Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (Full Version)

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gaylel1 -> Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 12:08:41 PM)

I don't know if anyone saw the trailer for the movie, "Tropic Thunder," but I have a concern about this movie and that is they have Robert Downey, Jr. as a charater in blackface. Now whether you know or not, back in the day, people like Al Jolson was performing in blackface in the 20, making fun of people in the African American community.

What do you think about this one, because while I believe the writers think it is funny, others do not think so.




aslouie -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 2:49:54 PM)

I don't know how to respond, other than the fact that Downey Jr.'s take as a 21st century Al Jolson reminds me of what I've been seeing in recent years: the ebbing/decline of political correctness... or at least the beginning thereof.[8|]



barbhuff -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 3:42:05 PM)

The movie is supposed to be a satire. It's making fun of Hollywood and the lengths that actors go to to be believable and credible. I think the idea of Downey Jr. playing an Australian actor cast as a black man fits perfectly into what makes a satire work.



PrincessButtercup -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 4:09:33 PM)

I think the idea for movie is kinda funny - actors trapped in a war zone.

But I saw a preview for it at the theater, and even that five minute preview that was supposedly "approved for all audiences" was filled with excessive foul language.

The movie looks disgusting. I wouldn't waste my money on it.



aslouie -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 4:53:27 PM)

Here's a new piece of controversy: I've read somewhere on Yahoo News that Tropic Thunder is under fire (no pun intended) for being too insensitive towards people of mental handicaps/impairments (whatever the correct "moniker" is), by constantly using the word, "retard," in such (perceived) disconcerting way.



gaylel1 -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 4:56:50 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: barbhuff

The movie is supposed to be a satire. It's making fun of Hollywood and the lengths that actors go to to be believable and credible. I think the idea of Downey Jr. playing an Australian actor cast as a black man fits perfectly into what makes a satire work.



But this type of thing, charaters in black face does offend people who were fighting to get that sort of thing from movies.

People in the African American community came a long way from this sort of nonsense, and now in 2008, the sterotypes are coming back because of mindless people like this screenwriter who want to bring back those days when people in the minority community are mocked.

I'm sorry, but I also saw the previews also and was outraged too, because how could a Christian see this sort of thing?



I_Walk_Alone -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/11/2008 10:17:44 PM)

I personally have been looking foward to this movie. It reminds me a bit of the Airplane movies. It makes me wonder how under fire these movies would get for their content with how over sensitive people get concerning satire. I can handle jokes that may push the envelope a bit, but their needs to be a balance. Now lets check this out. I have seen Chapelle Show episodes where Dave Chapelle would make himself look white to parody white people? Would this be considered wrong? If this is ok, whats to stop the reverse a white man making themselves look black? If its all in good humor, I think its funny. There is just a time to stop taking ourselves so seriously and just sit back and laugh at our short comings.



DreadPirateRandy -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 12:57:22 AM)

Ben Stiller?

I'm there.



gaylel1 -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 4:12:41 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: I_Walk_Alone

I personally have been looking foward to this movie. It reminds me a bit of the Airplane movies. It makes me wonder how under fire these movies would get for their content with how over sensitive people get concerning satire. I can handle jokes that may push the envelope a bit, but their needs to be a balance. Now lets check this out. I have seen Chapelle Show episodes where Dave Chapelle would make himself look white to parody white people? Would this be considered wrong? If this is ok, whats to stop the reverse a white man making themselves look black? If its all in good humor, I think its funny. There is just a time to stop taking ourselves so seriously and just sit back and laugh at our short comings.


Yes, but you do not do it in expense of others, whether you are black, white or polka dot. I thought those days of making fun of minorities are over, but unfortnatly you have a generation now who don't care. We thought we got over the "black face" but there are people who don't care about history at all.

I'm suprized many of the civil rights groups and other groups except for the disablity groups are not outraged that this is going on.



barbhuff -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 10:17:37 AM)

My understanding, by reading and seeing interviews, is that the movie is not "making fun of minorities" at all. It's making fun of actors and the occasional pompous one who thinks he can play any role. It's SATIRE. It's supposed to be highlight just how ridiculous the idea is that some casting director would think a white "Australian" (because that's what he is in the movie) can play an American black man better an American black actor could. Elements like that is what makes it a satire.

