Going "Full-Jew" in "Tropic Thunder?"

My colleague John Horn has a good story in our paper today about how the nation's film critics have come to the defense of "Tropic Thunder," Ben Stiller's new Hollywood satire, which has been under attack from various advocacy groups of its frequent use of the word "retard." Tim Shriver, head of the Special Olympics, has advocated a boycott of the picture. Stiller, among others, has said the film's mocking use of the word is poking fun at self-important actors, not the mentally disabled.

I have no dog in this fight. I wasn't awestruck by the satire in "Tropic Thunder," but nor was I offended. In general, satire should be defended, whether it provokes the ire of conservatives, liberals or any other thin-skinned interest groups. But it is important, if you're going to defend satire, to be sure that you're willing to defend it all the way. If you're a liberal, it's easy to stick up for most of today's satirists, because most satirists are, by nature, liberal and contrarian, so it's not your ox being gored.

What would happen, for example, if Ben Stiller were making fun of Jews instead of the disabled? Just as an exercise in the art of tolerance, let's change just one word in a couple of the excerpts that John Horn ran from the current "Tropic Thunder" reviews. Here goes:

1) "'Tropic Thunder' is drawing fire from special interest groups for its frequent use of the word 'Jew,' but discerning audiences will know where the humor is targeted. And they'll be laughing too hard to take offense." Christian Toto, whatwouldtotowatch.com

2) Comedy needs the right to be offensive, and Stiller at least has the courage of his convictions. When he uses the word 'Jew,' it's deliberate, not casual." Stepahanie Zacharek, Salon.com.

Do you feel differently about the unbridled freedom of satire now? Or not? It's intriguing to note that "Thunder" has a white actor in black face playing an African-American, yet no one has really made a fuss about that. In fact, only one critic that I read -- the New York Times' Manohla Dargis -- got around to criticizing the film for insulting Jews, describing Tom Cruise's portrayal of a noxious studio executive as a "grotesque" stereotype, "heavily and heavy-handedly coded as Jewish" from "his swollen fingers to the heavy gold dollar-sign nestled on his yeti-furred chest."

I raise these questions not to criticize the movie, but to remind us -- you as a moviegoer as well as me as a writer -- that there's always a thin line between inspiration and offensiveness. If you're a satirist, it's one thing to cross that line, another thing not to bother giving thought about whether you've made it clear enough whom you are really making fun of.

The model of a great satire, if you've never seen it, is Alexander Payne's debut film, "Citizen Ruth," which manages to make fun of everyone across the political spectrum. It stars Laura Dern as a drug-sniffing loser who finds herself in the middle of a hilarious tug of war between prissy pro-lifers and sanctimonious pro-choicers after she gets pregnant and is ordered by a judge to have an abortion. Everyone gets their ox gored, but Payne manages to be caustic without being cruel. It's an art that's not as easy as it looks.

Photo of Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black in "Tropic Thunder" by Merie Weismiller Wallace/DreamWorks.

Comments

[muman613]

Are you a self-hater? I cant believe a Jew would write something like this. This is typical of self-hating hollywood liberal Jews...

Shame...

muman613

[yo Yo yo]

Huh? What was the point of this?

[Pete Buccola]

Setting aside commentary on the execution of the "satire," were all of the F-bombs necessary? I felt like a cold shower when I walked out of the theater. It's a cheap way to incite laughter, and an unfortunate replacement of wit for vulgarity.

[Mark Rogers]

I saw the film, it's just plain boring. I mean really boring. I should have gone to Batman again.

[Ashtonian]

Just because you are called Goldstein, doesn't give you the right.
However, in trying to find out what the title of the article meant I Googled the term and came across this

If you recently used Google to search for the word "Jew," you may have seen results that were very disturbing. We assure you that the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google. We'd like to explain why you're seeing these results when you conduct this search.

A site's ranking in Google's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to appear that cannot be predicted. A search for "Jew" brings up one such unexpected result.

If you use Google to search for "Judaism," "Jewish" or "Jewish people," the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for "Jew" different? One reason is that the word "Jew" is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word "Jewish" when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these:

[bob]

Good grief. The movie ain't no "Blazing Saddles". But then again, could you even make "Blazing Saddles" today with all the thin skinned political correctees. Pogo, where are you when we need you.

[Peter]

THE GOP AND MCCAIN BETTER TAKE NOTICE, THEY ARE ABOUT TO LOSE THEYRE BASE. HUCKABEE SUPPORTERS HAVE STARTED A MOVEMENT TO TRY AND GET HUCKABEE TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE GOP. TO START A NEW PARTY. THE GOP AND MCCAIN BETTER BECAREFUL., THEY ARE ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR BASE. TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELVES.
http://www.mccanes.com/newparty.html

[Nameless Joe]

Bigfoot looks just like my ex-wife. However, the last time I had heard she was living in Burbank and not Georgia. Who knows maybe she did move to the former Soviet Union.

[dane]

Ben Stiller is jewish. people are 'retarded' :P

[Delmar Jackson]

It use to be there were only two groups left you could ridicule in the media- White southern men and the mentally challenged. Now it Looks like the only targets left are the rednecks, everybody else has an advocacy group ready to sue or they call in the NAACP or SPLc or La Raza.
Should make for a lot more banjo music in future movies though.

wish someone would make a movie about how diversity destroys the unity of a country or how "multicultutalism" is really a seven syllable code word for a seven syllable phrase- "getting rid of white people.