Posted on 08/14/2008 5:48:37 AM PDT by Puppage
(WTNH) -- The new comedy film "Tropic Thunder" is no laughing matter to champions of the intellectually disabled. They've called for a boycott of the movie.
Cecily Quincy's son Cory is almost 3-years-old. He's full of energy, loves to laugh and enjoys playing with his older brother and younger sister.
Cory has Down Syndrome and Quincy feels a great responsibility to protect him. "We really want to make his world a better place," she said.
Quincy is a member of the Connecticut Down Syndrome Congress, an advocacy and support group made up of parents, conducted by volunteers like Cecily and Jessica Heeran, 3-year-old Joseph's mom.
Together they are joining with other advocacy groups, protesting the new movie "Tropic Thunder" -- a Hollywood blockbuster which opened Wednesday.
What upsets them most is what they call the insensitive portrayal of the intellectually disabled and the repeated use of the word 'retard.'
"It kills me even to admit it, but before I had Joey, I would use that word occasionally and now, looking back, I regret it more than anything else in my whole life," Heeran said. "Knowing that I once said that word in that way."
In Tropic Thunder's movie-within-a-movie, actor Ben Stiller plays an actor who portrays a character with a disability.
On Good Morning America, Wednesday morning, Stiller (who also directed the film) says his intention is to make fun of Hollywood, not people with disabilities.
"In the context of the film, I really feel like it's really clear that we're making fun of actors and actors who try to use serious subjects to try to win awards," Stiller said. "It's about actors and self-importance."
But, protesters say it's about much more; it's about being respected and not being teased.
"I think I always feel sad all the time and including when someone actually tries to be really hurtful about it," Kirsten Saracino, of Burlington, said.
And it's about people like Cory Quincy. "It's community awareness," Quincy said. "To know that there are children and adults in your community that are just like you, just like your children. And, it's just the point of just meet them, just meet my son."
Yep that is the one, next will be the brown haired and anything other than blue eyes,
Politically Incorrect: Top 10 Movie Retards
http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/08/28/politically-incorrect-top-10-movie-retards/
Dude, you are so intellectually disabled!
Nope, sorry, just doesn't work.
As with most PC, I find it more belittling that what it protests.
Is “intellectually disabled” really more caring than “retarded”? “Retarded” is a straight forward descriptor the same as “colored” or “crippled”.
“Retarded” is only an insult when it is intended to be, just like “intellectually disabled” could be used as an insult.
I was there for awhile with the Mrs. and my kids (I’ve got a son with Down syndrome) and will do the same again. If anyone is that big of an asshole that they feel the need to pick on or insult people with disabilities and think it’s funny, I guess that’s pretty telling and pathetic in itself.
I wonder if I could sell some shirts with a pic of Robert Downey, Jr.’s character with the words “Never go full Nigger” on them? After all it’s the same connection to a character in the movie and it’s just satire and humor, right? I wonder why Stiller didn’t go that route?
I guess common decency is long gone.
>> The new comedy film “Tropic Thunder” is no laughing matter to champions of the intellectually disabled. They’ve called for a boycott of the movie. <<
The intellectually disabled are finished protesting the Iraq war?
Good God Almighty, please find something more worthy to get pissed off about.
Yeah, because calling our kids or other people retards is perfectly fine, well intentioned and the peak of comedic genious. < /sarcasm>
You’re right. It’s all in good fun. Besides, “they” are easy targets since they’re often less able to defend themselves. It doesn’t get funnier than that!</ s>
You must obviously feel a need to defend political correctness.
If it relates to my kid and everyone wants to make it as simple as a PC issue, then I guess I’m guilty. As a Conservative WASP in this vast liberal wasteland that is CT I’m well aware of political correctness and how much of it is a one-way street leading away from me and my beliefs. Count your blessings that you don’t have to personally see how impactful a word can be when it applies to and is used towards one of your children. It’s easy to throw out the PC cry from the ivory tower (I know, I was there at one time), it’s another to be dropped into the middle of the fray.
Apparently I give some of my fellow Conservative bretheren way too much credit when it comes to decency.
Trying to get some people to understand that calling someone a retard is above and beyond a black and white PC issue is about like trying to use common sense with a liberal. Some people will just never get it. Just as there are people who still find it acceptable to use the “N” word and bullies who pick on those they know won’t or aren’t strong enough to fight back.
I’ll leave you all alone to your “funny” little jokes and jpg’s now. At least you all can take comfort in the fact that most of “them” won’t be in a position to defend themselves. I’ll just never be insecure enough to see the humor in that.
