The Weekly Poll
Results
The 'GLAAD says it's bad' Edition
Bruno is a hit! #1 at the Box Office! Rave Reviews!
However, GLAAD says it reinforces gay stereotypes - Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) - Media Release
Others seem to think Bruno is merely 'Camp' and good example of it, at that - New York Movies - Sacha Baron Cohen in Queerface for Brüno
What do you think?
DanD was first in and expounds...
At the heart of it all, Sacha Baron Cohen is a practicing racist. Now, while his racism is basically in the same low-rent class of "humorous" cultural punditry as are the past antics of Freeman Godsen and Charles Correll (two white dudes with a pot of grease paint), at least Amos and Andy were not obsessed with employing what amounts to a perverse variation of rank toilet humor in order to viciously marginalize an entire culture. But know this, all the people who are victimized by Bruno or any other alter-ego of Cohen are invariably predisposed to feel that they just got fucked over by a fag Muslim.
As a mostly unadvertised fact, Cohen is a Caucasoid Jew who apparently enjoys masquerading as a gay Muslim, and his gifted specialty is that he does so in as offensive a manner as possible. But the greatest pity of it all is that most people in America don't realize that Cohen's act is part and parcel (regardless of whether his cooperation is passive or conspiratorial) of an ongoing Judeo-Christian endeavor to viciously demonizing as much as possible all the adherents of Islam. As it is right now, he's probably the most famous "Muslim" that most of America's couch-potato brain dead can easily identify.
Let me ask you this; how fast do you think the "public outrage" would be broadcast on Fox or CNN if some Muslim comic came over to America and embarrassingly contrived by way of deception to fraudulently blind side people while portraying himself as a Jewish shylock? Certainly, the ADL would find an Islamicized Cohen brand of Jewish-defaming humor totally unacceptable were it produced for popular entertainment distribution by a masquerading non-Jew who "humorously" pretends to be a sexually perverted Jew while sadistically victimizing the local population ... all in the name of humor, of course.
In spite of the fact that Cohen's "entertainment" agenda is to "Blackface" defame the Muslim religion at every manufactured opportunity, ultimately, SBC's continued box office success is guaranteed both in Hollywood as well as Washington D.C. mostly because America's centers of entertainment media (as well as WDC) are in fact managed and functionally controlled by the institutional wealth and political power of America's Jewish business class. Yeah, while I know that expressing what I just did is deemed as "anti-Semitism," the facts of the matter also reveal it as a fundamental truth.
Anyway, America's selectively magnanimous tolerance of Sacha Baron Cohen's brand of "humorously" Blackfaced, cultural degradation is yet another proof that our country is severely sick with a double-standard disease.
mj isn't a fan and says so with...
I don't care much for Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy in general. He goes for the easy target and beats it into the ground. It doesn't involve the viewer as a participant, merely dishes it up like predigested, processed food substitute with large quantities MSG to "enhance" the natural flavor.
His flamboyant (understatement there) personas are petards upon which he provokes the rubes to hoist themselves, and as such I don't see it promoting a stereotype, but merely using it as a baiting tool. He takes advantage of people's naiveté, lack of sophistication, and baser instincts. Some of them deserve the laughs he gets at their expense, some don't.
What I did find truly offensive was a brief scene from one of the promos in which he touches a woman on the shoulder and tells her "love your hat" referring to the basket she's carrying on her head. From the background scenery and the woman's attire, I would guess that the country was somewhere in the Middle East and she was a traditional Muslim woman wearing a chador (or burqa) for whom the unsolicited touch of a strange man was incredibly unwelcome. The look on her face seemed to be either shock or revulsion. Cohen committed an affront to her dignity as a human being, no matter what one thinks of the custom. To the extent that he behaves truly boorishly (and not stereotypically boorishly) toward individuals, I think he is offensive no matter who he tries to mock or provoke.
He doesn't make me laugh, or even chuckle.
Beantown Jane states...
I think the movie is camp and its subject is fair game. By now we know that Sacha Baron Cohen is crazy enough to try anything--Ali G, Borat, for example. In that way he reminds me a bit of Carlos Mencia, another non-politically correct comic.
John O. was more upbeat...
My sides hurt from laughing at "Borat," although I was uncomfortable with the jokes played on the simple souls who often were just trying to be polite. "Bruno" was funny too, but I was even more uncomfortable, despite being less sympathetic to Cohen's clueless victims in "Bruno" who mostly deserved to be the butt of a joke. I think my discomfort was about all the camera time devoted to penises and dildos and the insane risks that Cohen took. He could have been killed. After I'd seen "Bruno," I often got another laugh the next
day as I though about the hilarious episodes, especially the baby and religious wackjob stuff. I'm glad I saw "Bruno." Anything else Sasha Baron Cohen comes up with, I will go see it. He's really a brilliant
and brave guy.
Adam from NoHo explains...
