Alan Noir wrote:
The least progressive person I know said this film was homophobic. On top of that I've heard nothing good about it either.
Well the character is a screamingly camp parody of a gay wannabe fashion journalist, and while it is a very over the top one (and sometimes stupidly puerile) I didn't think it was homophobic - it just takes the piss out of a certain element of homosexuality that's out there. As such I didn't have a problem with it. Why not take the piss out of screamingly camp fashion journalists (and screamingly camp people in general)? Are gay people in general really so sensitive? Why should they be excluded from being the bait of comedy? I thought they wanted to be accepted into society in general - which also entails not being treated with kid gloves. The key is whether it's funny or whether it's not - end of.
Sure some people will look at it as reinforcing a gay stereotype but if certain audiences are so knuckleheaded as to think that Bruno is in any way typical of a what a gay person is and have these perceptions reinforced by the film then that's *their* problem as far as I'm concerned. The film not being out there isn't going to change those folks and no amount of "positive gay imagery" would change them anyway I don't think. The film is much more than that this though, it mocks a whole load of other things (including homophobia itself).
Baron Cohen is a wind up merchant (towards both conservative *and* liberal attitudes, people in power, and the general public) and in my opinion does it brilliantly 60% of the time. I'll take that over something that's 100% safe & mediocre.
"You're offended? So fucking what?" - Stephen Fry (one of my favourite quotes)
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