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DreamWorks Goes 'No Retard,' Yanks 'Simple Jack' Site
Posted by STV at 7:40 AM on August 6, 2008
Well, that was fast: Mere days after first drawing attention on a disability issues blog (and eventually going under magnifying glasses at the NY Times and here at Defamer HQ), DreamWorks's mock Web site for Simple Jack is gone. The site had been part of the studio's complex interweaving of Tropic Thunder tie-ins, with its "Once upon a time... there was a retard" tagline tipping the story of a disabled farmhand whom Ben Stiller's character portrays in pursuit of an Oscar. But activist Patricia Bauer's vigil continued, culminating late Monday with a handy restitution checklist for Stiller, DreamWorks and their distribution partners at Paramount:
·Paramount/Dreamworks should pull all references to the words "retard," "imbecile," "moron" and "idiot" from the movie, DVD, trailers, promotional material and merchandising;
·Paramount/DreamWorks should pull all scenes and clips that include Ben Stiller's portrayal of Simple Jack from the movie, DVD, trailers, promotional material and merchandising;
·Ben Stiller, DreamWorks and Paramount should apologise ...
·Paramount/Dreamworks should commit to consulting people with disabilities during the development process about scripts that portray them...
And the list goes on, though this last point is problematic: Tropic Thunder does not depict "people with disabilities," but rather Stiller's portrayal of a bad actor depicting someone with disabilities — a grievous Hollywood standby for which Sean Penn, Cuba Gooding Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Juliette Lewis and that guy from Gigli among sundry other 'retards' of varying severity all owe far more urgent apologies.
Anyway, isn't Diablo Cody connected with this somehow? She's always to blame for something around here. Apologise already, would you?
- Readers: What's your advice on 'Tropic Thunder'? [Patricia E. Bauer]
- 'Tropic Thunder' Abandoning 'Simple Jack'? [Vulture]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
james
Posted August 23, 2008 9:03 PM
Politically correct bullshit. Why don't you complain about something that matters. There are far worse things in this world.
complicated jack
Posted September 9, 2008 10:02 AM
you m m make me sad... james is comletely right i was laughing my as off when i saw this at the start of tropic thunder and there are worse things in the world than this bullshit dedicate your life to somehting that matters
brodie
Posted September 10, 2008 7:29 PM
Oh come on. He wasn't making fun of people with disabilities, it's making fun of people in movies that interpret people with disabilities. I agree they shouldn't have used the term retard as much. But it was funny. If you pull it from the film the film wouldn't run as long and most of it wouldn't make any sense. I mean there are so many movies that push things to the limits and they get away with it. If Tropic Thunder removes simple jack, it won't have that scene when Robert Downy Jr. tells him never to go full retard. If the scenes get pulled it will only prove that people with disabilities are retards because they can't understand the meaning of a joke. The jokes not even about them. So to everyone trying to pull the scenes from the best comedy of 08, GET FUCKED.
raincoaster
Posted 8:11 AM 6/8/08
@metroville: Thank you. How is it you have no star? You deserve a fucking medal!
@Oxycontinmoron: a few years ago Fark reported on a public forum on those suffering from mental illness, one that had committed to including them in the planning process and the public panels. And it dissolved into a fighting mob like something out of 300, as could have been predicted.
I'm not PC; I am equal-opportunity offensive, and if anyone gets in my face about it I tell them I'm Irish and it's my cultural heritage. You can see the PCers heads actually vibrating at that!
raincoaster
Oxycontinmoron
Posted 8:00 AM 6/8/08
"Paramount/Dreamworks should commit to consulting people with disabilities during the development process about scripts that portray them"
And how would that conversation go, I wonder? Can you picture a bunch of suits sitting around a conference table with a severely retarded person trying to have a discussion about a character's portrayal?
Oxycontinmoron
metroville
Posted 7:59 AM 6/8/08
That's retarded.
Wait--no! Gay! That's gay.
metroville
DrAftershave
Posted 7:45 AM 6/8/08
i was all set to make a wisecrack about this, then realized how much PC was in the air and decided to sit back down.
DrAftershave
Miss Anne Thrope
Posted 8:36 AM 6/8/08
@EuroDad: Ha ha. Not mother?
Miss Anne Thrope
Miss Anne Thrope
Posted 8:35 AM 6/8/08
@Victor Ward: I thought he was looking better than usual.
Miss Anne Thrope
Victor Ward
Posted 8:34 AM 6/8/08
That's a good look for Stiller!
Victor Ward
EuroDad
Posted 8:27 AM 6/8/08
all i have to say is...
OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA!!!!
