Action Alert from The Arc of the US - Offensive Movie

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The Arc of the US

1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 650, Silver Spring, MD 20910 |

ACTION ALERT - Offensive Portrayal of People with Intellectual

Disabilities in Movie Scheduled for Release on August 13, 2008

August 5, 2008

To: State and Local Chapter Leaders

From: V. Berns, Executive Director

The following is important information about a movie - Tropic

Thunder – that includes a very negative portrayal of a person with

intellectual disabilities as well as extensive use of the R-word.

Release of this movie was discussed at the NCE meeting last week, as

well as The Arc Board of Directors meeting on Sunday & Monday. We now

want to make sure everyone has the most current information

available.

Tropic Thunder is a comedy/action/adventure scheduled for release on

August 13 and promises to be one of the blockbusters of the summer.

DreamWorks is the film's producer and Paramount is its distributor.

The film features popular actors Ben Stiller, Downey Jr. and

Jack Black as self-absorbed actors filming a big-budget war movie on

location. Through a series of freak occurrences, they are forced to

become the soldiers they are portraying.

Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed

in his bid for an as " Simple Jack, " a man with an intellectual

disability. " Simple Jack " is featured as a film-within-a-film, with

Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth.

The film within-a-film's promotional poster (below) bears the

subtitle " Once upon a time there was a retard. " Elsewhere is the

slogan " What he doesn't have in his head, he makes up for in his

heart. " A satirical plot synopsis quotes a critic as saying that

Speedman's Jack was " one of the most retarded performances in cinema

history. "

retard, retarded, intellectual disability

<http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb180/anniemacosta/SimpleJack.jpg>

While we have not yet seen the movie, from what has been publicly

available it is clear that the film is a very negative portrayal of

people with intellectual disabilities. There has been mounting

outrage from the disability community. For excellent coverage of the

issue, you may want to visit the website www.patriciaebauer.com

review her posts and responsive comments over the past week. Hundreds

of comments have been posted on the blog expressing outrage about the

movie.

Promotional materials for the movie included an offensive website

www.simplejakemovie.com that now appears to be no

longer operational since since The Arc and other disability groups

started asking questions about the film

I am flying out to Los Angeles on Wednesday August 6 to meet with

DreamWorks Chief Executive Officer and studio executives from in Los

Angeles, California on Wednesday, August 6. I will be joining Joe

Meadours, The Arc board member and executive director of People First

of California, as well as representatives of other national

disability organizations. The purpose of the meeting is to express

our concerns, request a viewing of the film, and discuss possible

solutions.

Call to Action Will Follow

The Arc national staff will be back in touch with you later in the

week to provide an update about the meeting. Depending on the outcome

of the meeting, one option being considered is to call for a national

boycott of the film and to urge state and local chapters of The Arc

to go to the movies on August 13, 2008 with protest signs as well as

appropriate informational literature.

As events unfold, we will send you additional information via email

alerts. Also watch the hompage of The Arc website where we will plan

to post talking points and other information to help you organize and

take action. In particular, we will soon be posting to the site

talking points about why the R-word is hate speech.

In the meantime there are a few preparations you can begin to make:

>review your communications options (email lists, etc) and think

about how you will get the word out about this movie,

>compile a list of local media that you will want to reach out to

about the issue,

>identify parents and self-advocates that you would like to have

speak out,

>begin to draft op-ed articles and letters to the editor about the

issue,

>identify other organizations that may be allies (e.g. ACLU, NAACP,

other civil rights groups, other disability groups) that have

networks you will also want to mobilize,

>talk to younger staff about how some of the social networking sites

could be used to take action.

In short, please do your best to begin preparations for a massive

action.

Again, we will be back to you with further information after the

meeting.