Not just crass, but hurtful

The Boston Globe

Beverly Beckham

First things first: "Tropic Thunder" is not an intentionally mean movie that denigrates the developmentally delayed. It is a comedy that pokes fun at Hollywood's preposterous and stereotypical portrayal of all the people Hollywood thinks it knows but doesn't. A big vulgar, way over-the-top film, it's a series of fun-house mirrors exaggerating the bloated egos of actors, producers, agents, and the never-ending sham that is pretense.

But it is also the worst thing to come along for the developmentally disabled since public schools used the dunce cap. Because in 107 minutes the word "retard" (or "retarded") is said 17 times. This gives a green light to the movie-going public: If "retard" can be tossed back and forth on the big screen, getting laughs, getting legitimized, why not use it on the schoolyard or at the water cooler?

"Tropic Thunder" is a nonstop vulgarfest full of gross and offensive words strung together in new and creative ways. It targets women, blacks, gays, the military, writers, the Viet Cong, heroes, priests, half the world.

It seems at first glance to be an equal-opportunity insulter.

But it isn't. Body parts cannot take offense to what is being said. And excrement is only excrement. These words are just crass. Nothing more. "Retarded" is personal. "Retarded" targets people. "Retarded" hurts. This is why advocates for the mentally disabled are speaking out.

I have a 5-year-old granddaughter. Her name is Lucy Rose. She has blonde hair and green eyes and loves to swim and dance and sing and run and read picture books. Lucy also has Down syndrome. Say the word "retarded" and you don't picture a little girl who loves to swim and sing. "Retarded" is a stereotype too long perpetuated by Hollywood. No much different from Step 'n' Fetchit. Condescending. Controlling. And however unintentional the result may be, this new "don't take it seriously" version of the retarded man is serious because it stirs up and serves up some very old themes.

This is the "Tropic Thunder" story line: A washed-up actor (played by Ben Stiller) is making a new film. His last was "Simple Jack," about a boy who stutters and stammers and shambles along. Stiller is upset because he didn't get an Oscar for playing Jack. The costar on his new film (Robert Downey Jr.), who plays an Australian actor playing a black man in blackface, tells Stiller the reason he didn't get an Oscar is because he went "full retard."

This is the dialogue:

Stiller: There were times when I was doing Jack when I actually felt retarded. Like really retarded. ... In a weird way, I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that it was OK to be stupid or dumb.

Downey: To be a moron.

Stiller: Yeah.

Downey: To be moronical.

Stiller: Exactly.

Downey: An imbecile.

The conversation continues.

Downey: Everybody knows you never do a full retard.

Stiller: What do you mean?

Downey: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, "Rain Man" - look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your cards. Autistic. Sure. Not retarded. You know, Tom Hanks, "Forrest Gump." Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and he won a ping-pong competition? That ain't retarded. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.

The joke of Simple Jack being a "moron" weaves its way throughout the movie. Simple Jack is a big part of the movie, with his bad hair and his bad teeth, stuttering and stammering away.

This is why Special Olympics, the National Down Syndrome Association, the National Down Syndrome Congress, and ordinary mothers and fathers and grandparents like me are so disturbed by this film. Because people learn what they see. Because people repeat what they hear. And what they are hearing over and over in the context of a joke, as entertainment, is a word that the disability community has been working for decades to eliminate.

In June, Massachusetts included in its budget a provision that will change the name of the Department of Mental Retardation to the Department of Developmental Disabilities next year. Massachusetts was one of only six states still to use the words "mental retardation" in its department title. It was a quiet change. Not many people outside the community of the disabled know.

They'll know about Simple Jack, though. It's pop culture. It's a silly controversy to people who don't know how much a word can hurt.