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>The 2006 film Borat aimed to expose American bigotry, xenophobia and sexism as the title character's unwitting scene partners reveal their true beliefs. I lov
by evv555 5y ago
>The 2006 film Borat aimed to expose American bigotry, xenophobia and sexism as the title character's unwitting scene partners reveal their true beliefs.
I loved these movies but the idea that Sacha was taking a moral stance is the height of delusional rationalization. Borat is a racist caricature. This is equivalent to filming in black face then acting like the filmed bystanders are racist a*holes and you are morally enlightened.
- Enginerrrd 5y agoNot only that, but I have always found his whole style of comedy really ethically dubious. He dupes people and puts them in awkward or uncomfortable situations without consent. I'm struggling how to differentiate what he does from a more traditional prank, but I think there's a couple of keys: one, in many pranks reality is manipulated, but ultimately, there's usually a "gotcha" moment where the tension, fear, or apparent inconvenience gets releived before it really affects the victim. At the end of the prank, a victim should be laughing or feel relieved. You don't get that with Sasha's work. Same reason I always hated the jack-ass series. They just seem to lack empathy for the people being unwittingly used for their comedy. For two, the nature of the jokes just seems more mean-spirited. Like at the end of it, even if you let them know it was a joke, it would probably still feel weird and gross and violating to the victims. That's a good sign you're doing something wrong.