Many people only know Justin Theroux, if they know his name at all, as
the future Mr. Jennifer Aniston. They probably don’t realize that he’s a
successful actor in his own right, with a résumé ranging from comedies like Romy
and Michele’s High School Reunion and Zoolander to much creepier
fare like American Psycho and Mulholland Drive. They are almost
certainly unaware that he is a screenwriter as well, whose credits include Iron
Man 2, Rock of Ages, and Tropic Thunder. But if he can
make an impact with his newest project, with which he hopes to tear down the
walls of political correctness,
he might become a household name.
Theroux is no stranger to testing the boundaries of PC. Tropic
Thunder featured Robert Downey. Jr. essentially performing in blackface (technically speaking, Downey’s
character, an actor, underwent “pigmentation alteration” for his role as the
black sergeant). In one controversial scene, Downey’s character explains to Ben
Stiller’s that an actor should never go “full retard” if he wants to win an
Oscar. The politically insensitive phrase drew a lot of criticism, which irked Theroux.
In a recent interview with Elle, he said,
There’s a certain
point where political correctness becomes extremely conservative and it skews
to a point where it becomes humorless… You have to be sure of what your target
is, who the joke is on. I was so saddened that people were offended by the
full-r-word scene, because we worked really hard making sure that joke was
aimed at Hollywood and actors portraying mentally challenged people. I remember
being so bummed out. They literally picketed us. It was like, ‘Really? Satire
is allowed to do this!’”
The Elle article noted that Theroux’s “aversion to PC” is leading him
to work on an animated series that would challenge our politically correct sacred
cows: “a long-germinating project modeled on All in the Family.”
In case you are too young to have
experienced it firsthand, the groundbreaking All in the Family was one of the most controversial and yet beloved
sitcoms in entertainment history. Featuring the brilliant Carroll O’Connor as lovable
old conservative crank Archie Bunker clashing with hippie son-in-law Michael “Meathead”
Stivic (a young Rob Reiner), it captured the fiery generational conflict of the
era and handled it with humor, insight, and fairness (neither ultra-conservative
Archie nor ultra-liberal Meathead had a monopoly on wisdom, and they often
learned from each other). It dealt with a whole raft of social issues that
network television (the only television there was) normally wouldn’t touch.
There hasn’t been anything quite like it since.
Apparently, in Theroux’s new All in the Family, the Archie Bunker
character will be liberal rather than conservative. It remains to be seen
whether this will be a positive or not, or whether the show will grapple
seriously with the social issues of the day or simply aim to offend; Theroux
hints that it might be the latter, which would be a disappointment: “When was
the last time you were super offended?” he asked the Elle interviewer. “I might be like, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve
ever heard!’ Or, ‘It’s not my thing,’ or, ‘It was a stupid joke.’ But there’s
such a sensitivity now. Political correctness has become really insidious.”
Insidious indeed. In fact, I’m
often surprised and disturbed that many young people don’t understand what
political correctness actually is, or
how threatening it is to our freedom of speech, a precious freedom often taken
for granted. Too many believe that PC is simply a set of language guidelines to
protect people’s feelings from hurtful words – which sounds very considerate. But
the term actually began in reference to the Communist party line, which
determined the “correct” positions on political matters. It defined the
boundaries of what ideas and language were “acceptable” to discuss and hold,
and which ones would get you a midnight knock from the secret police. It is a
means of controlling ideas and attitudes by restricting, and in some cases
redefining, language. The totalitarian possibilities of that are terrifying.
Taking on political correctness shouldn’t
be just about preserving the right to be offensive. It’s a matter of holding
free speech sacred. If Justin Theroux can pull off a fair-and-balanced program
that seeks to champion that concept rather than simply insult, then it will be
a welcome, important change in the television landscape.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 7/28/14)
