Posted on 11/16/2006 11:36:37 AM PST by SirJohnBarleycorn
In his only interview as himself, Sacha Baron Cohen talks about growing up kosher in London, inventing a new kind of comedy with Ali G and conquering Hollywood with Borat
(snip)
Since reaching star status in Britain in 1998 with his other alter ego, the wangsta jester Ali G, Baron Cohen has never done an interview in his home country as himself and has never done an interview this extensive anywhere.
(snip)
When Baron Cohen first heard that the Kazakh government was thinking of suing him and placing a full-page ad promoting the country in The New York Times, he was editing his movie in Los Angeles. His reaction: "I was surprised, because I always had faith in the audience that they would realize that this was a fictitious country and the mere purpose of it was to allow people to bring out their own prejudices. And the reason we chose Kazakhstan was because it was a country that no one had heard anything about, so we could essentially play on stereotypes they might have about this ex-Soviet backwater. The joke is not on Kazakhstan. I think the joke is on people who can believe that the Kazakhstan that I describe can exist --who believe that there's a country where homosexuals wear blue hats and the women live in cages and they drink fermented horse urine and the age of consent has been raised to nine years old."
In actuality, it turns out that Borat is a far more damning critique of America than it is of Kazakhstan. The jokes that Baron Cohen mentions above -- and all the rest about beating gypsies, throwing Jews down wells, exporting pubic hair and making monkey porn -- are clearly parody. But the America that Borat discovers on his cross-country trek here -- rife with homophobia, xenophobia, racism, classism and anti-Semitism -- is all too real.
"I think part of the movie shows the absurdity of holding any form of racial prejudice, whether it's hatred of African-Americans or of Jews," Baron Cohen says.
(snip)
It soon becomes clear that he is not merely curious or vegetarian or allergic to peanuts. He keeps kosher and is making sure that there is no shellfish, pork or other forbidden food or food combination in the dish. A devout Jew, Baron Cohen also keeps the Sabbath when he can, which means that he doesn't work from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
Yes, apparently the US is the only place that has homophobes, xenophobes, racists, anti-Semites and classism.
Agree completely. I can't wait for him to make his sequel, only this time he travels Europe doing the same thing.
I wonder how many, while not wearing swastikas, still believe that if all the Jews died, life would be peachy?
I say he does.
Kazakhstan:
Religions:
Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
From the reaction in this thread to the interview, Cohen should have resisted giving interviews a bit longer. LOL.
This was a hopelessly sophmoric and really stupid movie. It made Jackass II look like na Academy Award winner. Teh bad taste of watching a fat man and a skinny man sniff each other's naked derriers is really sick. Is this dude really John Waters? Waste of my time.
Of course most of the people poked in the movie wind up being poked not because of racism on their part but because of a desire to not appear racist. Most of the gags are him going to a serious backwoods routine and watching people trying to deal with it without ever seeming insensitive.
Exactly. Europeans (Old-Europe supremacists) won't see this merely as comedy but as a validation of their anti-Americanism.
Well there went the air out of my balloon. LOL.
I see why that scene didn't make the cut. It wasn't funny.
>>>When foreigners find Americans who are jackasses, I do not take it as a negative reflection on myself or the people I know and respect.
Every nation has jackasses, and laughing at them is the appropriate response.>>>
And the Brits have never been a people that shy away from making fun of themselves either. I have seen some pretty funny shows from Britain making fun of their own negative stereotypes.
And do you have your wedding sack?
>>>Just get the stick out of your butt and laugh, he really is very, very funny.>>>
I agree. And he doesn't JUST pick on Americans. He picks on all creeds and cultures.
>>>What would the reaction be if comedians made careers out of telling jokes about Americans in the South, or rednecks in general...>>>
They'd have several hit shows and a million bucks (ie: Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, etc...)
Another scene he is squatting, taking a dump in a hedge next to a busy sidewalk in NYC.
And he has the nerve to talk about American prejudice??
They do that all the time.
Europeans are arrogant bastards. You just ignore them.
What would be the reaction if an American went to England and found a few examples of Engliish Jews who would reinforce the worst stereotypes of Jews imaginable.....
Under their laws they could be hauled before the courts for ridicule and "hate". Now it is true there would unlikely be a conviction. The Canadian courts have similiar powers.
The tactic is to put the defendant through rigorous examinations. When the person is demoralised and financially drained, the case is then dropped. The admonition is "this time you are lucky".
I have to have a laugh though. In the Alec Guiness masterpiece "Oliver", he plays Fagin. Robert Newton played the worst violent scum of an Englishman. He played Bill Sykes. Now Fagin was a Jew. This has brought forth protests about the film. Charles Dickens was an anti-semmite they said He who portrayed some Englishmen as the scum of the earth . Wackford Squeers comes to mind.
I knew London and Jewish people in the post war days. Here with my immitation of FAGIN. It goes for all and sundry.
Civil words my dear, Civil words. Laughs.
I have wanted to see this movie for awhile and probably won't be able to to until Thanksgiving break. Hopefully it is going to be playing still.
Would you like to see the man end up like Salman Rushdie? Oh, on second thoughts do not answer that. LOL
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