I started a rant about this yesterday, then realized that I was complaining about the wrong thing.
Dozens protest at 'Tropic Thunder' premiere
It's not the protest that bugs me… you've got a problem with the use of the word "retard" in Tropic Thunder, protest away.
Where I'm having problems lately is that there's no gatekeeper on this stuff. Anyone that wants to make noise about something is immediately paid attention to, gets national exposure and is suddenly on the forefront of the latest pop culture faux pas. The Internet has taken the "active" out of activism… it takes no effort to hit the "send your complaint" link in an email, and one blog post is all it takes to catch the media's attention.
In this case, "dozens" protested the Tropic Thunder premier. Dozens. If this is your standard Hollywood premiere, then I would assume there were hundreds, if not thousands, in the stands to see the stars arrive and hundreds more actually attending the premiere. So how is it that a few dozen people holding picket signs across the street merits the full media blitz? (This may have something to do with that.) Shouldn't there be a minimum threshold before outrage can turn into an action item? Must we all jump, no matter how many people are shouting "boo!"?
I suppose this ranks up there with "How is THIS news" as one of those unanswerable questions of the day, but I still have to wonder when it's going to stop, or if we're going to be stuck with this kind of knee-jerk mentality from now on.
Having vented that particular annoyance, there were a few things that struck me about the protest itself.
To the guy that was quoted as saying that "retard" needs to be retired (a reference, we assume, to the 'funeral for the N-word' earlier this year)… Unlike that word, retard actually is a useful member of polite society, so I'm going to hang onto it for the next time I hope to impede someone's accomplishments. (Perhaps we could retard the accomplishments of pointless protests, you know?) You can object to its slang usage, and hope that you can stomp it out. But we get to keep the word.
Next, can we all please agree that "I have a sense of humor" ranks right up there with "Some of my best friends are (fill in the blank)" for faux sincerity? The gentleman quoted in the CNN article may have a wonderful sense of humor, may be the office go-to guy for comedy, in fact. But where the word retard is concerned, I think it's safe to assume he doesn't have any sense of humor, and 'I have a sense of humor' is just a first-strike defense, attempting to defuse the "but it's a comedy" rebuttal those of us annoyed by this uproar are sure to make.
And finally, having brought up the C word (see, I can do that whole unmentionable initial thing too… though come to think of it, there already IS a "C" word, and that could just get us entirely derailed), let's discuss the comedic aspects of the film. The movie is taking a satiric jab at every actor that's ever taken on a 'very special role' to get their Oscar shot. And as such, the satire would lose all its effectiveness if the filmmakers pussyfoot around the word and play politically correct. A "differently-abled Simple Jack" simply doesn't have the same emotional impact of "Simple Jack, the retard." The point, one would hope, is that the word IS insensitive, and, as such, Stiller's character is, perhaps, not the person to be taking on this kind of role. But none of that really matters, does it? The word's bad, it offends, so anything that uses it must be bad.
Sounds rather (dare I say it?) simplistic, if you ask me.
All that aside, I do imagine that Stiller, Downey Jr. and the rest of the gang are sitting there thinking, "we put Robert Downey Jr. in black face throughout an entire movie, and we're getting picketed over the use of the word 'retard'?"
Nice job, guys.
Dozens protest at 'Tropic Thunder' premiere
It's not the protest that bugs me… you've got a problem with the use of the word "retard" in Tropic Thunder, protest away.
Where I'm having problems lately is that there's no gatekeeper on this stuff. Anyone that wants to make noise about something is immediately paid attention to, gets national exposure and is suddenly on the forefront of the latest pop culture faux pas. The Internet has taken the "active" out of activism… it takes no effort to hit the "send your complaint" link in an email, and one blog post is all it takes to catch the media's attention.
In this case, "dozens" protested the Tropic Thunder premier. Dozens. If this is your standard Hollywood premiere, then I would assume there were hundreds, if not thousands, in the stands to see the stars arrive and hundreds more actually attending the premiere. So how is it that a few dozen people holding picket signs across the street merits the full media blitz? (This may have something to do with that.) Shouldn't there be a minimum threshold before outrage can turn into an action item? Must we all jump, no matter how many people are shouting "boo!"?
I suppose this ranks up there with "How is THIS news" as one of those unanswerable questions of the day, but I still have to wonder when it's going to stop, or if we're going to be stuck with this kind of knee-jerk mentality from now on.
Having vented that particular annoyance, there were a few things that struck me about the protest itself.
To the guy that was quoted as saying that "retard" needs to be retired (a reference, we assume, to the 'funeral for the N-word' earlier this year)… Unlike that word, retard actually is a useful member of polite society, so I'm going to hang onto it for the next time I hope to impede someone's accomplishments. (Perhaps we could retard the accomplishments of pointless protests, you know?) You can object to its slang usage, and hope that you can stomp it out. But we get to keep the word.
Next, can we all please agree that "I have a sense of humor" ranks right up there with "Some of my best friends are (fill in the blank)" for faux sincerity? The gentleman quoted in the CNN article may have a wonderful sense of humor, may be the office go-to guy for comedy, in fact. But where the word retard is concerned, I think it's safe to assume he doesn't have any sense of humor, and 'I have a sense of humor' is just a first-strike defense, attempting to defuse the "but it's a comedy" rebuttal those of us annoyed by this uproar are sure to make.
And finally, having brought up the C word (see, I can do that whole unmentionable initial thing too… though come to think of it, there already IS a "C" word, and that could just get us entirely derailed), let's discuss the comedic aspects of the film. The movie is taking a satiric jab at every actor that's ever taken on a 'very special role' to get their Oscar shot. And as such, the satire would lose all its effectiveness if the filmmakers pussyfoot around the word and play politically correct. A "differently-abled Simple Jack" simply doesn't have the same emotional impact of "Simple Jack, the retard." The point, one would hope, is that the word IS insensitive, and, as such, Stiller's character is, perhaps, not the person to be taking on this kind of role. But none of that really matters, does it? The word's bad, it offends, so anything that uses it must be bad.
Sounds rather (dare I say it?) simplistic, if you ask me.
All that aside, I do imagine that Stiller, Downey Jr. and the rest of the gang are sitting there thinking, "we put Robert Downey Jr. in black face throughout an entire movie, and we're getting picketed over the use of the word 'retard'?"
Nice job, guys.
Comments
[quote]Sounds rather (dare I say it?) simplistic, if you ask me.[/quote]
Priceless.
[quote]All that aside, I do imagine that Stiller, Downey Jr. and the rest of the gang are sitting there thinking, "we put Robert Downey Jr. in black face throughout an entire movie, and we're getting picketed over the use of the word 'retard'?"[/quote]
Hello? Anyone watching this film? This is exactly right. Hilarious! It shows that PC has gone past protest or activism and is now a means to get attention. There are two ways nowadays to get fame/media attention: protest something for PC purposes or act like a ::ahem:: retard a la Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian et al.