Many of you have probaby seen the comedy The Ringer starring Johnny Knoxville. If you haven't, it is about this normal guy who some how gets his way into to compete in the specical olympics to win to hopefully pay off a hospital bill. This movie casts many mentally handicapped people to play the roles of the special athletes. Throughout the movie, the director definitely pokes fun at by making many of the actors appear unintelligent and say incorrect things. I recently watched this movie the other night and I began to think about how they depicted mentally challenged people. At first I thought they were helping mentally handicapped people to get noticed and shed light on the special olympics. But after really looking closely on how it was written, I thought that some parts poked fun at the handicapped characters.
My question for you is what do yo think about this movie? Did you think it was meant to embrace and aware people of mentally challenged others? Or do you think it made fun of mentally challenged people?
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i havent seen the movie in a long time, and i know it certainly seems like a controversial topic, with a comedian like Johnny Knoxville pretending to be mentally challenged. But of course that movie has it's golden-moral-touching-ending that is supposed to make the film okay and an inspiration for others who weren't supportive of these individuals to quickly become so. And if im not mistaken, i believe the handicap people that co-star in the film with Knoxville as his friends are handicapped in real life as well. I'm not certain, youd have to double check, but i think thats actually true-and if it is and they have real life handicap people playing themselves in the movie, how can this be more about making fun of these individuals, rather than being supportive of them?
ReplyDeleteWow I was actually just talking about this with Julia today aly. But anyway, I do agree that there are parts that poke fun at mentally challenged people, but I do not think that the movie was really made to poke fun at these individuals. It was obviously made to be funny and people being made fun of or picked on or put in troubling situations is found to be comical in society today. If what Tom says is true about his co-stars being mentally challenged in real life then I would have to agree and say that they can't really be poking fun at anyone if they are really mentally challenged.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the movie so I probably shouldn't comment. But, I do think art (whether it's music, books, or movies) touches people in different ways. You have experience with disable people so you might think it was an offensive/unjust portrayal. Others who don't have that experience might learn something or become more open to groups they wouldn't have prior to the movie. I think touching on disabilities in main stream media is a huge step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThis movie had two themes to it from what I got from it. First it was ujst a regular guy trying to take advantage of the disabled, but the story slowly changed directions and seemed to give Knoxville a epiphany in which he embraced these athletes that were disabled and it almost turned it a movie with a sincere ending instead of your typical jackass stuff
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this movie and the way you describe it makes me not want to see it. I think it is ridiculous when people pick on others for being "less" than them in society. Who makes anyone better than anyone else? Good topic and i like that you finished with questions to us as the readers, made it all the more interesting.
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