Spring Break
Fear Not, Borat Fans
There's hope for America yet
Akil Alleyne
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Opinion
Much ink has been spilled about the American bigotry exposed in British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. From the scene in which Borat asks a gun shop owner for the best weapon to defend against Jews and receives the recommendation of a 9MM or a .45, to the scene where rodeo manager Bobby Rowe casually advocates the lynching of gays, Borat offers myriad examples of bigotry at which well-meaning, earnest pundits can wring their hands. And the chattering classes have wasted no time in doing so. Bloggers and pundits from Ryan Gilbey at London's leftist weekly The New Statesman to the writers of Rolling Stone, have showered Borat with praise for its revelations of the crass prejudice that supposedly permeates American society. The review written by my good friend and Nassau Weekly colleague Justin Gerald weeks ago, which credited Borat with "helping Americans learn about themselves", is representative of this trend. But as uproariously funny as Borat is, I don't believe it really proves that America is, as Justin put it, a nation "as backward as the fictionalized Kazakhstan from which Borat hails."
My learned colleague Mr. Gerald wrote, "Sure, Baron Cohen and his cohorts selected the best clips from the endless footage they recorded, but the fact that they managed to cull such responses at all is off-putting at the least." Surely, however, it takes more than one anecdotal "hateful old redneck" - or even three loutish University of South Carolina frat boys - to prove that a society as massive and complex as America is as hateful as these examples. Those who are swayed by Baron Cohen's depiction of American prejudices have a much stronger argument about comfort levels and the light this sheds on cultural mores. In other words, such scenes show that characters like Bobby Rowe felt secure enough in their surroundings to utter such despicable things without fear of condemnation, which is troubling in itself. But this may well be canceled out by Borat's potential back-story. We have no idea how many rodeos Baron Cohen had to visit in order to uncover a homophobe like Mr. Rowe. (In fact, we may never know, since Cohen rarely conducts any interviews as himself, preferring to remain constantly in character whenever in public. Even his recent exclusive Rolling Stone interview shed no light on this).
My learned colleague Mr. Gerald wrote, "Sure, Baron Cohen and his cohorts selected the best clips from the endless footage they recorded, but the fact that they managed to cull such responses at all is off-putting at the least." Surely, however, it takes more than one anecdotal "hateful old redneck" - or even three loutish University of South Carolina frat boys - to prove that a society as massive and complex as America is as hateful as these examples. Those who are swayed by Baron Cohen's depiction of American prejudices have a much stronger argument about comfort levels and the light this sheds on cultural mores. In other words, such scenes show that characters like Bobby Rowe felt secure enough in their surroundings to utter such despicable things without fear of condemnation, which is troubling in itself. But this may well be canceled out by Borat's potential back-story. We have no idea how many rodeos Baron Cohen had to visit in order to uncover a homophobe like Mr. Rowe. (In fact, we may never know, since Cohen rarely conducts any interviews as himself, preferring to remain constantly in character whenever in public. Even his recent exclusive Rolling Stone interview shed no light on this).
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Russian Wives
posted 3/19/10 @ 6:54 AM EST
Your article is fine for all its distinctive features.
transcription services
posted 3/29/10 @ 4:36 PM EST
Sacha - you the most scandal bastard I've ever seen! =)
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