Opinion Columnists
Email
Print
Going Full Insensitive: Film's humor is flawed by careless ignorance
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: August 23, 2008
Imagine walking through Hanes Mall, seeing a "whites only" drinking fountain and a pink military recruiting poster touting today's New Action Army: "Going Full Homo." It would be like walking into Back to the Future mid-movie, with a time warp of bizarre social insensitivity.
When the movie hurricane Tropic Thunder has been reduced to a box-office depression, I'd like you to reflect about the wake of this storm.
The movie was a raucous, nasty, gross, Hollywood self-parody. Today's viewers love seeing rich industry insiders poking fun with adolescent abandon. Passing gas and passing Oscars amidst exploding napalm was only the beginning. It is reminiscent of Airport and those other goofy parodies. All contribute to the country's No. 2 export, the American Movie. I was less proud to know the No. 1 export: military arms and expertise. But alas, they are part of our Gross National Product, and in the case of the movies, enjoy our First Amendment protections and honor.
Like most of Hollywood, the GNP is only partially celluloid. It is the residual marketing of T-shirts and action figures, hero posters and videos where the hurt lies; the symbols and stigmas. In the case of Tropic Thunder, the rip tide is more than action figures; it is subliminal as well as blatant humiliation. T-shirts advertising, "Go Full Retard" will soon be the "must have" teenage attire. And like the movie, they will be brandished carelessly before classmates and neighbors.
When intellectual disabilities were portrayed in Rain Man with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, or by Sean Penn in I Am Sam, or even in the teenage comedy, Ringer, in which an actor portrayed a teenager disguising himself as a Special Olympian to gain social acclaim, the producers and actors did extensive research and on-site awareness of people with disabilities. The Tropic Thunder producers admit to doing racial and ethnic "cleansing" with their marketing focus groups, but ignored advocacy associations for people with disabilities.
The result finds the movie with a buyer-beware "R" label, and only the obsessively thoughtful counted the 17 references to "retard." (Even though a principal actor mimics a black American and the substantial racial interplay generates only one N-word.) It is the unaware buyer and viewer, reaffirming insensitivity to those who can least protest, that trouble me most.
What begins as a marketing poster or T-shirt becomes unrelenting labels for bigotry, fear and ignorance, not to mention humiliation. What is equal opportunity for some moviegoers is not always equal protection for others. Free speech aside, our citizens with developmental disabilities are unable in many cases to obtain meaningful employment and enjoy the freedom of movement others take for granted each day. The historical continuum of human sensitivity from riding in the back of the bus to "don't ask, don't tell" still falls short when a multi-billion dollar industry can so easily run roughshod over human dignity.
If you want visual pleasure this fall, don't rent a video or buy a T-shirt, attend the Piedmont Down Syndrome Buddy Walk at Tanglewood Park on Sept. 27. We'll give you a T-shirt, feed you doughnuts 'til you drop, and offer genuine entertainment that celebrates ability, not disability. Or, visit The Special Children's School and witness "developmental thunder," powerful little lives being changed each day through energetic volunteers, caring teachers and talented therapists.
See the movie if you must, but open your eyes to the trail of residual tears it leaves behind, or largely ignores.
■ Bill Donohue is the executive director of The Special Children's School.
Guest Columns: The Journal welcomes guest-column submissions. Length should be about 700 words. Guest columnists should have some special authority for writing about their subject. Our address is: Letters@wsjournal.com. Regular mail is also accepted. Our mail address is: Letters to the Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
See community events or add your own! Click here!
Advertisement
