es ist Bruno!

So I watched Bruno, the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie, tonight. I still do some side work for a movie theatre chain, and know all the managers- so I get to see movies early if I happen to catch them when they are screening them.

Let me preface this by saying that while I fancy myself an 'intellectual' person who doesn't piddle in the pedestrian dealings of the common man....thats all bullshit. I am not hung up on being politically correct all the time-- if something is funny I laugh. I believe we can laugh at ourselves, when its meant in jest; laughing at pain and hard ache is something different, of course.

Borat played on a fine line of offensive and funny. I laughed, but wasn't sure if I should have. I felt the same for much of Bruno. Bruno, like Borat, is funny because it captures candid reactions from people that are facing their 'worst fears' in social stereotypes. Borat was the inappropriate, obtuse, and rude 'tourist'. We aren't supposed to laugh at tourists, because they are supposed to be incredulously well-intentioned. Borat forced people into a corner, where they didn't know how to react. Often this was awkward and funny. If reality television has taught us anything, it's that we love watching people squirm. We laugh at embarrassing situations... I'm not really sure if this is good or not-- but I can't deny that I find it entertaining. Although I find masturabation entertaining too... I guess they are both self-serving.

Bruno is the homophobes worst nightmare. Not only is he effeminate, but he is relentless and uncaring of the clear discomfort of his audience: he calls the angry army sargeant a 'she', he tells the ex-gay minister he has nice 'blow job lips', he makes very obvious advances (and strips) in front of conservative presidential hopeful Ron Paul. He is not just gay-- he is inappropriate and aggressive. I am pretty sure that even I, as a gay person, would be uncomfortable in a room with Bruno. So I don't think you can construe Bruno as making fun of gay people-- I think its so over the top that normal people understand that "Brunos" don't exist. And if they do-- its not their homosexuality that is discomforting its just their plain disregard for other people's attitudes, comfort, and personal space.

So yes, after the first fifteen minutes, I laughed. I laughed a lot, and had to cover my eyes at some points because it was so uncomfortable to watch: he goes hunting with the straightest southern guys in Alabama and tries twice to get into one of their tents nude; he calls hotel staff into his room to unlock he and his 'sex slave' who are hand-cuffed and bound in leather with dildos- because they can't find the key; he gets a hollywood agent to setup a meeting with a top network exec to focus group a 'pilot' that is nothing but him dancing and making fun of Jamie-Lynn Spear's baby fetus.



The climax of the movie is one of the most awkward, embarrassing, and unfortunately real scenes I have seen. Bruno decides he wants to become straight and after 8 months of 'therapy' hosts a 'cage fighting' event with $1 beers (typical homophobic red-neck lure, see poster picture). Then he riles the audience up for fighting by stripping girls down to bikinis. He goes on a diatribe about how straight he is, and then someone calls him a 'fag' from the audience. He invites the heckler into the ring. It's another character from the movie who had a falling out with Bruno earlier. In the ring, they fake fight a few minutes ending in a staring match, and then the staring turns into obvious sexual tension, and they kiss. The kissing escalates into very homo-erotic humping, making out, etc. The crowd goes ballistic-- they hurl beers at them, at one point a chair thrown into the ring-- it is absolute mayhem. I just don't know how the police were able to control this without someone getting killed. I have never seen such a riot. It was like a car wreck-- I didn't want to watch, I didn't want to laugh-- but I couldn't take my eyes away. If nothing else, Sacha Baron Cohen has enormous balls.

So after typing this, I'm not sure how I really feel about the movie. I'm glad I saw it- I definitely laughed really hard. I'm not sure how I feel about the 'ethics' of the movie, or if its good that it exists out there. Or whether it would be better/worse to live in a world where this weren't funny. More questions than answers... however, I suppose this is the best result of reflecting on things.

What are your thoughts?

Much Love,
Steve