When A Teddy Bear Is A Bully Bear

I love the movies. I’ll give anything a chance. I always keep an open mind whether it’s a comedy, drama, chick flick, or inspirational type of flick. There’s something so comforting sitting in a theater with an audience, nibbling on a big bucket of popcorn and sipping on a big-sized diet coke. Mayor Bloomberg has no chance of regulating my habits.

I usually try to find some positives from the movie I see, too. Usually, I find something. This was not the case with the movie, “Ted.” This is about a teddy bear coming to life. He’s cute and cuddly for sure but his foul-mouthed, drug-abusing behavior was a complete turn off.

Even more disgusting were the many jokes about people afflicted with Parkinson’s disease or cancer. Making fun of people who suffer day in and day out, struggling to live a normal life was nauseating, as was the astounding number of homophobic references and jokes. Incredibly, it spurred big bursts of sustained laughter from the very young audience.

Rated “R”, teenagers under the age of 17 needed to be accompanied by an adult. Give credit where it’s due. While waiting on line at the Regal in Deer Park’s Tanger Outlets, I noticed that the woman did request photo IDs from the many kids trying to get into this movie.

I sat through the whole movie and gave it a chance. I don’t know if I was more alarmed by the amount of homophobic jokes or by the delighted reactions of the audience. I was probably close to being the oldest person in the theater so we’re talking a generation of easily influenced young people.

I thought long and hard about how I would write this blog. I knew I couldn’t remain silent. What scares me is that this type of movie being shown to millions of kids will only lead to more bullying in the future. This movie gives permission to go ahead and mock the afflicted with terrible diseases, make fun of those who are different, and scorn those who are gay. It gave a big thumbs-up to laugh it up, mock away, and belittle society's most vulnerable.

A close friend of mine received a recommendation to go see it. I asked her what she thought. Maybe I was being too hard or just didn’t get the humor. Maybe I’m “out of it” and don’t get today’s levity. She expressed the same emotions. “I was embarrassed at the jokes, the casual glorification of drug use and the total disregard for people’s feelings, no matter who they are, what they are suffering from.”

This movie didn’t even deserve an “R” rating. It should have received a “D” for disgusting.