The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Dirty Movies

12.28.06 @ 12:01AM

SHOWER TIME
Re: Ben Stein's I Smell a Borat:

All I need to do is see Ben Stein as an author and I read the essay. However, I did not need to read this essay to avoid the hideous movie called Borat. Thank you, Ben, for pointing out what I suspected, a movie made popular because of its cruelty and stupidity.
-- Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.
Glendale, Arizona

I have many close friends and colleagues who like this movie, Borat. They are of all religious affiliations and they try the jokes and lines from the movie on me around the office, or in social settings. I have not, nor do I plan to see this movie.

Borat makes prejudiced folks feel comfortable with their prejudices...obviously. Since a Jew stars in it, and insults Jews, why not other groups as well? Other good people in the act of being charitable are also insulted and ridiculed. It sounds like state-imposed welfare, or multiculturalism in practice. Bring all folks down to a sickening level that Hollywood stars think we are.

This is just another example of the entertainment industry's laziness and disdain for the public it is trying to extract more dollars from.
-- P. Aaron Jones
Huntington Woods, Michigan

I am a great fan of Ben Stein and truly enjoy reading his columns, but I had a completely different take on this movie. I found the Borat character hilarious because of his mindless anti-Semitism, bigotry, and misogynous behavior. These are the people we are fighting the world over and I rather enjoy laughing at them. I did not see this as an attempt to make fun of decent Americans, I rather thought it showed us in a very favorable light while we try to be polite while dealing with this racist boob. We need to be deadly serious in dealing with these murderous insects and enjoy a laugh at their expense at every opportunity.
-- Bill White

Kudos to Ben Stein on the Borat review. He is absolutely right on all counts. I chuckled at a few things at the beginning of the movie but left the movie feeling disgusted and dirty. If I hadn't been with someone else, I would have walked out. The fact that so many young people find it funny is very disturbing indeed.
-- Victoria M. McIntyre
La Jolla, California

Well, I really hated this movie too, but I like your perspective better than the one I had when I left the movie. I kept thinking to myself, well, the guy's Jewish, so it's better that he's Jewish and telling these "jokes" than if he were a non-Jew and telling the jokes. That's as generous as I could be.

But now after reading your critique, I realize I was duped and am ashamed that I didn't immediately see or feel what you felt. Well, down deep, I did, but was afraid to verbalize it, I guess. I'm ready for my shower now...

Thanks for sharing
-- Veronica Redmond
Cathedral City, California

Please let Mr. Stein know that I saw the movie, and liked and disliked the movie. In Cohen's defense, I don't think he is condoning Jew hatred. He is demonstrating how infantile and stupid it is by having his idiot of a character partake in it. I do agree with Ben that Cohen abuses his hosts' hospitality. However, he could have been far more vicious in the way he did it. Even when he is talking about supporting the war in Iraq to a rodeo crowd, and goes over the top with statements about drinking the blood of Iraqi women and children, the camera zooms in to show a woman looking at him in distaste. He could just as easily have shown all Americans lustily cheering his statements because they didn't listen to the words and thought he was simply being supportive of the war effort.

I have a feeling Cohen does harbor a tremendous sense of superiority to Americans "yokels." I am sure Ben is reacting to that arrogance. Sadly, America haters will see the movie and (wrongly) believe it justifies all of their biases against average Americans. I laughed at the movie, too, but readily conceded that it was stupid, sophomoric, and vulgar.
-- Doug Graham
Linthicum, Maryland

Ben Stein's article on Borat is dead on. Years ago films like Song of Bernadette, Ben Hur and On the Waterfront won Academy Awards. Today, film makers (or what passes for them) compete in a race to the bottom. Lets see who can produce even lower levels of dehumanizing violent trash. The excuse from Hollywood; freedom of expression. Some freedom...Some expression...
-- Bob Montrose
Fort Lee, New Jersey

Yes, the movie is full of (at best) juvenile humor, but I thought the point was to caricature and parody Borat and his attitudes. I was laughing at him, not with him. I thought it was a satire. I suppose I could be wrong about this; my wife felt the same way you did (we are not Jewish). But either way, you're right about this: after I saw it, I did want to take a shower.
-- Joe

I think you have to condemn these things when they get started. remember The Producers? What was funny about that?
-- Annette Cwik

Letter to the Editor

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Taxes, Education, Social Security, Satire, Hollywood, Movies, Law, Military, Iraq