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Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
I have to disagree. This movie is a scathing indictment of red-state America. I'll give you some examples beyond the rodeo manager, who was admittedly among the worst. But there was also the gun-shop owner who when asked what the best gun for "killing a Jew" would be, unblinkingly answers "that would be your 9mm." Then there's the car dealer--Borat asks if the Hummer would be damaged if he ran over "a pack of gypsies." The guy pauses and seems to think about it. "That depends on how hard you hit them, I guess," he finally answers
Then there were the frat guys who wish that women were their slaves--and then wistfully comment that America would be better off if slavery were back. Not to mention the genteel southerners who tolerate his bringing a bag of feces to the dinner table but draw the line at an African-American prostitute.
Yeah, I'd say this is about America. I doubt Cohen even knows where Kazakhstan is. The village in the movie is in Romania.
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Actually, Cohen went to Cambridge. He probably knows a lot about Kazazhstan and that part of the world... thats what makes his humor so attractive. Its horribly lowbrow, and ignorant, yet educated.
As for the scathing indictment of red state America... I dunno about that one. I think if you went to gun shops, car dealerships and frat parties here (or in Liberal Toronto) and asked the same questions about guns, cars and slaves masquerading as an immigrant... you'd probably get similar answers from Canadians. The salespeople were being polite and were clearly uncomfortable with Borat. Frat guys are typically mysogynist simpletons... that would be the same in any state (or province).
As for the genteel Southerners... I think they were shocked by the feces bag... but were generally ignorant of Borat's "ignorance" and were again, trying to be polite. I think bringing any prostitute into the house (and the connotation of that) would have illicited the same shock value... her being black was just the irrelevant icing on the cake. They simply had enough.
Borat is a humorous depiction of the lack of knowledge between the west and third world countries. He's not specifically a critique on the US. He did the same thing in the UK before he caught on here.