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Some clown from my country made a huge deal about it and even made some kind of grievance documentary about the Apu character from the Simpsons until they event
by fareesh 6y ago
Some clown from my country made a huge deal about it and even made some kind of grievance documentary about the Apu character from the Simpsons until they eventually phased him out. I was quite annoyed.
All this stuff about offending people with jokes just boils down to how much drama and trouble you can create by bullying the creators and whether or not the ideologues in the media will amplify your message.
In the west, particularly in the USA, there's a weird assumption that "protected classes" extend to jokes too. Jerry Seinfeld highlighted this absurdity with the "anti-dentite" episode. Since profession is not a "protected class" joking about it is ok. This makes no sense because it's entirely possible a dentist or programmer would not feel good about being stereotyped, and so it has nothing to do with being sensitive or anything like that, it's just an illusion that these specific groupings are not allowed but all other groupings are allowed.
I think the world would be a much better place if we all learned to laugh at each other, and ourselves. This selective cancellation and different rules for Borat and Apu are just exposing the absurdity of this type of thinking.
- jkinudsjknds 6y ago> I think the world would be a much better place if we all learned to laugh at each other, and ourselves You may feel differently if it's not everyone laughing at each other, but in fact, everyone laughing at you and treating you poorly for reasons you don't deserve. Say, for example, the caste system.
- httpsterio 6y agoThe main issue with Borat wasn't the negative stereotypes of Kazakhstanians, it was the treatment of the villagers of God, how they were paid and lied to about how they'd be depicted in the movie that I at least personally didn't appreciate. It's a great film and Sascha Baron Cohen is a brilliant actor making actually meaningful content like Who Is America.
- bleeding 6y agoAgreed, I think that everything else in the movie is rather pointedly aimed at revealing and satirizing the reaction of average Americans to a "foreigner", but the scenes involving the villagers lose that focus and reflect poorly on those involved with the movie. I don't think that discounts what the movie is successful at doing, though.
- sk2020 6y agoCan you make a movie stereotyping and disparaging The protected class Cohen belongs to? Of course not. In many countries, doing so is actually a crime. That’s what’s so objectionable to me.
- fareesh 6y agoThere's a really funny movie called The Hebrew Hammer which I watched as a teenager, which is the closest thing that comes to mind. It is made by a Jewish person though if I'm not mistaken, so as such one could argue that it's self-deprecating.
- sk2020 6y ago>protagonist is a crime fighting hero with a funny hat >protagonist is an inbred imbecile These are not very similar.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> Can you make a movie stereotyping and disparaging The protected class Cohen belongs to? You can and such disparaging stereotypes are rather common.