Borat Sagdiyev

Borat Sagdiyev (assumed Cyrillic: Борат Сагдиев) is a satirical Kazakh caricature invented and played by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat evolved from a previous character that Cohen portayed, an Albanian TV reporter called Kristo and was also possibly influenced by internet celebrity Mahir Çağrı.

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Borat introduces the "Official Government Dance of Kazak" at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Portugal.

He appeared regularly on Da Ali G Show, with skits featuring him often relying on Borat's outrageous behavior and actions, and the reactions of uninformed individuals around him. In some cases, Borat's guests embrace his outrageous anti-Semitism and misogyny by agreeing with him, while other guests attempt to explain Western values to him.

Background and technique

Based on a doctor that actor Sacha Baron Cohen met in southern Russia, Borat is featured in each episode of Da Ali G Show, doing satirical interviews with various people who apparently do not realize the show's nature. He has visited Britain and the United States.

Borat often finds himself in ridiculous situations that involve painfully funny physical comedy. Some have compared Cohen's Borat character with some of Peter Sellers' work. However, it is not clear whether one of Sellers' characters would have told a female member of the Oklahoma City Council that he wishes to "make romance inside of you", followed by the exclamation "all day I think of you, minus clothes, wa-wa-wee-wa. That is very wonderful."

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Borat

The character's supposed Kazakh origins are purely a plot device, and almost all of his statements about that nation are false. However, the almost complete lack of knowledge about Kazakhstan and its culture among typical Westerners gives Borat's character license to do whatever he wants; the people Borat interacts with are often extremely afraid of offending him by being intolerant of what they perceive to be cultural differences. Most people in Kazakhstan have never heard of Borat.

In order to pass himself off as foreign, Sacha writes his alleged notes in Hebrew, and uses occasional Polish words (Dziękuję thank you, Jak się masz how are you, Dzień Dobry good day, Przepraszam sorry) when speaking to people—not using Kazakh or Russian (the state and official languages of Kazakhstan) has nearly had Sacha exposed as a fake in midfilming. He has also lapsed into Hebrew while purporting to sing the Kazakhstani national anthem (in fact a simple reciting of major Kazakhstani cities) at a Savannah Sand Gnats game. In Hebrew, he kept on repeating, "I've got no job[...]give me a job" (אין לי עבודה[...] תן לי עבודה) ("ein li avoda [...] ten li avoda"), and also called Kazakhstan a "hole" (חור).

The hair and mustache are real, and it takes Sacha six weeks to grow them; some women find Borat to be attractive, and ask for dates after filming. Borat's suit has also never been washed, which may cause him to smell "foreign" to those he encounters, adding to the apparent authenticity of his character.

On November 3, 2005, Borat was the host of the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 show in Lisbon. [1]

Controversy

Borat has been the cause of some controversy, mostly related to his frequent displays of anti-Semitism but also notably for his portrayal of Kazakh culture.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat, is himself Jewish. Defenders use this to justify his character's racist nature, stating that the segments are a "dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity, as much as rabid bigotry," rather than a display of racism by Cohen himself. [2]

However, the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish anti-racism group, complained to HBO after Borat performed a Country and Western song that called on people to 'throw the Jew down the well', warning them that 'you must be careful of his teeth' and that 'you must grab him by the horns', to applause and participation from an audience in Tucson, Arizona.

An interview with James Broadwater, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress, caused Broadwater to receive some hateful emails after an episode of Da Ali G Show aired in which he stated that Jews will go to Hell. He was told that the interview would be played in foreign countries to teach others about the American political system. Broadwater later posted a letter on his website denouncing Da Ali G Show, explaining that his statement referred to a theological belief that anyone that "accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will spend eternity in Heaven, while everyone who rejects Him will spend eternity in Hell." Broadwater did not apologize for his comments, which many saw as insensitive and inflammatory. Instead, he insisted that "the liberal, anti-God media needs to be brought under the strict control of the FCC, and that as soon as possible." [3]

Conflicts with Kazakh Government

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Borat sings a song about children at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards.

In November 2005, following Borat's hosting of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry voiced their concerns about the character. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news conference "We view Mr. Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with ethics and civilised behaviour", concluding "We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind".

Baron Cohen has since posted a video on the "Official Borat Homesite" where Borat responds to Ashykbayev in character. In the video, Borat states, in part, "In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew. Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear the blue hats, and the age of consent has been raised to eight years old."

Reuters has quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as saying "They (the Kazakh Government) are damned if they do (respond) and damned if they don't," he said. "It's sort of unfortunate that he hit upon Kazakhstan."

The next week, the government hired two Western public relations firms to counter Borat's claims, and ran a four-page advertisement in the New York Times. The ad carries testimonials about the nation’s democracy, education system and the power and influence enjoyed by women. On a previous occasion, Borat responded to official Kazakh complaints by issuing his own press release, which consisted of random Cyrillic characters.

Borat's conflict with Kazakh authorities has recently come to a head. According to Reuters www.borat.kz has been suspended [4]

"We've done this so he can't badmouth Kazakhstan under the .kz ___domain name," Nurlan Isin, President of the Association of Kazakh IT Companies, told Reuters. "He can go and do whatever he wants at other domains."

