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Borat Got a Beating!

#202
The Sun once printed an article about my old school (The European School, UK).

The article was entitled "Eurocrats", a delightful pun on "Bureaucrats". It portrayed the students and teachers as slaves to the European Union, puppets of political correctness, brought up to serve the interest of the EU with absolutely no questions asked.

Every single word was crap.
The facts were all wrong. For example, it stated that there are other European Schools. This is true, but it gave a completely fictional list of their locations, including Danemark (no such School), France (no school there), and plenty of other totally made up schools.

The article's only point was to incite hatred towards people with a European mentality. All facts were blown out of proportion and lies were all over the page.

Think about this, next time you read The Sun.
 
#203
ElMon said:
Sorry, I read my post and realized I mistyped. What I meant to say was that when I think about Baudelaire and Antonin Artaud (and a lot of other brilliant french authors), I forgive the French for all the rest of the silly things they do!!!!
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Oh thats exactly how I understood your post, and my own was not sarcastic, those are my two favorite authors ever, I love Irving hes great :D
 
#207
OK, I got to see it...I laughed so hard I almost peed! Hilarious!

Offensive factor:8
Sophomoricity:7
Gross-out factor:9 (in one part)
PC factor:-10
All out humor factor: 9

Totally and completely politically incorrect! And one of the funniest movies I have seen in a LONG time! Is it offensive? Yes, very much so. Is it anti-Semite? In a way, yes. But how funny is it that a Jewish man is poking fun at the world's perception of his faith? Extremely! Like it or not, there is a LOT of anti-Semitism throughout the world, and cultural differences abound. He addresses this issue in spades. He also pokes fun at the Pentecostals (actually, any Christian faith, if you get right down to it), feminists, women as sex objects, and American culture in general. How self-absorbed are we, really? If you're honest about it...

All in all, I had a great time, the hotdog rocked as well...mmmm...

So that's my take on it. :D:D:D
 
#210
My take

Very funny - there were times that I was laughing and cringing at the same time. It was impressive how well Cohen totally becomes his character and how he stays in character.

While the characters of Borat and Azamat and the hooker are fake and Pamela Anderson was in on it - the rest of this movie was essentially a reality show for the people in it.

Previous references to Candid Camera are valid, the only difference is that in Borat they knew they were on film. The heart of Cohen's technique is deception. And to deceive, more or less, ordinary folks going about their business strikes me as pretty aggressively mean-spirited at its core. It also provides a set-up that guarantees that you'll get some footage that is useful - if the folks continue to try to helpful to Borat the audience laughs at their gullibility, if
they react negatively to increasingly boorish Borat behavior (like in the dinner party scene or with the feminists) the audience laughs at how uptight the folks are, if they go along with Borat's hate speech (as did the frat boys and the guy at the rodeo), the audience laughs as they watch folks make fools of themselves.

That said - I think most of the people trapped by Borat behaved pretty well under the circumstances and I am glad that the movie was edited to present an overall view that is pretty consistent with my belief that most Americans are generally kind and considerate.

Things that I didn't like -

The villagers in Romania were not in on the joke and are obviously not happy about the portrayal. From what I have read, they were not paid very much either. I don't think it had to be done that way and it will be interesting what if anything Cohen plans to do there.

It is bad enough to attend a worship service as Borat but to answer an altar call and to fake speaking in tongues and to fake having ecstatic religious experience is wrong. And, it was unnecessary, Cohen could have made an effective comment on the separation of church-state with the footage he had prior to Borat going to the altar.
 
#213
dangnewt said:
That is interesting, any particular reason why?
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He, and many others like him, feels superior to those misguided religious people.

I know I do. :p jk

Really though, I think the main appeal of the movie it gives all the "culturally aware" "non-ignorant" people the opportunity to have a laugh at those characters they feel they are smarter than. You know, the religious types, the old white people, the idiotic frat boys, the rednecks etc. etc.

It is always fun to think you're better than other people. Haha.

:rolleyes:
 
#214
dangnewt said:
The villagers in Romania were not in on the joke and are obviously not happy about the portrayal. From what I have read, they were not paid very much either. ..
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Dude... No one told you? That IS the American way. What cultural learning did you think he was going to accomplish if not how to exploit cheap labor in order to maximize profit?
 
#215
studentaccount1 said:
Really though, I think the main appeal of the movie it gives all the "culturally aware" "non-ignorant" people the opportunity to have a laugh at those characters they feel they are smarter than. You know, the religious types, the old white people, the idiotic frat boys, the rednecks etc. etc.

It is always fun to think you're better than other people. Haha.

:rolleyes:
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I agree and that's exactly why I don't like it - it's smug and superior, but picking on very soft targets!

So - here am I, a product of the best schools money can buy and the Cambridge University Footlights review - making fun of all you "plebs" out there in stoopid America - give me money - it's soooo easy! :rolleyes:
 
#216
Bruce Lindfield said:
Although I think he deserves it - I wouldn't believe anything that was printed in The Sun..:spit: !!
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Dr. Feelgood - about 5 days and 10 pages of posts later!!! said:
Have a look at this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_(tabloid), I think it gives a good description of why The Sun shouldn't really ever be trusted.
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It takes a while for some people to catch on!! ;)
 
#217
dangnewt said:
The villagers in Romania were not in on the joke and are obviously not happy about the portrayal. From what I have read, they were not paid very much either. I don't think it had to be done that way and it will be interesting what if anything Cohen plans to do there.
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I heard that the village is suing Baron Cohen!:hmm:

Bruce Lindfield said:
It takes a while for some people to catch on!! ;)
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Yes, but I gave a link so that people could make up their own minds. You just say "I wouldn't believe it".

Clearly, this makes me superior to you in every way, pompous Cambridge pleb.;) :smug: :hiding:
 
#219
Bruce Lindfield said:
I was sort of agreeing with you and really meant the other people who hadn't yet realised how unreliable the Sun was - but I would expect nothing other than condescension from a resident of Oxford !! ;)
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If that is truly what you meant, your apology is accepted:p .

You must admit that the English wasn't clear, but I would expect nothing other than ambiguous language from a resident of Brighton:D .


I'm going to Brighton University.
 

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