Donnerstag, 25. März 2010

A Lesson in Satire - Borat the Movie and Its Ramifications

Something that has gotten much better in recent times is the convenience of travel. The world has become smaller through generations due to advancements in the technology of travel, and travel has become more convenient through the invention of some truly unique items that people can take with them while traveling. For example, recently on the market is a telescoping handle system for bags that makes it easier to carry clothes and other necessary items for a journey. Also, to make sure that bags are not mistaken for somebody else's there is private label luggage.

One person, although fictional, who did not have the benefit of any of these nice things on his travels is the character Borat. Created by actor, comedian, and nut ball Sacha Baron Cohen originally as part of his television show, Da Ali G Show, Borat is a reporter from Kazakhstan. After Da Ali G Show was canceled Borat returned to the fore in entertainment with a movie. The movie features the Kazakh reporter getting into many tricky situations, all with real and unknowing Americans, after traveling to the country in search of ways to improve his home country.

One interesting situation the character gets himself in to is when he travels to get a car and his driver's license. When at the car dealership trying to get a car Borat mentions to the dealer a very specific and offensively labeled type of woman that he would want to attract with his new car, looking for suggestions as to what car would attract certain women. The dealer quickly responded that Borat wanted either a Hummer or a Corvette, making him seem misogynistic himself. Much of the humor of the movie centers around Borat, played of course by Sacha Baron Cohen, acting racist, rude and misogynistic and then getting agreement from the people he interacts with. This style of course says more about the unknowing people getting filmed than Baron Cohen himself.

Many people found the film uproariously funny and others were offended. As would be expected, some of the people that were filmed in Borat attempted to sue Baron Cohen because they said the film portrayed them in a bad light. For example, at one point in the movie Borat is staying overnight at a bed and breakfast and the film shows cockroaches crawling around on the floor. This lead to a lawsuit from the elderly couple who owned the bed and breakfast because they claim, correctly, that the cockroaches were planted in their home by the film crew and resulted in a loss of business. It is unfortunate that this type of humor lends itself to lawsuits, but hopefully teaches people upset at their portrayal in the film to be a little more careful when they read things signing away their image rights to a film.

Borat in the opinion of many people is one of the funniest movies ever made and one can certainly see why. Although it definitely is not for those who are easily offended at over the top, sometimes racist sounding humor there is something funny in the movie for almost all audience members.

Connor R. Sullivan recently purchased private label luggage for his daughter who is traveling abroad this summer. He purchased a hand cart with a telescoping handle system for easy toting of luggage through the airport.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Connor_R_Sullivan

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