I received this e-mail via an online support group to which I subscribe. I have heard of this 'movie' but had no idea about the denigration of physically and mentally challenged people. I have absolutley no reason to suspect New Jersey ARC (Association of Retarded Citizens) of making this up (see their message below). If what they say is accurate then this movie is a moral outrage.
I have a 3 yr old son with some physical and sensory challenges and we know plenty of people who care and support children with some mental difficulties. Anyone who has or knows such a child is well aware that society often forgets this segment (Bush - No Child Left Behind), or deliberatly goes out their way to poke fun at them. Ben Stiller is a two bit actor at best but is old enough to know better - unless he himself has some mental challenges?
Just wanted people to be aware. Tell-a-Friend Email Campaign – Please forward to everyone you know and ask them to spread the word!
Tell-a-Friend Email Campaign – Please forward to everyone you know and ask them to spread the word!
Help The Arc of New Jersey Fight Discrimination and Denigration of People with Intellectual Disabilities! Boycott "Tropic Thunder" movie due for release August 13!
Background
Tropic Thunder is an action/adventure/comedy scheduled for nationwide release on August 13 and is touted to be one of the blockbusters of the summer. DreamWorks is the film's producer and Paramount is its distributor. The film features Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as self-absorbed actors filming a big-budget war movie on location. Through a series of freak occurrences, they are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed in his bid for an Oscar as "Simple Jack," a man with an intellectual disability. "Simple Jack" is featured as a film-within-a-film, with Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth. The film within-a-film's slogan is "What he doesn't have in his head, he makes up for in his heart." A satirical plot synopsis quotes a critic as saying that Speedman's Jack was "one of the most retarded performances in cinema history." The language surrounding the Simple Jack film and character consistently uses the words "retard", "imbecile", idiot" and "moron". Use of "retard" occurs more than 60 times. The promo for the Simple Jack movie includes the tagline "Once upon a time....there was a retard." One of the scenes in Tropical Thunder has Robert Downey Jr.’s character giving advice to Ben Stiller’s character. He advises that when playing the role of someone "retarded", that you "never go full retard." In perhaps one of the most offensive scene in the film, Matthew McConaughey, who plays a Hollywood agent, speaks to the film's main character who wants to adopt a child. "Well, at least you still have a choice. I'm stuck with mine," states McConaughey while pointing to a photograph of his teenage son who appears to have an intellectual disability. The list goes on and on.
Status
A small number of disability advocates was able to screen the film on Friday, August 8. Their assessment of the film was that it was far worse than anything they could have anticipated. According to David Tolleson, the Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress who attended the screening, "it provides real ammunition for cruelty" especially for the film's target audience of adolescent males. "Not only is the Simple Jack character highly central to the film's plot, it is portrayed in the most demeaning way," according to Tolleson. There has been mounting outrage from the disability community as the film's content is gradually becoming known. For excellent coverage of the issue, see http://www.patriciaebauer.com/... and related posts. Hundreds of comments have been posted on the blog expressing outrage about the movie. Also, on The Arc of the US ’ website, www.thearc.org, you can see several articles, memos and responses.
Representatives of a number of national disability organizations, including The Arc's Executive Director Peter V. Berns, met with DreamWorks and Paramount studio executives in Los Angeles , California on Wednesday, August 6. The purpose of the meeting was to express concerns, request a viewing of the film, and discuss possible solutions. They presented to Dreamworks a number of ideas for things they could do to try to remedy the problem they created. Their demands spanned a range from apology, to fixing the film before release or DVD release, to producing a national educational campaign, to leading an initiative with other studios to address the problem more broadly. In their Friday call with Ms. Snider, Dreamworks shared more specifics about what they planned to do –emphasizing that they want to bring their leadership and resources to become part of the solution, rather than simply being the source of problems. They also promised to put in writing their proposal for addressing the harm this movie has done and will continue to do. This written proposal was due Monday.
Take Action
Start by forwarding this email to everyone you know – friends, co-workers, neighbors, vendors, community groups you belong to, government officials – anyone who will take the message to heart and pass it on. This is a national issue so pass it on to anyone, no matter where they are. Spread the word that the language and parodies in this movie relating to people with intellectual disabilities are unacceptable as they foster a culture of hate and intolerance.
Boycott the movie and talk to everyone you know about boycotting the movie as well. Many people don’t know that there is any reference to disabilities in the movie. We need to spread the word.
Write to Paramont Pictures, Viacom, and Dreamworks expressing your outrage and relating how many people you’ve talked to about the film. They need to hear the message that huge numbers of people are boycotting the film and that number will only continue to grow.
DreamWorks SKG is the production company and the executive team includes: Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Stacey Snider, Jeff Small and Adam Goodman and their contact information is 1000 Flower Street, Glendale, CA 91201-3007 1.818.733.7000.
Ben Stiller’s own production company is Red Hour Films which also participated in the production of Tropical Thunder. That contact information is 629 North La Brea Avenue , Los Angeles , CA 90036 323.602.5000.
Ben Stiller’s talent agency is United Talent Agency, 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 310.273.6700
Ben Stiller’s publicist is Kelly Bush, ID Public Relations, 8409 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 323.822.4800
Emails can be sent to Viacom, Paramount Pictures parent company at http://www.viacom.com/...
Céline R. Fortin, Associate Executive Director
The Arc of New Jersey
985 Livingston Avenue
North Brunswick , NJ 08902
(732) 246-2525, ext. 25, (732) 214-1834 fax
cfortin@arcnj.org
www.arcnj.org