Why I'm Not Seeing "Borat"

I'm going to skip out on the Wednesday Mind Hump this week and, instead, tell you why I've decided to also skip out on seeing the hit comedy movie of the moment, "Borat."

I had intended to go see it, perhaps as soon as sometime this week. I'd heard all about the mischief the fictional guy has done, and while I feel sorry for the people he tricked I also have a pretty thick skin for rude comedy. I can usually separate the humor in a rude joke from any real intent for harm. That separation has ended for me in the case of "Borat" after I read an article about some of the people in the movie.

Yesterday, I read the above mentioned article, which was about Gypsies in a village in Romania who play the native peoples of Borat's home country in the movie. Apparently, "Borat" star Sacha Baron Cohen tricked them too, and made them undergo many embarrassing and exploitative things in the movie scenes. The article made it clear that these are minorities in their home country who live in very poor conditions - no running water, no electricity, and very little nourishing food. Reading about Baron-Cohen's exploitation of these people, most of whom can't afford a ticket to see themselves in a film the true nature of which they knew nothing, left a very bad taste in my mouth.

It's one thing to put Americans on camera and let them talk and make fools out of themselves; it's quite another to mis-represent a culture of people not used to being on camera and not used to traditional Western comedy. It's quite another thing to take people who already have the cards stacked against them and humiliate them for the sake of comedy.

For those reasons, I'm not going to see "Borat." There's no way now that I could stomach the sight of these Romanian villagers while watching the movie, knowing what I know now. There's no way I can support such things with my entertainment dollar. Now, understand me, I'm not saying people shouldn't see this movie. I'm not saying this movie should be banned. I'm not even saying that Sacha Baron-Cohen is a bad person for making this movie (although perhaps he should have thought harder before he chose to shoot scenes in a real impoverished village).

What I am saying is that my own decision is to stay away from "Borat" because of the article I read yesterday. That's my power as a viewer and consumer, and I'm choosing to exercise it.