London Free Press – Thursday Ticket – Did he really say that? — I’m sure this movie is hilarious, but there are always deeper sociologies at work here with this sort of offensive humor. It should be fun to watch the off-screen machinations.
As everyone now “knows,” Kazakhstan is a backward land where the national drink is fermented horse urine.
It’s a place where prostitutes are nationally ranked, where horses have the vote but women don’t, where the premier’s wife’s duties include sleeping with foreign dignitaries, and where villages across the country celebrate the traditional “running of the Jew” (an event where “Mrs. Jew” lays an egg that villagers are encouraged to smash before it hatches).
The beauty of Borat Sagdiyev, the grey-suited “foreign-smelling” Kazakhstani reporter from Da Ali G Show, is that the character’s creator, Sacha Baron Cohen, has chosen to slander a country most people don’t even know exists.
The thing is that he’s not really making fun of Kazakhstan.
His portrayal of Kazakhstan is simply goofy.
He is actually making fun of Americans. He uses our stereotypes in order to catch people off guard and expose their own foolishness.
anyone that thinks it has anything to do with Kazakhstan is missing the point.
Considering the amount of money spent on PR for this film I hope it flops.
Another advantage to sniping at Kazakhstan is that nobody will stand up and defend them due to their remarkably repressive regime.
I’m watching it Friday because:
1: It’s an R rated comedy
2: Nothing else new worth seeing
Who is he making “fun” of? Mankind if you ask me.
If aliens were to utilize Earth, they’d probably install video cameras and use it as entertainment in the “Jerry Springer” genre….
In 2002 Combat 18, the Neo Nazi group, issued Sacha Baron Cohen with death threats containing anti-semetic and racist language…maybe this is why his new character Borat is now celebrating the “running of the Jew”?
My wife has a friend that has spent 10 of the last 13 years in Kazakhstan. Mr. Cohen’s character, from what I am told, is pretty much spot-on.
My wife works with people from Uzbekistan and Azerbiazan and she’s asked if they’ve seen any of the Borat sketches. When they say ‘no’ she tells them a couple of Borat’s situations and responses. The reaction is always the same: Oh, yes. That’s a Kazakh.
I hear he’s going to do Jews next- y’know little beanies, snipping the tips of baby penises, hitting women who try to pray at the wailing wall… it should be a hoot!
This is racist & no one sees why.
It’s funny because he’s making fun of the close minded un-informed lives led by most people in the western-world, specifically the United States.
He reminds me of a foreign Tom Green.
It’s sad that people will actually believe this false image he creates about a poor known country. Fact is that with his poorly acted Russian accent and a few phrases from the Polish vocabulary he really isn’t in the position to make such statements. I find it sad that people find pleasure in such low forms of comedy…
From what clips and interviews I have seen, this guy is not ‘goofy’… he is just retarded.
If you don’t “get” the Colbert Report,
You will not “get” this movie.
#6
For crying out loud “…Cohen “is himself proudly Jewish”.
It’s called self irony. Please……
#8
Well, they are aware of “one serious pitfall is that the audience may not always be sophisticated enough to get the joke, “
Seems like they were right. Now that’s a pity.
Again; He’s poking fun of us. When we recognize ourself in his ridiculously funny character, we laugh. Of our selves!
It’s comedy you thin skinned boneheads 8)
From what I understand from the trailers and misc. previewers … the film shows the Kazakhs as backward, prejudiced and retarted but … less so then the average american … maybe the joke is on us!
I wonder why the choice of country name.
I like Scott Adams choice of “Elbonia” which (and because), to my knowledge, is not a real country.
Are people really do dim witted and blinkered that a satire about ones country and mannerisms can cause offense? Was Faulty Towers racist? C’mon guys, lighten up…
“Again; He’s poking fun of us. When we recognize ourself in his ridiculously funny character, we laugh. Of our selves!
It’s comedy you thin skinned boneheads”
Oh I know I know! And the minstrel shows did the same
thing! Bring them back! And lets have more jokes about
cripples! They aren’t really making fun of cripples, they’re
making fun of OURSELVES!
The worst humor needs explanations. If explicatory
material is needed, you know what? It ain’t funny.
#17 – Two scenarios, both of which happen a lot:
(1) You think something s funny and I don’t.
(2) *I* think something is funny and *you* don’t.
Who’s right? Who’s funny? Chaplin or Keaton? Jerry Lewis or Mike Meyers? McLean & McLean or Bob & Doug McKenzie? (Canuck references, BTW)
Humour is subjective.
15,
Maybe he doesn’t like Kazakstan’s government and wanted to embarrass them.
This very little to do with how backward kazak society is ….more how ignorant the american is
the movie is getting good reviews at metacritic and rotten tomatoes
#18, nope.
If your idea of funny is the denigration or injuring of another, then you don’t know funny. You well know that your falling down the stairs might be funny to watchers, but your broken neck might not be so funny to you.
Chaplin and Keaton both self denigrated; they were the fools. The same with Doug and Bob MacKenzie who didn’t make fun of Canadians, they made fun of themselves.
I caught the last couple of minutes of Borat on The Daily Show Thursday night. Stewart offered him some coffee and Borat took a sip. After Stewart mentioned he was Jewish, Borat spit the coffee back into the cup. Funny? No. And it doesn’t matter if both Sacha Baron Cohen and John Stewart are Jewish, it was humiliating and denigrating to all Jews that whatever they touch, simply because they are Jewish, is poison.
Wow Fusion, how’s the air up there on that horse?
i guess jews only get the news at 16fps
cause at 24-30fps that was hilarious
Anyone who has actually watched Borat sketches and has half a brain cell knows that he is using the character as a method to poke fun at Western norms. It allows him to say outrageous comments in order to show how ridiculous those things are. For example, his anti-semitic behaviour is totally over-the-top, but it’s making fun of anti-semites not jewish people.