tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post8447064170929640367..comments2024-01-23T13:41:41.463-05:00Comments on The Forager Blog: Movie Chat: BoratJon Hastingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-54478853481969356082007-05-01T18:55:00.000-04:002007-05-01T18:55:00.000-04:00T -That's a good point.I think the bar scene from ...T -<BR/><BR/>That's a good point.<BR/><BR/>I think the bar scene from the show is funny in an outrageous "I can't believe that!" way, but I still don't think its incisive satire, because it <I>is</I> part of staged performance. I just don't buy Baron Cohen's idea that the audience singing along with him represents some kind of bigotry on their part, more than it represents their willingness to go along with a joke that may be in bad taste. The whole silence = bigotry thing seems silly, too, especially coming from a comedian who builds all of his jokes off of ethnic/sexual/class stereotypes! He's obviously a smart guy, but he also really seems to believe his own spin. I wonder if he'll end up having a Dave Chapelle moment?<BR/><BR/>I do sympathize a bit with the critics: they need to fill up space, which means they have to write something more than "Man, I can't believe I laughed so hard at all those ethnic jokes".Jon Hastingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-40511071327354858652007-05-01T07:23:00.000-04:002007-05-01T07:23:00.000-04:00This is a great post. And I agree with your premis...This is a great post. And I agree with your premise.<BR/><BR/>I also think that Borat was a little bit of a special case because it was a television show first, and a lot of critics were responding to that instead of the movie. Especially that one episode where Borat starts the "Throw the Jew Down the Well" singalong at the Texas bar. It seemed like almost all of the reviews and essays of the movie talked about the satirical brilliance of that particular scene and used it to discuss the premise of the movie, even though, of course, it isn't in the movie.<BR/><BR/>Which maybe just proves your point even more. I don't know.T. Hodlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01296600564968909959noreply@blogger.com