One week till Borat -- I like!

One Week! In one week's time, I shall finally bask in the comedic glory that will be "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." As a college student, you're probably familiar with Borat, the character from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's HBO show "Da Ali G Show." For those of you who somehow managed to live in the dorms and never had a 2 a.m. viewing, Borat is a fake professional journalist from Kazakhstan sent to America to learn about our culture. Oh, and he's extremely anti-Semitic, chauvinistic and will violate any social norm we have in our society. Telling people how he keeps his wife in a cage, searching for a place to buy slaves in the south and butchering the National Anthem are among some of the stunts he's pulled. \nNow Cohen has brought the character to the big screen, in a mostly improvised film that's causing quite a controversy. But for all the Borat haters out there, come on, this shit is funny. Relax, learn how to laugh at yourself and enjoy it.\nUnderstandably, the Kazakh government is fuming over the film. They are disgusted with the way Cohen portrays the country as a people who value prostitution, despise Jews and haven't advanced technologically past 1983. The government removed the official Borat site from its Internet-based domain and recently placed a four page ad in The New York Times denouncing the film. OK, OK, so it might actually be something of a big deal to depict a country to Americans in such a manner because -- big surprise here -- we're ignorant when it comes to the rest of the world. For example: Am I intrigued about Madonna's recent involvement in Malawi? Of course. Is it because she's trying to make a difference in Africa? Of course not. I'd much rather hear about her newly adopted baby and fantasize about the eventual "Celebrity Boxing" match-up that will be Maddox Pitt-Jolie vs. Madonna Malawian Baby. It's for reasons like that I can admit to being an ugly American who knew nothing of Kazakhstan before seeing Borat. But am I dumb enough to actually think that the country's citizens act in such disturbing ways? No. \nThe audience, as well as the film's detractors, need to recognize the subject matter as comedy. What I don't understand is if Kazakhstan's such a great country, wouldn't it be smart to realize that getting pissed off and creating such ads only generates more press for the movie? But if that wasn't enough, the country decided to try and get President George W. Bush involved, pressing him to break the First Amendment by banning the film. This makes sense, because obviously the one thing that will make people want to see something more is telling them they can't. Clearly the country doesn't understand the PR business, so to help them out, I'll put in a good work for the Kazakhs. It's the ninth largest country in the world (and we Americans all know size matters), they celebrate International Women's Day (insert Borat joke here about women being kept in cages) and they were nice enough to elect a president with a funny name, Nursultan.\nAmericans have always been fascinated with the ethnic "other" and been just as concerned with their assimilation into our way of life. While we may have diversity in the country, Borat would still never be the typical American. Because it's unusual to hear someone stand for things we find so outrageous and unacceptable, we laugh instead of being appalled. What truly makes the sketch funny though aren't just Borat's inappropriate actions, it's the reactions of ignorant Americans typically using Borat's unacceptable attitudes as a license to expose their own. To say that the way Americans react to Borat is the sole reason the sketches are funny would be to excuse the hurtful stereotyping of foreigners and their alleged views, but there's still logic in the thought. \nWhile it's funny to see how people react in awkward situations (that's nothing new, TV has been doing the hidden camera shtick since "Candid Camera") the funniest reactions come when Americans let their guard down and express their true, offensive beliefs. In one famous sketch, Borat visits country music fans and performs a song he wrote called "Throw the Jew Down the Well." Within minutes Borat has a roomful of people signing along, "Throw the Jew down the well/So my country can be free." Normally this would seem like a miniature Nazi Germany in the works, yet because the people are being influenced by what they view to be a naïve foreigner, who doesn't know any better, nobody is going to storm out in protest. And if you ask me, that's funny. Frightening and despicable, but funny.\nAfter hearing that song, it's understandable many Jewish people aren't thrilled about the film either. The excuse that Cohen himself is Jewish probably isn't enough to fend off all critics, but once again, people need to be able to laugh at themselves. This is easy to say as a non-Jewish person who isn't having his religion slammed, yet everyone's ethnicity, religion and any other personal belief is at sometime going to be lampooned. And the more you get upset, the more it's going to happen. Case in point: the "South Park" "Trapped in the Closet" episode that ridiculed Scientology. Had Tom Cruise left the matter alone, audiences would have laughed at the episode and eventually forgotten about it, but after throwing a fit and trying to ban the episode, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have even more of an excuse to stick it to the group. I've got to give props to the Anti-Defamation League, who recently issued a statement saying they get Cohen's joke. They're not thrilled about it, but they understand that because everything is so exaggerated, it's not meant to be taken as factual representation. Once again, people: comedy.\nUnfortunately, this will likely be the end of Borat. After the film hits, it will be impossible for Cohen to tour the country again without people recognizing the gag. He could move on to other countries like the "Jackass" guys did for their films, but to lose the idealism that is associated with American culture is to lose the point of the film. Cohen's a smart guy, and probably has more ideas about how to make me piss myself with laughter in the future. If this Halloween weekend you see a goofy foreigner on Kirkwood asking for "sexytime," just tell me I'm doing a good Borat impression. It'll make my day. High Five!