Tropic Thunder--for an out-of-box comedy experience!

My suggestion for a film to watch is Tropic Thunder.


The plot centers around a group of spoiled actors who are lost in the jungle while making a war movie. Ben Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, an almost washed up hero who earlier failed in his bid to win an Oscar while portraying Simple Jack, a character with an intellectual disability. Speedman’s portrayal of Simple Jack is featured as a movie within a movie. There were even fake websites and a “mockumentary”--Rain of Madness (which parodied the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse) for this movie, which was loosely based on the filming of Apocalypse Now, and how difficult the filming was for Francis Ford Coppola in 1979. 

The word “retard” is used 16 times in this movie. 

Also in the movie: 

• Mocking references to gay and fat people. 

• One character portrayed as a white man who has darkened his skin to play a black man. A black character criticizes him several times for impersonating a black man. 

• Extensive use of vulgar humor and profanity. 

• Many jokes about the shallowness, self-involvement and ignorance of actors and Hollywood executives in general.

I thought the film was hilarious, but I am sure many, many people might not like the film.

I was inspired to choose this movie after I saw an article on the news this week about people being outraged over Nick Cannon wearing white-face.

Nick Cannon on CBS

Seriously?!?!?

In the 1800s, play authors were ridiculing the government and the justice system, making fun of women and children being assaulted and potentially raped, and laughing at people dying, but there are still people in society today who make a big deal out of comedy and theater. Shakespeare performed plays dressed as women because females were not allowed on stage, and yet many people still criticize and alienate cross-dressers. How does that happen, when a society seems too go backward instead of progressing forward?

I think the lines are blurred as far as comedy and what is real for people. In today’s society, we mock people for everything. Our motto in comedy is pretty much ‘anything goes’, but there are always those 'political correctness' nazis who say, “The nerve of you people!” Needless to say, hypocrisy runs rampant in modern culture, and is widely acceptable, but a good comedy, created just to make people laugh is horrible! (insert sarcasm here).

Tropic Thunder breaks every ‘politically correct’ rule known in our culture, and I think this is an interesting movie to analyze for our class, because it gives us a hint of how viewing audiences may have felt during the eras many of our class plays were written.

I enjoy stepping out of my box, and I feel we have done that several times in this class. Keeping with the spirit of out-of-box experiences, I think this movie has all the awkwardness and uncomfortableness in the name of comedy that we can stand, and that many plays we have studied exemplified at the time they were performed.

My only concern is, this movie is quite vulgar. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.

The Beaver Coat – The Contrast Within

There were a few contrasts within this play. Among the few that I found, my favorite one would be,

Von Wehrhahn.  “…. And it’s as true when I say here, Mrs. Wolff is an honest soul, as it is when I tell you with the same certainty, your Dr. Fleischer is an extremely dangerous fellow.”

The judge is someone the public relies on for truth, he is the man that decides if another man is guilty or innocent. In this comedy, it is obvious that judge von Wehrhahn do not see good from evil. It is described in the play that Mrs. Wolff is responsible for the theft of the fire wood as well as the beaver coat. She is both deceptive and smart, and is capable of covering up her tracks so well that no one suspects her of stealing. However, Judge von Wehrhahn’s arrogance and ignorance has led him to believe that Mrs. Wolff is both honest and trustworthy. He only wants to uncover and arrest the sinister and the politically outlawed people in town and is completely blind towards a criminal right in front of him. To me, this is reflective of the foolishness of authorities in reality. Authorities are often so sure of themselves that they would not consider anything but their own point of view. They only cared about climbing up the political stairways to the top that they would do anything to get there, even if it involves stepping on a few innocents.

On the contrary, even though Dr. Fleicher reads about twenty different newspapers and talks to many free thinking people, there was not anything dangerous about him. He was not secretly plotting a revolution or attack on the government. If anything, he was portrayed as a loving father with a normal family and a friendly attitude. He even turned pale when Mrs. Wolff mentioned being locked up in jail. However, the judge is again lacking critical thinking when he assumes Dr. Fleicher is an anarchist based on Motes’ sole opinions. This is again reflective of the authorities’ decisions towards policies that are defective because they refuse to consider views that are less beneficial to them. Instead, they choose to claim views that are more likely to be accepted by the public at large, stabilizing their credibility in the process.