EuroDad
el smrtmnky
Posted 8:26 AM 6/8/08
@Leviticus_71: like 'no homo'?
el smrtmnky
Leviticus_71
Posted 8:19 AM 6/8/08
@metroville: HI-larious! I wish I had something clever to add---
Leviticus_71
Huge Tracts of Land
Posted 8:18 AM 6/8/08
DIABLO CODY IT IS YOUR FAULT THE TERMINATORS HAVE RETURNED
(sorry, just had a total desire to type that sentence)
Huge Tracts of Land
busterbluth
Posted 8:51 AM 6/8/08
And that's why I always click on Defamer's links immediately. Already saw the site and got my retarded buddy icons.
busterbluth
WGARefugee
Posted 8:50 AM 6/8/08
Funny, I've never a heard of word of protest about media portrayals from the several developmentally disabled people I know. Then again, they spend all of their time watching movies like Titanic, over and over again.
WGARefugee
Mr-Busy
Posted 9:21 AM 6/8/08
Now I know that I saw this before! This must be the Ben Stiller remake. Here's the original:
+ Watch video
Mr-Busy
Mr-Busy
Posted 9:14 AM 6/8/08
Wait! I remember the TV series. This is a money making franchise!
+ Watch video
Mr-Busy
Shumina
Posted 9:54 AM 6/8/08
"·Paramount/Dreamworks should pull all references to the words "retard," "imbecile," "moron" and "idiot" from the movie, DVD, trailers, promotional material and merchandising;"
You can fuck right off, Patricia. It's comedy. You get it or you don't. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's not funny...it means you need better things to do with your time.
Shumina
Breadbowl
Posted 10:32 AM 6/8/08
What about "halfwit" "dipshit" and "mush brain"?
Breadbowl
Cacafuego
Posted 11:09 AM 6/8/08
I have a retarded cousin. And when I'm around his mom, I refer to him as challenged. But only then. The rest of the time I think of him as mentally retarded. Which he is. Challenged suggests a condition one can win out over, somehow. In reality, it's something you just deal with.
Cacafuego
Cultmember
Posted 11:01 AM 6/8/08
'Tard is pretty good, but it also sounds too much like detergent. "We've soaked the first kid in Brand X detergent and the second kid in Tard....and just look at the difference!
Cultmember
EuroDad
Posted 11:33 AM 6/8/08
i think we should coin a new phrase to describe those who are challenged mentally. obviously we want something that can't be construed as derrogatory. plus it should capture their untamable spirit. and it should be fun to say.
i vote for "effervescent"
EuroDad
raincoaster
Posted 12:43 PM 6/8/08
@Cultmember: I know some people who've obviously been soaked in Tard.
raincoaster
Losin_it
Posted 1:27 PM 6/8/08
@Cacafuego: I agree. I don't think derogatory is always bad. Sometimes reality itself is bad, you can't escape it...the first step towards dealing with it is often a blunt honesty of the circumstances.
Losin_it
JudyPaceFace
Posted 3:35 PM 6/8/08
I think this is a word that has evolved to have a different, less specific meaning than it did years ago.
JudyPaceFace
JacobFreeze
Posted 9:00 PM 6/8/08
Buh?
JacobFreeze
goldfarb
Posted 12:41 AM 7/8/08
Don't worry scrote. There are plenty of 'tards out there living really kick ass lives. My first wife was 'tarded. She's a pilot now.
goldfarb
Losin_it
Posted 1:00 AM 7/8/08
@goldfarb: Which airline? I mean, I might want to know such information when I book my flight.
Losin_it
trioxinaddict
Posted 2:11 AM 7/8/08
I think that the sweet irony here is that this woman is bitching about the studio making fun of retards, when in fact they are taking the piss out of actors who exploit said retards every time they want to see that Oscar gold.
trioxinaddict
ediebeale
Posted 3:51 AM 7/8/08
The thing is, a person with downs syndrome is not gonna see Tropic Thunder and be like, "Why are they mocking me?"
Also, that poster has me shaking with uncontrollable laughter.
ediebeale
Mr-Busy
Posted 5:41 AM 7/8/08
[www.tuggspeedman.com]
Mr-Busy
Mr-Busy
Posted 5:34 AM 7/8/08
OK, a production photo of Simple Jack himself still available:
[www.tuggspeedman.com]
.. so take a look before that b-atch takes ALL the fun away!
(I so hate her! She is like retarded over this thing!)
Mr-Busy
goldfarb
Posted 9:08 AM 7/8/08
@goldfarb: [www.imdb.com]
goldfarb
kylo4
Posted 1:44 PM 9/8/08
I guess they should go back and remove the scene from "Being John Malkovich" where the guy goes "You did a really great job playing that retard man. Good job!" Since that could be offensive too. Just let it be. Listen to Howard Stern, Lisa Lampanelli or Dave Chappelle for awhile and you simply will not get offended or give a shit about this stuff.
kylo4