Maybe you should see the movie before passing anymore judgement.



lexie -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 10:39:38 AM)

Interestingly enough, I think it highlights a problem that is still in the entertainment industry today - the limited roles for black actors.

There are two movies coming out soon, based on true stories in which the real life person was black and the actors playing them are white.

When my husband first saw the trailer he said "what is Robert Downey Jr doing playing a black man?" When I explained the purpose of the role he said "oh, ok." I guess if the satire of the role offends you then don't see the movie. Besides, I see it as not making fun of minorities but making fun of white people.

As for people not understanding the history, yes, a lot of people don't understand the history of blackface in the entertainment industry, but there are many who do who don't make the connections between what happened then and what happened now.



Brandy -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 12:52:17 PM)

We happened to be having dinner near where the premier was last night and as we were walking to our car we walked through the crowd of protesters.. I thought they would be protesting Downey's role but they were protesting the use of "retard" in the movie.

It was interesting to walk through that crowd.. and hear what they were saying.

Sparked a good discussion between husband and I.

Lexie what two movies are coming out??



barbhuff -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 1:25:31 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Brandy

We happened to be having dinner near where the premier was last night and as we were walking to our car we walked through the crowd of protesters.. I thought they would be protesting Downey's role but they were protesting the use of "retard" in the movie.

It was interesting to walk through that crowd.. and hear what they were saying.

Sparked a good discussion between husband and I.

Lexie what two movies are coming out??


Yeah, I've heard about this. I guess Jack Black plays an actor who received a lot of accolades for playing a mentally disabled person in the last movie he made before the movie they're shooting here, and the other characters call him names like "retard" for it.



lexie -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 1:43:00 PM)

quote:

Lexie what two movies are coming out??


One movie titled "Stuck" has Mena Suvari (American Beauty) playing a woman who is black. For the role they dyed Mena's hair black and put it in cornrows.

In the movie "21" white actors are used to play real life characters who are Asian American.

Also, Angelina Jolie played a half black/half white woman in A Mighty Heart.

(Sorry I thought both movies involved black characters, and I didn't realize they had already come out....Here is the link to the article I was reading about the issue.)



I_Walk_Alone -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 1:49:13 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: gaylel1

quote:

ORIGINAL: I_Walk_Alone

I personally have been looking foward to this movie. It reminds me a bit of the Airplane movies. It makes me wonder how under fire these movies would get for their content with how over sensitive people get concerning satire. I can handle jokes that may push the envelope a bit, but their needs to be a balance. Now lets check this out. I have seen Chapelle Show episodes where Dave Chapelle would make himself look white to parody white people? Would this be considered wrong? If this is ok, whats to stop the reverse a white man making themselves look black? If its all in good humor, I think its funny. There is just a time to stop taking ourselves so seriously and just sit back and laugh at our short comings.


Yes, but you do not do it in expense of others, whether you are black, white or polka dot. I thought those days of making fun of minorities are over, but unfortnatly you have a generation now who don't care. We thought we got over the "black face" but there are people who don't care about history at all.

I'm suprized many of the civil rights groups and other groups except for the disablity groups are not outraged that this is going on.


The problem with that view is that racism still hasn't gone away. And this is what the film makers are trying to show in Tropic Thunder and many other comedians do. When they make fun of the stereotypes, they don't do it because they are racist. They do it because the stereotypes are completely stupid, yet th gullible still follow them anyway.

Now you can't even use the word retard anymore. I am sorry, but things are going way too far. People are taking things too seriously. With majority of people in this country worrying about words, their giving power to those words. If people don't like the movie, thats fine. But its wrong to prevent others from watching the movie over the use of a word.

I can understand this if their were some serous human life violations being done, but a movie. That just doesn't fly.



I_Walk_Alone -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/12/2008 1:50:14 PM)

This movie comes out tomorrow. I will be the first in line for it because I am a Ben Stiller and Jack Black fan.



