Borat

[Mistress M]

So....

Who's seen the movie? What does everyone think about it?

[Wheeljak]

So....
Who's seen the movie? What does everyone think about it?
I'm probably gonna catch it at the matinee tomorrow. I'll tellya all about it when I do.

[Mistress M]

Well, then make sure you don't read my post on LJ before you go!

[Etherspin]

pretty funny,not bad .. a little scarey (the rodeo people,college idiots etc)

[sdldawn]

hilarious... borat is wonderful

[ChrisLDog]

Damn funny, but very painful to watch. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I'd watch it again.

[Mistress M]

pretty funny,not bad .. a little scarey (the rodeo people,college idiots etc)

Hey ether -- how are people interpreting the movie by you? Are they seeing it as just an American issue, or are they transposing it onto themselves and their own cultures too?

I hated the movie, but a lot of that is because I saw it over here, where people just saw it as an opportunity to laugh at Americans rather than seeing their own hidden racism and anti-semitism and the failure of their categories. But it's also cuz I don't like prank show-type stuff because I think it's fundamentally mean, which I don't think is funny.:(

[Doo-DooHead]

Mistress I Want To Respond But, I Won't See The Movie Until Sometime This Week, So I'll Wait To Make A Comment!!!

[sdldawn]

whats so damn funny is, borat isn't really the one being racist at all... its those stupid americans..


borat makes fun of jews, but he is jewish himself.

[Hero1]

Yeah borat is just really catching out the people he interviews.. pretty funny movie

[Mistress M]

From "The New Yorker" magazine

“BORAT”: THE MEMO
by GEORGE SAUNDERS
Issue of 2006-12-04
Posted 2006-11-27

Dear Ken

Got your note, deeply honored. Being new to the company, really appreciate opportunity to outline some ideas for “Borat” DVD. As Josh mentioned, we do indeed have a wealth of footage that could be put to good use as DVD extras. In other cases, have taken liberty of suggesting some reshoots:

OPENING “VILLAGE” SECTION: How about a high-speed montage of the actual difficult, brutal lives of the villagers in Romania—the hours of debilitating toil, their oppression at the hands of their corrupt government, premature loss of teeth, death of infants, etc., etc.—culminating in a panning shot of the village on the morning of the day when they first realize they’ve been had, and that, as far as posterity goes, they will always be remembered, if remembered at all, as savages, rapists, prostitutes, etc., and they stumble out of their little sheds or whatever, looking traumatized? (Would be good if one or two could fall into depression/commit suicide as a result = confirmation of their “subhuman” status? Rich social commentary.)

ALT: The scene where the one-armed old man, many months later, weeps in his room at the memory of being tricked into wearing a sex toy on his arm. Priceless!

SOUTHERN DINING SOCIETY SECTION: Do we have footage of the woman Borat identified as unattractive being consoled in her darkened living room later that night by her husband? Particularly good if, all her life, she’s fought the feeling that she was not attractive, and only recently has come to feel pretty, owing to the steady love of her husband, who does, in fact, find her pretty, in part because of her kindness to him and others in their community—and now all those wounds have been reopened! Also, although she is crying, she tries to cry quietly, so as not to alarm the kids. Super!

PAM ANDERSON (1): The scene where Sacha’s powerful agent calls Pamela Anderson’s powerful agent and they chat about the mutual benefit of having her appear in the film, and whether it will bother her to have the Tommy Lee sex video referenced. Apparently, they decide, it won’t.

PENTECOSTAL SECTION: The scene where those wacky Pentecostals offer to take Borat into their homes, as Jesus would have done, and as, in fact, per Josh, many of them actually did? And also, didn’t they, like, take up a collection on Sacha/Borat’s behalf or something? Guess they really walk the walk! This moving-in-with-some-Pentecostals would be good, especially if, once in their home, Sacha could mock one of their children for, say, his/her overly prim table manners. That would really go a long way toward puncturing the sanctimonious posturing of the neocons.

RODEO NATIONAL ANTHEM SECTION: Would be great if we had a series of shots where we see hundreds of people in the rodeo audience driving home, in their “pickups” or whatever, troubled at the thought that hundreds of other people in the audience continued to cheer even after the “Bush drinking blood” line. We could focus on one particular couple who have had complicated feelings about the war in Iraq from the beginning, even though they (1) live in the South and (2) enjoy rodeo. (Although too unbelievable?) A nice touch might be: This family sees Borat hitchhiking, picks him up, he sits in back seat of car with kids, takes shit in back seat, then pretends to be humping the family dog, and we see, from their reaction, that they really are rednecks after all.

