Brüno is everywhere, whether you like it or not

Judging from this photo spread and from other such mystifying foolery, I'm ready to conclude that the Bruno persona has much more to say about Sacha Baron Cohen's private demons than it does about being gay. 

I ask you, is anyone amused by this?

"The mountain has wings."

Yellow is the new Black.

 

Sorry could not resist! 

I think lately, my problem is the over promotion.....the movie may be one thing, because hey...it's a movie...but it bothers me that outside of the movie, he is still in character and still being over the top....i feel like maybe he should be who he really is and talk about the movie, why he did it, how he feels about gay rights, etc....

EH

... Madonna and other gay stereotypes that flood our gay ghettos.

Wake ME when she's gone. Yay Bruno! Just as offensive as Madonna but without the lip syncing and the lack of sense of humor. 

I am sick of seeing this clueless looking stereotype already.  Is it too early to call in a hit squad?  Every time I see a commercial or advertisement, I want to scream "We are not like that!"  Not all gays are sexual predators.  We are just like everyone else, trying to find our place in society.  This, this is disgusting. 

Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius. Regardless of whether the movie is an instant classic or a future forgotten cult oddity, this is still brilliant promotion. It's like the film coming to life. It's like eating breakfast with a Disney character at the DisneyLand Plaza Inn -- except, you know... much more in-your-face and possibly eye-bleeding-inducing than that. And since it's a mockumentary, the best possible thing to do is promote it as the character and create some sense of reality around the completely bizarre. Making people feel like Bruno really is a profane and obnoxious fashionista in current pop culture is the perfect primer for seeing the film.

I seriously respect that SBC commits so completely to a role and doesn't do what all the typical big name celebrities do to promote their disappointingly typical movies -- by which I mean tipping off the paparazzi about where they'll be every minute of the day and fabricating a timely scandal to remind people they exist and are interesting and occasionally fit some acting into their busy schedules of shopping and bed-hopping and more shopping.

I still think that Bruno actually has nothing to do with what Sacha Baron Cohen thinks about gay men. We have no reason to believe that he thinks gay men are anything like Bruno. Bruno is a character plain and simple.

Bruno is ABOUT the response of other people. It has nothing to do with trying to represent what gay men are actully like.

Bruno is the homophobe's fever dream nightmare of what gay men are like. He's like every awful gay joke rolled into one man.

Bruno is every stereotype one could ever think of plus 5 more no one would ever have the nerve to think of wrapped up in fabulous outfits and insane media savvy.

I know that many gay folks fear that straight folks won't be able to tell the difference between a caricature and real gay men but I think that's crazy.

Gay people are far too visible in real life, on television and in film for anyone to get away with actually thinking that gay men are anything like Bruno.

I mean really, do folks actually think any reasonable human being in 2009 thinks gay men act like Bruno?

Straight people who are genuinely not homophobes know the deal. They get what Bruno is meant to do. It's not even an issue.

But even liberal people who THINK they aren't homophobic will be challenged because while I love people like NPH and characters like Kevin from brothers and sisters, loads of gay men (and lesbians) are a lot more out the box then either of them.

When I see a character like Bruno, I say to myself okay, would allies be willing to fight for HIS right to marry, adopt, etc. (or even a much toned down, more realistic version of him). I think he's like the gay version of Russell Brand (a straight guy) if Russell Brand wasn't real.

Of course he is a total and complete exaggeration but I just think he's GENIUS! And no actual gay man playing this character could ever get away with what Sasha Baron Cohen does.

I won't even go into how incredible his costume designs are. Seriously. Somebody at some gay pride party some where needs to be wearing that union suit right now.

I remember reading a quote from Todd Stephens who did the Edge of 17 and Another Gay movies where he was so mad at being told that Edge of 17 and Gypsy 83 were "too gay" for mainstream audiences that he decided to make the most raunchy gay movies he possibly could to make a point. Even still, in both there is this totally sweet love story about a committed couple getting together and challenging their relationship but staying together).

If Porky's and Last American Virgin and the American Pie movies were't too much for the mainstream then "Another Gay" films shouldn't be either.

I think Bruno falls in that vein of pop culture/social critique though I know it won't be for everyone.

"That's our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment." (Bayard Rustin) ** "Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common" (Dorothy Parker)

I'm having an Andy Kaufman moment here. I was impressed by the committment and the concept...but once you got that the discomfort was the joke...Meh.

Nous Sommes Tous Sauvages.

that probably most people in the world don't follow the blogs that document Bruno's every publicity stunt.

To us who have seen everything he has done recently, this is getting kind of boring. But it's quite likely that a lot of those people in Sydney had only vaguely heard about this movie before, don't you think?

I guess it's weird that I'm not gay and I'm really uncomfortable with this movie, when it seems quite a lot of gay people are okay with it, and even entertained by it. I'm just sort of naturally squeemish about socially awkward situations. Some of the situations in the movie, sounded freaking hilarious to me. A few of them sounded way out of line and inappropriate. If Bruno was meant to represent some group that I'm a part of, I would be completely outraged and seriously pissed off. As it is, I don't exactly think it's my place to be outraged. But it bothers me enough that when it comes out, I will have to avoid it and pretend it doesn't exist, in order to preserve my own piece of mind.

That said, I think the knitted body suits are no big deal. Those are actually quite cute. It's only the actual movie itself that bothers me.