I haven't seen "Borat" and don't intend to, so judge my remarks about it accordingly. I'm squeamish about that kind of humor, which sets out to deliberately deceive people, then invites the rest of us to laugh at the fools who have been duped. Apparently, I'm one of the few people who feel that way. The movie made $50 million in eight days and seems on track to be the highest-grossing comedy ever. It's being praised from those across the political spectrum; here's a conservative who liked it:
Of course in our modern era of political correctness this is a rare phenomenon, which makes Cohen all the more funny and startling. Compare him to the so much blander Comedy Central duo Stewart and Colbert. It's hard to imagine either of them with anything close to enough guts to do something as outrageous as the now famous nude wrestling scene in Borat. I also couldn't imagine them making a group of real life New York feminists seem like complete idiots. Cohen does the same thing later in the film with a right-wing rodeo rider as well. He is an equal opportunity destroyer. And we know they all deserve it.
They deserved it? I don't think so. We all behave foolishly now and then. If they deserved it, we do, too. I understand that cruelty is the foundation of much humor, which helps us rise above human weakness by lampooning it. And much of the humor is directed at specific individuals -- you won't to read very far back on this blog to find people I've made fun of. But this type of humor, based on inviting trust then violating it, seems over the top.
But maybe that's just me. I even felt uncomfortable while watching -- and laughing at, along with everyone else -- "Candid Camera."
Comments
The irritating thing about this kind of humor is that there is little to no intellectual substance nor comedic intellect behind it. I see these films and often see that any fool could do this stuff, IF they were incorrigible enough. It's the kind of thing that gets mediocre miscreants sent to the principal's office in any town in America. No talent is involved.
The bottom line often is that we don't want to encourage young people to mimic such cruel practical jokes, nor do we want movies making it seem that this kind of crass behavior, which requires nothing but a class clown's gross disregard for other people's feelings, is either cute or clever.
Cut-ups who merely do what any one of us in a lapse of taste COULD do in front of our home movie cameras -- if we were brazen, delinquent, or drunk enough -- are nothing the least bit special. Stars are rarely born performing pranks that any of us could do just as well or better if we had no dignity.
Well said.