PAM ANDERSON (2): The scene where, during “rehearsals” for the naked-wrestling, balls-in-the-face scene, Sacha takes a break to call his powerful agent on his cell phone, to see how negotiations with Pamela Anderson’s powerful agent are going.

“GANGSTA” SECTION: The scene where Borat says something intentionally offensive to the inner-city black guys—where is that scene? I have been unable to find it. Here I definitely suggest a reshoot. In the attachment, I have provided a list of common racial slurs that Sacha could try out on “the brothers,” just to see what they do to him. My thought is, that seems to be the ethos of the rest of the film—i.e., Sacha saying/doing the most offensive things possible, in order to elicit a reaction—so I sense a little inconsistency here. Thoughts?

GAY PRIDE PARADE SECTION: Ditto here. Where are the gays insulted? Have noted, from perusing other sections of film, that chief targets of satire seem to be clueless middle-class whites, so a suggestion: Cull through Gay Pride footage to I.D. some clueless middle-class white gays, ask them embarrassing personal questions—e.g., Borat could quiz naïvely about details of anal sex, etc. What a riot!

PAM ANDERSON (3): Do we have footage of Sacha thanking Pam after the kidnapping scene, praising her for the naturalness of her acting, promising to do lunch, handing her a check, etc., etc.? What I love about this is the way it very clearly says: Gotcha! We celebrities are Us, you non-celebs are You. Stay on your side of the line, No-Name.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Finally, if I may be so bold, sir? Possible idea for “Borat II”: In selected redneck Midwestern location (Chicago?), as audience leaves theatre having just seen “Borat” we film them as they are sprayed with a stinging toxic foam, which drives them into paroxysms of itching, which causes them to strip naked; then we release seventy or eighty “attack dogs,” at which time we approach, asking for donations for AIDS relief in Africa. This could be classic! People would finally see, once and for all, when audience responds by swearing, etc., what hypocrites Americans really are.

Anxious to hear your thoughts.

Your intern,

Glen

[SaintHax]

it was a very wack movie

[Thannor]

Isn't that the movie that caused Kid Rock and Pam to divorce?

[Wheeljak]

Isn't that the movie that caused Kid Rock and Pam to divorce?
No, it's the movie that Kid Rock and Pam were watching while the time ran out on their already doomed marriage.

[sdldawn]

fuckin hilarious..

[Etherspin]

pretty cruel to a couple of the recipients.. the whole village in romania and the woman he was taunting as being ugly

[Cozmo D]

Hey ether -- how are people interpreting the movie by you? Are they seeing it as just an American issue, or are they transposing it onto themselves and their own cultures too?

I hated the movie, but a lot of that is because I saw it over here, where people just saw it as an opportunity to laugh at Americans rather than seeing their own hidden racism and anti-semitism and the failure of their categories. But it's also cuz I don't like prank show-type stuff because I think it's fundamentally mean, which I don't think is funny.:(


From "The New Yorker" magazine

“BORAT”: THE MEMO
by GEORGE SAUNDERS
Issue of 2006-12-04
Posted 2006-11-27

Dear Ken

Got your note, deeply honored. Being new to the company, really appreciate opportunity to outline some ideas for “Borat” DVD. As Josh mentioned, we do indeed have a wealth of footage that could be put to good use as DVD extras. In other cases, have taken liberty of suggesting some reshoots:

OPENING “VILLAGE” SECTION: How about a high-speed montage of the actual difficult, brutal lives of the villagers in Romania—the hours of debilitating toil, their oppression at the hands of their corrupt government, premature loss of teeth, death of infants, etc., etc.—culminating in a panning shot of the village on the morning of the day when they first realize they’ve been had, and that, as far as posterity goes, they will always be remembered, if remembered at all, as savages, rapists, prostitutes, etc., and they stumble out of their little sheds or whatever, looking traumatized? (Would be good if one or two could fall into depression/commit suicide as a result = confirmation of their “subhuman” status? Rich social commentary.)

ALT: The scene where the one-armed old man, many months later, weeps in his room at the memory of being tricked into wearing a sex toy on his arm. Priceless!

