Have we no class?

I am prepared for the big, collective eye-rolling at this post, but I am going to say it anyway. The joking in Tropic Thunder about mentally disabled people is only funny to those who have absolutely no class. I understand that in movies nothing is sacred, and there are movies a lot worse and more cruel. Still, when a movie attacks a particular group, that group has the right to defend themselves, to protest, to boycott. So when a movie attacks a group that cannot defend themselves, it is left up to the few people in this country that still have a little class and dignity to defend them. Yes, they have a right to make this movie, and it's just a little exchange between characters, but we have a right to point out that those who find abuse of true innocents funny inhabit a region of humanity lower than any other. To me, this is akin to a scene in a movie about child abuse where the abuser is considered hilarious and everyone laughs at the beaten child. Why don't they include a scene like that? Because it's not funny, it's sick. It takes a depraved level of desensitization, insensitivity and cruelty to think this is funny. Ironically, although some are born with these kinds of disabilities that you may find so hilarious, keep in mind you are one car crash, brain aneurysm, or, in the case of those who like this kind of drivel, one drug overdose from finding yourself in their shoes. Would it be so funny if it was you, or someone you loved? Would you want people pointing and laughing at you, your child, your friend, quoting lines from a movie glorifying this base behavior of mocking the disabled? Please read this article by Timothy Shriver at the Washington Post to read the exchange I am talking about.

On a side note, when Dreamworks was preparing for Robert Downey Jr. to play a black man for this movie, they carefully tiptoed around the issue, even bringing in focus groups to make sure nothing was offensive to black people. I suppose they assume the disabled don't deserve this kind of respect.

Overall, they claim the movie is a stab at the whole political correctness overload and also making fun of the sleazy Hollywood set. I certainly have no problem with those premises, but making fun of an ego-driven washed-up actor is not on the same level as mocking the disabled. I think that's where they cross the line.

Hat tip: Thanks, Kara, for sharing this, and also Megan for posting about this as well! (I just found your post, Megan - I guess we both had the same reaction!)