Word: cohen
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...Bigotry as Comedy Joel Stein's story on comedian Sasha Baron Cohen's movie Borat stated that "any normal person over 35 is going to find [Baron Cohen's character] Borat horrifying" [Nov. 6]. I disagree; I'm 37, and although I thought the film was as vulgar and far removed from political correctness as you can get, I was not horrified. It is an absolutely brilliant satirical look at global prejudice and unquestionably the funniest movie in years. I seriously doubt you have to be under or over a certain age to know a sharp work of satire...
Borat, the movie’s protagonist, hails from Kazakhstan, a nation which we are told has some of the cleanest prostitutes in central Asia. Cohen himself looks vaguely Muslim (Cohen is actually half-Israeli and half-Welsh) and his character Borat is incredibly out of sync with Western mores. Borat’s blend of misogyny, anti-Semitism, and general backwardness all carefully correspond with American stereotypes of Islam. Importantly, these are not always traits that Americans impute indiscriminately to all other cultures...
...although these are the hallmarks of a “stereotypical Muslim,” the movie makes it very clear that Borat is, in fact, not a Muslim (and even appears to have converted to Christianity by the end of the movie). There is also little evidence that Cohen tried to portray his character as a Muslim. Despite all this, a largely subconscious tension exists between the similarity of Borat’s “Muslim” attitudes and his claim not to be an adherent to Islam...
This tension comes to the fore when a rabidly xenophobic cowboy asks Borat directly in the movie if he is a Muslim or not. Caught off-guard by the question, Cohen states in character that he is not a Muslim but a Kazakh (a curious answer owing to Kazazhstan’s large Muslim population). Cohen’s Borat then tries to lighten up the moment by saying that instead of following Islam he “follows the hawk” (a flippant reference to Kazakhstan’s flag...
...unlikely that Sacha Baron Cohen designed his Borat character in order to capitalize on this anxiety. He introduced the character several years ago on “Da Ali G Show,” before Islam had become a major part of the political discourse. But if America were not mired in Iraq and if Muslim relations with the West and the War on Terror—or as Borat calls it, the “War of Terror”—were not so important, “Borat” would not have sold as many...