Robert Downey, Jr. as a Black, Jack Black as a Blonde

[myrgthful]

This image is (from left to right): Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., and Ben Stiller, in the upcoming film, "Tropic Thunder." Apparently, this has sparked quite a controversey.

Comments

[bernmarx]

I'd have to see the movie to be sure, but if the copy is right that the movie is a satire of actors and not of blacks, then it's appropriate.

[jatg]

Knowing what the premise is...a movie about a bunch of self absorbed actors making a movie...I think it's delicious.

[myrgthful]

I agree. ;-) I suppose I just tend to step daintily sometimes, because you can get people flying at you with rhetoric and spittle, sometimes, for saying even the slightest thing which might be misinterpreted as racist, sexist or whatever. ;-)

I think we spend too much time being hypersensitive to anything said about certain groups. (But, oddly enogh, not others) Seems to me that being sensitive to stereotypes (true or false) and to cultural differences is everyone's responsibility. Not just the province of the whites which today are sometimes unjustly penalized for the acts of whites hundreds of years ago.

[the_pangolin]

Like they said: if they do it well, it's art. If they do it poorly, it's crap.

What?

[anonymous]

Okay so what we're saying here is that white people cannot portray black people in a movie? So applying that logic equally, we have to conclude that it's offensive for black people to portray white people. Straight people can't portray gays. Gays can't portray straights. It's offensive for women to portray men, or men to portray women. Where does it all end?

I think Downey is simply acting in a role. Maybe he'll be good or maybe he'll be bad, but we can only judge that in the context of the movie. I suppose we could condemn him for perpetuating negative stereotypes--should his performance be as such--but I see more black actors doing that than white ones. No one seems to have a problem with that.

He's acting. I don't see what all the hubbub is about.

Oops

[beatknuckle]

That was me. Forgot to login.

Re: Oops

[myrgthful]

I don't remember there being an outraged furor from the media and moviegoers, when black people played white people in a movie.

Funny how our society's anti-discrimination mores are only a one-way thing. I have repeatedly been a victim of this sort of thing, being a man working in environments which are 90% female. White males are the n*****s of today. (Perhaps I should be ashamed that, on some occasions, I have checked boxes that indicate my Asian heritage, in order to avoid some problems, or perhaps to seek certain advantages)

I'm actually amused by the preminse already... and wanting to see this movie, when it comes out. I think Jack Black looks awfully funny as a blonde.