bruno

I saw Bruno and here are this particular LGBT rights activists thoughts on the outrageously offensive movie, one of the craziest things I've ever seen on film.

I really liked it. I have always been a fan of offensive humor, though. I think Sarah Silverman's Holocaust denial jokes are funny. I thought Dave Chapelle's ridiculous sketches and stand up routines were funny. I think Kathy Griffin is hilarious, and she almost always makes fun of gay stereotypes. This doesn't mean I think all offensive comedy is funny. I think it's usually easy to tell when the comedian's heart is in the right place, or when a joke is coming from the right place. Unlike, say, Michael Richards who decided to go on a racist rant and then say it was a joke. 9 times out of 10, if it's a privileged white guy telling the joke about a minority, it's just not going to be as funny or funny at all. But then again, maybe it might. I like comedy that's shocking, that's unexpected, and that blows the cover off of political correctedness. This may be why I liked Bruno.

Absolutely, it is chock-full of virtually every gay male stereotype you can possibly think of. That's part of the point. Sacha Baron Coen (who, I have to admit, is a genius) knows exactly what he's doing in creating this mythical gay character. He uses all of those horrible stereotypes that people (mind you, people who probably believe them to be true) fear about gay people - that we're sex-crazed, celebrity-obsessed, outrageously-clothed maniacs who can't get enough fisting. He's created the image that homophobes have in their mind when they think of gay people, and he's created that image exactly to expose those homophobes for what they really are.

In addition to all of this, he takes careful measure to make sure he's offending other people, too. He's really just baiting all of these people to drop their political correct talk and get down to what they really feel. In most cases, it's just awkward uncomfortableness. In the end, it's an angry mob in Arkansas shouting horrible, horrible words and being violent towards a public display of ridiculous gay love. What's offensive there is not Bruno, it's the fact that there is an angry mob in Arkansas somewhere ready to kill gay men who show affection. I think the reason why some people have such trouble stomaching a lot of this is that there is absolutely truth in it - a scary, ugly truth that they aren't willing or ready to accept. I don't know why, but I am. And I'm ready to laugh at it, because I feel as though my options are to a) be scared or b) diminish their power by laughing them off.

He knows exactly how to provoke, and does it intentionally and with understanding of what he's doing. He understands American culture more than the Americans in the film, which is why it's so entertaining and smart. Of course, there will be a select few people walking away from this movie thinking that gay people are sexual freaks. I think, in large part, those people already thought that. The depictions are so outrageous that I'm confident that my friends and more generally, my peers, know that this is not how most (or any) gay people really are. Note the lack of young people who are victims of his provocation in the film, for example. They would just laugh him off, or know that he's a fool playing with them.

And that is what's comforting to me. This movie just wouldn't have worked as well had he gone to a college campus and tried to stir up trouble. It's telling, where he went to get the goods: Alabama, Arkansas, a Dallas TV Morning Show, Paula Abdul, the Middle East for Christ's sake. He wouldn't have gotten as good material had he gone to more tolerant, thoughtful places.

Either way, I didn't expect this movie to forward the gay cause, and I don't put too much stock in it setting us back a few steps. Millions of Americans watched Borat and somehow resisted the urge to all become anti-Semites. The only jokes that were repeated mercilessly from that movie were about his wife's vagina and his awkward laugh - not about the running of the Jews. I feel like this will be the same. Perhaps less people will be "in on the joke," but only time will tell.