Borat Sagdiyev

For other uses, see the character.

Borat Sagdiyev (Cyrillic: Борат Сагдиев) ("born" 1972 in Kuzcek, Kazakhstan) is a fictional character of a Kazakh journalist invented and portrayed by the British comedian provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat has humourously been described on his official website as "the seventh most famous person in Kazakhstan."

File:Borat happy time.jpg

Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat

Overview

Borat evolved from previous characters that Sacha Baron Cohen had developed: An unnamed Moldovan TV reporter (for LWT/Granada TV and the BBC's Comedy Nation) and an Albanian TV reporter called Kristo (for the Paramount Comedy Channel).

Borat appeared irregularly on Da Ali G Show, for Channel 4 and HBO, with sketches featuring him often relying on outrageous behaviour and actions, and the reactions of uninformed individuals around him. In early appearances his name was given as Borat Karabzhanov as well as Borat Dutbayev but from 2003 his name was changed to Sagdiyev. In some cases, Borat's guests embrace his anti-Semitism and misogyny by agreeing with him, while other guests attempt to explain Western values to him. Borat has also appeared on BBC1's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, and in 2006 in his own feature film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Cohen/Borat promoted the film with appearances on Saturday Night Live and Late Show with David Letterman, on which he played the berimbau as a guest musician with Beck.

Because of his outrageously offensive and bigoted behavior, which Borat seems innocently unaware of, and the stereotypes of a backwards third world country he portrays Kazakhstan as, the character has sparked controversy. The most outspoken critics of Borat so far have been government officials in Kazakhstan who've vilified Cohen for the way their nation is characterized. The differences between Borat's fictional homeland in Kazakhstan and the actual people and way of life in the country are so far apart that some speculate whether Cohen made it that way to be a satire of Western views of the world. [2]

Da Ali G Show

Borat is shown in each episode of Da Ali G Show, doing satirical interviews with often-unwitting subjects in the United Kingdom and the United States. The segment was shot in low-quality video to keep a feeling of a public access show.

File:Borat in New York.jpg

Borat in New York

In order to pass himself off as a foreigner, Baron Cohen 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, though rarely in the correct situations) when speaking to people—not using Kazakh or Russian (the state and official languages of Kazakhstan). He has also lapsed into Hebrew while purporting to sing the Kazakh national anthem at a Savannah Sand Gnats game. He kept on repeating a famous Hebrew folk song: קום בחור עצל וצא לעבודה (kum bachur atzel ve'tze la'avoda - "get up lazy guy and go to work [...]" ) [...] קוקוריקו קוקוריקו התרנגול קרא (kookooriku kookooriku ha'tarnegol kara) ("cock a doodle do the cock has crowed"), and also called Kazakhstan a "hole" (חור)(hor).

Essentially, to elicit the trademark reactions from unsuspecting members of the public, Cohen depends on two premises that are common among western society; 1) the public are not familiar with Borat or his routine(s), and 2) the public are not familiar with anything relating to Kazakhstan. The hair and moustache are real, and it takes Baron Cohen six weeks to grow them.

It has been suggested that Baron Cohen was influenced by internet celebrity Mahir Çağrı; however, Borat had been in development since at least 1995 (at LWT/Granada TV), four years before the Mahir meme. During the DVD commentary of the first disc of season one of Da Ali G Show Baron Cohen says that the evolution of the Borat character was influenced by a real person he met in Southern Russia, "... I can't remember his name - he was a doctor. The moment I met him, I was totally crying - he was [this] hysterically funny guy, albeit unintentionally."

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

On October 14 2006 Borat won the German Comedy Award as the best international comedian.

Controversy

File:What borat believe.jpg

Borat sings a not-so-innocent song about "bad children like Jacob" at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards

See also Da Ali G Show: Controversy

Borat has been the cause of some controversy, mostly related to his frequent displays of anti-Semitism. Sacha Baron Cohen (who plays Borat) has also been accused of his character being a racist portrayal of Kazakhs.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat, is a Jew of Persian descent himself. He explains his character's racist nature by 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 Baron Cohen himself.

