GLAAD Slams 'Bruno'

LOS ANGELES — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said Friday that "Bruno," the new film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, reinforces negative stereotypes and "decreases the public's comfort with gay people."

GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, who saw the film Friday, said that "the movie was a well-intentioned series of sketches _ some hit the mark and some hit the gay community pretty hard and reinforce some damaging, hurtful stereotypes."

In a style similar to his popular Borat character, Baron Cohen brings Bruno, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista, into ridiculous situations with unsuspecting everyday people.

Universal Pictures, which released "Bruno," sought GLAAD's input on the film and invited staff members to advance screenings, Barrios said.

The organization "shared a number of concerns, and unfortunately, the scenes that we had the biggest concerns about remained in the film," Barrios said.

One such scene shows Bruno in a hot tub with his adopted infant son and two naked men involved in a sex act.

"Scenes like that don't help America understand the hundreds of thousands of gay families who get up every day, do the carpool then rush home to make dinner and be with their children," Barrios said.

Similarly, the movie's mock marriage scene "doesn't help Americans understand the lives of gay couples who are denied the rights and protections of marriage in 43 states," he said.

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Universal Pictures maintains that "Bruno" is a satire that "uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light on the absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, including homophobia."

"While any work that dares to address relevant cultural sensitivities might be misinterpreted by some or offend others, we believe the overwhelming majority of the audience will understand and appreciate the film's inarguably positive intentions, which we've seen demonstrated whenever we have shown it," the studio said in a statement.

Barrios said that while he believes the filmmakers had good intentions and that some moviegoers will see the satire, "some people in the gay community will be as troubled as GLAAD is that the movie doesn't decrease homophobia, but decreases the public's comfort with gay people."

___

On the Net:

GLAAD, http://www.glaad.org

Official "Bruno" movie Web site, http://www.thebrunomovie.com

(This version corrects that Barrios saw the film Friday, not at earlier screening.)

Comments

[angry expat]

I'm queer, I saw the movie and I loved it.
Chill the f--- out people! It's a movie!!

[1sparrow]

i just be a brat i just zaw bruno .. . i have kats der cats.. they cry all night .. my neighbor had to explain its horney cat .. they not calling me for help.. they cry for the sex.. i had a cat was female... wat yu gona do?

[SpaceboySD]

One of the funniest films I've ever seen in my life.

[redsongia]

People who think he sounds Austrian, have never met an Austrian...or an Englishman, because his thick English accent bleeds through everytime he is "in character."

I find it too distracting and don't surrender to the believability of this character, like I could with Borat.

[Dem4Lyfe]

Everyone has to remember that the vast majority of people that saw the movie went to be entertained like they were in Borat. Most of them were not "seeking satire." Remember, it's a movie, it's meant to be funny, and it's meant to make money. People need to drop the social agendas. I haven't seen it yet, but when I do, I'm going to see it so I can laugh, because Cohen and his characters are funny. People need to relax.

[CAMBEL]

Here is an idea for GLAAD. Instead of picking on a movie, or trying to get the people suing for gay marriage to drop their suits, instead of blowing the prop 8 deal in CA, and instead of basically sitting back and doing nothing for gay rights for the last 10 years but nitpicking at a few TV commercials, get off your butts and do something.

Claiming that you have anything to do with gay rights after the way you've bungled the prop 8 situation in Ca. is laughable. But then again, your staff is still pulling in their huge paychecks so I guess everything is as it should be in your world.

[SpaceboySD]

I couldn't agree with you more.

[TurnToTheLeft]

You show your ignorance and your anger is misplaced. EQCA is the organization that blew the No on 8 campaign. GLAAD's focus is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating defamation and misrepresentation.

[NathaninSeattle]

Why do they call themselves 'GLAAD' is they are always so upset?? I really think they are off-base with this argument. Any intelligent person will not see 'Bruno' as some sort of ambassador for gays, nor will they think that this is a legitimate example what the LGBT community is about. The only people that will latch onto this would have spouted the same insane rhetoric regardless of whether the movie was made, and at least this opens a dialogue as to how crazy these homophobes can be.

[TurnToTheLeft]

The Nazi's employed the usage of extreme stereotypes in cartoons and film to incite hatred and intolerance of Jews and Gays. "Bruno" a fake Austrian employs the same humor without intentionally meaning to harm gays - nonetheless it does. Ask any Holocaust survivors how funny those cartoons and films were.

[Hemkit]

"People" are not going to see Bruno to further understand gay people, gay parents, or gay couples. That is absurd. GLAAD needs to try a different argument on this one.

[FabulousAt52]

"People" are not going to see Bruno to further understand gay people, gay parents, or gay couples.

That is exactly GLAAD's point...
people are going to this movie to laugh their asses off at mean spirited, over-the-top, outrageous, entirely unfair and mostly negative stereotypes of gay people.

There is no plot, no real story line, no moral or lesson, no warmth or humanization of the (Bruno) character -- it's all just cheap-shot sight gags and cheap laughs.

Exactly their point. Agree with them or not, can't you understand their point?

[TurnToTheLeft]

Thank you. People just don't get it.

