In Defense of Bruno
Bruno has received some pretty scathing reviews. The Los Angeles Times wrote that it "pile[s] even more stereotypes and discomfort onto an already hostile climate." GLAAD released a statement arguing that the movie "decreases the public's comfort with gay people." And even Fox News asked the question, "Is Bruno harmful to gay and lesbian causes, or just really funny?"
I happen to think that being funny doesn't excuse you from being homophobic or contributing to homophobia. I also think Bruno is a project that contributes positively to the fight for equality and documents the real hatred and craziness gripping many corners of this country.
Sacha Baron Cohen's films push people beyond their limits of tolerance in order to elicit extreme reactions.
Think of the self defense scene: when one dildo doesn't get a rise out of the southern gentleman teaching Bruno how to defend against the "homosexual," he brings in two, then three dildos. It is a concrete example of the method his characters use to approach all situations.
Bruno pushes people to confront homosexuality. He exposes violent and shocking intolerance by being so stereotypically gay, even hunters in the backwoods recognize and react to his sexuality. Bruno's "gayface," as one viewer called it, is a tool for exposing the intolerance that exists in many people whether or not the person they are talking to sashays particularly heavily or hits on them particularly forcefully.
You can't politely turn your back on Bruno and you can't write his actions off to eccentricity or "foreignness."
In some cases, this leads Cohen to reinforce particularly negative stereotypes of gay people, including the notion that gay men are sex obsessed and have no ability to raise children without exposing them to sexual activity at an inappropriately young age.
Most audience members laugh at Bruno's ridiculous portrayal of gayness, but some will use the negative aspects of Cohen's satire to justify their hatred. They will sympathize with those characters reacting violently to his sexuality. These are not the people the movement for LGBT equality is hoping to recruit. They are a lost causes whether or not Bruno inadvertently reinforces their homophobia.
Those audience members who consider themselves to be decent, tolerant individuals (perhaps they want to reserve marriage for straight people, but think gay people are okay as long as they aren't too swishy) will identify with Sasha Baron Cohen who is, after all, playing a great big joke on the homophobes. They will be shocked by the violence of some of the reactions in the movie. They will want to disassociate themselves from the bigots and hatemongers who throw chairs at a couple kissing in a wrestling ring and contemplate ways to break the bones of gay men in case they make a sexual advance.
Everyone who sees this film will be forced to confront the fact that we still live in a world where being gay is a dangerous proposition. Members of our community are threatened by violence and community reprisal, everyday.
Sacha Baron Cohen quite literally risked his life over and over again to illustrate this point. He did it while creating a sympathetic story, funny jokes and an overall entertaining movie.
Bruno is an act of bravery.
Our community should be using this movie to assist in the fight for equality rather than boycotting the over-the-top antics of a comedic superstar.
Follow Emma Ruby-Sachs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EmmaRubySachs
Sean L. McCarthy: "Bruno" And The Irony Of Satire
What happens when you're lampooning someone, or some segment of society, but in exposing their ridiculous notions, they only think you're promoting their cause?
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Where was the uproar at Hamlet 2? when the one openly gay guy was a bitter ,contemptuous, sexually aggressive, mincing queen who throws a fit and betrays everybody because he's jealous of the male drama teachers affections?
Where was the uproar then? huh?
Oh wait, I forgot. That movie was written and directed by an openly gay man so it's immune from criticism right?
At least Bruno was undeniably funny
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.
"some will use the negative aspects of Cohen's satire to justify their hatred. They will sympathize with those characters reacting violently to his sexuality. These are not the people the movement for LGBT equality is hoping to recruit."
That statement may be true. However it does not consider how this movie "Bruno" may help recruit and incite more gay bashers from the crowded audience of sexually insecure youths. Again, Ask any Holocaust survivors how funny those cartoons and films were.
Anyone who seriously uses Bruno as an example of what homosexuals are actually like automatically discredits their own argument. Because he's an illegitimate façade, he can't be rationally used to enforce stereotypes.
