Reading Linda Stein’s tale of woe, “How I Was Duped by Ali G,” it becomes glaringly obvious why this woman not only made it into the Borat movie but why she’s in the trailer: she’s a self-righteous ding dong with no sense of humor.
If you’ve seen the trailer for Borat you know Linda – she’s sitting with a group of feminists and says, “That’s it,” and walks off camera when Borat mentions women having smaller brains than men. She was one of a number of Americans contacted by the Borat crew who agreed to be interviewed and who signed unbelievable release documents (seriously, the releases these people signed are almost as much of a prank as the actual interview. Participants waived the ability to make claims relating to “offensive behavior” and “misleading portrayal” and “fraud (such as any alleged deception or surprise about the film or this consent agreement).” LOL at you, retards) and then got mostly humiliated by the fake journalist.
Look, I can imagine that this must be embarrassing as hell for people, especially as Borat is shaping up to be unstoppably popular, but have a sense of humor. Reading Stein’s piece, she seems to understand why what Borat does is funny – he lampoons ignorance through exaggerated ignorance – but doesn’t understand why she’s a target. And that lack of understanding, that total pomposity, is exactly why she’s a target. Just reading her self-serious nonsense about her art makes you want to see her get extremely punked.
The only thing that Stein mentions that I agree with is that it’s wrong to not invite these people to screenings of the movie. Fox should set up small local screenings for every person in the film, and allow them to invite their friends and families. The people with decent senses of humor will be able to laugh at it and prove that they’re not afflicted with a nasty case of sandy vagina. Everybody else is shit out of luck because they signed those insane waivers.