[lbo-talk] Borat: the Romanian angle

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On 11/11/06, sean.andrews <cultstud76 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I also think that the larger problem of the film is that Cohen refuses
> to do an interview out of character, which means that there is never a
> meta-critical moment of discussion about what Cohen thinks he's doing.

Actually, there's many interviews with the actor out of character,
even on Youtube. The NPR one is the best I've heard:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3613548

(Just not recent interviews apparently, as there's a movie to sell,
and good artists/entertainers often give the audience some time to
come to its own conclusions.)

It does seem forced to analyze his "satire" too deeply though. His
schtick (at least in the TV show) is to put people in an unusual
situation, and shows us the most entertaining results. Should we look
for some grand Artist's Intent, or find our own themes?

Tayssir