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Borat is lame. (pg. 7)
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| quote: | Originally posted by Miss Bliss
+1 this was the biggest waste of $10.75 all year :rolleyes: :whip: |
where is your senses of humor :p |
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| astroboy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psy-T
now lets suppose you do not know of sasha baron cohen, or his character borat, and he comes to interview you... do you believe even for a second that he is who/what he claims he is? if you answer "no" as i expect, you must concede that this technique is only viable against the feeble minded of us. the feeble minded require no further provocation to be portrayed as idoits, racists, et cetera, hence making cohen and his characters redundant. |
Firstly I disagree it takes a bit of cultural ignorance and superiority to allow oneself to believe in Borat. You can possess these characteristics and still have enough intelligence to finish college and have the knack to avoid making a fool of yourself in public (at least in a way that would be obvious to the majority of people - what's the average IQ again?).
With most media exposure even the feeble-minded know when the reporter is going to ask a sensitive question and can avoid a direct answer or wrap it in so much crap that the meaning is totally lost. In many cases we're not dealing with real people, but representatives of institutions and politicians who you only ever see in the media when it's on their terms to discuss things they've had professionally written for them. Though I can see what is going on and read the truth into it - and sometimes I might know that the person has made a fool of themselves to me and other people of similar intellect, it still frustrates the hell out of me that often most people aren't capable of reading into it. I wish there was some way to reach into the tv, throttle them and make them cut the crap and answer the question directly.
With Borat the BS is subverted, and we see these slimy people forced to express their beliefs much more directly.
Secondly I really think I could believe the character in the spur of the moment if I had was fairly narrow minded about other cultures and had never seen a real Kazakh. It's easy to look at characters like Borat, Bruno and AliG and say they're too ridiculous to be real. But I think if you were faced with someone like that in real life you might well be fooled. Cohen has tricked everyone from random hicks to high ranking politicians and academics. He has fooled plenty of people who ostensibly seem quite intelligent.
Sure Borat isn't showing me anything I don't already know about these people, but the satisfaction remains. People in Mark Twain's time who knew of the wrongs and hipocrisy of society at the time still would have found pleasure in the satire of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. People who had suffered under Stalin probably aren't told anything they didn't know when they read Bulgakov, but the satirical voice rings true to them.
The fact that the more intelligent members o society already know certain people are bigots and idiots, and certain institutions are stupid and hypocritical doesn't mean there is no value in satirizing them and publicly calling them on it. |
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| Simon |
| All of you Jews do Borat a favour and jump down a well. |
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| Tholius |
Borat - Throw The Jew Down The Well (DJ Tiesto Remix)
ch00000000000n!!!
:eyespop: :eyespop: :eyespop: |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by dj_bas
Not really, he just finished up with all of England. Before the Ali G show he did Borat for another comedy show and he went all over England and Europe. I guess with Ali G's success over seas, he was alot more recognizable. |
I actually thought the Ali G show was boring as , too. The best thing he did was the Madonna video.
I'll probably see this movie when it comes out on DVD, but I agree with some others that every promo bit I've seen for this movie wasn't impressive. Just like with CDs that I expect to suck, I will watch it, just to prove that I'm right and hope to be proved wrong.
| quote: | Originally posted by AnLyGi
Borat is quality. He is ignorant, offensive and downright rude. I love him. |
Sorry to single you out, but this post is reflective of why Danny Ocean said that "he tries too hard and entertains the easily amused." For those of you who think it's great political commentary that viewers are all getting, take notice of who's seeing it. It's not exactly the most perceptive of audiences.
I like some offensive and rude commentary, but everything I've seen isn't funny. |
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| astroboy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
For those of you who think it's great political commentary that viewers are all getting, take notice of who's seeing it. It's not exactly the most perceptive of audiences. |
If I released a book of political commentary with a funny picture of a rabbit on the back cover and a bunch of illiterates bought it for the rabbit picture, does that somehow alter reality to negate the 99% of the book that is comentary?
Most people in any country are not particularly intelligent, so if a piece of comedy can be enjoyed on a relatively deep level, but also has a superficial level of slapstick silliness - then it's statistically probable that the majority of people that go to watch it will appreciate only that part. That doesn't in any way negate the content what this intelligent comedian has put in for the relatively few people who are capable of appreciating clever satire.
By the way I haven't seen the movie yet, so it may well be that he has dumbed down his comedy for a wider American audience, like he did with the Ali G movie. My posts apply to his sketches, on the UK and US Ali G shows. |
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| chris harrington |
| quote: | Originally posted by astroboy
He has been overhyped. And the problem with him is that he isn't funny in interviews, that's not what the character was invented for. To figure out whether you like him or not you have to see him in one of his older sketches where he interacts with people who don't know he's fake.
C |
exactly what i was gonna say |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by astroboy
If I released a book of political commentary with a funny picture of a rabbit on the back cover and a bunch of illiterates bought it for the rabbit picture, does that somehow alter reality to negate the 99% of the book that is comentary?
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If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound? |
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| RapidFire |
| ali g is better but theres no way borat sucks. his inerviews on the show are great and the movie was a good time |
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| venomX |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound? |
If you go by that commentary though, A LOT of masterpieces in any branch of the arts shouldn't be considered masterpieces as most of the people that appreciate them are not doing so at the "right level" or for the "right reasons". It's a line of reasoning that's not productive in any sense. Also, in order for your analogy to work no one should be able to understand the political commentary in the movie, because after all if a tree falls in the woods and only one person heard it, it still makes a sound no? :p |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by venomX
If you go by that commentary though, A LOT of masterpieces in any branch of the arts shouldn't be considered masterpieces as most of the people that appreciate them are not doing so at the "right level" or for the "right reasons". It's a line of reasoning that's not productive in any sense. Also, in order for your analogy to work no one should be able to understand the political commentary in the movie, because after all if a tree falls in the woods and only one person heard it, it still makes a sound no? :p |
The difference is that most people who find this funny aren't realizing that they're the ones being made fun of. It's not like, for instance, The Simpsons, where one can find it funny, like I did, when I was 12, but watching the old seasons now, realize how much more depth was there than I got.
Oh, and I'll give you the last sentence. It was just a quick response to the original question, which admittedly isn't correct for like 10-20% of the population. I think you'd be hard pressed to find that the majority of Borat movie viewers get the political commentary, though. |
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| Simon |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
The difference is that most people who find this funny aren't realizing that they're the ones being made fun of. |
Or, perhaps, they can take a joke? |
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