Borat's Backlash: Is he at fault?
The new box office hit- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan- is causing a lot of controversy. In this article, many of the participants are angry. They are trying to sue Borat (a.k.a. Sacha Baron Cohen) for "duping" them into participating in the movie. Many of the participants said they were handed cash and then the release form, which tricked them into signing a release for the film.
This debate, to me, isn't about media ethics. These people didn't read their rights. They didn't take the responsibility to know what they were doing. Yes, I agree that the producers probably added money and alcohol(as with the frat boys in the movie) to distract them, but if these people were truly concerned with their reputation they would have asked for more information before participating. It seems to me that after the great success of the movie, many participants feel cheated because they only made a couple hundred dollars. The car salesman in the movie said, "One hundred-fifty dollars, and the movie grossed $26 million in three days," he said. "Everybody there's all smiling at our expense."
This movie has definately become a PR mess. Yet, it's a question about journalism too. One man, the old Jewish man who owned the Bed and Breakfast and was depicted as a cockroach in the movie, said he will forever be skeptical of inquisitive journalists. What do you think?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2647648&page=1
This debate, to me, isn't about media ethics. These people didn't read their rights. They didn't take the responsibility to know what they were doing. Yes, I agree that the producers probably added money and alcohol(as with the frat boys in the movie) to distract them, but if these people were truly concerned with their reputation they would have asked for more information before participating. It seems to me that after the great success of the movie, many participants feel cheated because they only made a couple hundred dollars. The car salesman in the movie said, "One hundred-fifty dollars, and the movie grossed $26 million in three days," he said. "Everybody there's all smiling at our expense."
This movie has definately become a PR mess. Yet, it's a question about journalism too. One man, the old Jewish man who owned the Bed and Breakfast and was depicted as a cockroach in the movie, said he will forever be skeptical of inquisitive journalists. What do you think?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2647648&page=1
posted by Anonymous at 7:52 AM
1 Comments:
I'm glad you brought this movie up. Beyond the complaints of participants who came off looking bad, what do you think about the movie in general? Khazakhstan initially resented it (but now is apparently reeling in tourist dollars) but Russia has banned it.
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