Fledgling -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/13/2008 12:11:35 AM)

quote:

re: aslouie's post:
Here's a new piece of controversy: I've read somewhere on Yahoo News that Tropic Thunder is under fire (no pun intended) for being too insensitive towards people of mental handicaps/impairments (whatever the correct "moniker" is), by constantly using the word, "retard," in such (perceived) disconcerting way.



"Retard" or "Retardation" is a sentence, label, with no hope, or a defining word.. "Brain Injury" denotes something that can be corrected or fixed.. thereby introducing hope into the equation for change or progress for the quite appropriately described "brain injured" person. This goes deeper then political correctness.

Fledgling : Mother of two brain injured children.. Helper in a Sunday school and elementary school classroom for Brain Injured Students.



DreadPirateRandy -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/13/2008 12:27:59 AM)

Jack Black should have been the black guy, just to make it that much more controversial.



miasma -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/14/2008 10:31:09 AM)

It probably will be pretty funny (too bad Ben Stiller wrote it, his comedic genius expired back in the 90s).

If you're not aware, there's a very common joke that if an actor wants to win an Oscar, they can get "ugly" (Charlize Theron in Monster) or play a mentally challenged person (Sean Penn in I Am Sam).

That is what this movie is picking on. It has less to do with race, than with how...stupid Hollywood is.

The three leads are stereotypes: the action hero, the award winner, and the flash-in-the-pan. It's a send-up of "the biz," not a commentary on race, mental retardation, or anything else, well, important. [8|]



elastic -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/14/2008 2:11:09 PM)

quote:

That is what this movie is picking on. It has less to do with race, than with how...stupid Hollywood is.



exactly! i am actually looking forward to seeing this movie. i know that it's not making fun of black people at all, and is not meant to offend black people in any way.

i really wish people would at least watch a film or read a review of a film before they automatically assume that something in it is racist or otherwise poking fun of another person's race.

it is very much poking fun of hollywood. and i agree with barbhuff (and others) who have tried to point out that the movie is satire.



revolushellz -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/14/2008 2:26:18 PM)

I completely agree Elastic. I just got through reading an interview with Brandon T. Jackson and he says that Ben Stiller even had the NAACP screen the movie first just in case. The movie is satire and nothing to do with race; I personally can't wait to see it. Here's the link to the interview: http://www.essence.com/essence/themix/entertainment/0,16109,1831518,00.html



stellaluna -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/15/2008 9:53:07 AM)

I think political correctness is out of control. That's why SNL sucks now.



aslouie -> RE: Tropic Thunder--I'm Very, Very Concerned About This One (8/16/2008 2:20:20 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: stellaluna

I think political correctness is out of control. That's why SNL sucks now.

Is that before they (SNL) took jabs at the media's love affair with Obama, or after? maybe ever?[sm=crazy.gif]

but other than that (tangent), I'm wondering if anyone suspected that Tropic Thunder is possibly the first Hollywood movie to lampoon the whole pretentiousness that is Vietnam War dramas, a la Platoon or even Apocalypse Now?



dtrees1 -> don't go (8/16/2008 11:31:06 AM)

It is very disturbing to me that Crosswalk would even be remotely involved in recommending this movie. I was raised in a very liberal household and became a Christian later in life. Suffice to say, I am not easily "offended". Admittedly, I knew this movie wouldn't be "clean" by any means, but I was convinced that it would the "funniest-of-the year" and I could overlook the rest. I was wrong. It was impossible to overlook the rest. The movie opens with a spoof rap video that is worse than the real thing. One scene involves Jack Black (a heroin addict) graphically describing his fellatio method to anyone who would release him from being tied to a tree in a desperate detox attempt. Robert Downey's character is the only reason to see this movie, but it is not good enough to actually see the movie. It is so overwhelmingly crude and profane that it cannot be excused as satire, even though it is. It is meant to make money. I'm sorry I paid my money to see it.



stellaluna -> RE: don't go (8/16/2008 3:03:47 PM)

I don't have any intention of seeing it, personally...but dtrees1, you bring up an excellent point. I think people should be getting upset at the things you mentioned rather than the un-PC things they are all in a tizzy over.



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