SOUTHERN DINING SOCIETY SECTION: Do we have footage of the woman Borat identified as unattractive being consoled in her darkened living room later that night by her husband? Particularly good if, all her life, she’s fought the feeling that she was not attractive, and only recently has come to feel pretty, owing to the steady love of her husband, who does, in fact, find her pretty, in part because of her kindness to him and others in their community—and now all those wounds have been reopened! Also, although she is crying, she tries to cry quietly, so as not to alarm the kids. Super!

PAM ANDERSON (1): The scene where Sacha’s powerful agent calls Pamela Anderson’s powerful agent and they chat about the mutual benefit of having her appear in the film, and whether it will bother her to have the Tommy Lee sex video referenced. Apparently, they decide, it won’t.

PENTECOSTAL SECTION: The scene where those wacky Pentecostals offer to take Borat into their homes, as Jesus would have done, and as, in fact, per Josh, many of them actually did? And also, didn’t they, like, take up a collection on Sacha/Borat’s behalf or something? Guess they really walk the walk! This moving-in-with-some-Pentecostals would be good, especially if, once in their home, Sacha could mock one of their children for, say, his/her overly prim table manners. That would really go a long way toward puncturing the sanctimonious posturing of the neocons.

RODEO NATIONAL ANTHEM SECTION: Would be great if we had a series of shots where we see hundreds of people in the rodeo audience driving home, in their “pickups” or whatever, troubled at the thought that hundreds of other people in the audience continued to cheer even after the “Bush drinking blood” line. We could focus on one particular couple who have had complicated feelings about the war in Iraq from the beginning, even though they (1) live in the South and (2) enjoy rodeo. (Although too unbelievable?) A nice touch might be: This family sees Borat hitchhiking, picks him up, he sits in back seat of car with kids, takes shit in back seat, then pretends to be humping the family dog, and we see, from their reaction, that they really are rednecks after all.

PAM ANDERSON (2): The scene where, during “rehearsals” for the naked-wrestling, balls-in-the-face scene, Sacha takes a break to call his powerful agent on his cell phone, to see how negotiations with Pamela Anderson’s powerful agent are going.

“GANGSTA” SECTION: The scene where Borat says something intentionally offensive to the inner-city black guys—where is that scene? I have been unable to find it. Here I definitely suggest a reshoot. In the attachment, I have provided a list of common racial slurs that Sacha could try out on “the brothers,” just to see what they do to him. My thought is, that seems to be the ethos of the rest of the film—i.e., Sacha saying/doing the most offensive things possible, in order to elicit a reaction—so I sense a little inconsistency here. Thoughts?

GAY PRIDE PARADE SECTION: Ditto here. Where are the gays insulted? Have noted, from perusing other sections of film, that chief targets of satire seem to be clueless middle-class whites, so a suggestion: Cull through Gay Pride footage to I.D. some clueless middle-class white gays, ask them embarrassing personal questions—e.g., Borat could quiz naïvely about details of anal sex, etc. What a riot!

PAM ANDERSON (3): Do we have footage of Sacha thanking Pam after the kidnapping scene, praising her for the naturalness of her acting, promising to do lunch, handing her a check, etc., etc.? What I love about this is the way it very clearly says: Gotcha! We celebrities are Us, you non-celebs are You. Stay on your side of the line, No-Name.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: Finally, if I may be so bold, sir? Possible idea for “Borat II”: In selected redneck Midwestern location (Chicago?), as audience leaves theatre having just seen “Borat” we film them as they are sprayed with a stinging toxic foam, which drives them into paroxysms of itching, which causes them to strip naked; then we release seventy or eighty “attack dogs,” at which time we approach, asking for donations for AIDS relief in Africa. This could be classic! People would finally see, once and for all, when audience responds by swearing, etc., what hypocrites Americans really are.

Anxious to hear your thoughts.

Your intern,

Glen
I finally got to see this the other day. You realize that a good 95% or so of it was scripted, right? Very little of it was real. I found it hilarious by the way.:haha:

[ElizabethX]

I'm curious to see it. Everyone says it's very offensive, but I always got the impression from what I've seen and heard that it was done to make a point, and not in seriousness.

[Wheeljak]

I'm curious to see it. Everyone says it's very offensive, but I always got the impression from what I've seen and heard that it was done to make a point, and not in seriousness.
If you can keep yourself from looking away from the screen when the wrestling scene is on, then I take my hat off to you.:tiphat:

[Harmeister]

you sure it's only your hat Wheel?

