I find I've never had to be as defensive about an entertainment decision as I've had to be in deciding not to pay to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. So I’m explaining here and forever holding my peace, outside of forwarding the URL to people who haven’t realized they should stop bugging me about it.
I'm sure Borat is funny. I've thought Sacha Baron Cohen was funny since I first saw Da Ali G Show in the 1990s, when it was still British. The show was hilarious back then. The unwitting participants in the laughs were pretty hostile to the Ali G or Borat characters, and Cohen was good at rolling with that.
When the show came to HBO, it was still hilarious, but in a different way. The Americans were so nice to him. The hilarity came in this niceness: the desire to gloss over suggestions (even Polaroids) of Borat having sex with his sister, the struggle to maintain a polite round-table on religion while your moderator insisted you hadn't flushed the toilet after defecating, the patience of explaining why 'honkey' wasn't a nice way to describe white people.
With all of Cohen's characters, the hilarity’s produced through a reliance on the candid camera: his interlocutor/foil rising to infuriating bait, giving him too much benefit of the doubt, or else going off on an obliviously self-obsessed tangent. Witness is borne to this reliance by the unfunny, unmitigated crap that was Ali G Indahouse, a scripted film without candid reactions.
This reliance is complete with his Borat character, who says the most shocking things to the most average people. It's easier for me to laugh at Bruno and Ali G; the shtick from those characters is often directed at types who should know better because they court that kind of attention. But the humour in Borat's shtick is akin to running up to some jerk on the street, farting in his face, and filming the reaction.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Al Barger
Having actually seen the Borat movie (but never Da Ali G Show), I will report that the movie IS hilarious, but not really at the expense of the Americans. Really, none of the Americans had a meltdown or did much that was really dumb. You might fault the Americans for erring somewhat on the side of being too patient with the foreigner talking foolishness, but they really did very little that would subject them to ridicule. The folks at the Alabama dinner party were particularly patient and nice, even when he's bringing a bag of poo to their dinner table.
2 - Melita Teale
Al, I'm glad it's good. I don't have a problem with the mockery of Americans myself - you know, I don't know of too many other countries where self-satire is so well developed.
You shouldn't miss the show. It's good. And if you're already paying for HBO, you don't need to pay to see it.
3 - nugget
I couldn't agree more. Though I did see it, and I was a bit disappointed.
4 - Al Barger
Melita, I'm 100% in favor of satirizing Americans. We're big boys and girls, and we can take it. I went expecting to see that some Americans had been behaving badly, and was pleasantly surprised at how well we came out of this test.
Also, I would specifically disagree with your description of the Borat approach as "lazy." You might say that he was fighting dirty with his deceptive tactics, or that Nugget was less than impressed with the results. However, there was nothing lazy about the approach, and Cohen very much put both his dignity and even his personal safety very much on the line.
5 - Melita Teale
Al, I pointed out in my article that I'm sure Cohen works hard on Borat. If you watched the show, you'd see a scene where he gets piss drunk and stays in character with hilarious results. It's incredible. Or it's cocaine. Either way, he's a hard-working man.
I called the humour lazy. It's well-done candid camera. I'd watch it for free on an aeroplane. I wouldn't pay $12 for it. You did. That's where we disagree.
6 - John Galt
"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist; the fashionable non-conformist." - Ayn Rand
7 - JC
I think you're missing the boat a little bit here. It's hardly lazy humour. In fact, Borat is smart in the sense that as over-the-top as the character may be, the humour is revealed when the interviewees reveal their own prejudices and racism.
One of the funniest bits from Ali G is when Bruno interviews a bunch of fashion designers, and in the process they contradict themselves over and over again, revealing once and for all the vacuousness and brainlessness that dominates our society.
8 - Melita Teale
Hey . . . I'd pay alot more than $12 to see the Bruno movie. Are you people actually reading the article, or just getting pissed off that I don't want to see this movie and letting your eyes go cross-eyed at bits where I talk about things like liking characters like Bruno better because the people he's working with court that sort of attention?
BTW, Ayn Rand is for babies.
