Bruno-Gay Archetype

Stereotypes become so due to their prevalence in society, and so they are a kind of archetype. Sasha Baron Cohen has utilized the stereotype of the flamboyantly gay archetype to great effect in Bruno, as can be clearly seen even from the trailers for the movie. Bruno takes humanities natural, seemingly ingrained homophobic fears of homosexuality and shoves it in all our faces. What Cohen and the producers of the movie seemingly failed to realize is that there is a corresponding fear and loathing on the part of the gay community that is every bit as visceral-the fear and loathing of societies fear and loathing, one that can produce self-esteem issues to the point of self-loathing.

As such, perhaps it is understandable that many gay activists groups such as GLAAD, and their supporters, and many others, don’t get the joke. It goes beyond that, though. There is some concern that Bruno might well cause a backlash towards the gay community, with a spokesman for GLAAD opining that he felt sorry for the many gay public school children who might now find themselves identified with the Cohen character to such an extent their peers tag them with the nickname Bruno.

Of course, before the advent of Bruno, you see, gay public school children never had to concern themselves with being assaulted, ridiculed, and humiliated, or hearing, “Hey faggot” shouted at them on their way to and from classes.

But, I digress.

Ironically, many of the funniest moments of the movie have little if anything to do with Bruno’s gay lifestyle. Much of it is more to do with the fact that Bruno is simply an ass. For example, in an interview segment featuring Paula Abdul, he convinces her to sit on the bare back of a groundskeeper, as there is no furniture in the newly acquired house/studio on which to sit. Abdul, though taken aback, obliges the ridiculous request, though she draws the line when Bruno offers her fresh sushi off the back of yet another of the workers. LaToya Jackson, who gives Bruno the cell phone number of brother Michael in a scene that was hurriedly cut from the film after Jackson’s death, also sits on the worker’s back and, amazingly, accepts the offer of sushi. (Note to self-I really, really, really want to meet LaToya Jackson).

The most amazing segment concerns a faux television interview show in which Bruno introduces his adopted African baby, an initiative of Bruno to mimic (and of Cohen to ridicule) the fad of celebrities adopting babies from poverty-stricken regions, seemingly as little more than accessories on the order of lap dogs while pretending to display their humanitarian concerns. He explains to the quickly outraged mainly African American audience that he has given the tyke, whom he acquired by trading an Ipod, the traditional African American name of OJ. The baby is with him, dressed in a shirt emblazoned with the word “Gayby”. Bruno assures the audience that if the child decides later in life to get a sex-change operation, he will support his decision one hundred percent. However, if the child turns out to be straight, he will disown him.

Much of the movie seems obviously staged, and revolves around Bruno’s decision to increase his potential for popularity and acceptance in America by trying to turn straight. In one such segment, a fundamentalist Christian minister promises to turn Bruno into a straight man. In another, Bruno enters a military boot camp. In yet another, he embarks on a camping trip with three Alabama good ol’ boys who insist that they have nothing in common with the girls from “Sex And The City”, contrary to Bruno’s observations around the campfire at night. Later, a stark naked Bruno accosts them inside their tent, to their utter horror and outrage.

We have to take such scenes with a grain of salt. After all, the camera crew could not have gone unnoticed. On the other hand, what reasons did Bruno give for their presence? It’s easy to assume such scenes were staged, but how were they staged? What did the victims really know, and when did they know it? Did they really think this was a gay Austrian fashion designer and recent immigrant to America who decided to try to “cure” his homosexuality and was filming a documentary of his quest-or were they actually in on the joke the entire time?

Bruno also accosted Ron Paul, who uttered a gay slur as he hurried away as quick as he could from the faux “interview” Bruno had pretended to seek with the elderly politician, after Bruno disrobed in front of him in an apparent attempt to seduce him.

The comedy of Sasha Baron Cohen is wholly dependent on such reactions from his victims, and that is what makes the character of Bruno as much an archetype as a stereotype. From the safety and security of the theater, we can appreciate the joke, and laugh at the visceral reactions of his victims, all the while knowing deep down we are laughing at ourselves, at our own fears and insecurities. It might even lead us to ponder them more thoughtfully, over time.

What are they based on? Is it possibly in part the fear of not being normal, or of our manhood and sexuality called into question, with all the humiliation that would imply? Is it possibly even an outgrowth of some ingrained, unconscious racial fear that we as individuals are not good enough to pass our heritage on to a succeeding generation? Might such individuals even be under some kind of divine curse? Is this perhaps what leads us as a society to despise homosexuals and the homosexual lifestyle?

It is perhaps because of our innate fears, whatever they are based on, that it is perhaps understandably not so funny to many gays.

Nevertheless, Sasha Baron Cohen does outrageous, in-your-face comedy of an evolved type of slapstick variety, albeit a slapstick with a very pointed end. He does not do “humor”. Had he made the film of a more sober, restrained type that concentrated on American’s reactions to, say for example, an outwardly gay man who merely wanted a normal degree of acceptance and respect, it would have been an entirely different type of movie. It might have been humorous, even funny in parts, but it would by its nature be a far more serious work, more poignant and even overtly depressing. One thing it would not be, could not be, is a comedy, at least and certainly not the kind designed to evoke sidesplitting, knee slapping, rolling in the aisles laughter.

That is precisely what kind of movie is Bruno. From the minute he comes to America after being fired from his Austrian talk show for wrecking a fashion show in Milan (he walked through the placed dressed in a Velcro suit and ended up making a shambles of the event), to the moment he arrived in America. Through all his subsequent misadventures, Bruno doesn’t just pronounce his openly gay lifestyle, he screams it. He doesn’t merely ask for or even demand acceptance. He arrogantly takes for granted that anything he wants is his for the asking-and the taking. When it starts to sink in that its not that easy, he is willing then to do whatever it takes to gain the fame and adoration he craves, even if that means changing his sexual orientation, which proves an impossible task. He is to what many believe to be the average straight American, a living nightmare of an in-your-face hedonistic and unapologetic gay man, and what such a creature might be if unrestrained by societal constraints-a creature without any core values, with no redeeming social qualities, a depraved individual beyond hope of redemption. He is to them a man who revels in his sickness and perversions.

The ending brings release, in the form of an Arkansas based professional wrestling event, at which Bruno attends and, in the ring, declares his heterosexuality to the cheers of the audience. Then, he is accosted by a plant in the audience, who happens to be his assistant throughout the entirety of the movie, a man with a starry-eyed crush on Bruno, yet whose attentions and affections have never been returned. Bruno challenges him to enter the ring, and when they do, the audience gets an eye full. Suffice it to say, the fur flies. So do a few folding chairs. Sasha Baron Cohen deserves credit if, for nothing else, unmitigated courage to the point of foolhardiness.

If you don’t mind the thought of Bruno swinging his dick like a lariat-or even if you do-among the many other outrageous antics, I strongly recommend the movie Bruno.

Rated ARRRRRGH