General Question

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

Do you think Ali G aka. Borat should have been sued because of his movie?

Asked by xxporkxsodaxx (1396points) May 4th, 2008
36 responses
“Great Question” (2points)

Some people in the UK, I think Wales, who lived in the mountains who were really poor said that he told them they were making a documentary on how hard mountain life could be, but in the movie he had them speak jiberesh and had one strap a rubber fisting toy to his half arm. I think they are just trying to get money buy who knows, maybe you do.

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Answers

cheebdragon's avatar

No, but If I were in it I might feel differently.

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

Well what I want to know is in what documentaries do you see people taping rubber fisting toys to their arms.

cheebdragon's avatar

if they knew that it was a rubber fisting toy
then why did they still do it?

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

Exactly, like it makes no sense

wildflower's avatar

He was almost sued for Borat by the college kids in the RV. Problem is if anyone sues him, theyll only be helping his success. And showing themselves incapable off taking a joke.

Trustinglife's avatar

I just appreciate the brilliant social commentary. There were some moments in Borat where my jaw just dropped – I couldn’t believe how far he went. He’s got guts.

cheebdragon's avatar

“we just a couple a pimps….no hoes”
I was laughing my ass off during that entire movie!

wildflower's avatar

Nothing beats the wrestling scene….....and once you’ve watched it, you can’t un-watch it…...kills me every time.

cheebdragon's avatar

oh I know i walked into the room right at that part! I thought it was like gay porn at first, LOL

wildflower's avatar

I also loved him as the French race car driver in Talladega Nights…..he just rocks!

mcbealer's avatar

Hey all ~ go to yahoo image search and type John Mayer swimsuit.

richardhenry's avatar

Wales? Wales isn’t poor? What the hell? The actual back story:

Two residents of Glod, the Romanian village in which the opening scenes of Borat were filmed, hired US attorney Edward Fagan to sue the makers of Borat for $30 million. They allege the intent of the film was misrepresented to them, that the poorest members of their village were made to look like “savages”, and that they were underpaid, particularly when their minute salaries were compared to the millions earned by the completed movie. During several unaired segments, kids were filmed with guns and other weapons and in another scene, an amputee who lost his arm was told to wear a rubber fist sex toy. The lawsuit was dismissed in a New York hearing on the grounds that the allegations were too vague.

Personally, yes I do think Sacha Baron Cohen should have lost the case. Or at a minimum, he should have paid them. This said, I did enjoy Borat.

Babo's avatar

I wanted to sue him for the money I wasted on the tickets! I hated that movie!!! If I hadn’t been sitting in the middle of the isle, I would have walked out!!!

richardhenry's avatar

It was mildly funny. If I had been any of the mentioned parties I think I would have been a little offended. But at the end of the day, it’s only Sasha Baron Cohen.

cheebdragon's avatar

What movies do you think are funny??
just curious : )

scamp's avatar

I agree with Babo.

richardhenry's avatar

I love the subtle humour in films like Garden State, or Layer Cake, or similar, more than anything in the world. If we’re talking outrageously funny, then I guess films like Anchorman or Superbad are in the running. I’d say I enjoyed Borat. It was funny, but simply because it was mental.

In terms of amusingness, I think I enjoyed Hudson’s commentary in Cloverfield more than I enjoyed Borat. That’s not to say it’s a bad film, although I think Cohen’s approach was wrong.

loser's avatar

I searched john Mayer swimsuit!
Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

@richard, Now I do admit that I was wrong about the town, but you must agree that just because a town overall isn’t poor doesn’t mean that there aren’t parts that are. But I was misinformed by a friend, he thought the villagers were from New South Wales and I just got Wales out of it. Either way they were paid, but not much. They were paid about 3 pounds each, but I still go back to the point that if it were a documentary, then why would that one guy agree to strap a rubber fisting toy to his arm?

Response moderated
cheebdragon's avatar

maybe if it were a documentary about sex toys for gay and or really kinky amputees in the ghetto? or for the amputees in the ghetto that suffer from E.D.?

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

Ha nah, in the article it says that the producers told them the that it “would be a documentary about their hardship, rather than a comedy mocking their poverty and isolation.” So that rules it out of the question, and what of the kids playing with the AK-47s? I can’t see how they would have gone with that unless it was socially acceptable.

cheebdragon's avatar

i have an AK-47 (seriously)
but i would never let my kid play with it!
(the democrats would have a conniption fit)

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

I’m not saying that its wrong to own one, but I think that it would be fucked up to give those and and other semi and automatic weapons to 8yr olds

richardhenry's avatar

@pork: Yeah, but no part of Wales is anywhere near as poor as the depiction. It doesn’t matter anyway. I do wholeheartedly agree though, Cohen really messed up with the way he made that film. It’s funny, but only until you realise the backstory and how many people he screwed over.

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

Yea I agree, but in New South Wales it is just a territory and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a remote village like that, now I know that it wasn’t there but I can see where my friend got it(sort of) and how I misunderstood him because I am partially deaf.

cheebdragon's avatar

i missed the backstory, but if you think about it….what movie hasn’t screwed a lot of people over? “thats hollywood baby”

xxporkxsodaxx's avatar

It’s true, people are just wanting the attention. Also I think it’s cool that right before the church scene when Borat is sleep in front of the supposed church he goes in to, is actually a religious private school I attended pretty much as soon as I was born until a few weeks into 3rd grade.

gorillapaws's avatar

@cheebdragon, why do you have an AK-47? Do you use it for hunting? Self-defense from “the terrorists?” I just don’t get why anyone would need/want to own a fully automatic machine gun…

As far as the main question goes, I think not sharing the profits with people who clearly could benefit from some extra cash and who made the film for essentially exploitative wages is morally bankrupt. Legally though, I’d have to agree with most everyone here—if a guy wants you to strap a sex-toy onto your amputated stump for a movie, you might want to think twice about doing it (that tends to be a red-flag that things may not be as they seem).

The movie itself was awesome imho.

cheebdragon's avatar

@gorillapaws~ that’s what I asked my boyfriend when he brought it home, aparently “you just never know when your going to need it” but i guess if another riot breaks out like it did in the 90’s it might be worth its investment considering the neighborhood we live in and all.

8lightminutesaway's avatar

cheebdragon… can we be best friends and you let me use the ak-47 when I come over? Its one of my life goals to fire a fully automatic! please please please please ?? I’ll be your best friend! lol

Trustinglife's avatar

It is no accident that a conversation about Borat has turned into a conversation about an AK-47…

gorillapaws's avatar

@8lightminutesaway, if shooting a fully automatic is THAT important to you, I know there are ranges that let you do it. In Vegas I went to one (because the friends I was with were from the UK and had never fired a gun). It was ridiculously expensive though, but they had all kinds of crazy guns like the tripod-mounted automatics

gorillapaws's avatar

It’s possible that your state, or one close by also has ranges like that, so it might be worth looking into.

8lightminutesaway's avatar

sweet, I’ll have to check that out. Just part of my “experience everything” lifestyle. Going sky diving in a couple weeks. throwing a live hand grenade may prove difficult…
but I can see borat getting sued, he did some messed up stuff.

Amish_Ninja's avatar

My question is, how did the poor people, where ever they came from, even hire a big time attorney to sue him?

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