9 - JC
I did read your article. You argue that "the humour in Borat's shtick is akin to running up to some jerk on the street, farting in his face, and filming the reaction", I maintain that it's a little bit smarter than that.
His stupidity, if taken at face value, is nothing more, but I say it's a device to expose even more stupidity.
Incidentally, I clicked through to your personal blog, and just on the first post alone, I noted two comments directed at two different races. Though they might not necessarily be "racist" per se, I wonder how well you'd fare in a Borat interview yourself.
10 - Melita Teale
Incidentally, JC, I belong to one of those races, and the other was in a Cohen song title. But it's nice to know you can read individual words when you have something to prove.
11 - CChen
Melita, I totally agree with your point of view. Thanks for writing the article, I'm getting so sick of everyone just loving the movie because they feel so superior to the people in the movie.
And don't get me wrong, I don't condone the opinions of many of Borat's victims.
As someone who was one of only a couple of asians in a small West Virginian town, I got my fill of bigotted treatment; food thrown at me at school, racial slurs yelled at me on the street, people following me into the bathroom to verbally harass me.
Still there were lovely people who were nice to me, who tried within the best of their knowledge, and cultural experience to be good to me. I saw people like that in the movie too and I don't appreciate it.
12 - Bliffle
I decided soon after this movie appeared that I wouldn't see it: Too broad.
13 - Melita Teale
Thanks, Chen. You got what I was driving at. In great part Borat’s straight men are run-of-the-mill people who see an anxious, vulnerable fish-out-of-water. Laughing at those people, who sometimes act like idiots trying to reassure or accommodate the fish-out-of-water, is cheap.
It’s like this CanCom segment called “Talking to Americans.” A Canadian ‘reporter’ shanghais people on the street and asks them ridiculous questions about things like a non-existent $5 Canadian coin called the “woody.” People are anxious to be helpful and to sound like they know what they’re talking about. They can be interviewed in the hundreds and carefully edited for maximum hilarity. The end result makes the United States look like a nation of ignorant loudmouths. That’s cheap, candid-camera humour. Hilarious, but cheap. Too cheap to pay for. Just like Borat.
But “TOA” sometimes tackles people who should know better about the questions they’re asked, like academics or politicians. And then it’s not so cheap. And it’s not like Borat anymore. AND I don't have to pay $12 to see it.
14 - Ty
You are Canadian, so we are not surprised you don't want to see it. This film polks fun at Americans, so it is most enjoyed by Americans and those who hate Americans (Which is why this did well opening weekend in Europe).
I saw Da Ali G Show originally on HBO and Borat was easily my favorite character of his. That is why I saw the Borat movie and loved it too.
What you call "cheap," I call biting social commentary.
Example: Cohen doesn't wash his suit for Borat. Why? The suit being smelly makes him seem more foreign to Americans. THAT IS BITING SOCIAL COMMENTARY. Without doing anything but having Americans smell him, social commentary is made: you are a foreigner if you smell. Americans believe his nonsense because he has dark skin, a thick moustache, and "smells" like a foreigner.
What does say about American society? The thing is, you don't care because you aren't American. Americans care, which is what makes this interesting and funny to us at the same time.
15 - Snarkattack
I agree that the humour of Ali G in the US series isn't as well-developed as the British (which I loved, though I could be biased because I am British) but I wouldn't completely agree that Americans were nice to him - in fact, they seemed a little more open to telling him when he was offensive (thinking of the American and British 'posh' dinner parties respectively).
Borat in the British series seems to have a more highly developed sense of cultural critique (for instance, his commentary on the regatta is very...telling!) but indeed he does seem to go a bit more for the cheap laugh in the US.
But I think that this tactic already - possibly - reveals something about his intended audience, or preconceptions of, would you not agree?
Obviously Cohen is going to be able to take the piss out of the British better because he is British, whereas with America, strangely enough, it is foreign of sorts - in that he hasn't lived there (correct me if I'm wrong). His knowledge of the States, much like my own, is probably based to a large extent on media consumption.
