You either love or hate the fictional,Kazakhstani journalist Borat.I love him.For all this character's ignorance and prejudice,his major accomplishment is to reveal the ignorance and prejudice of others-he takes us on a scary journey across western "civilization" where he's trying to make a "movie-film" about the "best country in the world",a.k.a the US,to show his fellow countrymen.
The question is,who is really the most civilized/uncivilized?Or are all humans equally uncivilized,but in different ways? I admire the courage of Sacha Baron Cohen,I can imagine he stirs up many emotions,the negative are probably the most powerful.Borat is not just a laughing stock,his helpless attitude make the people he meet equally helpless,they can no longer pretend to be superior. Most of the people he meet,interview or come across one way or the other show an from-above,contemptuous attitude,trying to be charming while teaching this "savage"(as they probably see him as)nice western manners. I laughed during the movie,but afterward I also felt slightly sick and even uneasy.Not because of Borat,he's not a real person,but because of all these "nice","normal" people he has revealed.They represent a great deal of the western world,so we should all probably feel a bit ashamed on their behalf.
The question is,who is really the most civilized/uncivilized?Or are all humans equally uncivilized,but in different ways? I admire the courage of Sacha Baron Cohen,I can imagine he stirs up many emotions,the negative are probably the most powerful.Borat is not just a laughing stock,his helpless attitude make the people he meet equally helpless,they can no longer pretend to be superior. Most of the people he meet,interview or come across one way or the other show an from-above,contemptuous attitude,trying to be charming while teaching this "savage"(as they probably see him as)nice western manners. I laughed during the movie,but afterward I also felt slightly sick and even uneasy.Not because of Borat,he's not a real person,but because of all these "nice","normal" people he has revealed.They represent a great deal of the western world,so we should all probably feel a bit ashamed on their behalf.