Therapy Thursdays with Dr. Crankyboots: Why does Brüno threaten you?

Cats make great therapists, my cat always seems to know when I am upset.

Personally, I kind of like Sacha Baroon Cohen's shock comedy. Sure, it can be offensive, but the whole point of him taking on stereotypes is to make fun of our prejudices, not encourage them.

Um, what's with the implication that Eminem is a lesbian? I don't think that's funny, and it's kinda unnecessary. 

You too can be saved by the blog! www.savedbytheblog14.blogspot.com 

I may be straight, but I'm not narrow.

 i personally think he's annoying, but i've heard he is supposed to be that way to bring out certain reactions in people to....expose their....real feelings for....gay people. i think.

I can take a joke, but i've always been turned off by super, over the top people, whether in character or whether thats how they are in reality.

1. I'm soooo shockingly cutting edge for demonstrating how uncomfortable society is with effeminate gay men....let's laugh at the homophobes!

2. Look at me I'm prancing around in the gender version of a minstral show. Laugh at my crazy queeny shenanigans.

Pick one.  Wake me when it's funny.

Nous Sommes Tous Sauvages.

I haven't seen any summer movies yet, but I'm really considering for Bruno to be my first one. Borat was over the top hilarious. From the singing nation anthem at the rodeo to the infamous naked wrestling, it was madly entertaining. Also, considering what Sacha has done in the past, he's CLEARLY picked a side. He's NO homophobe (or at least no more then the internalized homophobic views we already hold, i.e. what Dr. Crankyboots said about effeminate gay men). I see this movie as a gay version of how the black community was parodied in the 90's hit "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood". Now white people could not have pulled that movie off because it would have come off as racist. So are we finding it homophobic b/c a real life gay man is not the title character? ...but wait we all found "Not Another Gay Movie" to be funny, and it was full of gay stereotypes and straight actors. *raises hands in the air* Oh the contradictions of society! 

Honestly, this movie probably won’t be winning any GLADD awards, but I find no problem laughing at ourselves, and BECAUSE it’s Sacha Baron Cohen, not say Larry the Cable Guy or something. Does this help the furthering of positive gay visibility, I don’t know, but that’s not the point. It’s for pure entertainment value in the long line of poking fun at the stereotypes of human qualities, and showing how absurd those stereotypes actually are, i.e. spies in the Austin Powers series, teenagers in the Scary Movie series and Not Another Teen movie, and models in Zoolander.  

Lastly and ultimately, I guess I'm trying to say that not only am I not offended, I'm looking forward to the movie, OBVIOUS stereotypes and all. And you can thank the effeminate gays and constant reinforcement of those stereotypes on our own community (i.e. Jack on Will and Grace and everyday effeminate men). My thing is, why not be proud of who we want to be and NOT conform! Goodness, life would be a lot more boring if all the effeminate gay men were straight-acting (as I am a HUGE fan of camp). And what's wrong with it anyway?! *I see internalized homophobia rearing its ugly head in the gay community again Dr. Crankyboots, watch out!*  

In the end, let's all have a good laugh. We could use one considering what’s been happening this year, but that's just my 2 cents.

Kitty

are you a relative of my Keifer Kitty? You must be.  You and he share the same attitude, coloring, and sense of humor.

Semi-seriously tho, I can't imagine anyone taking Mr.Cohen at face value. He is an above average comedian who is quite adapt at identifying peoples insecurities and magnafying them for the viewing pleasure of others. His characters take the worst steryotypes of our culture and distort them into something heartwarmingly hilarious.

People that actually whistle while they work deserve what they get.

It's the hyper-sexuality of the character.  He is a sexual predator.  Every staged scene for his film is supposed to expose bigotry, but with that stunt what he has done, had he been a straight man doing it with straight women, would have gotten him arrested.  It's been stated this movie and the acts are to make people's sexuality feel threatened for laughs , but it's gone beyond that.  What he's actually doing is one step up from full on sexual assault.  This feels like the behavior of someone who gets off on exposing themselves to people in public or rubbing against people on the subway/bus. 

