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Tropic Thunder, the comedy action satire movie directed by Ben Stiller, has been a topic of controversy since its release on August 13, 2008. Over the years, the film has garnered a lot of criticism due to its portrayal of Robert Downey Jr. wearing blackface and its presentation of disability.
Although Kirk Lazarus' role in the movie brought Downey Jr. an Oscar nomination, he still faced a lot of backlash for the blackface.
The movie's director, Ben Stiller, recently took to Twitter to opine on the issue after a Twitter user told him to "stop apologizing" for the film. In response to the tweet, Stiller wrote:
"I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it."
Stiller's response has now gone viral as it has once again brought the Tropic Thunder controversy to the surface. Without further ado, let's dig deep and find out more details regarding the controversy.
Ben Stiller defends Tropic Thunder and says he is "Proud of it"
Take a closer look at the tweet by the Twitter user and Ben Stiller's response to it below:
The movie revolves around a team of prima donna actors, including Tugg Speedman, played by Stiller, Jeff Portnoy, portrayed by Jack Black, and Kirk Lazarus, played by Robert Downey Jr., who get off-tracked in the forest while filming for a war movie and end up fending for themselves.
In the movie, Robert Downey Jr.'s character Kirk Lazarus has undergone an extremely controversial "pigmentation alteration" process to darken his skin tone. The actor's blackface is not just visual, as he also plays a white Australian, making an immensely offensive representation of a Black American throughout the entire movie.
This, alongside the inadequate presentation of disability, has generated a lot of criticism since its arrival in theaters, given the extremely racist history of blackface in cinema.
Despite all the controversies over the years, director Ben Stiller still defends the movie because of its satirical approach. The primal motto of the movie, Tropic Thunder, is that nothing is hallowed. The plot makes fun of everything "wrong" with Hollywood culture, entailing product placement, problematic production, drug use, addiction, and more.
The movie also talks about megalomaniacal processes that are keener to make money than depicting real stories. It further sheds light upon the ludicrousness of Hollywood for using serious topics as money-making supplies.
Thus, the use of blackface in the movie is no different than the rest, as it is also displayed as part of the same absurdity in Hollywood. On top of that, these facts are also directly addressed in the movie's story.
In another 2018 tweet, Stiller also explained:
"It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards."
The story for Tropic Thunder was written by Ben Stiller and Justin Theroux, while the screenplay was written by Etan Cohen, along with Stiller and Theroux.
Apart from Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr., the cast list for the movie also includes Nick Nolte, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson, Tom Cruise, and more.
