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

[Janet Barnes]

And the Gay pride parade doesn't promote stereotypes?

Lol.

[JustinST]

well said.

[jenny42]

Exactly

[BroMan]

It depends on which part of gay pride you get to see on your local news station. Gay Surgeons don't get as much coverage as men in ass-less chaps.

[TheLar]

I would think the Bravo network with its endless reality shows of flaming gay designers should draw more GLAAD fire than Bruno. But you know, as Bruno shows, people will do anything to get in the spotlight. Hitch yourself to a rising star is a good strategy.

[houstonbch]

Actually the gay pride parade is held in the gay community and a place were all gay people can gather and celebrate who they are without scorn and judgement. It is our parade.

The movie, however, is widely distributed and not screened soley to a gay audience. It's like telling a private joke in a public forum. We can laugh at ourselves, it liberating to do so.

All that being said, I am not terribly offended by the movie, but understand why so many of my friends have been. I am also not offended by your comments or those on this blog engaged in actual discussion or asking legitimate questions. Only those aimed at the gay community with the express intent on imflaming the situation.

[Jyoti Naik]

GLAAD is as intolerant as it accuses straight community of being

[BroMan]

In what way?

[Skott1]

What in their statement causes you to believe they were "intolerant"? They simply put out a statement of what they thought of the film. They didn't take it to task. They didn't call for a boycott. They said it was well intentioned, but reinforced stereotypes. Well, okay, but I don't think that is enough to call them intolerant.

[whitemerlot]

The movie was 100% satire and promotes the image of gay people by mocking peoples' unreasonable discomfort with gay people. Everybody with functioning grey matter knows that the Bruno character is a grotesque stereotype while the reactions to him from other people were real. GLAAD would be better off criticising modern civilization in general for having allowed so many dumb people to procreate, when evolution would have favored their eventual demise through natural selection.

[renatam]

It's a poor and perverse kind of humor that ONLY finds expression in mocking the vulnerable...and asking the targets to pretend it is for their benefit.

This is a dated/stale model proffered by abusers of every time since the beginning of time...and has been a Hollywood shortcut to profits - elevating one group at the expense of nother. It's cheap and inexpensive to produce.

That Mr. Cohen is willing to prostitute himself for big bucks comes as no surprise, since he has done so before. That our gay brethern are willing to submit themselves to this early 20th Century genre of HAZING - is sad - if that is the case.

Only bullies, narcissists and/or the totally isolated/insulated can afford to make a living and/or hope to have an entertainment career based upon this kind of freak/sideshow genre.

Hopefully, Mr. Cohen will have made sufficient money at the expense of enough others...to retire. If it will usher in his retirement, then by all means buy a ticket!

[DHC]

I am gay and "Glaad" does not speak for me. When we lose a sense of humor we lose our way.

[renatam]

Then don't expect us all to hit the streets (especially in the "heartland") when (unfortunately, not if) incidents, assaults...and worse...occurs in future. Laugh now. Laugh later.

There's humor and there's homophobia...which, if you are telling the truth, you should not find humorous at all. Dangerous, more like it.

[DHC]

Two Points:

1. I don't expect anyone to "hit the streets" for me, I am capable of hitting them myself.
2. There is already an increased rash of assaults since Prop. 8 and now even a murder at Camp Pendleton, close to where I live. Pay close attention to that case as it unfolds.

[renatam]

Here's more fodder for Mr. Cohen's next movie -- http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/07/obama_racism.html

The rise of President Obama as the first black president has ushered in an uncomfortable era for the nation's casual racists. While the urge to entertain friends and colleagues with historical stereotypes and hurtful prejudices has clearly become irresistible, what happens when that desire conflicts with one's duties as a GOP office-holder, strategist, or activist? When is it appropriate to compare President Obama to a monkey, or make a quip about his presumed love of watermelons, for example? The quandary is only heightened by our new age of social media, in which private jokes can easily become public. As they continue to navigate this moral gray area, most Republican Party members are erring on the side of ... erring — making or endorsing racially tinged or outright offensive jokes via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and old-fashioned paper, then awkwardly apologizing once they've made an ass of themselves. The latest example involved Young Republican vice-chairman Audra Shays, who posted an approving comment after a friend's dubious joke on her Facebook page last week, but it's a cycle that's steadily repeated itself since Obama emerged in last year's campaign.

[MichaelPG]

As a straight ally one of the things I always admired about the gay civil rights struggle is that even in times of unbelievable pain and misunderstanding they never seemed to lose their sense of theater, fun and humor. In my opinion the film does not mock homosexuals but mocks the closeted specters of intolerance. It's a satire not of the gay community but of what many conservatives secretly perceive (maybe fantasize is a better word) the gay community to be, drawing out those stereotypes and showing them to be ridiculous. I understand that the negative portrayal of gays in the media is a worthy cause but in this case i think GLAAD are just being squares.

[Ponderus]

You're right, and we have our humorless reactionaries, too. I spent two precious hours swatting at them last night on this very thread.

[AnotherTry]

No one put out a statement when the character Charlotte and her lover had sex in front of Miranda's baby in the last season of S e x in the City. I guess it's only offensive when a g@y character does it. GLAAD, you got it wrong. Again.

[slaxx]

GLADD was specifically asked by the studio for their input and opinions. they gave them. they also noted that the movie is satire and it was in fun; so the idea that GLADD "slammed" the movie is incorrect.

also, you're correct - it is only offensive when a gay couple does it. you must not be familiar with homophobia. the point that GLADD was making is that it doesn't help the way people see gays - some people already view gays as per.verted and esp. gay males, as pedo.philes.

[AnotherTry]

Why doesn't it help? Do you think people believe Bruno is real? Then those people show their stupidity and no one would listen to them anyway.

