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 Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Bruno: A Machine-Tooled Vehicle for Promoting Sacha Baron Cohen
In addition to publicity stunts, Baron Cohen is a master at creating controversy, another great way to promote a film. In fact, that statement is slightly misleading in that he doesn’t try and whip up controversy around his films for publicity purposes. Rather, his films consist of a number of controversial set pieces loosely strung together with some feeble storyline. Bruno is purportedly about the central character’s efforts to conquer America -- to become “the most famous Austrian since Hitler” -- but it is hard to imagine anyone being gripped by this narrative. The entertainment value resides in the set pieces, such as Bruno’s appearance as a guest on the Richard Bey Show. In front of a largely African-American audience, he appeals for a black, homosexual partner to help him raise his newly-adopted African baby. The baby is then brought out wearing a T-shirt with the word “Gayby” on it and the audience is treated to photographs of the child being crucified like Christ and sitting in a hot tub with four naked men. Needless to say, it isn’t long before Bruno is confronted with a baying mob. Beneath this melee, Baron Cohen might claim to be “exposing” the homophobia of ordinary Americans, but that is largely beside the point. Will audiences watching the film engage in some self-examination afterwards and be less likely to give in to such knee-jerk reactions? I doubt it. The purpose of these set pieces is to be funny, of course, but it's the type of humour that's machine-tooled to generate buzz. In a sense, Baron Cohen’s films exist solely in order to promote themselves. They are politically incorrect, not because he has any objection to political correctness, but because that’s a sure-fire way to stimulate controversy and sell tickets. Baron Cohen is not the most gifted satarist of our age, but the most gifted self-promoter. He is Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley rolled into one.
Comments page 1 of 1 - 1 post(s) Re: Bruno: A Machine-Tooled Vehicle for Promoting Sacha Baron Cohen Posted by Nigel on 27-06-2009 15:31: Excellent. This is the best take on Cohen I have seen. That's why he picks "safe" target, like Kazakhs, Germans and half-breed rappers. Peter Sellers was an equal-opportunity mocker, though that whole East London Jewish milieu (Wesker, Pinter, Sellers, Cohen and many more) would be fascinating to take a closer look at, like compoaring Dylan and the other Cohen!. |
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