I am the father of a 12 year old boy diagnosed with Autistic Disorder and assessed with Profound Developmental Delays. I was invited to attend a showing of Tropic Thunder and yesterday I did so, albeit with serious misgivings. Having seen the movie I believe that Tropic Thunder actually helps those with intellectual disabilities, and others, by focusing our attention on how the motion picture industry exploits, and presents inaccurate, and false, images of people with intellectual disabilities and other challenges, including obesity and addiction.Tropic Thunder targets Hollywood for a number of sins, including its exploitation and presentation of distorted images of people with intellectual disabilities. The character portrayed in the movie within the movie, "Simple Jack", does not resemble in any way anyone I have ever met with an intellectual disability or developmental delay. The presentation of the character and the use of the word "retard" in some of the relevant scenes was uncomfortable for me as the father of a son with "profound developmental delays". But I did not find it offensive. and the clear targets are the vain and superficial actors who portray such distortions and the industry which greedily exploits them.
I am not trying to tell others how to feel about this issue. Or whether they should see the movie. For me, Tropic Thunder raised serious issues for discussion in the way that satire does - not by a scholarly dissertation - but by actually showing, and mocking, its target - in this case the motion picture industry.
And it is funny.
autism
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