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New Taboo Issue Available On-Line
TABOO
The Journal of Culture and Education
TABOO
The Journal of Culture and Education
It’s been several years since Taboo has published a special issue. It is with pleasure that we bring you this issue on the character, the movie, and the messages of Borat. The Ali G Show was always a favorite of mine, and I was unhappy when I missed Borat at the theatre. A friend showed me how to stream movies, and one evening after class I sat at my desk and watched the show. I knew the film would extend the Borat character from Ali G, to that point I had always found the Kazakhstan journalist mildly amusing. The film had rave reviews and I expected a funny movie—it took about fifteen minutes for me to clue in to the fact that Borat was not just another comedy. I had to start the film over a couple of times just to make sure I was correct in assuming that this film was something. My read of the film took me far from the hilarious romp promised by critics and audiences. This something smacked of classism, racism, sexism, homophobia, and was insidious in its production. The decontextualized clips played on TV had not revealed the film in any way which would have prepared me for my reaction to Borat. After my desk film session that evening I knew I had to talk to everyone I knew who had seen it and query the film, and its auteur. We all had differing opinions, but were agreed in the notion that indeed, Sasha Cohen did nothing by chance, mistake, or accident. Cohen’s Borat had multiple agendas. After placing a call for articles, reviewers for Taboo selected the following essays. Each author leaves a distinct narrative and research imprint and I invite you to enjoy this issue, and possibly disagree...I know you won’t be bored.
-Shirley R. Steinberg,
Senior and Founding Editor
TABOO
CLICK HERE to download the issue.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Taboo2007BoratIssue.pdf | 1.5 MB |
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Be sure to read this!
A little self-promotion:I've co-authored an article in this issue. Feedback welcome!
David J. Smith Webmaster The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy
Borat: Thanks so much (name removed)
(name removed),As you know, I'm overwhelmed by how much support you give to this Project, and thanks so much for your lengthy consideration of this issue of Taboo.For my part, I'm still quite ambivalent about Borat; I think that Cohen is one of the more brilliant comedic actors of our time, and I love this sort of blurring of art and reality which Andy Kaufman perfected. However, I've witnessed first-hand some very offensive reactions (to my mind) to Borat, and it does seem that it's the sort of movie that Sarah Palin might enjoy as much as I did, albeit for entirely different reasons.I'll spend some time reading the other articles in this Issue before saying more though. To its credit, Borat is the sort of movie about which a whole issue of a critical journal can be penned.Thanks again, (name removed)!DavidDavid J. Smith Webmaster The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy