Borat's Overexposure Is Not Cool

James Berardinelli has a point.

Borat is becoming so overexposed that the movie and the character are both ceasing to be funny. He is everywhere; a new talk show whore. I really abhor Cohen for letting this happen to his creation. It's becoming an easily disposable product that completely belies the overall point of the movie. And it hurts so much because, unlike Austin Powers or Napoleon Dynamite (Which both had similar commercialized fates), Borat is actual quality. It's a good film/character/idea.

This sort of reminds of all of the talk show whoring Quentin Tarantino did after Pulp Fiction.

Borat's 15 minutes are nearly up and that would be a shame. This character is quite an achievement and one that should last throughout the centuries. Because of his rampant over-commercialization, he will become nothing more than a footnote in pop culture. I can already see the Borat's segments in my mind on VH1's "Hey! Remember The '00s?"

I was never on the Borat Wagon and avoided his tired shtick from the start, so if he fades into the sunset quickly now... s'okay by me.



Wasn't laughing then... still not laughing.

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Is it koo?

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I don't mean this the wrong way, because most of the time you had a great deal of input on this community.

But isn't there another movie board where you can post this at? Say, Borat's IMDB board?

Or did you post it there too?

Just curious. From what I can tell, BWW isn't a big Borat-fan. I'm with Best12. I didn't like him as Ali G and I don't like him now. It's like having a "I love George Bush" thread. We're gonna bash it to pieces.

BWW is the new blog.

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I haven't seen the movie - but if what I'm reading is valid, and he's shining a light on the real ignorance that exists in this 'greatest country', then I'm all for whatever publicity he generates.

There's a great Rolling Stone interview (and despite the fact that I've mentioned it twice today, I'm not a shill for them) with Baron Cohen that touches on the sort of paradox of success with Borat.

Chances are he will never be able to pull off anything of this scale again. That's nothing against his talent, which I think is considerable. He might as well ride this wave, because he'll probably never be at the forefront of such a phenomenon again.

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I haven't seen the movie- I don't even have cable television and yet I'm sick of Borat in just my limited internet exposure. From what I've been exposed to, I haven't seen any "shining light on real ignorance". He just seems like the new Jackass. Am I missing something? Because from what I've seen so far he just seems like a contributing factor in the dumbing down of America. Antics and stunts meant to draw attention with no further agenda.

If I'm wrong I'll happily recant, but that's what I've seen thus far. What's the appeal?

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For me, it's that I have a crush on Sacha Baron Cohen. It's really no deeper than that.

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Updated On: 12/1/06 at 12:51 AM

But are you guys really surprised by the ignorance shown? It's hardly the first film/tv show to expose American ignorance..."Talking to Americans", anyone?

But at the same time, I'm loathe to applaud showing American ignorance, because it's been done to death...at least outside the US.

I don't know...if it gets the American population to do some self-examination about ignorance of all things foreign, then I can support the support for the film. Otherwise...it all just seems pointless and offensive...

I thought the film was great and I applaud him, expecially for the reason DG mentioned.

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Wow, imagine an actor promoting his film by making appearances!

That's NEVER happened before....

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I don't get the problem with Cruel posting his blog-thoughts on Borat's instant fame. It's a valid topic for discussion.


Nine out of ten threads here turn into a chat room, so I don't get the fuss.

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