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FROM THE MARGINS | BY PATRICK AZADIAN
Los Angeles Times Valley Edition | Glendale News-Press | November 18 2006

Borat for City Council... Not!

I had promised myself not to see the movie "Borat," but I'd had a hard day, and there's no better cure for life's complications than a mindless movie.

Secretly, I was also curious to see how the Armenian male population of Glendale would react to the movie. Would they laugh out loud with Borat (Sasha Baron Cohen), or would they be laughing at him? Would they think the joke was really on them? What kind of reception would Borat's sidekick, the Armenian-speaking Azamat (Kenneth Davitian), receive from the audience? I was intrigued.

"Borat" didn't turn out to be so mindless. The movie actually had a quasi-noble message, delivered in an unconventional manner.

The formula for the delivery of the message was somewhat twisted, however. Reverse psychology is probably a good way to describe it.

The movie's initial objective was to build up Borat as a despicable character. Once that was achieved, then follow-up with the attribution of evil ideas to the same character. Hopefully, by the end of the movie, the audience would be ready to reject evil.

The first step in making Borat undesirable was to pick him an undesirable birthplace. In today's political climate, it does not take a social scientist to know where that location would be.

The destination is the Middle East, of course. Borat is supposed to be from Kazakhstan. Never mind that this post-Soviet state is not in the Middle East (it is in Central Asia); the movie relies on the ignorance of the audience. Any country name ending with "stan" (signifying territory or state in Persian) is perceived to be in the Middle East. Kazakhstan turns out to be the perfect choice, considering it is one of the most secular states in the region, with a relatively tame population. Borat probably saves his neck from a religious death sentence by picking on Kazakhstan (as opposed to Pakistan or Afghanistan). Details don't matter in "Borat," the character is from 'Middle-Eastan.'

Once the birthplace is set, the movie quickly reveals Borat's other enviable qualities. In addition to his lack of hygiene, heavy accent, ridiculous outfits and homosexual tendencies, Borat treats his wife like an ox. He also has a very unique relationship with his degenerate sister. In its completed form, Borat is a despicable caricature that loves big-bosomed blond American woman (he is a more menacing version of the 'Czechoslovakian Brothers' from the show Saturday Night Live back in the days of Dan Akroyd and Steve Martin). Last but not least, Borat possesses dark hair and a thick mustache. As a Southern rodeo cowboy observes in the movie: "Borat, shave that mustache, you look like a terrorist."

So the stage is set for noble messages, delivered in a twisted fashion. This particular loser is anti-Semitic, thinks women are inferior to men, hates homosexuals and gypsies and believes physically and mentally challenged individuals have no place in society.

By hating Borat, the audience is supposed to embrace the fight against these evil ideas.

Nevertheless, Borat can be from anywhere. From the western tip of Portugal to the highlands of Afghanistan, and from the southern shores of Sicily to the suburbs of Paris, the world is full of men with Borat's physical characteristics. In the process of making a cool bundle and pretending to advance noble ideas, "Borat" manages to insult, oh... about 300 million people (I am just counting the sum of the population of countries whose names ends with 'stan.' I left out Hindustan, otherwise the fatality count would go up by another billion).

In a questionable attempt to fight evil, "Borat" successfully manages to demonize people by bestowing symbolic horns and tails upon them. Dehumanizing a whole group of people is not a new concept; it clears the conscience when someone decides to bomb them into oblivion.

And here in the streets of Glendale, dark-haired men in dark mustaches and grey suits can be thankful to "Borat" for his contribution to stereotyping them as Neanderthals. My guess is many of them will never know the joke was really on them. And that's good; ignorance can be bliss.

A decade or two from now, when and if there is peace in the Middle East and our troops have already come home, we'll view this movie in a different light.

Meanwhile, I invite Borat to marry a blond American woman, get his American citizenship and run for City Council. And maybe Azamat can run for the School Board... Not!

Copyright 2006 Glendale News Press