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.
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?