Is 'Tropic Thunder' Offensive to Blacks, People With Mental Disabilities?

people like me who have a disabilities didn't think it was funny. I got to see a mentally challenge person cry because they felt for the 1st time that they were different and something was wrong with it. My friends and I plan on taking action against this movie it should not be allowed to be sold at stores when it comes out on dvd. Ben Stiller just lost a whole mess of fans.

The tagline of the movie "Never go full retard" was what initially sparked off the protest surrounding this movie. It's my understanding that the words retard and retarded are used more than once. I won't go to see this movie, despite being a fan of Ben Stiller's other movies.

There are other ways of being funny without being offensive.

Funny, there's no mention of Downey's foil in the movie, who DOES act like a buffoon and plays the "real" black actor. The trouble is that contemporary racism works by leaving the door open. That's why we have young whites who think that dressing up like a Black 'pimp' and having a frat party about it is funny. (That, nooses, other Anti-black campus events and much worse- Jena was not an isolated incident last year. Look it up.) And Inside jokes- if that's what this movie is, and believe me, only people 'in the businesss' would ever think that-- are rarley deconstructed by the general population, especially a priviledged majority. And the parody/ satire is only hauled out in excuse for one's offensive actions. Brilliantly though, this time it was done in advance of the release.

There's not one single thing funny about the Vietnam War and what our veterans went through. Not even a joke about a joke about a joke.

Guess I'm goin' soft...

And on the flip, if the audience has to work that hard for the punchline, then maybe the joke isn't funny?

God bless our troops, and God bless our Vietnam Vets.

Where's the beef? I think some people's sense of humor was shot off in the war. If we were completely politically correct we wouldn't ever mention gender, nationality or anything that makes a person individual. In other words, doing stories about people with disabilities could be perceived as voyeurism...Why are we examining these individuals? because they're different, but we're still staring.

I kind of agree with Kecia Perry, but at the same time it is different because white americans have a history of putting on makeup and pretending to be other races while depicting bad stereotypes. On the other hand, Eddie murphy depicts white people because he can do the different voices great. Now, "White Chicks" was just plan stupid and unlike Murphy's make up which you could not tell was make up the Wayan's make up sucked just as bad an of any of their movies with the exception of their brother's "I'm Going to Get You Sucka".

I'm just wondering how many of the people who are actively campaigning against the movie have actually SEEN it. Speaking of ignorance, there's nothing more ignorant than protesting a movie that you haven't even seen. That's like the Amazon.com reviewers who give a book one star but have only read the title page.

I heard Ben Stiller talking about this movie in an NPR interview, and he made it clear that this is a parody of ACTORS. I think we are being way too sensitive here... And the negative publicity isn't doing anything but selling more tickets to the movie, which I gather is not the protestors' goal.

By the way, I am a Black woman. (I feel like I need to mention that before my comments are protested.)

I've seen the trailers and I know why Downey's character did what he did. He couldn't get a job in Hollywood, he saw a role as a black character in a movie so he decides to make himself black to get the role. "White Chicks" two black guys playing white girls, "Some Like it Hot" two men playing women, "Victor/Victoria" woman plays man, "Watermelon Man" black man plays white man who turned black overnight, "6 Degrees of Separation" black guy 'Will Smith' plays gay guy. I've seen all of these movies several times and I don't recall any ethnic or gender group getting pissed about those characterization, ok maybe "Watermelon Man" but in the scenes I saw in "Tropic Thunder" did not offend me, a black man. Look at the big picture, guy can't get a job, he improvises sounds like "Tootsie", to get this job. All I can say is just Laugh. :)

Tropic Thunder is a parody people. (Parody: A work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony.)

As a black person I am not offended, I get the joke, which is Hollywood (black, white, or other) will offend its audience for the sake of a dollar. Does anyone remember "Soul Plane" and "Who's my Caddy". Please tell me someone else has a problem with modern day minstrels who engage in buffonery in Hollywood for the sake of a dollar. Let's remember also that Marianne Pearl asked Angelina Jolie to portray her, perhaps she connected with Ms. Jolie as a kindred spirit. Likewise many biracial people identify as white more than black - this is not a racial crime.

Good article and ueful links.

For years Hollywood has had people of one race play the role of anohter race. From Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans, this has been something that Hollywood has done. A number of years ago on the Young & The Restless, they had a Black male character who went "Whiteface" for reasons that I don't recall. Hollywood has had men play women, and women play men, and throughout history men have played the roles of women. In the film "Birth of a Nation", whites played the roles of Blacks.

Yes some of the times, "racefacing" has been offensive, but at other times it has been very well done.

But one of the things that we need to know is how are the Euros being portrade? Are most of the jokes being aimed against the Euros?

But without seeing the film, we really don't know how offensive the way that Downey played the role. He could of played the role in a way that the Black Community would find it funny and enjoyable. Take a look at South Park, they offend everybody in some way, but people enjoy the show and the movie.