[Quislet]

Was Charlotte having sex with another woman? If not, then GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) wouldn't have issued a statement.

[TardisJockey]

Uhhh...one has nothing to do with the other; you're not using a good example to make your vaild point. I haven't seen Bruno, but from what I've heard, Bruno purposely has the child in the hot tub and is not bothered that two men are having sex next to and in view of the child.

In Sex and the City, Brady walks into Charlotte's bedroom while she and her husband are having sex. They stop as soon as they notice him. This instance is set uo as an accident, which does happen in real life. The Bruno scenario was supposed to be "incidental", and, obviously, does not happen.

[AnotherTry]

No one put out a statement when the character Charlotte and her Jewish lover had sex in front of Miranda's baby in the last season of Sex in the City. I guess it's only offensive when a gay character does that. GLAAD, you got it wrong. AGAIN!

[Gainsbourg69]

This short clip is why I want to watch Bruno.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTvAHFKbTs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Dbruno%2520wrestling%2520team%26rls%3Dcom%2Emicrosoft%3Aen%2Dus%26oe%3DUTF%2D8%26startIndex%3D%26startPage%3D1%26um%3D1%26ie%3D&feature=player_embedded

[renatam]

Mr. Cohen is - HIMSELF - a living stereotype he should cariacature, including his refusal to marry the mother of his child because she won't convert. He should do HIMSELF...NEXT!

[Harold Stone]

I don't think Cohen is a social critic as much as simply anti-social. I won't be seeing Bruno.

[piul05]

Well, I really doubt he'll do himself and his own glass ceiling community; and that is my main criticism of him. Anyone who chooses to make comedy out of social mores should take a shot at themselves first to make it credible as "social criticism through satire". From Woody Allen to the British cast of that wonderful sketch comedy Goodness Gracious Me (or Matt Lucas sketch "the only gay in the village in Little britian), you see a genuine exercise in social critique through humor, but also the care to say to ones public that the joke is on them first, and foremost.

But that's not what SBC is about, he's about making big bucks cleverly tricking people into thinking that he's this enlightened, open. minded, liberal comedian. He is not; he exploits and deceives the people who participate in his film (like the poor peasants in Romania), he's conservative, he's got an ethnically-motivated agenda and he exploits people's goodwill whilst being very selective about whom he makes fun of.

[ozwald888]

As a long time supporter of GLADD, I say this... GROW A SENSE OF HUMOR AND STOP WHINING AT MOVIES LIKE THIS!

[AnotherTry]

Thank you!

[tdh]

While Cohen intends it as satire, the iq level of many of the people who watch it is probably not equal to Cohen's -- there are large numbers of people, probably, who will not see Bruno as satire but as a film that's making fun of gays and they'll laugh for all the wrong reasons. That's what GLAAD is protesting I'm pretty sure. If you live outside of either coast, believe me, there are a lot of people who lack the subtlety, or whatever, to "get" satire.

[AnotherTry]

You don't give people enough credit. Just like politicians. People get it.

[dausone]

The real question is how can you make satire more endearing?

[renatam]

It takes more intelligent talent - and sophistication, not just frat-boy mockery. Norman Lear (and the talent he amassed for his tv productions) this ain't. Nor is this guy top or original talent. That is WHY he has to debase himself and others with antics non-stop.

[HHarvey]

If you watched the biography on Sasha Baron Cohen he states that he does these movies to show the world's hypocrisy and discrimination. He did his thesis on racism back in college. This satire is a way to expose how normal people react to gays, even those who say they are not homophobic much in the same way that Borat exposed the anti-semitic side of our culture. It's hilarious, but most of us with a brain can see the forest through the trees on what he is trying to accomplish with these films. You should see it, very funny and enlightening.

[klandish]

Oh, yes he's just reeducating the world on bigotry one Multi- Million dollar movie at a time. What a mensch.

[renatam]

Go to any playground in gated communities in the suburbs of NYC or LA ...and you get the frat-boy show for FREE.

[HHarvey]

You sir, are such a cynic.

[renatam]

When is he going to do a theme/meme on how HE and some Jewish humor has historically and, to my mind, continues to debase other ethnic groups - leveraging and PROFITING by stereotyping "others?"

This exists - and is a Hollywood norm - since its beginning. When he focuses on that genre, then perhaps he can make this case.

[renatam]

He can start with the hysteria in Florida when it became clear we were going to have an AA President! That's worth a two-hour movie in its OWN right. What did they think was going to happen??? Dah? Now I find THAT funny...

But, you will NEVER see that!

You could do an week's worth of shows on the Hollywood movie producers of the early to mid-20th Century - and how they portrayed Asians, Native Americans and AAs - as well as women. WHO were these men - and what planet did they live on???

[Secularist]

Jewish humor is very depricating and, unlike your comment, it does NOT try to debase other ethnic group.

[FabulousAt52]

He's rationalizing. Nothing more, nothing less. You believe what you need to believe as you sit there and guffaw at Cohen's crap.

[slaxx]

hmm..i don't know, or his movie sends the message that as long as gays act "normal," they won't have to deal with homophobia.

[sparky73]

I think GLADD is right and the movie should be pulled from movie theaters. This could very easily lead to hate crimes. I am not going to see it and I wish the goverment would outlaw the film.

[hypodoche]

Your comment could cause the world to end and should be outlawed. I am not going to read it , however, I wish it would be outlawed.

[klandish]

Censorship is not the answer. Some editing over the baby exposed to the "supposed orgy" should be rethought however.

[LouisLouis]

I saw this movie last night, and it's so over the top and ridiculous, I honestly don't see any hate crimes coming from it. If people are that hateful and scared, this movie isn't really going to change anything one way or the other.

[AnotherTry]

And they wouldn't dare sit through it to begin with.