If You think that was his or her idea - You didn't really read or watch ;o).
He doesn't--he's agreeing with Ruby. Read again.
I disagree. Bruno is not an act of heroism. It is nothing but showing some people the abject stupidity of fearing something that can be - at its worst, as shown in Bruno - ridiculous.
Bruno isn't demeaning either, as some have said. Demeaning is to look at "in and out" and actually believe that if You have taste, are clean, are polite, and like to dance - You are gay. I like the movie. But i HATE that message. It shows kust how stupod and deep the homophobia is. And it shows how well the homophobic knuckleheads in so called christian groups ("so called" because there is nothing more UNchristian than exclusion of people who are different) did their job.
It has become natural to grab a gun and kill animals or people but kissing a person You love is destrutive if it is a person of the same gender.
If nothing else that shows how far deep down in the gutter our society is.
Oh, and before You big boys huff up your chests to seem bigger: I am NOT gay. - Not even clean sometimes :o). But opposite to You I respect other people. That means if they choose to love a man, I am all for it. - Because blowing some brid's head off is not really my idea of making the world better or safer. And it surely does not make mankind more likeable.
Love, in whatever form, does.
I haven't yet seen the movie but I suspect a lot of the negative commentary on it is the liberal version of censorship, otherwise known as political correctness. Just like conservatives prattle on about family values while they cheat on their wives in Argentina, Mpls bathrooms and take in a little man-ass and meth in Denver, many liberals can be just a prudish, hypocritical and squeamish about humor that pushes the boundaries. Granted, funny is subjective, but we all know more than we like to admit when something is pointing out hypocrisy and bigotry via satire and when it is actually being those things. Since there are a lot of liberals out there who are squeamish about the gay world and don't like to admit it, I suspect Baren Cohen hit a little close to home. As for the completely homophobic, they deserve whatever laughs come at their expense as well.
Thank you, Emma!
I agree 100%.
This is the best, most objective review I have seen or heard yet.
I haven't seen the movie but I'm dying to see it!
-Crystal Wacker
I saw this movie and was shocked- only because the previews do not indicate the depth in which Cohen goes with his satire. Iunderstood the motivation behind the movie and I believe in equal rights for the gay and lesbian community.
I brought my teenagers to this thinking it was just another comedy along the lines of The Hangover, and while we stayed for the duration (we were offered a refund within the first 30 minutes of the movie- the comment didn't "register" with me at first so I ignored it), we had lengthy conversations about the movie so I was sure that my kids understood the intolerance that the LGBT community faces, that they understood that these were stereotypes blown out of proportion.
It was NOT a comfortable discussion to have, but it was a necessary one and I'm glad I had it. After much reflection, I'm actually relieved that my kids saw this movie with me in attendance, rather than with friends when it came out on video where the real purpose would have been lost on them.
I haven't seen the movie but I did pissed off while watching the ads.
I realise that Sacha Baron Cohen has always been firmy in the Andy Kaufman camp of anti-humour as performance art.
It just bothers me...which is perhaps the point.
Maybe brainless cultural insensitivity is young and trendy... as it always has been.
And maybe it is a sign of age that I don't laugh with it anymore.
There's a cultural war raging.
These days I weary... gay people being arrested for simply kissing or hugging in public (a simple right of affection that everyone else enjoys) That others are using their interpretation of an archaic religious document as an excuse to deny other people their basic human and constitutional rights.
And reading that there are still segregated swimming pools existing in this day and age... A 'Federalist Society' alumni heavy Supreme Court that seems bent on returning the US to the 1950's. The army is accepting of neo nazis who openly recruit ... but they won't accept gays..
Am I exagerrating? ...if I am it's by a hair's width.
Sacha Baron Cohen suggests that people who hate "Brüno" might be inclined to self righteousness... hence the lack of a sense of humour. He may be right.
It's sometimes emotionally fatiguing seeing that we're continually facing the same evils of intolerance and hate. But the Right should be happy with "Bruno" as it seems to be aimed just as much at liberals as it is with them.
