Movement To Get Tropic Thunder Scenes Removed?

By George 'El Guapo' Roush on August 5, 2008

Reader Rolando brought to my attention an article by Patricia Bauer about Simple Jack, one of the "characters" in the new Tropic Thunder movie:

Stiller is Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed badly in his bid for Oscar glory as “Simple Jack,” a man with an intellectual disability. “Simple Jack” is featured as a film-within-a-film, with Stiller outfitted in a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth. It even has its own marketing website — the slogan is “What he doesn’t have in his head, he makes up for in his heart.” A satirical plot synopsis posted there quotes a critic as saying that Speedman’s Jack was “one of the most retarded performances in cinema history.”

Downey, as the more distinguished actor, gives Speedman advice on maximizing his chance for future Oscars: “Never go full retard.”  When the actors are taken hostage by real guerrillas who turn out to be Jack fans, they force Speedman to re-enact the role for their entertainment.

It’s just good clean fun, the studio might say, pointing out that the movie also pokes fun at racial stereotypes. It’s a sendup of old Hollywood films that trotted out able-bodied actors in disability drag, like Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump,” Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man” and Sean Penn in “I am Sam.” Stiller isn’t laughing at people with intellectual disabilities, I can imagine his publicist saying. He’s laughing at the way Hollywood portrays them.

But for the estimated 14.3 million Americans with cognitive disabilities and their families, such arguments may be problematic. These people share a history of segregation and exclusion, and report that what many call the “R-word” reinforces negative social attitudes just as surely as racial, ethnic and sexually oriented slurs do.

Click HERE to read the entire article.

The Simple Jack website seems to have been taken down and reference to it removed from Filmography section of the Tugg Speedman website. It is mentioned elsewhere on the website though. Is Paramount changing their marketing for this 'film within a film'?


I've seen the film twice and it's not mean comedy. It actually is making fun of how Hollywood does movies about people with disabilities. But of course, someone on this planet has to be offended by something somebody does, so censorship is the first thing that people want to do.

This was even addressed by Stiller himself during the Tropic Thunder press junket:

Did you give a lot of thought to the idea of the retarded young man?

 

Stiller: Yes, for sure. Again, it was the same focus through the lens of what would an actor do to try and win an award that would be wrong-headed and playing Simple Jack was an obvious attempt at legitimacy. Obviously, out of context that could seem wrong, but I felt like within the context of the movie, we've seen this happen in life and we all know that any time an actor goes out and does that, which is really putting yourself out there, it's a very tough thing to pull off.

 
You can read the rest of the interview HERE on our website.

Personally, I HATE censorship of any kind. You've had Howard Stern wack packers Gary and Wendy the Retard on for years, and people are worried about a Ben Stiller movie? It's comedy. And comedy can be pretty damned offensive at times. It's been that way for decades.

I hope the movie stays the way it is. I don't like it when any sort of art becomes censored because a group is offended by it. I'm not siding one way or the other for the Arc. They have their opinions, and I have mine. But I am siding for complete artistic freedom of expression, no matter how clean or dirty it may be.

Check out the film clip below.

What do you guys think? E-mail: george@latinoreview.com

Source:Patricia Bauer

• 

  Comments

• P..pp...pul...ease...D..d...d...don..t...hit..m..m...mmm...me! Sat Sep 20 at 16:40 EST

  I have powder hands! It feels good! Gahhhaaaa!!!!!

  Author: Three Quarter Retard | Permalink

• diaf Thu Aug 21 at 02:25 EST

  If you don't like it, don't watch it; stfu and diaf.....damn retards

  Author: bob | Permalink

• Reality Check Sat Aug 16 at 03:36 EST

  Ok, #1: This movie WAS screened and discussed prior to to release with both Veteran and Afro-American groups to ensure that that did not cross any lines--it was NEVER screened to disability groups. #2: The most disparaging part of this film has nothing to do with the word retard and also nothing to do with satire...When Speedman's agent looks at a photo of his son with an obvious mental disability he says "at least you got to choose" yeah, real funny, high art, brilliant satire. Oh, and by the way---thanks to this films "satire" now students with disabilities get to have one more insult thrown at them for the next few years by all those high art seeking teenagers who will flock to see this film. I really wish those who think this is about being "PC" would stop and just think about the damage that this film will do. But if you did that, then you might not like what you see staring back at you in the mirror.

  Author: Matthew | Permalink

• Sat Aug 09 at 12:24 EST

  the problem is that the word "retard" hurts people of the most vulnerable kind and yes they do have feelings and are more like you and me than are different, and they know what the connotations of that word mean about them. it makes them want to be invisible and it hurts to the core - but you wouldn't know what that felt like unless you were in their shoes or had some empathy. The problem with this movie is there is a lot of truth in humor and legitimacy of hurtful attitudes. Comedy should not be your ultimate litmus test for what is right. When Hollywood makes it ok to use the term then the term gets used ... and it's a hateful and hurtful term. This is a truth about us as a culture that we should really examine. You can call it censorship and make it look bad to stand up for the least able among us, but what is really bad is hurting our fellow human beings to make money or simply to have a good laugh. There is something really sad, not funny, about that.

  Author: liz | Permalink

• I love the 1st Amendment Thu Aug 07 at 14:38 EST

  This reminds me of another Stiller comedy called "There's Something About Mary." There were shots taken at mentally challenged people in that flick, but it wasn't censored. Actually it was a huge hit. Not to mention the fact that the "Retard" character wasn't played by someone with any kind of mental disability. That only proves the hollywood stereotype that Stiller was trying to bring to light in Tropic Thunder. Hollywood, please don't censor this film.

  Author: Brandon W. | Permalink

• Ralphie May said it best Wed Aug 06 at 18:32 EST

  I Like Chocolate Milk!!!!!!!!

  Permalink

• retard turd Wed Aug 06 at 17:39 EST

  so what they make fun of retards there not really people any way and there to stupid to understand whats happening around them and there probly to dumb to figure out this movie is making fun of them i say throw them all on a island by themselves let them clap and drool there way to there retarded graves

  Author: retard turd | Permalink

• Since when does LR accept comments!? Wed Aug 06 at 16:49 EST

  Sweet... Well then, let me take this opp. to say, that after attending a TT screening last night...it would be a REAL crime, and would completely "Jack-up" the film, if they take out ANY of the retard references... And, as a minority (who has also worked with special needs individuals in the past...); where was all of this hoopla, and meetings to smooth things over, regarding the RDJ Blackface?!?! (Not that I even cared at all in the least...cause it's FUNNY!!!) This is a COMEDY. If people like "Patricia Bauer" and her followers have any problem with it...keep yourselves at home and don't go see it...simple as that...but to ruin it for the rest of us, is well...RETARDED...[aka Synonym = backwards]

  Author: Corky | Permalink

• The True Retards Wed Aug 06 at 08:03 EST

  The real retards are the morons who are trying to censor this movie! Censorship is wrong!!!!!

  Author: Seymour Clearly | Permalink

• Clip Pulled Down Tue Aug 05 at 19:58 EST

  Some sites have already taken down the film FULL RETARD! WTF that's one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Some of the people really need to lighten up.

  Author: Santi | Permalink

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