John Noble (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackofallgeeks) wrote2007-03-14 08:37 am
jackofallgeeks) wrote2007-03-14 08:37 am
Borat
So, recently one of my friends on Facebook has been leaving a number of his Groups, presumably having out-grown the moment, and their news feeds are kind enough to tell me about this. (Point of fact, I like the news feeds). One such group that they left caught my interest, entitled "Boycott Borat and Sacha Baron Cohen!" I was interested because, having accidentally seen the movie (a story which involves, of course, a pretty girl influencing my judgment) I can say that I very strongly disliked the movie, but couldn't see anything in particular to spur some kind of a public movement like that. So I checked it out.
That's all the description the group had. To save you time reading, the article is from a British newspaper proclaiming that the town which was featured as Borat's home is angry about how they were portrayed in the movie and rising up to sue the Baron. I'll note here that the town he used wasn't depicted as anything; they were used to depict a Kazakh town in an insulting light, but that's not the same thing. Kazakhstan would be right to be angry, not this little town.
But that's tangential; it's not my point to talk about who should or should not sue Baron Cohen (I'd argue no one should). The rest of the group is just a big flamewar down their Wall, with people crying such buzzwords as Antisemitism (can a Jew himself be antisemitic? A question for another time), and Anti-American Propaganda, and the 'reasonable' voices saying things like "R U FUCKING RETARDED? DUDE SACHA BARON COHEN IS A JEW YOU DUMBASS..." Ah, how enlightened we can be.
And that is the point. I hated the movie Borat. It was crude, obscene, insulting on almost every level I can imagine. But it was true. People are like that, Americans are like that. Baron Cohen has admitted that he used Borat (in this movie and elsewhere) to draw out the inherent biases that people generally hide in polite company. I can appreciate and almost respect Borat for the social commentary it presents, a fact which is tinged slightly by the fact that, I imagine, most people who watch the movie will never realize it. I fear that most of America is going to sit down and watch the movie and see it at face value. And in all likelihood, they're going to laugh at the great comedy they're presented with.
I think that bit is probably the true genius of Borat; it's social commentary doesn't end with the film. Every theatre crowd that goes to see it (or college dorm that rents it, etc) and laughs themselves to tears is one more notch on the one, one more bit of proof that, essentially, we are everything Cohen has made us out to be.
You have to be pretty low to think most of that movie's funny.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=415871&in_page_id=1770
After you read this you'll understand. Maybe we were able to see past all of the lies that Cohen got Americans to believe, but this is truly disturbing.
That's all the description the group had. To save you time reading, the article is from a British newspaper proclaiming that the town which was featured as Borat's home is angry about how they were portrayed in the movie and rising up to sue the Baron. I'll note here that the town he used wasn't depicted as anything; they were used to depict a Kazakh town in an insulting light, but that's not the same thing. Kazakhstan would be right to be angry, not this little town.
But that's tangential; it's not my point to talk about who should or should not sue Baron Cohen (I'd argue no one should). The rest of the group is just a big flamewar down their Wall, with people crying such buzzwords as Antisemitism (can a Jew himself be antisemitic? A question for another time), and Anti-American Propaganda, and the 'reasonable' voices saying things like "R U FUCKING RETARDED? DUDE SACHA BARON COHEN IS A JEW YOU DUMBASS..." Ah, how enlightened we can be.
And that is the point. I hated the movie Borat. It was crude, obscene, insulting on almost every level I can imagine. But it was true. People are like that, Americans are like that. Baron Cohen has admitted that he used Borat (in this movie and elsewhere) to draw out the inherent biases that people generally hide in polite company. I can appreciate and almost respect Borat for the social commentary it presents, a fact which is tinged slightly by the fact that, I imagine, most people who watch the movie will never realize it. I fear that most of America is going to sit down and watch the movie and see it at face value. And in all likelihood, they're going to laugh at the great comedy they're presented with.
I think that bit is probably the true genius of Borat; it's social commentary doesn't end with the film. Every theatre crowd that goes to see it (or college dorm that rents it, etc) and laughs themselves to tears is one more notch on the one, one more bit of proof that, essentially, we are everything Cohen has made us out to be.
You have to be pretty low to think most of that movie's funny.