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Keywords: Tropic Thunder, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Blackface, diversity, DiversityInc, DreamWorks, people with disabilities, Hollywood

"Tropic Thunder," a film released in theaters on Wednesday, is causing a stir among people who advocate for people with disabilities and people who wonder why white actor Robert Downey Jr. is shot in Blackface.

Is "Tropic Thunder" another example of Hollywood using stereotypes to sell tickets?

"It seems we need to continually reeducate new generations as they come along about the history of discrimination of certain populations. We have to continue to reeducate because often filmmakers are not familiar with history and they will make these films that don't show sensitivity," says Carol Kochhar-Bryant, a professor of special education at George Washington University and an advocate for people with disabilities.

"Tropic Thunder" is an R-rated action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the biggest war film ever, complete with ballooning costs and a pampered, egomaniacal cast. In the movie, the cast is taken deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia to film for "increased realism." There, they encounter a real war with real bad guys.

The film's production company, DreamWorks Studios, released a statement explaining that the film satirizes Hollywood, star actors and the industry's excesses. The film "makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the top characters in ridiculous situations. The film is in no way meant to disparage or harm the image of individuals with disabilities," according to the statement.  

"We have had productive discussions with representatives of disability-advocacy organizations and look forward to working with them closely in the future. However, no changes or cuts to the film will be made," DreamWorks' statement said.

Co-writer Justin Theroux told the Hollywood trade-magazine Variety that groups objecting to the film's portrayals of people with disabilities and Robert Downey Jr. in Blackface don't realize the film is a parody of Hollywood.

"Our first concern was we didn't ever want the jokes to be on vets or war or the horrors of that," Theroux told Variety. "That's where we calibrated our scopes: How do we constantly keep the jokes on actors, Hollywood and how Hollywood works?"

DreamWorks spokesperson Chip Sullivan noted that "Tropic Thunder" was screened 250 times since April and received no criticism of Downey Jr.'s role or the depiction of people with disabilities. He attributed that to the film being a parody of Hollywood.

Indeed, many of the movie's jokes are aimed at star actors who take on borderline-offensive roles in pursuit of awards. That's where Downey Jr.'s character Kirk Lazarus comes in. Lazarus is a five-time Oscar winner complete with blue eyes who, in order to fully dedicate himself to his character, undergoes a pigment augmentation that makes his skin black.

But to some critical of the premise, Downey's role conjures memories of Blackface minstrel shows in the late 1800s and 1900s, in which white actors and later Black actors colored their faces with charcoal and black shoe polish to make fun of Black people.

As recently as 2006, white actress Angelina Jolie and the producers of "A Mighty Heart" were criticized because Jolie played Mariane Pearl, the biracial widow of slain Wall St. Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. And in 2003 the producers and director of "The Human Stain" were criticized for casting white actor Anthony Hopkins to play a character who is half Black.

The controversy of playing a Black soldier was not lost on Downey Jr.

"If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago," Downey told Entertainment Weekly. "If you don't do it right, we're going to hell."

 
And Downey told CBS News he needed to know the characterization would be "morally sound."

"If I didn't feel it was morally sound … I would've stayed home," he told CBS.

And so far Downey's character has not garnered large-scale objections of note from the NAACP or other advocacy organizations.

Downey avoided being offensive by rising above buffoonery, Najee Ali, president of the Los Angeles-based civil-rights group Project Islamic HOPE, told Reuters.

But Ali, who is Black, added that he is concerned Downey's turn as a Black man might lead to offensive portrayals.

"Blackface is still Blackface, and I think it's important that we have to stop allowing ourselves to be perceived as clowns to the rest of the world," Ali told Reuters.

Advocates for people with disabilities are not nearly as complimentary.

Disability-rights groups including the Special Olympics staged a protest at the film's premiere that included at least 50 people, chanting and holding signs that read, "Eliminate the R word," reported USA Today. 

The movie's characters use the word "retarded" and other offensive words to describe people with disabilities. DreamWorks says the film did not intend to negatively portray people with disabilities but actors who chose to take on roles in which they depict people with disabilities as a means to winning an Oscar.

The Chairman of the Special Olympics, Timothy Shriver, admitted that he didn't believe he and his supporters could stop the release of the film. He added that he didn't want people to see it, especially younger people.

"I'd like [disabled] kids going back to school in the fall to not have to deal with other kids saying, 'Are you a full retard?'" Shriver told USA Today. "At the end of the day," he said, "this has to be a teachable moment. It's not about the movie. It's about being sensitive to the human dignity of others."

Click here to read the full story in Variety.

Click here to read the full story in USA Today.

Click here to read the full story in Reuters.

Click here to read the full story in CBS News.

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