Just a quick summary..Borat, a TV reporter from Kazakhstan, is a character created by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat is filmed interviewing members of the public who are unaware that they are being set-up. By being incredibly sexist, racist and homophobic he somehow manages to draw the worst out of the people he meets, uncovering their own hidden poor attitudes. In this way I think he can be described as prophetic; he brings truth to light.
In Sacha Baron Cohen's own words:
Borat essentially works as a tool. By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudice, whether it's anti-Semitism or an acceptance of anti-Semitism.
Here are a few of the video clips we watched.
Hunting in America - Borat meets a worryingly racist Texan.
Country & Western bar - how easily do people join in with things that they know are wrong?
Baron Cohen on this clip:
'Throw the Jew Down the Well' was a very controversial sketch, and some members of the Jewish community thought that it was actually going to encourage anti-Semitism. But to me it revealed something about that bar in Tucson. And the question is: Did it reveal that they were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism.
I remember, when I was in university I studied history, and there was this one major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw. And his quote was, 'The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.' I know it's not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but I think it's an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic.
Gun club
Hunting in England
These two clips reveal the absurdity of macho attitudes.
Yoga and New Age Dance
This clip reminded me strongly of Isaiah 44 where people who construct their own spirituality are challenged.
So, is Borat a modern day prophet...?
14 comments:
Jagshemash!
I hope you're able to lead this one, Andy - have been looking at some quotes of his, and the amount of racial, religious and sexual offense is very high, laced with crude innuendo and expletives. I have yet to be convinced he's saying anything prophetic, and not just someone out to try to insult as many people as he can whilst making a lot of money!
BTW - SofaChurch is now listed with FreshExpressions website - I mentioned it sometime ago
Hope that's OK
cheers
Tim
SEE HERE
Well, the title for this series has always had a prominent question mark after the word prophet...
Having said that, I think there is something in this. The actor who plays Borat pretends to be this racist, sexist homophobe in order to draw out and expose hidden prejudices in the real people he meets. Have a look at this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3IMTJjzfo
Borat goes to a Country and Western Club and has people happily singing along to the overtly racist song 'Throw the Jew down the well'. Sacha Baron Cohen, who invented and plays Borat, is Jewish himself, by the way.
I think there might be something prophetic in this method of creating situations that shine a light on people's normally hidden sinful attitudes.
There are many other examples of this, but you have to wait until Thursday...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Just watched that and cringed! Interesting seeing the faces of those in the audience who felt uncomfortable with the song, and those who joined in with gusto!
It should be very interesting... :o)
I've got that song locked in my head at the moment... I hope I don't find myself singing it anywhere! Could get me into trouble...
when andy was preparing this one i was quite worried that this would be the one to offend everyone at sofachurch! i'm glad you're all so open minded :o)
i hadn't expected andy's point (that borat might somehow have a prophetic message) to be made quite so clearly.
it was shocking, the attitudes of those people borat exposed - i mean, i know we're all grubby inside, but the hate some of them showed for other types of people was just appalling.
"...all other countries are led by little girls..."
i loved that you spent most of the night with your head in your hands cringing, tim!
it wasn't that one, Susie... it was the one to do with putting people in wells...
Youch!!A very squirmy but also interesting meeting.
Yoga and New Age Dance -
This clip reminded me strongly of Isaiah 44 where people who construct their own spirituality are challenged. I would also be quick to lump some Christian practice in with this... adding on extremely tenuous phenomena as necessary evidence of God being at work.
To paraphrase what Andy H said on the night, we also need to bear in mind that Borat was edited to exactly how the producers wanted it - so what we saw is what they want folk to see. I am *NOT* saying it was in anyway falsified - but could be presented in a way which filters the perception given.
that's a very good point - they are in the business of making good tv afterall
Wonder if BRUNO will have any prophetic leanings? A SofaChurch cinema trip perhaps ;o)
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