Eminem's reaction, while over the top, is understandable.

 I love Dr Crankyboots!!

As for Bruno--- this is a tricky one.  He is funny and outrageous but also boorish and stupid. If maybe he were a more intelligent gay man or one who wasn't overly concerned with only gay things he would be easier to accept.

Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn't "special" to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship."

I've always believed Bruno's purpose was to be a homophobe's worse nightmare.

That's the point. Stereotype on Crack! A gay man who completely about sex, fashion and preening.  No redeeming social value, no intellect, no nothing.

He is what the Christian Right and other Fundies would lead everyone to believe all gay men are like.

He is like no gay man could ever actually be ( and live to tell about it) and that's the power of the character.

Bruno tales every stereotype that has ever been pushed upon gay men and says "You think gay men are oversexed?  Oh really?  I'LL SHOW YOU AN OVER SEXED GAY MAN"

He kind of like a one man version of The Colored Museum (great show, look it up) which deals in one show with every possible American stereotype about Black folks and shoves them in the audiences face (but with a wink and a nudge). 

With Bruno, there is no wink or nudge.  It's Just On!

I think the other power of a character like Bruno (and why he could never have been as effect of a character 10 years ago in the mainstream) is the fact that there are so many actual gay men (celebrities and regular folk) who are out and visible  and so many beloved gay male characters on tv who Do Not behave anything like Bruno such that it creates this stark contrast between what homophobes (and even some liberals) overtly and secretly think gay men are like and about and the reality.

"Bruno" as a political and social satire only works because you have folks like NPH and TR Knight, Cheyenne Jackson, Allan Ball, Luke McFarlane, etc. exist to put the lie to the stereotype.

As for Eminem, he was completely and totally in on the joke, he wasn't horrified or anything of the kind.  The prank was on the audience, not on Eminem.

He was the perfect choice for helping with the prank because while he is uber straight and hyper masculine and very "street", he also has a strong sense of the outrageous and he and his posse actually play with gender and masculinity and feminity a lot in their videos and such.

I get why Bruno is hard to take.  May gay folks still really fear that people won't be able to distinquish between the characature and actual gay people.

I'm not sure that is a fear grounded in the reality of the current social climate (political defeats  not withstanding).

The Prop 8 folks would just as quickly keep NPH or Ellen from marrying as they would someone like Bruno.  For homophobes, it's just about the "gay", not the expression thereof.

"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)

and enjoy this movie, but on the pre-screening hype, I don't think it's gonnna be possible.

People say gays need to learn to laugh at oursevles, and that would be fine if we lived in a world without this degree of discrimination and unequal rights, alas we don't.  My fear is that the Bruno caricature will be used to pour scorn on some gay kid on the playground.  If that happens to just one kid, then SBC has a lot to answer for.

Someone else mentioned that SBC works because we have all these positive gay Hollywood celebs like NPH, Ellen, George Takei, the Allan Balls of this world.  But some of these same people have been horrified at pre-screenings of Bruno.  One gay Hollywood figure is quoted as saying it makes you feel "icky" about gay sex, even if you participate in it.

How can that be "pro", the gay community?  Sure, make fun of stereotypes and homophobes, embarrass them in public and on screen,  but be clear this is what you're doing.

As for Dr Crankyboots, I'm sorry you seem to dislike gay men so much, one could ask, why are even here?  Black and white minstrel shows where the actors had their faces coloured black, may have been "funny" in the 60s, now they are considered racist.  Please don't insult everyone by pretending this is somehow different, in Bruno.

Please don't insult me by saying this is simply "making fun of our worst characteristics".  Please. Some gay kids are just naturally effeminate, they don't need your internalised homophobia thrust upon them. 

In the US at least, it is not possible to have intimate, natural gay love and expression on the screen.  Instead, we ARE allowed to have Bruno at every blockbuster portraying gay sex in terms of bondage, gerbils and faecal stains on sheets.  Enough said, really.  I hope gay Hollywood does force changes.