The Beaver Coat: A Satirical Play

                The play “The Beaver Coat”, to me, was obviously satirical.  Satire is defined as the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose or criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics or topical issues (Google Definitions).  The idea or persons that “The Beaver Coat” used satire to mock was the judgment system, or court, to me.  It should be said that I came to this conclusion with little to no knowledge about the time or setting that this play was written in.   The judge in the play, Judge Wehrhahn, seems very smug and is blinded by his drive to rid the village of Democrats or free thinkers (I must admit I am not too sure of what category of people he despises).  The conclusion of mocking the justice mainly comes from a quote from the play, “… It is simply disgraceful for a police official to permit himself to be deceived by anyone…” (Act II).   

The author, Gerhart Hauptmann, chose for the justice to say this and many other things of the same effect while the basis of the play is an average woman misleading him.


The justice, who as he hints, should have superior instinct into a person’s character; however, he does not. In fact, he trusts the characters in the play that deceive him the most, and are not high standing members of the community. Usually, one would think, a rich squire and a doctor would be honored within a society and trusted (Hauptmann, it could be said, uses these professions to reinforce the honorability and contrast it with the known scalawag, Motes, to make the satirical element that much more obvious). Judge Wehrhahn however does not trust Mr. Kruger or Dr. Fleischer. In fact, he finds Mr. Kruger annoying and does not do much to aid him in any way that is not required of him by law and is suspicious of Dr. Fleischer from the very beginning. This initial role reversal of characters that is trusted by the judge could be interpreted as mocking the court system of the time. It is only reinforced by the chicanery of Mrs. Wolff and how easily she deceives him and also by the role of Motes. Motes is known as the most hated man in town who does not pay off his debts and is also a favorite of the judge.





In conclusion, the “should-be-insightful-and-fair” judge is exactly the opposite. He trusts the most deceiving and guilty people while pointing his finger and being the most harsh on the respectable members of society. Hauptmann could be using the judge to portray his feelings on the entire court system in essence saying that the court is so focused on one thing that it is easily persuaded by the most astucious people.

The Contrast: Maria vs. Dimple

            The Contrast is quite the appropriate title for the name of this play by Royall Tyler.  There are many contrast elements going on in the play.  There is the contrast between the people of Europe, or Britain to be more specific, and the people of America, the contrast between genders, and the contrast between several different sets of characters.  The female characters in general are portrayed as less in control and passive while the men are dominant, which aligns with the time period that the play was written in.  Although this could be discussed in more detail, the specific contrast that I noticed and enjoyed the most throughout the play is the contrast between Maria and Dimple. 

            As was told by Letitia at the beginning of the play, after learning the death of his father Dimple traveled to England to see the world “and rub off a little patroon rust”.  So Dimple is shown as a man who has the means and wants to travel.  This is contrasted to Maria who chose to stay at home representing women as more subdued and less adventurous.  Maria, at home, began to delve into books, and became aware that she did not care for Dimple at all. The way the other characters, including her father, react to this, I feel like this was not common for women to do.  It seemed as if looking and finding knowledge was not almost acceptable for women. 

            The most obvious characteristic between the two that contrasted during the play could be examined directly through their relationship.  Maria, who no longer wanted to be in the relationship, stays due to loyalty to her father and the unwavering need to please him; whereas, Dimple, who wanted to escape the relationship as well, began to be snide to force Maria to break off the arrangement.  Maria acted out of selflessness, and Dimple out of selfishness.  As well it can be applied to the lack of interest in others that Maria showed, and Dimple’s two ladies that he had lined up.  Rather the contrast shown in this couple could be applied to the two different genders is another topic to be discussed.  It also could be argued that the genuinity Maria shows rewarded her in the end with a lover, and Dimple punished.