Three cheers for intolerance
An
alternative review of Borat (and, not cited here, Mark Steyn) from Michael Graham:
And then, just when Western civilization is about to tolerate itself to death, who should appear? Borat the Magnificent!
Borat is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and yes, it's one of the most disgusting, too. I assume you know the premise: Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen plays a bumbling Kazakh TV reporter interviewing people, prominent and obscure, who think Borat is a real person ‹ one who just happens to be utterly clueless. Borat says and does things that civilized people find wildly inappropriate (calling a panel of feminists "chicky" and "sweetheart" was one of my favorites) to test the limits of our tolerance.
Some reviewers have focused on the Americans Borat discovers who share the character's worst prejudices (like the redneck USC students longing for a return of slavery ‹ go 'Cocks!). But that misses Borat's most profound point.
What Borat mocks is tolerance itself. Borat screams anti-Semitic rants or roams into a woman's dining room with a baggie of his own feces, and the first reaction of the good, multicultural Americans around him is to find a way to accommodate, to understand, to (as one clueless woman in the film did) be fascinated by our cultural differences.
And,
please, no emails re vulgarity: it's an integral part of our civilization's heritage (see Aristophanes, Apuleius, Dante and Shakespeare). Get used to it.
(h/t
Ed Driscoll)
Posted on 11/09/2006 6:06 AM by Robert Bove
Comments
9 Nov 2006
Mary Jackson
By George, he's got it. By George, he's got it.
9 Nov 2006
Brian of London
And when you realise that Borat is actually speaking pretty good Hebrew all the way through the movie.... you laugh even harder when you hear him say "shhh the joooz are coming".
Brian
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