Laugh and the world laughs with you... not!

Since I can't think of anything better to write and my week could never be complete without being able to write a blog (my friends know for a fact that this much is true), I'm going to scribble down my thoughts on Borat. Here we go.

My friends and I watched Borat a couple of days ago. You may know him because of the ridiculous and annoying things he did to people during his partially scripted interviews from all over the US. He's supposedly a TV reporter from Kazakhstan who was sent to the US to make a documentary which would contribute to the glorious nation of his country.

Personally, I was looking forward to watching something funnier (in my opinion, that is) like Happy Feet or a movie that's action-packed like Casino Royale but being the open-minded person that I am, I decided to give Borat a try. It's not that often I go with my friends from fling.com. Look, the movie is not that bad but there were some scenes that I didn't approve of.

Like this scene where Borat sings his mock-up version of the Kazakhstan national anthem to the tune of the American national anthem. Now, there are things that you could make fun of but you NEVER disrespect any national anthem. There was also this scene where he crashed into several leftover artifacts from the Civil War or something. I know these scenes were somewhat scripted but still... to me they were just tasteless. Not to mention the fact that he's trying to represent the people of Kazakhstan. We all know that the character he's portraying is fake, but in Borat's quest to make people laugh, he had made fun of a whole country along the way. And I quote the humor coach he interviewed in this film when he said “...in this country, we do not make fun out of the things we couldn't choose.” - I believe poverty would fall under that category right?

I did laugh on several occasions. Like I said earlier, it's not all bad. I loved the part where he was bothering some weatherman while he was doing his report. I guess some scenes were meant to be irritatingly funny while others were just plain irritating.

Why bring up such a topic? I don't really mind watching this kind of film. In fact I had a great time just because I was watching it with my friends. It's just that one of my friends is trying to convince me earlier that the film is funny and that the reason why I didn't find it as such is because I take things too seriously. I opposed her argument and told her that there are things that I find offensive and just doesn't tickle my fancy. It's not my fault that I feel that way and I never said anything about the film not being good. Most of us just have different take on things.

It's also not a matter of being serious because I'm not. I love MTV's Jackass, Viva la Bam and Wild Boys. They do some pretty dumb stuff but who's complaining? I adore Steve-O for some reason and I don't get offended by the things that he do. It's partially due to the fact that he's being himself. It seems like he'd do stupid stuff like sniff wasabi then puke everywhere son or off the screen - and in that sense, I find him funny.

Humor is just as complicated as the issue on love and it's true definition. The things I find hilarious may be taboo on your part. There are people that find humor in irony while some find irony as God's way of playing with their minds thus making the situation they're in “un-laughable”. It all boils down to how we were raised up, I guess.

Tragedy + timing = comedy. Someone told me before that this is the formula to make everyone laugh. We could draw something fun out of a tragedy mixed in with an awkward timing. That definition would seem so universal, so vague. But come to think of it, that does seem to make a lot of sense. Remember that dream you had when you were standing in front of the class with nothing on? That was kind of funny, well not so funny on your part but still... You're standing naked (tragedy) in front of the class (timing). The concept of comedy appears to be logical enough to be understood by everyone.

But at some point we'd all be subject to taste and ethics. I'm not saying that I'm way more ethical than my friend (I know for a fact that she's way better than me, lol!). It's just that there are things that I'd never laugh at because of the way I was brought up and I'm sure there are some things that she'd find offensive if I do as much as think about laughing over whatever. It's a matter of perception – and I stand by what I decide to laugh about. Lol!