In the Rett Syndrome community as well as in other special needs communities, there is some buzz about Timothy Shriver’s op ed piece in the Washington Post. Evidently in the upcoming film, Tropic Thunder, there will be exchanges where the actors talk about playing characters who have special needs and are called “retarded”.
Not having seen the movie nor read the script, I cannot say myself what is being said but I can say one thing. It looks like there may be some decision to boycott the film by the National Down Syndrome Congress and the national ARC (if I have my information correct). All politically correct heated debate put aside, how does this relate to business and being profitable?
Well, if enough groups get together to boycott a film, it won’t be seen. It depends on the spending money of the groups as well as the total bad publicity – or perception of bad publicity that will be out there. Remember the OJ book where he told how he might have killed his late wife?
In the previews, it shows Morton Downey Jr having undergone surgery to transform from a white man into a black man for acting. Okay, was that a concession to also show how edgy and funny they are? I dunno yet. If this is part of the satire, I get it. That will help in the movie’s overall box office.
Readers of my blog know that I have an open mind and a sense of humor so I am going to refrain from saying anything until I see the movie myself. I am not a hypocrite. If it is funny, it is funny.
The problem is, I agree with Timothy Shriver that the movie is going after a group of people who can’t defend themselves. I’ve had the same issue with Carlos Mencia. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, I haven’t had this problem with South Park because they are truly equal opportunity offenders.
I also don’t know what kind of agenda Mr. Shriver has and maybe he is mad because he didn’t get a shot at reviewing the movie. Again, I don’t know and it is beyond my paygrade, folks.
So, back to the business angle…
How much economic pull will this have on the movie if there is a boycott? It is hard to tell because it may backfire and make the movie a big hit because it has been boycotted by all sorts of special needs groups. People may go see it to see what the fuss was all about. Remember, controversy gets people interested in seeing something.
If enough people don’t see it though or it dries up quickly, it maybe because it was a horrible movie, period. Maybe the satire is above people’s heads. I dunno. Lately, when a lot of comedies are just over-packing their movie with lowest common denominator jokes hoping some will stick they are finding that people can get that stuff for free over the internet and they run away. If the movie can generate $10 worth of laughs per person multiplied by 100 million people, with or without the special needs jokes it will be a hit, even if there is a boycott.
Stuff like this happens all the time. It use to be to become a hit in the United Kingdom you use to say something bad about the royal family to get banned from the radio and you would be a hit.
An interesting fact is that I was probably going to see the movie without all the attention being called to it. In the previews it looks like they are three clueless actors. In the roles they are playing you are expecting to hear nonsense come out of their mouths. My hope is that they don’t dwell on the special needs humor as one aspect of it.
Should we just ignore the protests and see what happens with this movie? You need to come to the decision yourself. As for me, I will see the movie for myself and make my own decisions afterwards.
Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.
Kim Greenblatt
Please feel free to spread the word, if you are a social site such as Technorati, http://technorati.com/.
Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.
You are reading from Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable on special needs, money and the Timothy Shriver op end piece about boycotting Tropic Thunder.