Thunderous Dehumanization

The R rated movie Tropic Thunder directed by Ben Stiller comes to theaters tomorrow. The film coins the phrase “full retard” to describe one of its characters.

Journalist Patricia Bauer prescreened the movie and shares some of her observations:

“Stiller’s character, Tugg Speedman, is presented as a fading action hero who earlier failed in his bid for Oscar glory while portraying Simple Jack, a character with an intellectual disability. Speedman’s portrayal of Simple Jack is featured as a movie within the movie.”

Bauer describes the stereotypical protrayal of a person with a cognitive disability,

“In character, Stiller speaks in a stilted, stuttering, adenoidal fashion, and wears overalls, bad false teeth and a classic institutional bowl haircut.”

Bauer tallies the number of times slurs are used in the movie and finds (approximately):

“Number of repetitions of the word “retard” or its variations: At least 16 in the “full retard” scene alone, not counting the uses of words like “idiot,” “moron,” “moronical,” “imbecile,” “stupid,” “dumb” and “the dumbest M*****F***** that ever lived.” All are used to describe the character of Simple Jack, who is described in an introductory segment as a “mentally impaired farm hand who can talk to animals.”

Number of repetitions of the word “nigger”: Once, said by a black character criticizing a character pretending to be black.

Number of uses of other racial/ethnic/sexual epithets: None observed.”

According to the New York Times a Dreamworks spokesperson says that the movie is a satire of the excesses of Hollywood. I’ve always been annoyed by the portrayal of persons with disabilities by temporarily able-bodied people in pursuit of Oscar or Emmy nominations, and I would truly love to see a film that satirizes the Hollywood portrayal of PWDs. However, I’m finding it hard to believe that Ben Stiller is really making a sophisticated societal satire in the vein of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Mr. Stiller’s past films, seem to have the common theme of going for crass and crude humor, although the joke is on the zipper mishap or fart or whatever, not on an entire group of people. And, it’s not like Dreamworks is advertising this movie as a societal satire. According to Bauer,

“Early promotion of the film described Simple Jack as a “retard” and an elaborate DreamWorks marketing website that was taken down this week in response to complaints carried the tagline ‘Once upon a time … There was a retard.’”

The Dreamwork website is not advertising Tropic Thunder as a societal satire, but rather quotes critics who call the movie a “knockout of a comedy” and “the funniest movie of the summer.” So, I forgive me, Mr. Stiller and Dreamworks. I’m not buying it. Your movie is not a critical satire of Hollywood’s portrayal of the full diversity of humankind. It is another movie that slurs and hurts a large segment of our population for the sake of a joke or two.

I know some people, like one of Bauer’s commenters, would say, “Get a sense of humor!” At the root of this point is the belief that cognitive diversity is not a part of humankind, and making fun of this “other” group is no big deal. And since when does one group get to tell another group that they cannot be offended by slurs, epithets, and derogatory stereotypes? Do whites get to tell blacks to not be offended by slurs? Do whites get to tell native peoples to not be offended by dancing Indian mascots? Do men get to tell women to not be offended by curse words or sexual innuendos?

I’ve written before about the pain the word “retard” causes. Like all outrageous and socially unacceptable racial and sexual slurs, this word inflicts deep pain. Dave Hingsburger over at Chewing the Fat writes a powerful letter to Mr. Stiller explaining how much it hurts to see and hear the R word.

“You hurt me a second time today, Mr. Stiller. I am writing to tell you, to hold you responsible. I arrived home and saw on a website that it is now possible to buy tee shirts with the phrase 'full retard' on it. You are responsible for this Mr. Stiller, you wrote those words, you chose those words, you went public with those words. It is you, and only you, who must bear the consequences for your actions.”

“Full retard” t shirts?! More satire, right?

Autistic advocacy.org has an on-point video about the power of words.

Many groups are advocating a boycott of Tropic Thunder. You can learn more at the United Cerebral People blog. As Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics says in the Washington Post,

"So, enough. Stop the hurtful jokes. Talk to your children about language that is bullying and mean. Ask your friends, your educators, your religious leaders to help us to end the stubborn myth that people with intellectual disabilities are hopeless. Ask Hollywood to get on the right side of dignity.

I hope others will join me in shutting this movie out of our lives and our pocketbooks. We don't live in times when labeling and humiliating others is funny."

Let's make our voices heard.

Addendum: Thanks to Ruth for this link to a statement of solidarity "recognizing the dignity of individuals with intellectual disabilities" and signed by many organizations including The Special Olympics, National Down Syndrome Society, and more. Check it out.

A 2nd Addendum: Checkout 2 stories on NPR. "If one group laughs at the expense of another, we don't call that humor, we call it humiliation," explains Leonard J. Davis, Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Illinois. And Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics explains why the r-word is hate speech.

Picture credit: Human Policy Press

It's Carnival time!

Disability Carnival 19: Sex and Disability

Zephyr from Arthritic Young Thing has put together some wonderful posts about this topic. As she says, “Oftentimes, people with disabilities are perceived as asexual creatures who have no sexual needs or desires. Other people assume that no one could ever desire us sexually, or that we could ever have satisfying sex lives. Many of us can and do.”

Check it out!

"in some sense, we should all just be people... "

Natalia, from My Spanglish Life, made this comment to my Disability and Gender Stereotypes post for Blog Against Sexism Day.

Natalia gives a link to a wonderful story illustrating that point. A shopper and a sales clerk are at a loss for what is the appropriate gift for a newborn with Down Syndrome. A helpful stranger, Dave Hingsburger, has the perfect gift suggestion.

Disability and Gender Stereotypes

Today is International Women's Day. In the blogging community, this day has been designated "Blog Against Sexism Day". You can learn more about the day, find statistics relating to sexism, and get links to hundreds of posts here.

Initially, I was going to show my support by just linking to the posts, but then I read the organizers' words, "We especially encourage men to challenge themselves and write about the topic." So, I've been thinking about sexism and disability. I'm familiar with and have experienced ableism. And, I think that there must be an overlap between sexism and ableism. I'm just not always sure where the line is drawn. Here are a few of my thoughts.

Had I been born a girl with a physical disability, would people react to me differently? Would strangers comment on how pretty my wheelchair is rather than how fast it goes? Would my parents get more or less "I'm so sorry” glances? Would I have been encouraged to get princess casts and splints rather than sports casts and splints? And would these and other differences have changed my self-image?

With a few exceptions, my closest able-bodied friends are people I first met when I was very young. For a child with a disability, it becomes harder to make new friends in late grade school and high school. Most of my more recent able-bodied friends are female. My female friends with disabilities tell me that most of their recent able-bodied friends are male. Why is it so hard for teenagers to form same sex friendships crossing ability boundaries?

By their very nature, both ableism and sexism put a person down, with the result often being lowered self-esteem. Ironically, my peers who are female and have a disability appear to me to be tougher and more assertive than many of my peers who are female and have able bodies. Those with disabilities seem to be far less caught up in, and even laugh at, the cultural pressures on women to conform. How does disability affect sexism?

And what about Ashley X? Would parents of a 6 year old boy with a disability have been able to convince medical personnel and an ethics committee to surgically and hormonally alter their son to stunt growth? Can a boy be a "Pillow Angel"?

I look forward to reading the other posts.