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.
"some will use the negative aspects of Cohen's satire to justify their hatred. They will sympathize with those characters reacting violently to his sexuality. These are not the people the movement for LGBT equality is hoping to recruit."
That statement may be true. However it does not consider how this movie "Bruno" may help recruit and incite more gay bashers from the crowded audience of sexually insecure youths. Again, Ask any Holocaust survivors how funny those cartoons and films were.
What good comes of portraying gays as sideshow freaks? Cohen is setting back acceptance of homosexuality decades with this ridiculious mockumentry. Just to make a buck.
I take it you never saw WILL & GRACE.
Will and Grace was really a piece of crap, and I am a gay person. All Will and Grace did was reinforce negative stereotypes of gay people. It did NOTHING to advance the equal rights of gay people.
See THIS movie "Carmen meets Borat"
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_gtfo70ql025&show_article=1&catnum=6
""The film is funny but I feel sad for the people in Romania," says Stalenhoef.
"I think you should ask people if they want to participate for a film and you have to give them good information what the film is about. It was not necessary to cheat on that or to betray them. If they would know they would be happy with the film, maybe, or they could say, 'No, I don't want to participate' and that's also fine. It's their choice. They didn't have a choice to make."
Yes, but Cohen's films rely on the element of surprise. So being upfront with people takes away that element of surprise. It's kind of like saying "Let's make a Star Wars movie, only without the special effects."
Using your money and intelligence to make fun of people who can't fight back is despicable, in my view. The ONLY reason I'm boycotting Bruno.
The man is dishonest and makes his money humiliating people. I have no respect for him. I watched Borat and at first thought it was funny. I did not know until after the movie that people in it had been lied to and "played." It wasn't so funny then. I will not be spending my money to see Bruno.
Thank you Emma Ruby-Sachs! You have succinctly stated everything I felt about seeing BRUNO! Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius - and, like many great artists, I think a little bit ahead of his time.
Another vapid, stupid, preening gay character? Not ahead of its time.
Hilarious, exposing, etc. but on some levels, SBC is a gifted drama club boy who needs a spanking.
I love it. I haven't seen the movie yet but I'm going to try to find it and watch it right now.
Bruno!
Got you folks talking about something. I wonder what it is.
Bruno!
I have always suspected Sacha Baron-Cohen's more serious beliefs and motivations and, if he has any, values.
Cruelty to, making fun of, one group or another has always been a rather cheap, low source of humor. Baron-Cohen in "Bruno" has pushed this type of humor to new depths. Apparently this form of low-brow humor is gaining momentum in our severely undereducated society.
However, underneath all the cheap laughs I believe runs a streak of rather sadistic meanness that Baron-Cohen has tapped.
A straight guy doing an over-the-top gay imitation?
Again, what is his point? All it succeeds in doing is to reinforce homophobic beliefs that all gays are freaks like Bruno?
I can only hope that after this "great success," exploring the last of the only three characters he's ever created [Ali G, Borat, and Bruno] he will now stop bothering us with his witless, soulless "social commentary" that is deeply anti-social.
I think I have a pretty good sense of humor and this is just not that funny.
It appears the movie I went to see and one describe are different. Did you see it or is this an opinion based on something else.
As a well-educated gay man, I do not feel he was reinforcing gay stereotypes. He took those stereotypes, pushed them the nth degree to elicite an extreme response from others. Was it over the top? Yes. Was it cheap and low-brow? Sometimes. Was is witless, soulless, and/or sadistic? Not the movie I watched.
Maybe you feel he wasn't reinforcing gay stereotypes because of all the SELF LOATHING in the gay community. I am gay as well, and I disagree with your assessment totally. When is illiciting an extreme response from individuals who were not aware of this not sadistic or soulless? This is NOTHING more than a opportunist egomaniac deciding to make a boatload of money off of an unsuspecting, undereducated public. Well educated? This is truly debatable. The fact that the movie is schlock that demeans everyone involved, including gay people? NO, not at all debatable.
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