Borat Documentary

The simplistic definitions of what documentary and mockumentary are has caused audiences to become cynical to what truth there is in factual films. The film ‘Borat: Cultural learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ directed by Larry Charles also known simply as Borat combines both fact and fiction while using mockumentary styling. Documentary is described as a creative treatment of actuality. Mockumentary is known as a fictional narrative that takes the form of a documentary. In having such thin definitions for the genre and subgenre it has resulted in films such as Borat being difficult to categorize into a genre. Borat could easily fall under both definitions. This has resulted in the debate of what genre the …show more content…
This is with the intention of bringing back aspect of American culture to reform Kazakhstan 's culture. While in America Borat discovers ‘CJ Parker’ from Baywatch and decides to travel to California to marry Pamela Anderson, the actor who plays CJ. There are only four actors within the film, Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, Kevin Davitian as Borats producer Azamat, Lunell as Lunell the prostitute and Pamela Anderson as herself. The majority of the film is Borat interacting with Americans in a highly offensive portrayal of Kazakhstani people. The reactions to the portrayal of Borat within the film are true and show how easily the stereotypical portrayal is …show more content…
Inserting the comedic portrayal into interactions with the public makes the serious subject matter very palatable to the audience. The representation of a Kazakhstani journalist who defecates into a bag, whose national anthem akins other countries to ‘little girls’, and who believes so firmly that women have a smaller brain which makes them the lesser sex create creates truth in being fiction. This truth is that the American population largely believes in the primitive portrayal of Kazakhstani people. This indicates that the American population does not know of the state of the rest of the world and will believe simply because they are told. The opening scene of Borat shows a poverty stricken city, Borat walks amongst the population with a monologue. This use of an individual walking through devastated area of the world is a common feature in international journalism. With Borats outlandish commentary on the town overlapped with footage it becomes clear to the audience that the content is fictional. However this comedy does not necessarily transfer to those who interact with Borat. The interaction both display a patients for other cultures as well as a volatile response when lines are