"Tropic Thunder" Protested for "Retard": Am I Insensitive?
August 12, 2008 by Jane Boursaw
I’m as aware as the next guy about all of the issues facing people. But when I heard that Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver and a group of folks were marching outside the Westwood premiere of Tropic Thunder on Monday night, I sort of thought, get over yourselves. It’s a movie. Movies make fun of all sorts of people every day.
Waving placards that read “Ban the movie, ban the word” and chanting “Call me by my name, not my label,” dozens of people tried to get the message across that the word “retard” and making fun of the mentally challenged is not comedy material.
Ok, I’ll go with that. Not really my kind of humor. And I don’t let my kids use the word either. But hey, freedom of speech and all that. What about Hamlet 2? And Borat? Both of those movies include horribly insensitive humor, but they’re also both really funny.
In “Thunder,” Ben Stiller’s character is an actor who previously played a character called “Simple Jack.” When captured by Asian drug lords, he’s forced to re-enact scenes from the movie.
Does this bother you guys? Am I being insensitive here?
Image: Tropic Thunder, Dreamworks SKG, 2008
I’ve been called a lot of horrible and disgusting names before, but if I’d ever responded “call me by my name, not my label!” I’d have fully supported the name-caller if they punched me in the face. The proper way to deal with name-calling is to ignore it. Then, the word loses its power. Imagine that!
But hey, far be it from me to judge.