However, the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish anti-racism group, complained to HBO after Borat performed a country 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 his horns', to applause and participation from some members of an audience in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The full chorus goes: "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."

At a press conference just hours before the live broadcast of the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, he shocked local and international journalists in Lisbon, Portugal by bringing a bag of birds from Romania (the first European country to detect avian influenza) as a gift, then proceeded to say he was sorry that they had all died.

One Borat scene involves his visiting the Serengeti Range in Texas, where the owner of the ranch reveals himself to be so anti-Semitic as to believe that Hitler's 'Final Solution' was a necessity for Germany. He further implies (with the egging on of Borat) that he would have no problem running a ranch where people can hunt, in Borat's words, "deer... then Jew."

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 Broadwater 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 Saviour will spend eternity in Heaven, while everyone who rejects Him will spend eternity in Hell." Broadwater did not apologize for his comments, which were widely seen 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."

In January 2005, after convincing the authorities that he was shooting a documentary, Borat managed to infuriate a crowd at a rodeo in Salem, Virginia, USA: first by saying that "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards...and may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq"; and then, by rendering a mangled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that ended with the words "your home in the grave," the Roanoke Times reported. "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him," said one witness. "People were booing him, flipping him off." For his own safety, Borat was escorted from the venue.

Conflicts with Kazakh Government

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 behavior at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with the ethics and civilized behavior of Kazakhstan's people", 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 blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old. Please, captain of industry; I invite you to come to Kazakhstan where we have incredible natural resources, hardworking labour, and some of the cleanest prostitutes in whole of central Asia. Goodbye! Dzienkuje! "

Reuters 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 carried 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 arbitrarily arranged Cyrillic characters.

On December 13, 2005, the right to use the domain name www.borat.kz was suspended, and the site attached to it was closed down. The domain-issuing body said that they took this action since false names were given for the site's administrators, and also because the site www.borat.kz was hosted outside Kazakhstan. However, the stated underlying cause of the action was in order to censor the content of the site: "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 petitioned the ICANN ombudsman to intervene and reverse this decision. Meanwhile, the "Official Borat Homesite" was moved to the .tv domain, where it remains. (As of November 1, 2006, the former domain name was still suspended.)

Borat has, however, recently been defended by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a politician and the daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. She stated on a national news program Karavan that Baron Cohen's website "damaged our image much less than its closure, which was covered by all global news agencies," and "We should not be afraid of humour and we shouldn't try to control everything, I think."

White House "visit"

On September 29, 2006, Cohen appeared in character as Borat at the White House gates to give a press conference and invite "Premier Warlord George Walter Bush" to a screening of his forthcoming film, along with "O.J. Simpsons", "Mel Gibsons" and other "American dignitaries." Not surprisingly, Secret Service agents would not admit him to the grounds. The apparent publicity stunt was likely timed to coincide with an official visit by President Nazarbayev the following day.

Complaint by Roma in Germany

On October 18, 2006, European Center for Antiziganism Research, which works against antiziganism, negative attitudes toward gypsies (e.g. Roma and Sinti people), filed a complaint with prosecutors based on Borat's comments about gypsies in his upcoming film. The complaint accuses him of defamation and inciting violence against the ethnic group.

Link to the Complaint here: http://www.ezaf.org/Borat.pdf (In German)

Fictional background

Family and personal life

The character Borat often discusses his family members with the people he interviews. His father's name is given as Boltok the Rapist, as is his maternal grandfather. Borat's sister, Natalya, is a prostitute (awarded "best sex in mouth" by the Almaty Chamber of Commerce, and rated the "number 4" prostitute in Kazakhstan) and the two of them like to pretend to be "husband and wife." He has a younger brother Bilo who is mentally ill. The reason for this, Borat says is, "He once have a demon that live in his head so we open his head and place a dry fish inside to eat the demon, but the demon become angry and make Bilo a retard." Bilo has a son born with an unusually excessive amount of body hair who travels "in a tent." Borat has another pubescent brother Vilo, who has grown a moustache since Borat left his home village. Borat states that the former 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, 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." Borat also claims to have previously worked as a Gypsy catcher, boasting that he can "hit a gypsy with a rock from fifteen metres away if chained — ten if not". Tragically, his first wife was accidentally shot in a field after a hunter mistook her for a bear. 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, although the last relationship seems to consist exclusively of dancing. Borat has experienced incestuous relations with his sister, as well as incidents of bestiality with domesticated animals and accidental homosexuality.

