I don’t normally write about fictional characters nor do I normally join in when voices decry the moral bankruptcy of Hollywood but Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film, Borat : Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, has inadvertently brought to light a feature of modern society that needs to be discussed, expounded upon, and condemned.
A quick search of google news will turn up thousands of glowing reviews hailing Borat as the height of comedic genius filled with heavy doses of irony and satire at its best. It is a film, most critics contend, that takes a hard look at American culture and exposes the nasty, often hidden norms, of American racism, sexism, and anti-semitism along with other countless absurdities that comprise modern life in America. Further, they state, anyone, that doesn’t “get it” either lacks the intelligence to enjoy irony or has an ego that is too fragile to laugh at what is purported to be a reflection of the American self.
Translation: if you don’t like it you’re either an idiot or incapable of taking an introspective look at your and your countries flaws.
However, what is unsettling about Borat is not well placed irony that punches America in the gut for having faults; it is the film’s, and by extension its audience’s, celebration of cruelty. Borat is not comedy but the height of exploitation and cruelty at the expense of the goodness and dignity of unsuspecting strangers.
In order to get the footage that comprises the film, Sacha Baron Cohen assumed the character of Borat, a bumbling journalist from Khazakhstan. In this character, he made different claims to the different people he approached with most of the claims being a variance on the story that he was a Khazakhstani journalist visiting (insert place) to make a documentary film about your culture to be shown in Khazakhstan. After asking for help in his endeavor he then asks the person or persons involved to sign a release for his “documentary.”
Thinking that Borat was a strange but otherwise genuine foreigner that needed help in some way, many of the people signed the forms eager to help and excited to explain and share their culture. However, once the form is signed Borat usually goes crazy. His comments and actions are designed to inflame and enrage the hapless victim into a reaction.
In one case, a television news producer lost her job over Borat’s antics. Thinking he was a legitimate journalist (Borat provided fake credentials and a fake website to back up his claims) she allowed him air time to promote the documentary he claimed he was shooting in her area. Once the show went live on the air, Borat, stood up, declared he needed to “urine,” ran around the studio, was told to leave but came back, and even interrupted the weatherman while he was trying to perform his segment of the show.
There are other stories that follow the same pattern of deceit, but the worst is one that comes from the village used as Borat’s “hometown in Khazakhstan.” Facing grinding poverty and almost full unemployment Sacha Baron Cohen through his film, his production company, and his character Borat, took away their dignity. The exploitation and humiliation that this small town in Romania has suffered for the sake of “comedy” is enough to make anyone question if there is a level of cruelty that Cohen won’t stoop to.However, it is not just Cohen, his company, and their tactics that is bothersome about this film but also the very laughter it generates from its audience. Simply put, audiences are laughing at jokes that come at a price. This comedy has victims that are real people rather than fictional characters and much of the laughter comes at their, and not Borat’s, expense. Audiences are relishing the very real humiliation of people –the mental rape that Borat performs on his victims through his antics.
Defenders of Borat would suggest that this is cruelty is deserved — after all many of the people Borat victimizes are shown to at least spout sexist, homophobic, or racist views. However, this defense cannot mask that much of the film and the “laughter” it engenders is based upon the sadistic celebration of watching people that the viewer feels superior to “get what they deserve,” and in that way those laughing are no different from the heinous racist, sexist, or homophobe that takes the same joy in his or her perceived superiority.
This film shows clearly the fine line between satire and cruelty. I am not sure if this is due to Sasha’s lack of experience or was simply a product of the project but something just falls flat.
Feel better about yourself at the expense of others is a common enough motif in comedy, but this for some reason goes too far. I am confident that if the guys from South Park were to try this it would not come off like it did here.