10 WTF Moments In Film You Won't Believe They Got Away With

7. Blackface? Really?!

The Film: Tropic Thunder I'll get this out of the way immediately: there is no reason to forgive classic films for their racist jokes, simply because they are a product of "another time" and "another way of thinking." The culture of any society is to be judged by the fundamental principals that society represents - which is why there's not exactly a great deal of clamour to celebrate the propaganda-heavy films made under the Nazi regime. But those films still have an excuse, in conventional terms - they were plugged into the zeitgeist that, like it or not, was rife with bigotry and prejudices. Today, including casual, or comedic racism in films is just plain wrong, unless the film has a conscious agenda to tackle a linked issue, or is a true historical reflection of a time when that sort of philosophy prevailed. So when Tropic Thunder went all "clever" and provocative and cast Robert Downey Jnr as a method actor who "blacked up" to show his commitment to the role, as well as to make a commentary on Hollywood's preference to cast white, it's safe to say some people were appalled. But the film got off scot-free, because the performance was funny, and somehow the awards givers almost recognised Downey Jnr for playing what amounted to a stereotyped caricature, as if his ability to stick to it was to be applauded in some way. Ok, so the parody element was forgivable, but when you look at that decision in the wider context of the film, which is otherwise fairly dumb, you have to question the real motives, or the intellect behind it. And it's at that point the decision to use blackface becomes a lot more questionable.