16 - Melita Teale
Maybe you're right, Snarkattack. Maybe understanding the class structure and urban environments in Britain gave him more to be clever about. Now Borat, at least, has been reduced to laughs via smelliness (I've heard Cohen talking about that, Ty; it adds physical humour to situations like unexpectedly kissing grown men, and in terms of 'biting social commentary' rates somewhere below the tough moral stand "There's Something About Mary" took against stalking). But it works, so there you are, I guess.
The first few episodes of the HBO series seemed dumbed down. I thought this was on purpose because obviously there's alot to be witty and acerbic about in the United States if you want to be, and because eventually the Ali G interviews with semi-famous writers and politicians got so hilarious.
This kind of proves your point, though, as he does his funniest stuff with media figures. The Borat character never stepped up like that. I hope that was to keep a lower profile before the film, and not because Cohen'd rather step on little toes than big ones.
17 - John Galt
"BTW, Ayn Rand is for babies. "
That statement alone, proves to me that I'm am posting to an idiot...
18 - Melita Teale
It's is interesting you're are so sure, about that...
19 - John Galt
Ayn Rand, is easily one of the greatest philosophical minds to ever walk the Earth. Dismissing Objectivism, as "something for babies", is a strong indicator of a weak intellect...
20 - Melita Teale
John, why don't you write an article about Ayn Rand and objectivism?
Then I'll write a comment about how she butchered literature and philosophy at once in her crummy rants, and maybe about how objectivism is the paranoid self-justification of infantile assholes who want a prettier way to describe themselves.
Even if I make a good point, you'll look like a much stronger intellect than you do now because one of the editors will fix your punctuation.
21 - John Galt
I must admit, I am pleasantly surprised. I guess my spelling must be better than I thought, if it makes you desperate enough to reach as far as punctuation in search of "counterarguments". What's next - a wrong font, not enough spaces in a tab? Nevertheless, you choosing to attack the form over the essence just proves my earlier point.
I rest my case, and leave you with a quote:
"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." - Ayn Rand
Goodbye.
22 - Melita Teale
Ladies and gentlemen, John leaves us with a quote explaining the philosophy of an infantile asshole. You should remember it; that way you'll never have to consider subjecting yourself to objectivist "literature".
The philosophical novel is one thing. A paranoid prose-pisser plugging unoriginal ideas of obsessive selfishness through fiction because it's easier for her to manipulate imaginary (if tedious) situations than pay attention to biological and social reality - that's Ayn Rand.
Sacha Baron Cohen himself has more vision. I'm still not going to see the Borat movie, though.
23 - Dennis M
I agree with you on Ayn Rand.
That being said, it's fascinating that you write an elitist article, then attack an elitist (though less grammatically impressive) poster.
So your argument is (and I'll accept the fart in someone's face comment as provocative sensationalism) that it's too low a common denominator, and in essence, you're above that.
Well. If you bothered to see the movie, rather than attack a straw man, then many of your claims would be disproved. There's plenty of the "niceness" you describe, and even if it is occasionally prone to the shock statements towards the unsuspecting victim - so what? Better to leave it unacknowledged, and the elephant in the room, than satirize it and make it comedic?
You'd also find Borat "fucking hilarious", I suspect.
Until then, you just seem miserly for the sake of being miserly.
24 - Melita Teale
More like I'm above paying $12 for that, Dennis. That only makes me miserly from the point of view of the film's producers. The $12 I save will almost certainly not be sensibly spent, I'm afraid. But it will be more sensibly spent than going to see Borat. Cohen's humour is television fare at best and from an amusement point of view I haven't heard anything suggesting the film offers more than the show.
Obviously there's more to it than that or else I just would have shut up, so . . . You talk about "leaving it unacknowledged, and the elephant in the room, than satirize it and make it comedic" and I think you're talking about the niceness. That's the thing.
It's not uncovered or unacknowledged. It's right there. It's the way people get through life without killing each other. You could satirize it, sure. But not in a way that's going to be interesting enough for me to blow $12 on. Or $8 on Tuesdays. Frankly, I don't think it's even something I want to spend 84 minutes on.
There is so much else to satirize that's worth time and money. My time and money. And if that makes me elitist, viva elitism.
25 - IgnatiusReilly
"paranoid self-justification"
sounds like this article.