This movie was not made by or for Gay people to consume. It was made for a quick buck to make a largely homophobic nation feel good about itself. Bruno is derogatory at heart and mean spirited because it uses old stereotypes to get laughs.

"Bruno!" will be the new catch phrase bullies use on awkward youths who might be gay. For the past few years the derogatory phrase "That's so Gay!" has been used with impunity to terrorize Gay youths.

[MorpheusXNYC]

Can't say I didn't see this one coming.

Yes, it's a gay stereotype, but it's quite frankly one that many of us actually encounter every day. Living in NYC, you meet a lot of flamboyantly gay people.

Obviously, most gays are not like that, and I understand hating being painted with the brush of the most controversial and undesirable members of your community (for Blacks it's ghetto people, for Whites it's rednecks, etc.) - I get it.

I think it's funny watching straight freaking out, though. And this kind of over the top parody/iro­ny/in-your­-face squirm-comedy has a high schadenfreude factor which many will love.

But, being straight, I've got no dog in this fight, so if the LGTB community by and large says this is an abomination and hurtful to their cause, then I'll stand behind them and won't support this movie with my dollars.

[TheLar]

I agreed with everything you said but I am deeply offended that you would bring dog-fighting into this via your analogy. (That's about how seriously I take those who were offended by Bruno.)

[Skott1]

I don't think GLAAD was calling for a boycott. I don't think they called it an abomination either. They said it that, while it was "well-intentioned", it missed the mark on several occasions. Go ahead and see the movie without guilt.

[spiritpony1]

this guy is making a lot of money off of cheap c rap; his m.o. is ridicule-------this is not "great insight" on middle america------he prolly thinks "Steppenfetchit " was a riot--------

[dsrtdwler]

OMG, It’s called satire and parody, and reveals a lot more about our homophobic culture than it does reinforcing stereotypes. People are so dumb.

[TheLar]

Thank you. You said it all.

[FabulousAt52]

What exactly does it reveal about our homophobic culture? Can you be very specific please? Because I believe that explanation is nothing more than a rationalization made to sooth "our" guilt about finding this kind of in-your-face use of stereotypes as "comedy for social commentary" is bogus. But I'm listening...

Tell me which points in the movie REALLY brought home The Lesson to our homophobic society...

[jenny42]

I have questions... in the movie, when Bruno and Steve? were kissing, what do you think made the crowd stay and watch, plus what makes the men so angry about two men kissing? Although I believe that SC was over the top with some of the content. Let's say two men showing moderate affection, I wonder if that would cause the same amount of fury and if so, what is that?

[houstonbch]

To answer your question directly; This happened at an El Paso, Texas, restaurant on 6/29/09.

"Two men kissing kicked out of East Side Chico's Tacos"

"The officer informed the group it was illegal for two men or two women to kiss in public, de Leon said. The five were told they could be cited for homosexual conduct "

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12784517?source=most_emailed

[StarrKissed]

My husband and me decided to use the giftcard we received from MIL to go and see this movie b/c the commercials and previews looked funny... I am glad that we didn't actually go and pay the 10.50 per person to see this movie. The commercials show the funniest parts in the movie, but it really offended me as a straight person about how stereotypical some of the comments and parts of Bruno were regarding gay people. All the gay jokes, wordings, and such got old fast...

Basically, Bruno is NOT Borat. Borat was original and Bruno's concept is very similar to Borat. Don't pay to see this movie, wait until it comes out on video... so not worth it...

Actually the best part about the entire Bruno experience was when a family sitting next to us realized that 10 minutes into it, that they were in the wrong movie! They wanted to see Ice Age! I don't get how they got passed by the movie guys b/c we got carded at least 3 times and were in our mid twenties, yet little kids can come into the movie theater.. crazy!!!

[JustinST]

I think everybody should slam Bruno. GLADD has a political point of view. While i am okay with fun being made of everybody I was offended as a viewer who came out completely disgusted and repulsed.

[TheLar]

I think Bruno would love to be slammed, just like Straight Dave's Man-Slamming.

[kushka53]

Don't waste your money! Bruno is a piece of trash, brilliantly marketed. Aside from a few momentary looks at the vicious underbelly of America's darker corners, an unfunny movie, veering towards basic porno that sets back gay rights 40 years. I'm so very disappointed. No one in my local theater, including myself, laughed much at all--most people had showed up expecting broad satire along the lines of Borat but instead got a film that doesn't begin to understand the world of gay camp. The scuttlebutt from the teenagers in my town is that "It's vulgar." Vulgar? For the teenagers of today's world to say that a movie is vulgar must mean that it really is bad... With a little bit of editing the film might actually have been better but as it is, it is overindulgent narcissism on the part of Cohen that parades around as comic satire. Its release and weekend box office returns shows just how low the satire bar has sunk in 2009. Prediction: will sink like a stone once the word gets out after this weekend.

[endbush]

I saw the movie in Chelsea, NYC's premier gay community, theater was full and people laughing their heads off. The movie was making fun of homophobia and prejudice, and like most comtemporary comedy there is a gross-out and anti-PC streak that is satirical (Sarah Silverman anyone?). Yeah it is probably too complex for some.