General

[CrazyBoy78]

Originally Posted by cupofnoodles

the movie shows that underneath all the hypocrisy and wealth, a lot of people in America are still closet racists/sexists/etc...

the movie's POINT is that, these closet racists/sexists are hypocrites. they act differently around different people.

Borat exposes their dark side by playing the idiot, he ask them questions, to which they could respond with intelligence or bigotry.

Borat only unmasks what we keep hidden in America, because bigotry today is carefully displayed only to certain individuals but it works behind the scene of society full time.

Thank you. I've been reading this thread and I have to say that it seems that most completely miss the point of the movie and the character. Borat isn't about being stupid and being a moron. And he isn't about making fun of the people he meets. He doesn't make them look stupid, they do that themselves.

Some may say that it's deceitful for him to pretend to be someone else. Thing is, no one he meets thinks he's not "him". All he does is put himself out there. How everyone reacts is gonna be different but he's the same. He's just showing the broad range of who's out there, from the jerks he meets in NYC, to the very hospitable dinner crowd he dines with in Richmond (?).

Ultimately, it's all subjective. I happened to see this movie 3 times because I enjoy the humour. If you don't, that's your deal. But let's not bring down judgement on our moral standards, whether you're a fan or not. This movie is not the beginning of the decline of civilization. It is what it is, a few rolls of celluloid that's supposed to entertain.

[Pardini]

Freedom of speech is a double edged sword. Everyone wants to exercise it but no one wants to tolerate it. Remember we have to freedom not to listen. Freedom of speech does not mean you have to be heard.

Isn't every movie ever made at someone's expense or depic someone as a idiot? Or cast poor light on some group? Think about it? Women gets killed-anti female, man gets killed -anti male, gay gets killed-anti gay, kid gets his lunch money stolen- anti kid, dog gets run over-anti dog, house gets burned down -anti house? Every movie has some conflict/abuse in it. Even cartoons show someone getting abused. Sponge Bob gets slapped-anti sponge?

Haven't seen it, but isn't the movie about a fictional Borat? It's not about the Romanian villagers, they are fictional too except they don't need much costumeing and make up.

Outraged or upset by Borat? Are you outraged or upset by movies about murder, rape, racism, assualt, arson, battery, torture, asassination?

There are plenty of things worthwhile to be outraged about. How about our servicemens charred bodies being dragged thru the street and being hung from a bridge. How about our citizens being beheaded? How about a 4 year old Palastinian kid being indoctrinated to hate Jews so he'll strap a bomb to his chest in 10 years and murder a theater full of infidels. Our Embassies being blown up?



If you get worked up over Borat you have lost all perspective in life

[shartley]

Originally Posted by Pardini

Freedom of speech is a double edged sword. Everyone wants to exercise it but no one wants to tolerate it. Remember we have to freedom not to listen. Freedom of speech does not mean you have to be heard.

Isn't every movie ever made at someone's expense or depic someone as a idiot? Or cast poor light on some group? Think about it? Women gets killed-anti female, man gets killed -anti male, gay gets killed-anti gay, kid gets his lunch money stolen- anti kid, dog gets run over-anti dog, house gets burned down -anti house? Every movie has some conflict/abuse in it. Even cartoons show someone getting abused. Sponge Bob gets slapped-anti sponge?

Haven't seen it, but isn't the movie about a fictional Borat? It's not about the Romanian villagers, they are fictional too except they don't need much costumeing and make up.

Outraged or upset by Borat? Are you outraged or upset by movies about murder, rape, racism, assualt, arson, battery, torture, asassination?

There are plenty of things worthwhile to be outraged about. How about our servicemens charred bodies being dragged thru the street and being hung from a bridge. How about our citizens being beheaded? How about a 4 year old Palastinian kid being indoctrinated to hate Jews so he'll strap a bomb to his chest in 10 years and murder a theater full of infidels. Our Embassies being blown up?



If you get worked up over Borat you have lost all perspective in life

Sorry, while I agree with our first line of thought, I have to disagree with your parting thought. I really dislike it when people act that if someone is upset at one thing (which is being discussed) that they are NOT upset at other things that get tossed in as examples of “worse” thing, or that if something is worse you have no right to be upset at the “lesser” thing. These are unfair characterizations and in most cases could not be farther from the truth.

This thread is about the movie, not about the other things you bring up. And to make the leap that if someone is upset about a movie they are not upset about other things or that because other thing may be worse they are wrong is downright wrong in itself. And I would suggest that making that leap would be losing all perspective in live. People can get upset at a lot of different things, and yes that includes a movie. And being upset does not minimize all the other things out there. Heck, we get upset over a lot of things…. being cut off in traffic, someone using the express lane with too many items, our children not cleaning their rooms, and the list goes on and on. So please keep that in mind the next time you try to act as if being upset or having a negative opinion about something is wrong simply because there are worse things out there to get upset about.

[Christian Nelson]

The main issue I have with this type of movie, is that most movies have fictional characters, played by people who are payed to act a certain way.

This is fooling people, and making fun of real people. It's the whole reality TV Genre, it's sadistic, and mean to people. People deriving pleasure out of someone who is victimized by someone with a camera is discusting to me.

I don't like Big brother, I don't like Jerry Springer, I don't like the sadistic people who enjoy seeing people go to these lengths to be on TV. It reminds me of people who liked seeing people get ripped apart in the Roman colloseum. These are real people. They are not made up characters. It's like those guys who went around giving $20 to homeless people to watch them fight, and then sell the movie to more sick sadistic twisted people out there.

It's wrong, and there is a line that has been crossed, and It discusts me.

These aren't actors, who got to see thier script, and were payed to act a certain way, and were fully aware of what they got into.

Ok? Now you have the real issue.

It's the same reason I didn't think that broadcasting a beheading was something a news network should do, or broadcasting insurgents shooting american soldiers.

This isn't fake, it's real, and that is a problem. I never really even liked Candid camera, and it was many times less sadistic than this.

You go to a ghetto in Romania, tell them you are filming a documentary, when all you are doing is making a comedy act making fun of these people?

I think there is a special place in hell for people who do this, and for people who derive pleasure watching it.

I'm done with this issue, I tried to explain it without coming right out with it, but I guess some people have to have things spelled out.

For those of you who enjoy people gettin mocked and ridiculed when they are suffering abject poverty, I really hope someday you aren't on the other side of the camera for someone to mock.

Did I make it clear enough yet?