(OT) TIME magazine review of Tropic Thunder

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I just came across a review of "Tropic Thunder" in TIME magazine. Here's the link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1830412,00.html No mention of the abundant use of the "R" word at all. However, I did find this paragraph somewhat interesting: "Problem is, the Tropic Thunder stars seem rich at first, but they don't grow; they grow repetitious. Lazarus is a mix of Crowe, Day- and De Niro in his body-punishing Raging Bull days, and Downey brings a nice pomposity to his blackface posturing and righteous-pimp drawl. (The joke, by the way, is clearly not on African Americans; it's on the actor's belief that he can play anyone.) But Lazarus and the others out there in the jungle don't evolve or devolve; they are figures from an SNL skit or the director's own very smart

Ben Stiller Show back in 1992." Could it possibly be that this movie is poking fun at folks who do not "grow" (even out of their repititious use of the "R" word, as an example), or is the author of this piece missing something? I hate to say this, but it is difficult to tell without actually viewing the movie for oneself. Aasa P.S., In the same TIME magazine (Canadian edition, perhaps also in the American edition), after the "Jungle Fever" piece, there is an article about "The Hills". I came across it today, on my way home from a workshop where a group of Grade 7 students had shared a media literacy unit they had done last year on the Christmas episode where Heidi and her boyfriend and friends are celebrating their first Christmas without their families (and Heidi is wondering if others cry at Christmas because she always does, when she never gets what she wants for

presents) but are trying to make it "Christmasy". We had to view that video clip several times, with and without sound, sound alone, etc., and respond to it from the viewpoint of writers, producers, directors, camerapersons, etc.. It was really interesting to see what different people thought of the video clip, based on their assigned "viewpoints". Well, it was for me especially, because I had never watched this show before. I was surprised when I sat down on the subway, shortly after experiencing this lesson, to read an article which applied to what we had just done. I hope to do similar things with my students next year, to help them get a better idea of how the media can play with their thoughts and emotions. Here's the link to "The Hills" piece: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1830407,00.html I

think it would a valuable experience for students to deconstruct or analyze various media works, so that they can better understand how they are affected and/or influenced by different forms of media, but I don't know whether "Tropic Thunder" would even lend itself to this purpose with intermediate (Grade 7 or 8) students. Aasa