Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of... America?

    Yesterday was the big qualifying game for our Soccer team (states, I think), and we won! I'm very excited, and hope that we win the next game, too.
   
    In other news, I went out with a bunch of friends last night and saw Borat! I have to say, I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't expecting it to be this good.   
    Sure, the last thing I needed to see on a Friday night was an extremely overweight man's backside, but this film, unlike the Jackass films that display similar antics, has a purpose. In case you've been living under a rock through the past few months of hype, Borat Sagdiyev is a character played by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (who is Jewish, if you couldn't tell by the name). Cohen does a sort of "candid camera" act where he pretends to be a journalist for a Kazakh TV station and tries to get acquainted with the American culture. Although some, including my Film and Literature teacher, find the premise and humor to be low (she said that she would not advocate "potty humor"), there is a deeper message in the film. In a relatively famous episode of Cohen's Da Ali G show, where the character originated, Borat goes to a Southern bar and strikes up a singalong with the bar's patrons. The only issue: the song that he sings is "Throw the Jew Down the Well" (or what he calls, "In My Country, There is Problem"). Now, being Jewish myself, I am not offended by Cohen's choice of song. What offends me- or disgusts me, to be more accurate- is that the whole room of people sing and clap along to the chorus, "Throw the Jew down the well, so my country can be free" without even a second thought to the song's content.

    What the fuck? Do people today simply accept every single line that is spoon-fed into their ignorant mouths? It's no wonder that our government has gone completely down the shithole these days, it seems that voters just don't take the time to think and formulate their own opinions about political issues. I often encounter kids my age who side with a certain political party simply because their parents do, and when asked to explain their reasoning for doing so, they rattle off bullshit facts and unsupported statements grabbed from the nearest 24 hour news channel. ("Why don't you like President Bush?" "Because he's a douchebag!" "Why do you think he's a douchebag?" "Because he's dumb!")  No one can form their own reasoning for things any more, and Borat uses film to bring this serious issue to the forefront in a way that no other medium can.
     All penises and political issues aside, the film is a must-see, and kept me laughing the whole time. I recommend that you order tickets online first, though, because it was completely sold out yesterday (we bought them on Fandango beforehand).

Charline