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Is anyone planning to join the boycott of this movie? I was planning on seeing it, but as I work with mentally challenged students I am reconsidering now.
No; I'm sort of tired of political correctness and boycotts, and from what I've seen, it looks like Stiller is poking fun of the hypocrasy of people who go out of their way to be PC in one direction, and then at the same time forget that they're being massively offensive in another. His use of the term in question is intentional and pointed, in other words. (And although he plays a mentally challenged character in this and in Zoolander, my understanding is that Stiller himself is quite intelligent -- and knew exactly what he was doing.) In any event, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
If you look hard enough, you'll find more than that to offend. Violence, torture, racial sterotypes, cultural sterotypes, economic stereotypes, etc. I'd even bet their some bathroom humor. If you look hard enough, every story has something offensive. Take your pick.
But this particular movie is a satire/parody. Its showing all these behaviors intentionally and with purpose. If its a good satire, the poor behavior is highlighted to show that such actions are not OK. If its poor satire, then it might just be funny simply for funny's sake. Some jokes will work, some won't. That's the way comedy works -its points out the ridiculousness of people and they way they behave.
I'm going to see it and I'm going to laugh. Heck, I'll probably laugh a great deal.
For the record, my daughter is severly physically and mentally handicapped and I completely understand your apprehension.
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I will most likely see it. I understand that it is satire and parody. I just don't think that Hollywood should be satirizing anything, when they created the situation to begin with. It was kind of like when the media started running stories like "Is the media too supportive of Obama?" When the people who created a situation grow sick of it, how bad has it really become?
I just don't think that Hollywood should be satirizing anything, when they created the situation to begin with.
Maybe if his parody stings bad enough, he'll wake the rest of them up. Bring change from the inside, instead of quitting and whining about them. I don't accept the notion that simply making a film strips away a person's identity and forces them to become a faceless "Hollywood"-bot.
I am going to see it. I am less concerned with the Forest Gump type character portraying negative stereotypes and more with it just being another Forest Gump parody. Ok, we get it already, come up with something new why don't you.
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Is anyone planning to join the boycott of this movie? I was planning on seeing it, but as I work with mentally challenged students I am reconsidering now.
I'm pretty much opposed to boycotting offensive material, not so much because it an attempt at effecting censorship, but rather because it neuters any attempt at meaningful dialogue on why it is offensive in the first place.
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My wife and I saw it with my friend Rob, and we were howling with laughter. It's a great satire about Hollywood movie clichés, poking fun at directors, actors, producers, and everything associated with the movie biz.
For those concerned about Stiller as Tugg Speedman referring to "retards," the humor is derived from the character's inability to recognize how inappropriate that language is.
Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor playing a black man in the film-within-the-film. The genuine black actor, Alpa Chino (say it out loud), isn't buying it for one minute.
See the movie, and have some fun. We certainly did.
:D
I'm a lead farmer, motherf*cker!
Took the wife to see it yesterday. Stiller has a keen eye for the idiocies of Hollywood, but despite that, and the masterful performance by RDJr, we still preferred Dodge Ball. The best part of Tropic Thunder are the ads/previews at the beginning -- don't walk in late!
I plan to boycott anyone who boycotts things they don't like. I'm deeply offended and OUTRAGED by boycotters. It stereotypes non-boycotters as lazy, unconcerned citizens and perpetuates the myth that ignoring shrill politics is enjoyable.
/satire
This movie was great. My friends and I had a great time watching it. Every part of the movie was funny, even the retard humor.
:P
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I haven't seen it yet, but from everything I've heard, the movie isn't mocking anyone with mental disabilities, or anything of the sort. Rather, it's a satire that mocks Hollywood in general, on a number of levels. It isn't that Stiller's character portrayed a mentally disabled person, or that he did it insensitively - it's that the character thinks he deserved an Oscar/etc, simply for having made the portrayal.
I really think the people who took offense to this took it greatly out of context.