A World Without Borat…
Is akin to a day without sunshine. Or clean drinking water. Or fresh air to breathe. And I’m not even a fan…
Sasha Baron Cohen is a true talent. I’m not splitting hairs over that point. I have chuckled and guffawed over some of the antics of his other character creations who have come to life through his sardonic wit. Case in point: Ali G. Ali G’s clueless interviews where SBC deadpanned and presented nonsensical questions to world leaders were inspired. When the character made his foray into film, it was my father’s cousin, Natascha Wharton, who was front and center, helping make the production a success for her bosses/company, Working Title. But, even with that familial connection, I didn’t quite get into Borat, the next brainchild of SBC to get his own movie.
First of all, I felt badly for the people of Kazakstan (from where this fictional character hailed), who didn’t know why they were targeted and forced to become a laughing stock the world over. It might have been better if had he chosen to create his own “stan”, so as not to call any unnecessary attention to those people, particularly when the character donned an offensive neon green band aid he tried to pass off as a bathing suit. Complaints abounded about this movie and its quirky lead character, and even though Borat is not my cup of chai, I still would defend to the creative death SBC’s right and write to make that movie. It makes me shudder through a woke lens while everybody voices their grievances from cultural and religious perspectives how censorship has taken hold over an artist’s right to self expression. Art can’t be created if artists are not allowed to express. And, as of late, the television and film considerations are tame, sanitized, and so controlled creatively, it makes me feel like I’m living in a theocracy or communist state every time I turn to Netflix. Well, not exactly. When I go to Netflix or any other streaming service, I can see the programming that, while brilliant, wouldn’t stand a chance of getting made in this current climate. Let’s consider some examples, shall we?
Arrested Development, the brainchild of the massively talented Mitch Hurwitz, came into the public consciousness in the early 2000s. Even though there was an attempt to offer subsequent seasons, there was no way to hold up to the first three when comedy was allowed to be just that: comedy. Arrested Development poked fun at The Bluth Family unapologetically. Whether it was the patriarch’s renewed interest in Judaism or his son in law’s assumed closeted homosexuality or his son Buster’s disability when a seal bites off his hand, turning him into an emasculated Captain Hook, the show was hysterically amusing in the way it didn’t take itself seriously. They could refer to the Arabic language as “squiggly” when contracts were unearthed between George Bluth and Saddam Hussein. The show’s creators tried to make light of a senseless war, evidenced when the character Maybe informs her cousin, George Michael, that WMDs were discovered in Iraq, so they got a half day at school In Newport Beach. No chance anybody is writing satire about any of the senseless, tragic wars currently raging. I’m not suggesting that doesn’t border on tasteless. I simply think every writer should be allowed to feel what they want through their words as long as they don’t incite hatred or violence.
There are other examples, too. The Mindy Project wouldn’t fly in today’s pop culture climate. The creator of that show, Mindy Kaling, first came to the masses as Kelly on The Office. Don’t get me started on that cultural juggernaut. Nobody in 2024 would produce the genius that was that show with bits like Jim sending Dwight a “gaydar” instrument that Dwight proceeds to use, scanning all of his co-workers to determine their sexuality. The joke was when he passes that fake instrument over himself, it also deems him gay. But, I digress.
Mindy Kaling enjoys a lot of ethnic humor in the show she created after her “The Office” success. Whether it is taking aim at her Indian heritage or making jokes about the love interest, Danny Castellano’s Italian upbringing, none of that brand of humor would be deemed acceptable today. And that’s just not acceptable to me.
Let artists write and right through the lens of their humor. As in the case with any of these examples, we as the viewing public can change the channel, cancel the subscription, or look the other way proverbially speaking. Mindy Kaling making jokes about India didn’t make me feel offended as that’s my culture, too. If anything I laughed…and laughed a lot.
Levity can do a lot for the world. I often wonder if Ukraine’s Zelensky ever uses his professional skills as a comedian to get through the horrors of what his people are facing. There is something about a smile in the face of adversity. Roberto Benigni won an Oscar in 1997 for his movie, Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella). The son of a poor tenant farmer who had worked in a German forced labor camp during World War 2, the younger Benigni learned from his father to use humor to retell horrific experiences. This shaped his comedic skills and led him to write, direct, and act in this movie, which became one of the highest grossing non English language films in American box office history. The subject matter was the horror of The Holocaust in which a father and his son are the victims with the father using a perfect mixture of will, humor, and imagination to protect his child’s innocence. I’m certain some people didn’t agree with the way Benigni used this tragedy as a basis for a movie and I wonder that said movie could be made now.
I don’t like a world where there is censorship because censorship takes away the right to form an opinion, to engage in healthy debate, and to make an informed decision.
Like expressed before, am I a huge Sasha Baron Cohen fan? Not particularly, but I think there should be 1000 more like him expressing their brand of humor to any audience that both receives it and laughs heartily for the absurdity of it. Because life can be painful, why can’t laughter be a salve?