that kind of message to get lost.
Oh, hell, I give up.
My only position now is to argue that, My rant really WAS funny, and you didn't get it. No one can win that argument.
Hope you enjoy the movie tonight! (Joke.)
I agree. If I want to read this sort of hate-filled invective, I can go to Democratic Underground. When I started reading it, I thought I had accidentally logged on to DU until I realized that these comments were not directed towards Bush.
But I do agree that Rosie is a kooky koolaid drinkin' moonbat whose ignorance is breathtaking.
You may agree, but you didn't get it.
Read post 38 (not mine), to begin to understand what I was getting at.
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