Stereotyping exploits and amplifies the ignorance of the impressionable and the intolerant. And it's not so much a specific stereotype about Kazakhstan as it is about developing non-Western countries (I can't pinpoint the specific region, the Horatio Sanz-SNL skit about a Turkish talk reinforces similar perceptions). The Borat imagery, while fictional, probably picks at some real insecurities upwardly mobile Kazakhs may have about their country's development and or prestige on the world stage. And the Kazakhstani state department, along with other leaders in their government, probably have a personal/practical stake in that global image, just as well-educated blacks struggling for equality and acceptance from the 1920s through the 1960s had when they protested Amos n' Andy which was, for a large part of its existence, the only radio/televised depiction of blacks in America.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,20496431-36557,00.html BORAT, the fictional TV reporter from Kazakhstan, may have gotten under the skin of Kazakh officials but today he couldn't get past the gates of the White House. Secret Service agents turned away British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as the boorish, anti-Semitic journalist, when he tried to invite "Premier George Walter Bush" to a screening of his upcoming movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Also invited to the screening: O.J. Simpson, "Mel Gibsons" and other "American dignitaries." Cohen's stunt was timed to coincide with an official visit by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is scheduled to meet President Bush on Friday. Nazarbayev and other Kazakh officials have sought to raise the profile of the oil-rich former Soviet republic and assure the West that, contrary to Borat's claims, theirs is not a nation of drunken anti-Semites who treat their women worse than their donkeys. Kazakhstan is expected to become one of the top 10 oil producers within a decade. A US ally with troops in Iraq, the country has drawn criticism for its deteriorating civil liberties and flawed elections. Shortly after Nazarbayev dedicated a statue in front of the Kazakh embassy, Borat denounced an official Kazakh publicity campaign running in US magazines as "disgusting fabrications" orchestrated by neighbouring Uzbekistan. "If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults," Borat said. Cohen, 35, who is Jewish, recently co-starred in the recent US box office hit Talladega Nights and has appeared in TV comedy series Da Ali G Show on US cable channel HBO and Britain's Channel 4. Cohen's Borat comedy routine has drawn legal threats from the Kazakh government, which keeps a tight lid on criticism in its news media. Kazakh press secretary Roman Vasilenko said he was worried that some may take the Borat routine seriously. "He is not a Kazakh. What he represents is a country of Boratastan, a country of one," Vasilenko told Reuters.
Too bad no one seems to notice that the country that Borat is stereotyping badly isn't Kazakhstan but rather the US. Doesn't the whole idea of Borat show that by introducing an uninhibited foreigner to Americans, it has them put down their guard and talk about things they wouldn't talk about to other Americans? Sure he's fooled a few people, specifically the people he mocks in the show, but I don't think thats the target audience for this movie anyway.
Borat is stereotyping both Americans and Central Asians. If there wasn't some believability (not to be confused with truth or accuracy) to the Central Asian persona, it wouldn't work comedically. The fact that the target audience is primarily British and American is irrelevant, because these two countries are the largest suppliers of commerical movies to the rest of the world, so inevitably if it hits big here, it will be marketed, promoted and consumed overseas in countries less culturally diverse or socially tolerant than the United States, for whom this is an outlet/enabler for their hateful and bigoted ideas about other cultures. Ironically, I think I've actually defended racially based comments and/or films on this board before. I think my self-contradiction is due to the fact that America is highly evolved and principled with regards to domestic racial tolerance - so much so that the most historically "oppressed" of our racial groups actually do most of the joking (and amass multi-million dollar fortunes doing it). However, we are still a miserable failure when it comes to understanding, respecting and embracing other cultures and/or nations, while at the same time compulsively exploiting their natural resources and cheap labor, and almost recreationally killing their civilians. You wanna know why "they" "hate us," it's not for our freedom, greed, or pride - it's because on top of all that, we're indifferent.
Truth is often stranger than fiction, especially regarding this White House. What follows is hypocrisy straight from Bush's mouth. The president also discussed Afghanistan in an Oval Office meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian ally and important oil supplier. The former Soviet republic borders Afghanistan. Bush thanked Nazarbayev for supporting the war in Iraq and for helping Afghanistan become a stable democracy. "I have watched very carefully the development of this important country from one that was in the Soviet sphere to one that now is a free nation," Bush said as the two sat side by side. Bush offered support for Kazakhstan's desire to join the World Trade Organization. No mention was made of criticism of Kazakhstan for human rights abuses, corruption and heavily restricted political and civil freedoms. Nazarbayev said his country would not have enjoyed its recent economic growth if the Taliban had still been in power in Afghanistan. "Nobody in Central Asia will feel safe and in peace if we'd be surrounded by countries populated with terrorist people, and if we'd be surrounded by countries where some people crave to put their hands on nuclear weapons, which Kazakhstan renounced," said Nazarbayev. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/29/bush.ap/index.html Keep D&D Civil.
