this is a thread about borat, but also the world outside of its insular, liberal mess because when i see something bad i immediately imagine how all this money could be spent on smth good

i don’t have much to say on borat the film itself except that it’s a parable for what liberal americans see as a good future: republicans out of the way so that the liberal line of power can have the upper hand in imperialism and racism

i find it really telling that a liberal american comedy, doesn’t see a way to assert the country’s superiority than by making fun of kazakhstan. i understand, the precedent was set 15 years ago, but was there an improvement?

well, the people posing as kazakhs weren’t made fun of personally as much, so maybe there won’t be a new lawsuit (except for one from the holocaust victim). but the quips at kazakhstan, a beautiful country with a rich culture, only became more pointed

as carl zha has pointed out, a kazakh soviet soldier planted the flag on reichstag alongside his russian buddy while other kazakh soviet soldiers fought against the nazis to liberate the jews.

also, kazakhstan, as vast as it is, was the place where hundreds of thousands of jewish people were evacuated during wwii. but in the film the nation of kazakhs are portrayed as antisemitic perpetrators of the holocaust. why?

i know quite a few countries in europe that fit the description much better by way of anti-semitism and nazi collaboration but of course they couldn’t be the butt of cohen’s jokes because how can you do anything without being racist as fuck?

also, brits & americans are too involved in nazi-collaboration for comfort, and so there is a need to make sure the satire can’t give anyone any clues on the real state of affairs

it’s pretty wild that cohen parades himself as a fighter against holocaust denial by literally shifting the blame for the holocaust from a bunch of countries that aligned with nazis and/or sheltered them in the aftermath to a non-white country that had been colonized

it’s all very upsetting to me but not surprising, white western people have been doing such orientalist shit since time immemorial and will keep at it to the deafening applause of the nice liberal public

and not only culturally, the myth of contemporary political figures often hinge on “the other”, too. is hillary even hillary without the slaves of libya? where would elizabeth warren be if she didn’t fuck over the Cherokee nation?

you know full well that if there are “run the american” events happening anywhere, it’s not maga-hat ppl they’re chasing & not even trump, although he’s memeable. it's obama, the clintons, bush, but cohen would never dare to show that

and “the other”—as long as it’s the right kind of “the other”, not the one you belong to, not the one that culture strives to shelter—is always perfect to make fun of because you don’t know anyone who cares personally

(that doesn’t mean that abusing while sheltering "the other" also can’t happen: see the use of Black female characters in both films as “magical negroes”)

but can you imagine how cool it would be if a well equipped film crew went around the world & shed light on the material lives of people in underrepresented places? say, kazakhstan. i’m sure kazakh workers wouldn’t mind sharing a racy joke or two alongside their humble stories

but that wouldn’t be edgy humor would it? it would be wholesome, thus labeled unwatchable for the masses because they can’t be allowed to face their reality ever and need to be kept on the iv drip of the unattainable pumped full of corn syrup

part of the reason i’m an m-l is culture. everyone in the west is constantly snarky about soviet art and how the media used ordinary people to further the political agenda but you actually saw milkmaids on tv and tractor drivers and they were presented as important people

in western media you only ever see rich powerful people and cool stars and if any peasant ever makes it to the screens they will be the butt of a joke or steamrolled into submission to the gods of entertainment by a juggernaut such as ellen or maury povich

you’re allowed to be aspirational to capital, like a five year old who runs a lemonade stand, you’re allowed to be a disaster, like someone dying from the opioid crisis or having a messy diverse while pregnant with your grandpa's kid, but you’re not allowed to just live

there are exceptions but most are borrowed and few are nonfiction because caring about poor people and their issues is considered niche and well would you really want to participate in capitalism if you saw the way it affects people presented honestly?

this sucks so much because besides the fact that this is dishonest it also propels the false narrative that unless you’re rich you can’t be joyful or funny or feel love

sure, the poorer you are the more expensive life becomes and the more survival drains you but there is nothing more fucked up than the assertion that humanity is expensive and few can afford its luxury

and that’s why youtube and tiktok creators are such a respite for many: they have something that reese witherspoon doesn’t no matter how many wigs she puts on, that cohen’s most ingenious pranks will never achieve: authenticity

as much brain gruel we’re fed we still just want to see a chill dude from idaho skateboard with a juice to an old-fashioned song or a self-proclaimed peasant from hebei chugging beer or a bunch of ghanaians making an honest living by lighting up a funeral

because you know what makes the world better? what makes people less racist and more understanding of each other? when they actually know how other people, of a different class, race, or ethnicity live.

when you just watch a rich guy impersonate existing stereotypes, you only become reassured of what you already knew, and fed racist, imperialist propaganda that serves to undermine any hope for world peace so imperative to make sure future holocausts never happen