Media studies analysis of a modern scripted film

Without giving too much away, think about a film with more racial slurs then you can count and a drawn out scene where a thin naked man chasses a fat naked man with a dildo. Now imagine that same movie achieving almost universal critical acclaim, even from the toughest critics. That film is officially called ” Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”

The simply answer is: it’s funny, and not just kinda funny, but hurt yourself laughing completely hilarious. I laughed so hard I found myself kicking the wall in front of me almost bent over with laughter and I wasn�(tm)t alone. This movie elicited the loudest and most extreme audience response I’ve ever seen.

The more in-depth explanation is that Borat ingeniously throws politically correctness and social tact out the window to create a social satire with stinging implications. It’s crazy and over the top to the point of absurdity, but doesn’t come off like ” junk food” programming (say like Jackass). Instead it’s pointed social satire tears at the phobias and stereotypes of many Americans allowing you to laugh at some of the darker and taboo subjects of our culture through situational comedy. It’s the touchiest subject matter you can poke fun at, and it makes no apologies, no attempts at not being offensive, and is delivered flawlessly.

The movie itself follows the adventures of ” Borat” a journalist from Kazakhstan on his journey to America to film a documentary with the intent of bring lessons learned from America back to Kazahstan. All of this is just the setup for Borat to engage real Americans unknowingly in a wide variety of situations. With supreme confidence and machismo Borat tries travels through America getting unsuspecting victims to reveal their prejudices and bios. From homophobia, to religion, to racism, to classism, to sexism, the jokes are all there. Everything your not suppose to poke fun at he does, and it’s not just jokes, it’s the REAL response of the people he encounters and their reactions to these topics is where most of the humor comes from.

Among other things, You’ll see eccentric bible thumpers bring paying and speaking in tongues, rodeo patrons cheer to ” kill all the muslims”, subway riders threaten to physical assault him for saying hi and lots of antics too detailed to mention. The question all of you will be asking the second you leave the theater is ” Was that real?”. In an error of scripted reality shows and docu-dramas it’s hard to know anymore and you should be suspect and critical of anything in the movies.

In this case it appears that the sketches for Borat appear to be REAL. According to newsweek who actually tracked down and interviewed some of the victims. They say that Borat uses a fake production company and gets people in the film to sign release forms in advance that contain lots of legalese which most people don’t bother to read. The release form also completely masked that they were shooting a movie and had a clause about giving permission to be frauded. That same news week article says that these people now have the ability to sue.

But either way, it appears that the Americans in the movie actually believed Borat was interviewing them for some fictional purpose. Not being totally brain dead, most of them mention in the post interview with Newsweek that they suspected something was off, but the big thing here is that they’re not reading off scripts and that the action isn’t canned. They didn’t know what he was going to say or do and that’s why this movie works on so many levels. They were however paid for their time, in advance which is also what probably motivated them to take him more seriously and sign his release.

Is it evil to trick and coerce people into revealing their prejudices and phobias so everyone can laugh at them? On the surface Yes, which is why the critic from filmsinreview. com referred to Borat as the spawn of the ” evil comedy genere.” You may even feel bad for how he treats them and the uncomfortable emotions he purposefully elicits.

The underlying result of the satire is powerfully and beneficial for people to watch. It’s not just teasing and mocking people pointlessly, At times American culture seems to embrace the idea of a politically correct, stereotype free world, where you try as hard as possible not to offend the greatest number of people, where certain topics are off limits or have to be toned down. Where television problems have to stay within correct norms for fear of selling less soap commercials. Everyone knows what topics you’re not suppose to discuss at dinner parties, or in public, because they’re not appropriate to say. Most of our traditions have inherent race, religion or sexism behind them, but this is rarely discussed outright.

Borat spits in the face of politically correctness and uses comedy to put the negative aspects of American society on the screen for all to see. It hits you in the face with the bios and bigotry that many Americans have, but is rarely seen in film (apart from super villains) and it’s a welcomed, relief. Amy Biancolli from the Houston Chronicle summed it up nicely with ” Expect to laugh uproariously; expect to choke back horror and revulsion, often at yourself.”