I think Stiller's point was highlighting the fact that "serious" actors all feel the need at some point in their career to give their spin on a handicapped person. (Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Shawn Cassidy, Dustin Hoffman, Adrian Brody, Tom Hanks, Johnny Knoxville, John Malkovich, etc.)
In the movie, the character talks ignorantly about the challenges and artistry of playing a "retard" in a sense that makes it sound to me like he's making funny of the idiot actor, which is certainly fertile ground.
I understand what you’re saying, dead. Trust me, I believe actors are worthy of any and all ridicule coming their way. That’s the premise that Stiller is sticking to, at least. IOW, actors are so pathetic that they compare to “retards” but no offense to “retards.”
Using his logic it’d be a fair transfer to Robert Downy, Jr’s character of a white actor getting treatments so that he looks black. Would the movie have seen the light of day if “retard” were replaced with “ni**er”, used repeatedly and Kirk Lazarus was told by Tugg Speedman to “Never go full ni**er.” when portraying a black man? Would DreamWorks release a movie poster “Once there was a ni**er...” featuring Downey’s blackfaced character? Would shirts with the words “Never go full ni**er” show up on CafePress and eBay and most likely in a store near you? After all, it’s all a spoof on over the top acting and in good fun, right? No F’n way.
Outside of the clinical useage and in engine tuning I’ve never seen or heard it used where it wasn’t intended as an insult.
I haven’t seen all of the other movies with actors portraying people with disabilities, but I’ve seen a good number of them. They may have been using the stereotypical traits in their acting but not as a means to denigrate someone as Tropic Thunder does.
Obviously with a son with Ds I took special interest in The Ringer with Johnny Knoxville (even though the Special Olympics involve more than just people with Ds) and admit I was apprehensive at first. But I think he and the film did a great job of turning the preconceived negative stereotypes into a positive by showing that physical and mental issues aside they are a lot like you or I and are (seemingly to the annoyance of some) human beings.
Like I said before, I had an entirely different view on PC until my little guy was born. It has run amok. OTOH there are names (words) that have been taken off the table in our society and I don’t see the difference between their usage and intention.
The Wayans brothers dressed up as blond chicks is OK? These people are RETARDED!!! They don’t even know what they are protesting about. Typical democrap voters.
Yet another intellectual has weighed in.
Don't be so quick to apply party allegiances either. Even --GASP-- Conservatives can have kids with disabilities and get pissed off when they're made fun of.
But I do know that you can have a point when using a word like “retard” to make fun of the person using it, in the same way that the term “ni**erhating hat” is making fun of people in cowboy hats, rather than black people.
I wrote a parody called Rainforest Man in which Al Gore plays the role Dustin Hoffman made famous. When it won an award on the web, my wife forward it to her cousins, one of whom has a couple of autistic sons. They didn’t see the humor in the parody, partially because of their situation and partially because they are big big libs and luuuurve Al and Tipper Gore.
And they pointed out how I used words like “idiot” and “retard” in the piece. But those words were uttered exclusively by Bill Clinton, and it was meant to show him as a callous dirtbag. It was intended to juxtapose the real Bill Clinton with the sensitive caring persona he sells to saps.
It never even occurred to me that somebody would take offense at comparing Al Gore to Rainman. In my mind, I was riffing on the Dustin Hoffman performance (which I found comical and one-dimensional) and comparing it to Al Gore’s everyday personality. I wasn’t really targeting autistic people in general.
In two days, I’m going to the camp I’ve spent one week a year at for 28 consecutive summers. It’s is a camp for handicapped kids, including Downs and autistic kids, among others. So, right or wrong, I kinda give myself a little leeway, and consider myself sensitive to the issue at hand, despite my non-PC leanings.
I tend to believe that Stiller is making a point about Hollywood, while also having a good-natured laugh at the expense of the handicapped. He starred in “There’s Something About Mary” which caused similar outrage. The word “retard” was tossed around in that movie too, and many of the sight gags came at the expense of Mary’s handicapped brother. But, like “The Ringer” the overall tone of the movie was very sympathetic and endearing towards the brother.
When you’re making jokes at the expense of everybody in the film, like “Something About Mary” I think it’s sort of “mainstreaming” to have a few chuckles at the expense of the handicapped character. After working with them for so long, I can tell you that there are plenty of handicapped people who can take a joke and can dish them out as well.
This new movie seems to be making fun of a wide swath of people, so why leave anybody out?
Your sarcasm does not do you honor.
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