'Bruno' is more about provoking reaction than anything else. Whether sitting on Mexican laborers or casting a baby photo session (and the resulting pictures), everything here is played over the top and well past reality. When a talk show audience is introduced to little OJ, the sexual orientation of the single-parent is the least of issues the audience has with the situation. Baron Cohen is also all about provoking reaction. He appears willing to do pretty much anything just to get the most extreme reaction out of his subjects. If that means wearing a thong mankini or wedgie-inducing lederhosen, or inciting a group of Hassids, he'll go for it.
Waaayyy over the top 'gayness' isn't any worse than Borat's over-the-top anti-semitism and bizarre Khazak customs. I submit that there are simply more raging homophobes in the US than open anti-semites.
What I find weird is now often people will play nice for the cameras, or forget them altogether. When subjects do talk to the camera, it's an exhibition of the worst of behavior.
Does Bruno 'Help the Cause'? No. Does it hurt it? Well, you certainly catch more flies with honey than you do waving big, black dildos in their face. Does Baron Cohen as Bruno, or the movie 'Bruno' reinforce stereotypes? No; if anything, Baron Cohen's subjects come off as more stereotypical than any of the characters he plays.
SallyP(al) adamant as ever was wrote...
Well, you tell us that, "Bruno is a hit! #1 at the Box Office! Rave Reviews!" but you could fool me with that statement!
I wouldn't walk across the street with free tickets to see that piece of crap! I don't get Cohen or his ridiculous crappy movies - which appeal to 9-year old male humor - and is not funny for adults! (Key word is ADULT here!)
Sorry, no review for you this week, Mr B...
Well then, Poll-fans, I have to abstain this week cuz I just didn't know what in the name of Yosemite Sam he was trying to accomplish. I couldn't figure it out. I really couldn't tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. I was baffled. Call me a Rube, if'n ya will, but there it is. I don't think I'll bother seeing any more of his movies.
My tastes don't include his style. Sorry...
Thanks to all and, as always, Yer the Best!
BadToTheBoneBob
New Question
The 'Disappearing Dailies' Edition
Newspapers are in major trouble. Some notable dailies such as The Rocky Mountain News, Cincinnati Post and Baltimore Examiner have folded completely. Others such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and my home town paper, The Bay City Times, among others, have adopted a hybrid on-line only and/or partial printing scheme trying to survive. All papers are losing money hand over fist, laying off workers and renegotiating labor contracts. (newspaperdeathwatch.com)
Everyone blames the Internet and 24/7 cable news availability.
Do you subscribe to or otherwise pay for and read hard copy newspapers?
What do you think?
Send your response to
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In Memory
Dallas McKennon
Dallas McKennon, an exuberant character actor and voice actor who helped enliven Gumby, Archie Andrews, Buzz Buzzard and many other animated characters, has died. He was 89.
McKennon, who played the tavern keeper Cincinnatus on the 1960s TV series "Daniel Boone" and dozens of other codgers on film and television, died Tuesday of age-related causes at the Willapa Harbor Care Center in Raymond, Wash., according to his daughter Barbara Porter.
A tall, gangly actor with an unruly beard, McKennon was easily identifiable on-screen, but he could bend his voice in endless variations to bring personality to a host of sound roles. Stop-motion pioneer Art Clokey used McKennon for the high-pitched tones of the green animated clay figure Gumby, and Woody Woodpecker cartoon creator Walter Lantz chose McKennon for Woody's nemesis, Buzz Buzzard. McKennon also provided the teenager voice for Archie Andrews, and he recorded characters for the Walt Disney films "Lady and the Tramp," "Mary Poppins" and "101 Dalmatians," among others.
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He was born July 19, 1919, in La Grande, Ore. When he was a child, his mother died unexpectedly and McKennon was sent to live with an aunt and an uncle on a farm. He became fascinated by the animals there.
He briefly attended the University of Washington before serving in the Army Signal Corps during World War II, stationed in Alaska.
McKennon returned to Oregon after the war and found a job hosting a live children's show on Portland radio station KGW, playing Mr. Buttons.
After landing a bit part in "Bend of the River," a 1952 James Stewart western filmed in Oregon, McKennon headed to Los Angeles. Besides lining up voice work, he played Captain Jet and introduced cartoons on "Space Funnies," a children's program that aired on KNXT-TV in the mid-1950s.
He had small parts in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 suspense film "The Birds" and the 1967 Elvis Presley vehicle "Clambake."
He also had bad-guy roles in a string of TV and movie westerns including "Gunsmoke," "The Virginian," "Wagon Train" and "Bonanza."
In 1968, McKennon and his wife, Betty, whom he had married in Portland in 1942, decided to move their family of eight children back to Oregon. They settled in Cannon Beach, and he commuted to Los Angeles for acting and voice jobs.
McKennon's wife of 66 years survives him, as do his children: daughters Dalene Lackaff of Woolwich, Maine, Barbara Porter and Linda Strozyk, both of Raymond, Wash., Gayle McKennon of Hyannis, Mass., Tamara Rock of South Bend, Wash., and Wendy McKennon of North Bend, Ore; and sons Jerald McKennon of Tualatin, Ore., and Steven McKennon of Newberg, Ore. He is also survived by 21 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
Dallas McKennon
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