Has the world become so sensitive to offending someone that it can't laugh at itself? At the end of the movie, will we each take a look at ourselves and try to figure out something that will help make this a better world? I find it offensive when the police and media will quickly say that a group of ethnic males standing on a corner are a gang, but if they are Euro they aren't. Why aren't those in the mob having gang related charges broguht up against them also like we see with minorities? Why isn't the mob a gang?

But have we become too sensitive towards race issues?

As long as Robert Downey did not look like Al Jolson I am fine with it. Black actors have put on makeup to look white. (Lenny Henry, Eddie Murphy and the Wayans Brothers). This is the downside of freedom of speech it can insult so many people.

Not having seen the movie yet to judge the material, just wondering what's the history for some groups' and commentators' opinions about the various Wayans brothers, Eddie Murphy or Martin Lawrence movies that have tested these same waters when it comes to changing the actor's skin color, jokes about disabilities or mental retardation, weight issues, etc. Same goes for casting actors in roles where the real life history/ancestry of the actor (seems like the word "actor" is key here) doesn't match the history/ancestry of the character they're portraying. If we stuck with that premise across the board...

Regardless as to how somebody decided to write the storyline, I am still offended at the sight of a white man in blackface! Especially when you consider that there are enough out of work black men in Hollywood who would have gladly taken the job. For what Robert Downey had been paid, they could have probably hired several unknown black actors who could have used the visibility to enhance their careers. I have not seen this movie, nor do I intend on ever spending one penny to ever se it! I hope this turns into a great big flop and that the studio losses a ton of money. It would teach them some lessons that they seem to have forgotten.

I can't speak to whether Tropic Thunder is offensive to people with mental disabilities or to all Black people. However, this 60 year old Black man is not offended by Robert Downey's performance. In fact, I think he rather brilliantly portrays the self involved pomosity of any number of so-called "method" actors through the years.

Beyond that, the movie is rather dumb and more of an artistic offense that a social one.

I'm black and I didn't realize it meant I was not supposed to be able to tell satire from an insult. Does anybody really think that because of this movie Hollywood is going to inundate us with offensive, minstrel show depictions of black people by white people in black face? Please, stop insulting our intelligence under the guise of being sensitive to the depiction of people of color in the media. That you do is infinitely more offensive than Tropic Thunder.

Where to begin? The notion that actors who are visibly European in ancestry should not play characters who are not fully European in ancestry assumes that there is such a thing as clearly "non-European" physical appearences. For example, to object to Anthony Hopkins acting as the protagonist in Human Stain, assumes that a person of multiple ancestry (African and European) couldn't have looked just as Anthony Hopkins does. This is scientifically incorrect and the error results from people's false allegience to the notion that biological races exist within the human species that can be distinguished using physical traits. One could object to Anthony Hopkins or Angelina Jolie in these roles for other reasons, such as the availabilty of actors who are of multiple ancestry that could have been employed instead of them. This is a different argument, however, and also a racist one at its core. This argument would preclude African American actors playing roles that were originally written for or historically would require persons of European ancestry (such as Vin Diesel in Saving Private Ryan.) The use of make-up to change the appearence of a European American in the context of Tropical Thunder isn't inherently offensive, especially given the plot of the movie (what actors will do to achieve fame and notoriety.) It does not in anyway resemble the shameful history of blackface in the Jim Crow era.

Why is that these kinds of questions are always being raised by Diversity Magazine when, in this case, it implies that no one is allowed to laugh at us(Black folks) but us. Comedians like Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, Bernie Mac (RIP) Cedric the Entertainer and many ohers feel at liberty to dinegrate others races, even people with disabilites in their act or in their movies for laughs? So why can't Robert Downey Jr. spoof a Black soldier to make people laugh? I think the question is intentionally divisive to sell magazines.

The response to this movie is simple. Spend the $9.00-$12.00 on gas. Put it to better use. Don't see the movie. Turn it into the flop that it is designed to be!

If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it's a duck. As the parent of a daughter labeled as mildly mentally retarded and a business women trying to help people with or without disabilities find employment, I'm offended by Hollywood telling me they really don't mean it and it is only satire! To those who think it doesn't matter, let me tell you that becoming disabled is the only minority that anybody can instantly become a member. One wrong move by a doctor or even an accident and all of sudden you find yourself part of an organization you didn't ask for. Will that be satire? Will that be funny, let it happen to you and I can assure you, it is not. Reality of being disabled anywhere in the world is horrible and the discrimination off the scale. Make your money and laugh, but when you stoop this low you will not celebrate success or acclaim at the hearts and minds of those more fortunate than you are or will ever be. I wonder, who really has a disability?

I really see this movie as being satirical and offering social commentary instead of demeaning people. As Black people we have far too many other issues to worry about when it comes to race. A far bigger issue is the way corporations are are controlling government and government is abdicating its power on behalf of special interest.

We don't have to see this movie if we don't want to, but the Amendments of the Constitution gives people the right to make such films. If someone needs to be offended just watch about 45 seconds of Fox News.