This is kind of insane, no? I’m surprised there isn’t that much of a furor over this or The Dictator in general, which makes me think that Sascha Baron Cohen’s satire of a Gaddafi-like dictator is being mistaken for timely, on behalf of the Arab Spring and its trials/tribulations. Cohen’s use of stereotypical Arab affectations to make up his caricature of a Gaddafi-like dictator isn’t particularly subversive, though, given that its narrowcasting is primarily meant to amuse Americans and Israelis. At a time when both the American and Israeli governments are seriously contemplating pulling a Hot Shots: Part Deux on Iran, the only people who would mistake this for timely are Tucker Carlson and Avigdor Lieberman.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and its continued popularity are unfortunate and worrisome but the cheap shot ”Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Zionists” paired with a threat of “unimaginable consequences” as a response to the Oscars’ “sanctions” are both in line with “save Israel from trigger-happy anti-semitic lunatics” rhetoric that’s been floating around for a while now. The jokes aren’t even funny, they’re like Not Without My Daughter refashioned as a standup routine i.e. the dictator’s slept-on canon of “When Harry Kidnapped Sally, You’ve got Mailbomb, Planet of the Rapes.” Not that I’m denying Saddam’s rape rooms, but there’s a comfort level with audience expectations somewhat reminiscent of the climate in which “Arab Money” dropped. I’m almost convinced, after watching the trailer, that The Dictator was written as a back-to-the-drawing-board attempt at placating Armond White’s contention that Borat was treasonous in its “anti-American propaganda”, and this Oscars advertisement only exacerbates that.
Not that this is new for Cohen. While there were some defenses of Borat which suggested Cohen was using Arab stereotypes to bait and expose American xenophobia, they only half work since Cohen is as guilty of xenophobia as the Americans he’s baiting (minus brief liberal affectations regarding the War in Iraq). On one level, I kind of enjoyed the way that Cohen incorporated Hebrew into his gibberish version of Kazakh language because it vaguely intimated the arbitrary distinction between Arab and Israeli ethnic makeup (my Ashkenazi dad could’ve switched sides any time during his IDF stint and if he was struck mute no one would’ve noticed), but Kazakhs are not Arab and his decision to put their name on regressive Middle Eastern stereotypes isn’t really that kind of peace offering.
Everything following Borat has suggested a desire to placate AIPAC. Bruno’s interview with a “terrorist from the Al Aqsa Martyr’s brigade”—which he claimed, on Letterman, took a few months of preparation and assistance from a CIA contact—was actually a distorted interview with a non-profit worker from Bethlehem. The near riot Bruno causes with refashioned Yeshiva garb may be preferable to Bill Maher’s usage of Jews against Zionism as his slim sticking point with Judaism in Religulous (by the same director as Borat, Bruno and this), a movie that gives it hard to Muslims and Christians, but it doesn’t make up for that kind of unwarranted libel.
The trailer, which uses Jay-Z and Punjabi Mc’s “Beware of the Boys” completely misses that song’s anti-Iraq war message, given that it introduces the titular character after recutting Obama/Hillary press conference footage on Gaddafi that serves to justify the (here fictional) NATO mission without any qualms. What follows is a series of jokes based on superficial knowledge of what Arabs sound like when they talk (they apparently yell Yemenite Jewish food in times of danger (something unrelatedly delicious and sullied by association)) and other jokes about foreigners (i.e. the Kardashians being hairier than Megan Fox because obviously Armenians are hairier than Americans). Having spent a lot of time growing up with my Israeli family i’m only too familiar with that kind of humor and the policies it serves to support, and given the current climate it’s still dangerous. The only joke that works is a Marx Brothers-ish one that works in any context, where he fixes a track race by shooting his opponents until victory. For now, the jury’s out on what the movie is actually trying to accomplish, but given Cohen’s track record it doesn’t seem like it’ll be anything positive. Call me when he makes a similar movie about Bibi Netanyahu.
