Bruno -- Based on a Real Gay Austrian?!

46. I don't think cohen wants to humiliate and embarrass others, especially if they don't deserve it; He usually targets that which is ridiculous in the first place. However, if he did have that intention then it indeed would be reprehensible and it would not be right for people to laugh at that, its all find and dandy but at the end of the day no one likes to be the one humiliated. On the matter of Austria, I am really disinterested on what SBC, an entertainer, has to say about Austria in a movie as a gay fashion reporter. I mean common, you have to be a mental midget to stoop to that level. However, I do care if he makes me laugh, I mean that's the purpose of me going to the movie theater to watch this movie, I am not going to let it offend. I saw the movie and it was ok, not great. Nothing like Borat, that's for sure. The american audience I saw it with was enormously shocked at some of the scenes, I just thought they were lame and begging for laughs...Other times, it was quite hilariou

Posted at 4:14PM on Jul 11th 2009 by Galt Viergutz

47. Im from austria; its pretty evident that he didn't make fun of austrians or gays. He made fun of flamboyant homosexuals, as well as having an undertone of possible deterioration of society if we allow progressive things to keep going ( the black baby scenario--once gays get rights to marry, then you will give legitimacy to them adopting, and in turn, a portion of that culture will be an aberration, and you won't be able to stop it until it happens, which will probably mean people will in turn, in the swing of things, become more conservative and then pass legislation to not allow gays to adop) and used the language of Austria and that hitler came from there in combination with the gayness of his character to make it more funny, which was funny (no, he did not make fun of homophobia, as he went to the most biggoted people and also, anybody would have been weireded out by him, including lesbians and gays, so it doesn't mean anything such as the social commentary about america in borat). On the other hand, if he had had the intention to make fun of austrians or the gays, I really couldn't care less anyway. Seriously, people are getting offended and giving power to things that should not have any power. The people that laugh at that are putting themselves down, not the groups involved. It only affects the groups involved if they let themselves be affected. Politically, public opinion always matters if you want to get legistlation passed, but I doubt this movie will really CHANGE public opinion, you have to be quite not so bright to have it do that. Personally, I am quite disinterested on what SBC's intentions are. If I were to recommend anything to america, its not to to give power to that that is inherently powerless. Its the same with alcohol, if you hadn't made it illegal for people under 21, perhaps consumption would go down. Furthermore, if you hadn't been so shocked by extreme ads, they would lose their power and fade away. Its only by feeling offended or letting it affect sensibilities, that such shows, ads, and publicity stunts work. Borat was funny, but it wasn't wow o my god. Paris hilton made a sex tape with 50 guys and a horse, yay! (clap clap clap for paris hilton) its not controversial, its just... lame. Didn't you notice that bruno used a lot of shocking scenes to stir a reaction that he could not acheive with satire? that means they were lame, you are giving power to that which does not deserve power by being shocked at something that is just lame. There's a 'tipping point' in movies now, where shock effect is going to lose its edge, and its just going to become old and lame. The only way to acheive it then, will be actual satire or a substance based social commentary. Thats why I beleive something like South park, will be timeless. These swings in thinking, will eventaully converge to a way of thinking that is the correct one. Its not one dimentional--increased liberalness, this things always go in cycles. Which will have nothing to do with ideology, it will be simply tested, throughout time, to be the correct way of thinking. Which will probably fall in the overlapping region of ideologies, as a subset of all of them.

Posted at 12:55PM on Jul 12th 2009 by zac