Question about Borat?

Question

...I saw Borat over the weekend, and I'm amazed that people would be offended by this movie. I mean, first of all, the actor himself [Sacha Baron Cohen] is Jewish. So all the 'Jew jokes' are basically... poking fun at himself. I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't be offended if I were Jewish. Second of all, all the other 'potentially offensive' material in the movie was provided by the actual people in the movie. Real people stating their opinions. The movie was supposedly 'unscripted', right? That is one of the things that made it interesting. So why are people complaining about this movie? Did the 'offensive' material really overpower the comedic content? I thought it was still pretty funny. So, did anyone find this movie truly offensive? [I'm just curious]...

Answer 1

i didnt find any of it offensive, and typically as long as you are in a public area, they dont "need" you to sign a release to put a video of you WHEREVER. it's just known these days ppl. are sue happy, and if they have a good enough lawyer, and you have no release form, then you can be screwed. i think the only part that went a little too far is the village in romania.....at least all the americans understood what he was saying, but these ppl. didnt...they had no idea they were being calls abortionists, rapists, etc....for them ido feel they deserve extra compensations...they were truly duped, where as everyone else was just caught being the jerks that they try not to let eveyrone else know they are. and not everyone was caught being jerks, a lot of the fun was watching peples reactions to this very very strange man...like the driving instructor, the car salesman, they humor coach, the hotel workers....in all actuality these people were shown to be very kind, gracious people....to have still treated him like a decent human being, to still help him, and not just walking away laughing at him

i think the reason some ppl. are actually very offended by this movie is out of fear that others wont realize its a joke...they are afraid an already antisemitic person will watch the movie and get all hyped up about it, just like they're afraid of a sexist person doing the same, and so on....for the most part, no one under 17 can see the film, but there are ways...i found a bootlegged version online and was able to download it, so im sure many 12 year olds CAN see it if they try hard enough....i think that's another worry of the offended viewers...children who arent old enough to comprehend the humor seeing it, and going out and imitating it at school, and spreading the jokes around as truth to other young children who really dont know any better.

Answer 2

If an Arab comedian created a character like Borat but made him from Isreal instead of Kazakhstan, and he embodied all the anti-Jewish stereotypes people have around the world and had led the bar in singing "throw the Arab down the well" would you really be confused as to why it was offensive? Would people so miss the point of this movie that they would say "It's not racist because he's an Arab making fun of Arabs?" Or would people realize that the offensive thing about it wasn't anything the character said, but rather that the character himself was offensive and insulting?

Answer 3

Borat

Answer 4

The actor/comedian Sacha Baren Cohen is a genius. His goal is to bring out the honesty in people. He plays those characters as a guise to get people to admit things about themselves that they wouldn't normally admit. The reactions he solicits are amazing and scarey at the same time. Some of the movie WAS offensive on purpose to illicit the reactions... but what was offensive was the public reaction.

Answer 5

I didn't find this movie offensive, although I am so glad I wasn't at the receiving end of the prank. The people in the movie were tricked into thinking that the documentary was only meant to be shown in Kazahkistan so they signed a release waiver... and now they're the laughing stock of America. Ouch. I feel bad for the drunk guys and the armless Romanian that they stuck a rubber fist to. But-hey. I laughed a lot.

Answer 6

People are bothered I think for a couple of reasons- the main one seeming to be that all the people who were "involved" were not fully let on that they would be publicly broadcast via a movie, or at least it was vague-I know of one who is saying they never gave permission to release their picture and was considering legal charges. The second is what this culture did is it showed people in their natural environment, which is neither good nor bad, this is how people are. I think a lot of people were shocked at how blunt we are in various cultures, and we may not be as "unbaised" as we think we all are.

Answer 7

Well, yeah, there are some really funny parts in the movie, but most of the things that he says about Kazackhstan is a one BIG lie!
That's what I personally find very offencie about it. Yes, they do show some stuff in it's natural environment, but not the main topic!

Answer 8

well the country kazakstan itself was pissed cuz it made the image of their country bad

the people in the movie which were in it are pissed just because of plain humiliation towards themselves.

and then for some reasons people are pissed when nothing even was said towards them (they are dumb)

and then the Jews who couldn't take a joke and couldn't understand the man is Jewish himself...



i didnt find it offensive at all i found it hilarious... i think people just need something to b*tch about really

Answer 9

I thought the movie was funny and some parts were scripted though. I thought about the part where he sang the national athem was abit extreme though.

Answer 10

It was funny and actually very well scripted. Superficially it looks like he's is making fun of Middle Eastern culture, but in all actuallity he is allowing American's to make asses of themselves. He just revealed the racism, sexism, and bigotry that exists in our nation, and some people got angry about that.