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Last Updated: Sep 26th, 2008 - 08:16:59 |
“Tropic Thunder” is a crazy—and somewhat reckless— comedy that makes big fun of movie-making, Hollywood and those privileged to create the narratives that we all consume—to the tune of billions of dollars in profit each year.
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| Robert Downey Jr. (right) plays a Black man in "Tropic Thunder." |
It follows Tugg Speedman, a ridiculous action hero who is starring in a new movie about the experiences of a Vietnam War veteran. Not only is the movie production millions over budget, not only is Speedman a sorry prima dona, but the rest of the cast is a walking-talking billboard for the warped world of celebrity. There is the rapper-cast-as-an-actor named Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson); an Australian actor playing an African-American man in blackface (Robert Downey Jr.), a flamboyant druggie named Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and a nerdy novice named Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel).
It is within this parody of Hollywood that the film lapses into the sort of cynical humor that is easy for White boys who sit atop and are paid to interpret the Universe. Parody is not always a humor that is easy to digest when it comes from the outside, especially at this time when racists like Pat Buchanan attempt to frame what racism is, or politicians and commentators accuse Black people of just not getting it (not being smart enough to know what is funny), or of being too sensitive or “politically correct,” or—my favorite—of playing the “race card.” (What card game is that?)
I don’t believe there is always a mean-spirited or intentional harm intended in many of the questionable jokes but, frequently, the jokes do exhibit a jaded view of the world and of the pain of others who are, in some way, less privileged or entitled. We are all forced to swim in the sea of popular culture, in which we (less privileged or entitled people) are, more often than not, asked to regularly consume interpretations of us, jokes about us, created from outside of the community we know.
So some are protesting the appearance of Downey in a sort of blackface when, in fact, the movie is obviously making fun of the fact that White actors in blackface even exist. We laughed at these kinds of stereotypes in Robert Townsend’s brilliant “Hollywood Shuffle.” So is it so difficult to believe that Stiller, who is also the writer and director, is also laughing WITH us and not AT us when he ridicules blackface and the gross excesses of the hip-hop music industry? The answer is that IS difficult for many of us because we have been burned so often by some b.s. on the big screen.
Also, just as we Black folks bridle at the use of the N-word, as used outside of our community in films such as “Pulp Fiction,” those who advocate for the mentally disadvantaged consider the word “retard” or “retarded” in the same light. There is a scene in “Tropic Thunder” that includes a conversation between Lazarus (Downey) and Speedman (Stiller) in which Lazarus tells Speedman that in a previous role he had gone “complete retard” in his depiction of a mentally challenged boy. So “Tropic Thunder” in hot water with advocates for the disabled.
With such off-color jokes and cynicism, “Tropic Thunder” is in the mode of guy humor and gross out flicks. So there is also a baby thrown in the air, a severed head paraded around and, seemingly, lots of shots of men being hit below the belt. So “Tropic Thunder” skewers some sins of Hollywood while, to my mind, reinforcing others. It’s all about choices, boundaries and jokes—and which ones make us laugh.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
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