Borat: Considering Other Cultures in Order to Benefit Civilization

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is the 2007 Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated comedy film about a journalist who travels from Kazakhstan to the in order to report on American society and cultures. While in the US and A, Borat Sagdiyev disregards his assignment so that he may embark on a quest to find what his heart truly desires, Pamela Anderson. At first, it seems like a good natured and amusing movie, until Borat declares that "In Kazakhstan we say, God, man, horse, dog, then woman, then rat." Despite this and countless other chauvinistic remarks, critics rave, "Borat will make you laugh till it hurts, and you'll still beg for more." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone; "...by a long shot the funniest film of the year." -Ty Burr, Boston Globe; and "...it's screamingly, hysterically, laugh-through-the-next-joke, laugh-for-the-next-week funny.” -Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle. Ok, we get it, it was a humorous film. But did anyone ever stop to think about the social implications and the negative effects that this movie has on the minds of Americans? Such narrow-minded movies can subconsciously desensitize the morals and the beliefs of the American public.

The movie starts in Kazakhstan where Borat is seen consistently demoralizes the country by portraying it as impoverished and anti-Semitic. He also goes on to make the outrageous claim that “Although Kazakhstan a glorious country, it have a problem, too: economic, social, and Jew.” This may see like just a joke, but its actually degrading Kazakhstan by making it seem as if it were full of anti-Semites. He will also go on to depict the people of Kazakhstan as proponents of prostitution, incest, child molestation, and even bestiality. Although all of these accusations are far from true, its disheartening because not many individuals actually know much about the country of Kazakhstan let alone know of it. With no prior knowledge of the nation, these dreadful first impressions are the only things left in the minds of people. What the audience should know is that Kazakhstan is a glorious country and is one of the largest exporters of crude oil and has a rapidly growing economy. Not only that, but Kazakhstan has a very diverse population including Russians, Germans, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, and even a substantial Jewish population. What Borat does is desensitize people’s values through the use of crude humor. After being exposed to so much of this sort of satire, it can lead people to believe that these bogus generalizations true.

Even worse than believing these remarks is believing that it is acceptable to make these remarks. The same concept applies here, the repetitive exposure to offensive jokes, such as the point in the movie where Borat believes that a Jewish couple has shape shifted into cockroaches, can lead to adverse effects on the way we communicate with one another. For example, for the first couple of weeks after my friends and I first viewed the movie in theaters, I noticed that some of my friends began to imitate Borat by repeating his lines in the movie such as, “What's up with it, vanilla face?” That sort of remark is never appropriate because it can not only cause discomfort and tension between people, but also resentment. Such offensive phrases have no specific benefits for civilization, only harm, which is why movies that show or support prejudice should outright be banned.

In a recent desensitization study, a psychology professor named Nicholas Carnagey and a former professor named Brad Bushman collaborated and came up with a method to find out the effects of video game violence. This study consisted of 257 people who were to witness real-life violence followed by playing violent video games for 20 minutes. They then tested the heart rates and the Galvanic Skin responses of the people and came to a conclusion that the longer that the person watched the violence or played the violent video game, the less dramatic responses they had. What they found out was that the more violence the person watched with their eyes, the less their body reacted to it. They became desensitized to violent behavior over a prolonged period off time. This same exact concept applies to offensive language in movies. After witnessing and hearing so many prejudiced acts, a person can become accustomed to talking and feeling ok with being prejudice. The longer the person is exposed to offensive material, the more likely he or she will pick up on that type of behavior themselves. So we must protect the innocent minds of America and forbid such racist movies.

Some people might disagree with me however. They argue that Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor who plays Borat, is using this style of comedy in order to make people more aware of the racism out there. They believe that by exposing people to racism that they will have a better understanding about it. That may be true in some cases, but Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is not an exception. Borat uses crude and distasteful humor in order to make you think that racism is a funny thing and that its not such a serious issue. Racism is no laughing matter as it can not only offend a person, but also cause tension between groups of peoples. This movie is a great example of tension caused by racism. After the release of this movie, the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan threatened to sue Sacha Baron Cohen. The European Center for Antiziganism Research also filed a complaint against Borat for expressing pessimistic views about the Roma people by calling them Gypsies. Although Borat’s antics may have seemed amusing and harmless at the time, they were actually words of hate.

Borat’s remarks should not brushed aside as comical mischief, but rather criticized and condemned. His harsh words with the use of satire enable us to believe that racism and ignorance of other cultures is tolerable. What this character is doing is slowly picking apart our morals and ethics and promoting narrow-mindedness. He has gone on the offensive and has attacked race, gender, sexual orientation, and the mentally and physically disabled. Not only that but he is desensitizing our minds and making us believe it that bigotry is acceptable. When is it ever ok to, “throw a Jew down the well,” let alone say it? Borat is a highly repulsive and derogatory movie that is destroying the mentality of this and all other nations. Middle Eastern countries were right for banning this movie for it is a movie of hate, not humor.