Ironically, all the images where he is supposed to be in Kazakhstan are actually filmed in Gypsy villages in Romania. The people, including those who are presented as being his family and friends, are members of the Gypsy minority, living in poor remote villages. The theme song for his documentaries is a manele song, 'Eu Vin Acasa Cu Drag' by Stefan de la Barbulesti, which can be heard on his Myspace profile and is on the movie's OST.

Beliefs

Borat has a great admiration for Joseph Stalin, whom he describes as being both "strong" and "powerful." He believes politicians should be like him and have a big "khram". (Template:Lang-ru, literally "temple," but intended to mean "genitals").

Sacha Baron Cohen is himself Jewish and says that he uses the Borat character to expose anti-Semitism and racism. By having Borat make anti-Semitic and racist statements, Baron Cohen claims to be able to show people's favourable reaction and thereby expose anti-Semitic/racist sentiment in society. For example, he was hunting and asked in an interview if it was legal to shoot Jew, to which his host replied that he would have no problem with that although others would. Sometimes people are repulsed by his anti-Semitism, at a dog pound he asked his host if he could test if a dog was trained. He had the interviewee place a finger on each side of her head (like a horn) and say Shalom, then he told the dog: "Attack! Attack the Jew." The woman was very distressed, saying "NO! Jews are Jesus's children. She [the dog] probably loves Jews." Also, while taking a self-defense class, Borat asked the instructor to teach him how to defend against the "Jew Claw" (in all fairness, the instructor made it very clear that one should respect the beliefs of others; he didn't believe the "claw" to be literal), and then he made a claw with his hand and had the instructor defend himself against it.

Borat is also known for his animosity toward Uzbekistan. He has been known to talk about the fictional 'Tishniek' massacre, including during his 'Soul Motion' Dance class where he depicted the massacre and proceeded to explain how many Uzbeks were "crushed" on that day. He later told how he was "very proud" of the massacre and said it was not sad because "it is us who do the kill." In a recent press interview (which attracted more reporters than one given by the actual Kazakhstan president held at the same time) Borat threatened his country would "commence bombardment" of Uzbekistan cities with catapults if their anti-Kazakhstan propaganda did not cease. He also claimed that while he was studying "English, Journalism, and Plague Research" to have "Made two new ones (plagues) that killed over five million goats in Uzbekistan."

He also asked the Oklahoma City Traffic Commission to stand in silence for ten minutes to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the massacre, but only got about a minute and a half. In the meeting, which was broadcast live on local TV, he thanked them for letting him join the meeting and then asked to give "short speech" which lasted 17 minutes. The speech covered traffic and American democracy. He made several comments that dumbfounded the commission; including how the only women allowed into government buildings in Kazakhstan are prostitutes.Audio of news coverage

He was shocked to discover that American women have the right to vote, while horses do not, whereas in Kazakhstan, the opposite holds true. On said discovery, he recited the "chain of importance" — "God, man, horse, dog, woman, then rat, then small krutzouli" — to a female voter. When looking for a home in the US, Borat stated that his wife was afraid of "men with chocolate face," referring to black people.

