MysteriousFaith

The Tao of Borat

People easily offended will find a lot of material to be up in arms about at in the movie Borat, and those with only a junior high boy’s sense of humor will equally miss the points to this movie. Some will love it for its humor, but walk away without understanding any of the points the writer and star, Sacha Baron Cohen, is attempting to make. To be sure, the movie has moments of incredibly guttural humor, although on balance, some will find the sense of humor simply from the gutter.

What has always made the character of Borat funny has been that his interviews with popular American politicians and personalities must occur on his terms. Borat’s humor is initially felt through his use of mangled English words and phrases, but his intentional linguistic inadequacies require clarity from his interview subjects, by and large people whose typical approach is to be anything but. Orwell wrote that “the point of language is that society can not face issues unless it calls them what they are … the purpose of euphemism is to prevent clear thought.” At his best, Borat captures American linguistic euphemisms at their worst, as his clumsy phrasing and utter bluntness of expression forces his interview subject to respond in kind.

Thus, Borat can corner a popular rodeo personality and get him to respond to Borat’s tactless comment that his country imprisons and kills homosexuals by stating that “this is what we are trying to do over here.” For all the protestations of anti-homosexual crusaders that their resistance to homosexual equality is predicated on divine revelation or natural law, for too many, darker intentions and insecurities lie. Borat innocent bluntness gets people to say things to him, even knowing they are on camera, because they can not respond in platitudes, metaphors or jumbled ideological language – they have to say what it is which really lies at the base of their beliefs.

For those who feel he only makes fun of American blemishes and excesses, his repeated jokes at the expense of Jews are good old-fashioned pokes at the anti-Semitism still too common in parts of Eastern Europe (yes, some of the humor is just good old-fashioned cuts on former Soviet-bloc countries). As antiquated as anti-Semitism may seem to Americans, its place within the locus of prejudice is never as out of reach as we would like, and Borat reminds us of this.

Borat’s initial purpose for traveling to America is to film a documentary about our country; however, he quickly becomes infatuated with Pamela Anderson after seeing his first episode of Baywatch at his New York hotel. Borat believes her to be a worthwhile quest, the ultimate prize from his trip to America. Anderson’s virginal character as portrayed in the show captures a form of innocent beauty and sexuality Borat has never before seen. This is Borat at his absolute best: Anderson’s Baywatch personality CJ is complete contradiction which illustrates American cultural hypocrisy at its worst. On one hand CJ is presented as an idealized form of pure Midwestern American innocence as she swims, dives and runs to save lives. Her romantic aspirations are constantly stymied as she meets insincere men who are interested in her body but not her inner qualities.

But CJ is also American mechanical hyper-sexuality at its best. CJ’s ample bosom is always provocative without being illicit; her swimsuit is a one piece, although its design has been optimized to maximize the appearance of leg length and bodice. Her sexuality is pushed in front of us in the most artificial and plastic of ways, and yet the Baywatch story line insists in her innate sincerity and virginal character. That Baywatch is one of America’s top exported TV shows is not lost on Cohen. That it captures the confusion of American sexuality is the point: we want it both ways – the buxom virgin whose sexuality is utterly obvious, but left unexplored is the taunt we throw out to ourselves and the world. Borat’s metaphysical bluntness holds no room for such complexity, explorations or nuance; instead, his bluntness requires that he respond.

Chasing his dream of marrying CJ, a penniless Borat bums rides from some American fraternity brothers on vacation in a RV. As they proceed to get loaded, each of them descends into a haze of racist and sexist comments that are one of the occasional moments during the movie when you can almost hear the audience collectively gasp at the respective admissions. This is Borat channeling Mel Gibson, before Gibson reminded us of the eternal truth in the old Latin saying “in vino veritas”. The movie watchers must ask themselves what part of these comments reflect who these college students really are and what they really believe, and how much is the blathering of immature loudmouths.

The RV trip is a necessary transitional part of the movie as it is here that Borat finally plays the DVD of the “sexy time video” he purchased of Pamela Anderson. While he and the frat boys are fairly well lit up, the infamous video of Anderson and then-husband Tommy Lee winds up. Borat is inconsolable. His belief in Anderson’s virginal beauty is destroyed, everything he sacrificed to travel to California gone. And here, desolate and an emotional wreck, Borat finally gets to experience American religion.

Borat manages to treat this experience deftly; he does pick a Pentecostal church, complete with dancing parishioners, people babbling in tongues and others whose intensity of worship is morbidly distressing. But although each of these makes up for some good laughs, Cohen shows American faith at its best. He sleeps on the church’s doorstep and wanders into the service disheveled and standing out like a very sore thumb. The church welcomes him in their own way – seeing them laying hands on Borat and him speaking in tongues, with the pastors and laypeople gurgling around him is priceless – but they do welcome him.

Borat manages to get thrown out of just about every public forum one could envision, yet it is the church that welcomes him. Cohen wants to make fun of Pentecostals, but not at the expense of seeing the good they have to offer. When Borat finally makes his statement of faith in front of the church with microphone in hand – that “Mr. Jesus” can save him and rescue his relationship with Pamela – we hold our collective breaths … will he behave in front of the church, if no where else? Open to forgiving Pamela, and being reminded of his love for her, Borat is again off to find her.

When Borat finally meets the real Pamela Anderson in California, and attempts to wrestle her into a traditional “marriage sack”, we get one last shot in the arm about our celebrity infatuated culture before the movie winds down and Borat gets to make his final point. By the way, this part of the movie where Borat chases her through the record store into the neighboring parking lot only to be felled by security is priceless – as long as you are not Pamela Anderson. Borat’s sorrow is realizing that what we hold up as deviant (the black hooker who takes him to her house after a night spent line dancing but no sex) is actually more pure, more sincere, and more honest than what our culture attempts to portray as innocent.

One last note: commentators and writers may make too much of certain aspects of Borat’s humor. As I write this, the naked wrestling scene is one example of something I could have done without and just did not find helpful or humorous (unless of course Cohen’s point is again to force us to think about what it is that makes us uncomfortable and why). These portions of the movie are those where Borat’s deeper symbolism and meaning are set aside for the sake of a laugh; not finding it funny is understandable, and perhaps when we try too hard to find meaning, Borat is quietly laughing at those who take themselves too seriously. In that case, the laugh is on us.

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• November 11, 2006

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