A New Complaint Against "Tropic Thunder"

Way back in March I had a post on complaints that were being made against a movie called "Tropic Thunder" because Robert Downey Jr. was playing a black man (actually he was playing a white guy playing a black man). The photo of the actor in costume was pretty impressive, but the usual grievance groups got mad because a white guy was cast in the part.

Now, other grievance groups have a new complaint against the film:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Tropic Thunder" is pushing the boundaries of good taste too far for groups representing the mentally disabled.

Dozens of people from organizations such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities protested the movie-industry spoof across the street from the film's Los Angeles premiere at Mann's Bruin Theatre on Monday. The protesters held up signs with slogans such as "Call me by my name, not by my label" and chanted phrases like "Ban the movie, ban the word."

"I think it's open to interpretation and that's the great thing," Robert Downey Jr., who stars in the film, told AP Television at the Monday night premiere. "You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that's my right as an American, and it's also any artist's right to say and do whatever they wanna do."

The groups are outraged over scenes featuring the liberal usage of a disparaging term used to describe the mentally disabled. In the movie, director and co-star Ben Stiller plays a fame-hungry actor cast in a war movie who previously had a role as a mentally disabled character named Simple Jack.

"When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside," said Special Olympics global messenger Dustin Plunkett. "I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It's the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don't like the word 'retard.' We are people."

If this movie had been a gratuitous slap at retarded people, the protesters might have had a point, but that's not what Simple Jack was about. One review explains it:

Stiller's Tugg Speedman is a dumb, fading action star whose stab at Oscar-whoring, "Simple Jack,'' was laughed off the screen.

This movie is a parody of Hollywood in many ways, including how the Academy tends to love stars who play mentally-impaired persons when the Best Actor nominations are handed out. Think Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man", Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump", or Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" (of course, you could argue that Penn wasn't really acting). You can even go back to 1968 and Cliff Robertson in "Charly". Playing mentally retarded people is often an awards winner in Hollywood, and Ben Stiller's character tries to cash in on the trend but fails.

I'm sorry, but I'm just not into grievance politics. Whenever someone demands a boycott or a ban, all they do is give the subject of their ire more publicity than they otherwise would have had. If you don't like the movie, don't go.