Who watched? A lot to unpack! I am thoroughly amazed at what SBC can accomplish. I cannot wrap my head around how these people just go along with what he’s doing, thinking it’s real. I’m left with very little hope for society. The redeeming interactions really made the movie though.
The debutante ball scene will be seared in my mind forever.
We watched last night. I would love to see a behind the scenes. What are they telling some of these people? But I only laughed a few times. It was more depressing than anything, really.
We watched it too. I don't understand it either. The debutante ball scene was shocking. Other than the scene with the two Jewish women, I was also upset by the scene with the festival and the people singing along with that awful song.
Who watched? A lot to unpack! I am thoroughly amazed at what SBC can accomplish. I cannot wrap my head around how these people just go along with what he’s doing, thinking it’s real. I’m left with very little hope for society. The redeeming interactions really made the movie though.
The debutante ball scene will be seared in my mind forever.
That debutante ball scene was so uncomfortable to watch. I could tell what was coming and I was like no no please no. And then yes, it happened.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I was blown away by the scene at the fake abortion clinic with the pastor. Even after clarifying that they are father and daughter and that the father “put the baby in her” , he never addresses the incest and abuse issue! Just keeps harping away that she has to have the baby. Dude, you should be contacting the police!
Post by mysteriouswife on Oct 24, 2020 10:47:11 GMT -5
I had to stop watching. The babysitter, Jeanise, seemed to be the only one who tried ti help the daughter. I was so uncomfortable. H was repeating what the fuck over and over. I could not believe how some of these people ever thought to call the cops. Maybe they edited those parts out.
I almost feel I should watch it to see what everyone is talking about. But, I really hate things that provide entertainment at the expense of other people. Even vile people.
I similarly have always despised Americans funniest home videos and the like. Finding entertainment In others misery?
I almost feel I should watch it to see what everyone is talking about. But, I really hate things that provide entertainment at the expense of other people. Even vile people.
I similarly have always despised Americans funniest home videos and the like. Finding entertainment In others misery?
I watched all the way through and although I cringed, I’m glad I did.
He’s using cringe humor to expose the ugliness of America. We want to believe America is a leading educated nation with kind-hearted generous people who embrace the mixing pot of diverse cultures —and it is not. Americans also believe women are valued here more than in “backwards” nations and that we aren’t anti-Semitic and that isn’t accurate either as the plastic surgeon, debutant, cake and clinic scenes showed. We can’t do better until we face these issues and understand how things really are.
ETA: I can totally understand why people don’t want to expose themselves to this ugliness in the middle of this awful year and crazy election. But hopefully some young men who would never read an article about feminism or antisemitism might watch and absorb something.
Post by lilypad1126 on Oct 24, 2020 15:27:12 GMT -5
We tried to watch it this afternoon. 15 min in, my H who LOVED the first Borat, was like, uuhhh, I can’t watch this. It’s awful. He wasn’t wrong. So we turned it off. The only reason I even was willing to try was due to the press around Giuliani and his appearance in it. But it’s not funny and there’s too much that makes me cringe about him. I just couldn’t do it.
Oh yeah the plastic surgeon WTF? That is so messed up but got overshadowed by some of the more wild antics. But like I want to kick everyone in that office in the genitals.
I almost feel I should watch it to see what everyone is talking about. But, I really hate things that provide entertainment at the expense of other people. Even vile people.
I similarly have always despised Americans funniest home videos and the like. Finding entertainment In others misery?
I watched all the way through and although I cringed, I’m glad I did.
He’s using cringe humor to expose the ugliness of America. We want to believe America is a leading educated nation with kind-hearted generous people who embrace the mixing pot of diverse cultures —and it is not. Americans also believe women are valued here more than in “backwards” nations and that we aren’t anti-Semitic and that isn’t accurate either as the plastic surgeon, debutant, cake and clinic scenes showed. We can’t do better until we face these issues and understand how things really are.
ETA: I can totally understand why people don’t want to expose themselves to this ugliness in the middle of this awful year and crazy election. But hopefully some young men who would never read an article about feminism or antisemitism might watch and absorb something.
Thanks for explaining this. I was really wondering what the “point” of the movie was. I didn’t find the first Borat movie funny at all, nor did I find it to be particularly smart or satirical. It seemed to mostly just shock and offend.
But you make a good point about his audience, and how this message might reach a certain segment of the population. I appreciate your take on it. Having said that, it does not sound like the type of movie I would enjoy.
I almost feel I should watch it to see what everyone is talking about. But, I really hate things that provide entertainment at the expense of other people. Even vile people.
I similarly have always despised Americans funniest home videos and the like. Finding entertainment In others misery?
Or the newer trend of pranking people on TikTok. It’s not funny and I would leave H if he continued to humiliate me for likes or views.
Against my better judgement. I’m trying it. H keeps snort giggling. I’m more 😑. But I do see the point earlier about it exposing how much of the country is just... ugh. The baker than had no issue decorating the cake.
The only behind-the-scenes things I read - because they had everyone sign NDAs - is that the debutante ball was staged (the reactions were real, though) and that the scenes in the Giuliani situation were heavily edited.
You all set the stage for me so it was what I expected.
I have not done research but the gents that took him in overnight feel like actors, which gives me hope that what they said were lines.