[Wheeljak]

you sure it's only your hat Wheel?:confused:

[Mistress M]

I finally got to see this the other day. You realize that a good 95% or so of it was scripted, right? Very little of it was real. I found it hilarious by the way.:haha:

My understanding is that Sacha Cohen's lines were scripted, and the scenes with him and his "producer", and the scenes with Pam Anderson. But the reactions of ordinary people were not. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/news/env-et-borat22jan22,0,6180879.story?coll=env-home-subfeaturebar

Also, there have been 4 lawsuits concerning the movie, from people who felt they were duped because they were told they were making a "documentary" -- one from the residents of the Romanian villiage who sued for $30 million because they were mislead into believing they were part of a serious documentary about Romanian poverty; a pair of fraternity brothers from the bus sued because they were too drunk to consent; there is a lawsuit concerning how they obtained the permission of the "etiquette coach" in a misleading manner; and a South Carolina man sued over Cohen invading his privacy by filming him in the bathroom of a resterant (the footage was ordered to be cut from the film.)

I feel if it was "95% scripted," then all these people would have been "in" on it, and not be so upset afterwards.

[Cozmo D]

My understanding is that Sacha Cohen's lines were scripted, and the scenes with him and his "producer", and the scenes with Pam Anderson. But the reactions of ordinary people were not. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/news/env-et-borat22jan22,0,6180879.story?coll=env-home-subfeaturebar

Also, there have been 4 lawsuits concerning the movie, from people who felt they were duped because they were told they were making a "documentary" -- one from the residents of the Romanian villiage who sued for $30 million because they were mislead into believing they were part of a serious documentary about Romanian poverty; a pair of fraternity brothers from the bus sued because they were too drunk to consent; there is a lawsuit concerning how they obtained the permission of the "etiquette coach" in a misleading manner; and a South Carolina man sued over Cohen invading his privacy by filming him in the bathroom of a resterant (the footage was ordered to be cut from the film.)

I feel if it was "95% scripted," then all these people would have been "in" on it, and not be so upset afterwards.
Watch the movie again and observe the camerawork. You can plainly see that most of the movie was shot with multiple camera angles and in multiple takes, including the frat boy scenes. Multiple cameras and takes means that those in those scenes ARE in on it. ;)

[ElizabethX]

I just saw this tonight (and within the week, I saw Ali G Indahouse, which was also good but there were def some tasteless things... which I was able to overlook easily because of the other good things.).

I don't have sympathy for the people featured in Borat and it seemed pretty real (despite camera angles you pointed out, Coz... multiple cameras?). At the end credits, the cast list was tiny. At times, I asked myself if it was real because the seemingly real people were so extremely horrible. It's believable but WOW, did they really just willingly say that on camera, so easily?

I think Sacha Baron Cohen is a pretty smart and funny person who is using his daring sense of humor to shed light on some things and make some points that maybe otherwise certain people wouldn't be interested in hearing. Every person he was making fun of in the movie deserved it. Even the churchie lady-- SO wrong of a comment, but I just don't care. She knows she's not "sexy", and I know she wasn't going for sexy, so she shouldn't mind. If he HAD complimented her with regards to her being desirable, she probably would have been insulted at that as well. All the people pretty much made fun of themselves and were an embarrassment to themselves and our country (which sadly, they represent pretty accurately). He may be an instigator or reactor, but they apparently were comfortable being themselves.

And, if it really was fake.... he still hit the nail on the head.

DJ, I saw the wrestling scene! He is one committed guy...

His first child was just recently born.

[ElizabethX]

PS-- the feminists weren't an embarrassment, but they were being uptight.

[ElizabethX]

PPS-- and the black kids weren't an embarrassment, but I didn't like when they were trying to tell Borat he couldn't talk like he did. It was just like the rodeo dude telling him he had to shave his mustache.

[hart]

So....

Who's seen the movie? What does everyone think about it?

It was funny, I thought, but the naked fight scene was a bit traumatizing. If I could trade the memory of that for maybe, say, a toe, I'd have to seriously think about it.

[ElizabethX]

Come on, man. It was gross, but traumatizing? I thought it was pretty funny, I have to say. I could watch it again.

You guys are soft!