Some of Borat's interviews carry homoerotic undertones. Interviews can involve discussion of "khram" or the sexual preferences of the interviewee or other celebrities, such as Freddie Mercury. Borat enjoys touching and holding men, but has a noticeable aversion toward 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, an example of this being his report on Henley Royal Regatta where he kisses all the male members of a winning crew but not their female coxswain. Borat describes his ideal mate as having at least some plough experience, no history of mental retardation in the family, and "no Jew." Additionally, he desires that they "must be tight like a man's anus," and claims that if they cheat on him, he will "crush them." On a video attached to his Myspace, he asks for male friends who are willing to have chats with him about music and rocket ships, and oddly enough, ways to "trap the gypsy". On the official Borat website's response to the Kazakh government he mentions that "homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats." However, in his interview with Jonathan Ross he washed his hands when he learned that there were four gay men in the room, making it appear that he was homophobic.

Film

File:Borat Natalia.jpg

Borat and his sister, Natalya

Main article: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Subtitled Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the film is a low-budget mockumentary comedy. The distributor of the film is 20th Century Fox and the director is Larry Charles. It debuted at the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival and is due for general release November 3 2006.

Lingo

• Barbara bush - literally "to eat the hair from the testes satchel"; (Barbara-To eat, Bush-The hair around the testes satchel)-a reference to Barbara Bush
• Dzienkuje - "thank you" Sometimes used as a greeting in the opening of the Borat segments of Da Ali G Show. from the Polish Dziękuję), Also spelled as "Chenquieh" when written by Borat, e.g., his speech on the Kazakh embassy.
• Football - disease where a man grows a foot out of the testes satchel
• Hand relief - masturbation or sexual contact involving the hand
• Jagshemash - "how are you?" (from the Polish "Jak się masz?", the Czech "Jak se máš?", the Slovak "Ako sa máš?" or from "Yakshimusiz"). Returning to Central Asia, the Uyghur greeting "yahşimusiz" means "are you well?", and in Uzbek it's "yaxshimisiz". Perhaps ironically, "yaxshi emas" means "not good/well" in Uzbek.
• Khram - genitals (In Russian translates to "temple")
• Krutzouli - small or insignificant animal of ambiguous identity, placed below women in the fictional Kazakh caste system.
• Liquid explosion (sexy time explosion) - ejaculation
• Sexy time (sexy intercourse) - sexual intercourse
• Testes satchel - scrotum
• Vazhïn - vagina (once referred to as Shakira)
• Mouth party (sex in mouth) - oral sex
• Moviefilm - movies.
• Making a dirt - to defecate
• Making romance inside - sexual intercourse
• Man with chocolate face - a black person
• She is tight like man's anus - description of a vagina
• Transibiesky express - children's porno with Jonny the Monkey

See also

• Ali G - Baron Cohen's other main character
• Bruno (character) - Baron Cohen's other character
• Korobeiniki - One of Borat's theme songs.
• Mahir Çağrı - Internet phenomenon, partial influence for the character

External links

• Official Borat Homesite, formerly at www.borat.kz
• Borat on MySpace
• Borat Reviews at Metacritic.com ("high five!")
• HBO:Da Ali G Show
• Borat at IMDb
• Borat at Rotten Tomatoes
• IndexTube List of Borat videos and movies
• Video interview with Borat on Movies.com
• [3] Best of Borat (YouTube)
• Borat film review at Mansized

Articles

• "Did Ali G Go Too Far?" on August 13, 2004 in The Jewish Week
• "The Borat Doctrine" posted Sept. 13, 2004 in The New Yorker
• "'Ali G' Comedian Riles Rodeo Crowd" on January 14, 2005 on CBS News
• "No Joke" by Kenneth Neil Cukier on December 28, 2005 in Foreign Affairs, on what the removal of the Borat site from the .kz domain portends for the administration of the global domain name system
• Borat on Google Video
• "Borat in Paris" on October 9, 2006
• "Offensive and unfair, Borat's antics leave a nasty aftertaste" by Kazakhstan Ambassador Erlan Idrissov on October 4, 2006 in The Guardian
• "Taking Stupid Seriously" October 15, 2006 in the LA Times
• "Behind the Schemes", Newsweek, October 16, 2006 (profiling several people who became unwitting Borat punch lines)
• "Borat vs. Kazakhstan", brandchannel, October 30, 2006 (discusses Borat's affect on Westerners' perception of Kazakhstan)