Reporters Without Borders has petitioned the ICANN ombudsman to intervene and reverse this decision. [5] Meanwhile, the "Official Borat Homesite" has been moved to the .tv ___domain.

It should also be noted that the character of Borat does not in any way resemble ethnic Kazakhs, who comprise the majority of the nation's population.

Fictional background

Family and personal life

Borat often discusses his family members with the people he interviews. Borat's sister is a prostitute (awarded "Best sex in mouth" by the Almaty Chamber of Commerce, and rated number 2 or 3 prostitute in Kazakhstan) and the two of them like to pretend to be "husband and wife." He has a younger brother Vilo who has a son born with an unusually excessive amount of body hair who travels "in a tent"; and another brother who is mentally ill. Borat states that the latter has "small head, but very strong arm," and thus must be kept locked behind a metal door or in a cage. His relationship with his mother seems to be unpleasant, and Borat has commented that "she wishes she was raped by another man." According to the "Official Borat Homesite", (removed December 13, 2005 by the Kazakh government - but has reopened under "www.borat.tv") he also has an 11-year-old son named Biram, who is the father of his two grandchildren. Borat has a pet pig Igor which he claims to love, although he and his family end up eating it (including its eyes)!

In one episode, Borat reveals that he suffered a "very bad gypsy attack," in which his wife and plough were stolen and "they touch[ed] [his] horse in [a] very bad way; it was depressed." Tragically, his first wife was accidentally shot in a field after a hunter mistook her for a bear. Thankfully, Borat was able to cope with the loss of his first wife and he has remarried several times. Still, Borat's exceptional sexual virility has compelled him to maintain extramarital relations with a girlfriend, a mistress, and at least one prostitute. Incestuous relations with his sister, as well as incidents of bestiality with domesticated animals, have led some to question Borat's sexual ethics.

Beliefs

Borat has a great admiration for Joseph Stalin, whom he describes as being both "strong" and "powerful" and has a big "khram".

Borat strongly dislikes Jews and gypsies. Despite his portrayal of anti-Semitism throughout his character, he himself is Jewish (Sacha Baron Cohen), and is therefore more so portraying how people re-act to his beliefs to show us the degree of racism in society. He visited a bar in Tucson, Arizona where he sang a song about problems in his country, but the subject quickly changed from transportation to Jews, with the lyrics "Throw the Jew down the well/ so my country can be free./ You must grab him by his horns,/ then we have a big party." Rather than reacting in shock or disgust, the crowd at the bar gleefully sang along and clapped with the beat, as per Borat's instructions. While taking a self-defense class, Borat asked the instructor to teach him how to defend against the "Jew Claw", and then he made a claw with his hand and had the instructor defend himself against it.

He was shocked to discover that American women have the right to vote; on said discovery, he recited the "chain of importance"—"God, man, horse, dog, woman, then rat, then small krutzouli"—to a female voter.

Most of Borat's interviews carry a strong homoerotic undertone. Interviews inevitably involve discussion of "khram" (one's "testes satchel") or about the sexual preferences of the interviewee, or other celebrities, such as Freddie Mercury. Borat enjoys touching and holding men, but has a noticeable aversion towards women. Often he will kiss men on the cheek (and occasionally the lips) but when approached by a woman he will shy away or merely offer a handshake. Borat describes his ideal mate as having at least some plough experience, no history of mental retardation in the family, and additionally, "must be tight like a man's anus".

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The Borat movie

A Borat movie is currently in production (2006) [6] [7]. The movie is believed to be a low-budget mockumentary comedy. The film's plot is "Kazakh immigrant" Borat's coming to the U, S and A on a mission (segments from "Ali G Show" and never before seen).

The distributor of the movie is 20th Century Fox and the director is Larry Charles.

In January 2005 a creative clash between the original director Todd Phillips and Sacha Baron Cohen prompted Phillips to drop out of the project. The first viewings of the movie were made in early 2006, and the movie is currently undergoing legal operations to get the movie in theatres.

Before Borat the movie, Borat had already appeared in a movie, making a brief appearance in Ali G Indahouse.

The Borat code

In each Borat segment, there are Cyrillic letters behind the English captions. These letters are a rough cipher of the English text, according to the following correspondence:

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Ф

И

С

В

У

А

П

Р

Ш

О

Л

Д

Ь

Т

Щ

З

Й

К

Ы

Е

Г

М

Ц

Ч

Н

Я

On a computer, this cipher can be produced by typing English letters on a standard QWERTY keyboard whilst having the standard Russian keyboard layout activated (QWERTY → ЙЦУКЕН).

For example, the caption "Borat's Guide to America" appears under the letters:

ПШВ ИЩКФЕФ Л ФЬУКШПШ

Which, decyphered, says:

GID BORATA K AMERIKI

The car

The name Borat was also given to a silver Volkswagen Jetta, or Bora, that visited many VW Festivals around the UK. After an early festival, the letter "T" was added to the Bora on the rear of the car, and Borat was born in the automobile world.

The car featured a VW Votex kit (OEM parts available through the dealership or resellers), which was, and still is, quite a rare kit to be seen in the UK, although it features more prominently in the USA – where the Bora has always been called the Jetta (in 2005, the Jetta name was readopted worldwide).

External links