My thoughts on…Borat: The aftermath
November 15th 2006 -
It’s been almost two weeks since Borat hit theatres, but it’s still making an impact. IMDB ranks at 168th in its list of the 250 best movies of all time. The movie made a remarkable $26 million in it’s opening weekend, even more impressive considering that it only opened in 837 theatres. Borat’s MySpace profile (which is possibly the worst assembled webpage in the history of the Internet) shows him having 329,228 friends! (I bet most of them just befriended him to get hits for their profile or ‘cause it was cool. Posers.) It was official. Borat movie was success. It make lot of money, enough to buy all the prostitutes in Kazakhstan, leave enough for next movie, and maybe enough to buy enough firepower to kill all the Jews back home.
Its offensive content, which insulted Blacks, Whites, Feminists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and just about anyone with a soul, drew major laughs from moviegoers. But now the “innocent” people who were involved aren’t laughing. Two college boys are suing Cohen and 20th Century Fox, stating that the movie “made plaintiffs the object of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community.”How? Because they made racist remarks about slavery while drunk, and said minorities have all the power. They claim they were taken advantage of, because they were encouraged to drink and when they became intoxicated, were persuaded to sign consent forms.
Dharma Arthur, a TV reporter, lost her job because she failed to do reasearch before booking Borat on a local news program. She said, “Because of him, my boss lost faith in my abilities and second-guessed everything I did thereafter…. I spiraled into depression, and before I could recover, I was released from my contract early. It took me three months to find another job, and now I’m thousands of dollars in debt and struggling to keep my house out of foreclosure…. How upsetting that a man who leaves so much harm in his path is lauded as a comedic genius”. And many people were duped into participating in the prank, mainly due to their own greed and lack of literacy.
Now these people are crying to the courts, trying to get what Sacha “owes” them. To them I say “Get over it!” You gave up that right when you signed the consent forms. Your desire for instant gratification overtook your good judgment. And now that your humiliation has entertained and made millions, you wanna whine to the authorities. I bet you wouldn’t care less if the movie was a flop. It’s that same greed that led you to this point in the first place. As for those college boys, your “mental anguish” is your fault. You showed who you truly are, and now that you’ve been revealed for the bigots that you are, you want to blame someone else. You will even go as far a blaming the alcohol, even though your friends say you are constantly drunk.
Dharma, just shut up. Even if Borat caused you to lose your job, he didn’t cause you to be thousands of dollars in debt. This is just a sad attempt to get the sympathy of the jury and make it look as if you’ve gone through hell. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? But Borat may have reached the peak of his success, as the other day he was knocked out by a potential victim while trying to pull a prank, a victim who probably recognized him and wasn’t up for it. Proof that since Borat has become a recognizable part of mainstream culture, it will be harder for him find saps for his interviews. One thing’s for sure, this is one foreigner whose visit will not soon be forgotten.
Abeni Says:
November 15th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
I can’t wait to see this movie.Lawd,can lawsuits get any more frivolous?
Trouble Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Leon, I’m sure you’re also aware that Andy Kaufman was one of the notable innovators of this type of anti-comedy, and was confusing audiences around the world decades ago. It is controversial form because it is meant to be. Its main aim is to challenge established conventions, and inspire the observer to look more deeply into the content… In my opinion, however, this rarely happens.
It’s fairly obvious that Sacha Cohen is talented, and takes his work very seriously, as did Kaufman; he attempts to show us how absurd our conventional ways of thinking are through the gross exaggeration of his characters’ flaws… Problems occur when the ‘character’ becomes identified as a ‘real’ person, at that point the audience stops scrutinizing the message behind what the character is saying or doing, and simply identifies with what is being said or done. It is unfortunate that human nature instigates this very paradox. Our human predilection to identify with ‘real’ people, over a complex idea or concept, can cause the complete unraveling of the artist’s original intention.
Leon Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Wow Trouble. You said a mouthful!
big-al Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
hey leon
havent seen the movie yet but i am looking forward to see it.
looks like real fun.
keep it up , great blog.
Kingston Girl Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
It’s the same as with the first series of Ali-G - he got some high-profile people on it because they weren’t sure what it was all about. Now however, everyone knows.
http://Gela!.com Says:
November 16th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
I like this post Leon.
Anonymous Says:
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 am
You seem very cold and unsympathetic, but it isn’t your ass hanging out there for all to see.
Borat was the WORST film I’ve ever seen. I could live without the image of him crapping and masterbating in the middle of New York City. The image of two ugly naked men wrestling in a hotel room is forever etched in my mind. The film was insulting to anyone with intelligence or dignity.
Did he pay for damages to hotel rooms & antique shops? He messed with people’s lives and jobs under false pretenses and there should be an accountability on Sacha’s part for this. You don’t just march into someone’s country, workplace, home, raise hell and get off scot-free.
Since when are rape, incest, beastiality, sodomy & abortion laughing matters? If any American father showed a photograph of his teenage son’s penis in public or on film, he would be arrested for child pornography. Yet Borat supposedly exposes his “son’s” full-frontal nudity and we all laugh and point? What’s wrong with this picture??
Black women are portrayed as whores, Americans are portrayed as drunks, bigots, religious fanatics. Jews are highly disrespected in this film. Russian citizens are misrepresented as being ignorant, incestuous people. Women are only referenced as sexual objects.
Borat crosses the line between borderline humor and outright vomitous material. The fact that this film was a hit reflects just how low our entertainment standards have fallen.