It was the grace exercised while walking the line between the satirical and the offensive that made 2006’s “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” a success and main actor Sacha Baron Cohen a star.
But some question whether Baron Cohen’s follow-up film, “Brüno,” which centers around a gay fashion reporter, is informative or merely insulting. Through a variety of interviews, Baron Cohen sheds light on different opinions surrounding homosexuality across the globe.
Satire is effective if it illuminates a social problem without losing its audience, sociology professor Toby Ten Eyck said. The most renowned piece of satire in American culture is Mark Twain’s post-Civil War literature, which forced Americans to reconsider the issue of racism.
“What good satire does, is it makes people reflect on their own take on whatever the issue is that’s coming up, so people can see themselves in the character and say, ‘Wait a minute, if I’m laughing at that guy, maybe I should be laughing at myself,’” he said.
The intent of “Brüno” is to “poke fun” at people who hold homophobic views and illuminate homophobia, said Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan’s LGBT Project.
Although stereotypes of gay people in films can have negative effects, their portrayal has come a long way in the last 20 or 30 years, he said.
“You do see less gay people just there for comic relief, they are now main characters and there are movies specifically about gay characters,” Kaplan said.
Physics sophomore Taylor Reschka said “Brüno” blends satire and offensive humor in a way that has potential to offend both women and the gay community.
“It really could be offensive,” he said. “This whole thing is a satire. … You can tell, but it being over the top, makes it offensive.”
For philosophy sophomore John Noreen, the film made its point by centering around a “completely ridiculous” main character and being offensive.
“There were definitely some parts where I had to look away,” he said. “It illuminated parts of my mind that I didn’t want illuminated.”
The border between satire and offensive humor varies by viewer, Ten Eyck said. For satire to work, a viewer must walk into the theatre open-minded; not head for the door after seeing 15 minutes of nudity, he said.
“For some people, homosexuality is taboo,” Ten Eyck said. “For others, it’s fine if people want to do it in the bedroom. Others don’t care about the issue. Others are taken by family members or girlfriends and offended in the first ten minutes, but by the end, they’re going, ‘Huh, I hadn’t thought about that.’”
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