Word is they filmed a scene completely in secrecy at a golf place here in DFW (in Arlington) that made the trailor but I did not see it in the movie. But I wonder how many scenes were in Texas because the registration sticker on his truck is %100 Texas. But I saw some signs that looked liked "free Oregon" during the outdoor scene.
Tiny spolier...
I find it quite interesting that a rando with a huge confedarate flag did not sign a release for his face to be shown. Hopefully he realizes what an asshat he is.
I haven't watched the second one, but I did watch the first Borat, and at the time I worked with an organization that did sex ed in schools. My job was to read the evaluation forms after sessions about what the top issues in schools were. The high schoolers wrote a lot about how boys thought Borat was hilarious and used his lines to harass girls. So I don't buy that this kind of movie is going to change minds or educate young men. With the previous movie, a lot of young men thought all the sexist material was hilarious and seemed to take the movie as condoning sexism. Unfortunately, I think the people who need the lesson the most are the ones who are going to take it the wrong way, because they aren't mature enough to understand. The message they seemed to get was that sexism and being offensive is hilarious, because they're watching a grown man do it to get laughs and make money.
Abe Foxman, the former director of the Anti-Defamation League, criticized Borat, fearing the character could incite anti-Semitism because some people might miss the irony.
After the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., an appalled Mr. Baron Cohen reached out to Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the A.D.L., who persuaded the star to give the keynote at last year’s A.D.L. summit, Never Is Now.
“I was just so impressed by his intelligence,’’ Mr. Greenblatt said. “These issues are at the heart of his motive for his unique style of art. More than anyone in public life today, he exposes bias — whether it’s anti-Semitism, homophobia or rank racism — for what it is, shameful and wrenching and ignorant.” (In fact, Mr. Baron Cohen used Hebrew and some Polish as a stand-in for the Kazakh language in Borat.)
The actor started his speech by saying that, to be clear, “when I say ‘racism, hate and bigotry,’ I’m not referring to the names of Stephen Miller’s Labradoodles.” Later he noted that while his stunts could be “juvenile” and “puerile,” at least some are aimed at getting people to reveal what they actually believe, as “when Borat was able to get an entire bar in Arizona to sing ‘Throw the Jew down the well,’ it did reveal people’s indifference to anti-Semitism.”
Scorching the lords of the cloud, he said that Facebook would run and micro-target any “political” ad anyone wants, even if it’s a lie. “If Facebook were around in the 1930s,’’ he said, “it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his ‘solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem.’”
The speech catalyzed the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign, with a coalition of civil rights groups
Mr. Baron Cohen has been compared to a raunchy de Tocqueville and he said he did see a huge change in American society from the time he first went out to shoot “Borat” 15 years ago to the time he made the sequel.
“In 2005, you needed a character like Borat who was misogynist, racist, anti-Semitic to get people to reveal their inner prejudices,” he said. “Now those inner prejudices are overt. Racists are proud of being racists.’’ When the president is “an overt racist, an overt fascist,’’ he said, “it allows the rest of society to change their dialogue, too.
“My aim here was not to expose racism and anti-Semitism,” he said of the sequel. “The aim is to make people laugh, but we reveal the dangerous slide to authoritarianism.”
ETA: Fixed link and added some quotes for those who aren't NY Times subscribers TRJalapeñomel
I'm kind of fascinated by Sacha Baron Cohen and his type of satire, even though it isn't really my personal cup of tea. While I was watching, I was more uncomfortable than laughing but also regretfully sighing with recognition of our f'ed up society. Direct logical, factual critiques don't appear to work on a large percentage of the American population so I guess we have to try other methods to critique it? Overall, it made me feel very uncomfortable and depressed about the world young women are growing up in-- seems just as bad as the 1990s despite the me too movement. But if you don't confront these things, there can't be change.
I finished the article coming around to him. I feel like I see what he is trying to do (expose the ideas that lurk beneath the surface). But, I’m still not a fan of that style of humor. And, I think the issue with satire these days is there is so much out there and it’s giving people cover to claim their shit is just satirizing people who do think like that.
I finished the article coming around to him. I feel like I see what he is trying to do (expose the ideas that lurk beneath the surface). But, I’m still not a fan of that style of humor. And, I think the issue with satire these days is there is so much out there and it’s giving people cover to claim their shit is just satirizing people who do think like that.
I think the problem with satire is that it’s not as funny when real life is so fucked up it’s hard to tell the difference.
I finished the article coming around to him. I feel like I see what he is trying to do (expose the ideas that lurk beneath the surface). But, I’m still not a fan of that style of humor. And, I think the issue with satire these days is there is so much out there and it’s giving people cover to claim their shit is just satirizing people who do think like that.
I think the problem with satire is that it’s not as funny when real life is so fucked up it’s hard to tell the difference.
And lurkie22’s story above didn’t help my opinion. It is very juvenile humor, and on top of the satire, it appeals to the 14 year old boy who thinks he is being cool imitating it.
I finished the article coming around to him. I feel like I see what he is trying to do (expose the ideas that lurk beneath the surface). But, I’m still not a fan of that style of humor. And, I think the issue with satire these days is there is so much out there and it’s giving people cover to claim their shit is just satirizing people who do think like that.
I think the problem with satire is that it’s not as funny when real life is so fucked up it’s hard to tell the difference.
The satire strikes me as being very British, which comes across as mean-spirited and darker than American satire. You aren't going laugh out loud as much as be made uncomfortable.