Reality isn’t real.

Taking out the component of Brüno himself and the fact that he’s not actually gay, not actually a fashion reporter, and not actually Austrian.  The rest of the movie is basically a documentary with real people, right?  It’s very strange how the filmmakers expect certain story points to be taken as fictitious, and certain to be taken as cross your heart and hope to die truth without really stating which is which. It’s like Zoolander meets a Michael Moore film, she said with mild sarcasm…

America, **** YEAH!

Having worked in a lot of reality tv on both the production side and the post side, I can tell you it’s almost all a setup.  Producers poke and prod, suggest, and even subtly put words in people’s mouths until they get what they want.  The filmmakers have complete control over the situation.    Reality movies/tv have just as many takes and retakes and “Let’s try that once more, but angrier” as fictional movies.  That martial arts instructor in Brüno may have said “Homosexuals would probably come at you from behind” out of his own will, but I bet a producer set him up to answer that way. Cut the question asked a half hour ago with that answer you finally got, and blamo! Pure gold.  There’s an infinite amount of manipulation of sound bites and footage in post-production.  That’s what editing IS.  It’s because in the end, both fictional and reality Directors are just trying to make a product that will make them money and turn out well.   I’m not going to sit here and knock reality movies or tv, but I will say take the “reality” with a grain of salt.

But, maybe I’m just making all this up?  No one has really talked about this before. I didn’t work on Brüno, know anyone who did, or have some special insider information.  No one can talk about it because everyone involved has to sign a confidentiality agreement.  We had to use code-names for the first 3 weeks of Dancing With the Stars before anyone was officially announced to be on the show.  After all it’s no fun to have someone revealing the plot before the movie comes out.

Sacha Baron Cohen

But I’m not showing you what’s behind the curtain by any means.  None of this is new information.  We’ve all talked about how the guests on Jerry Springer are actors and how the cast of Survivor probably has a buffet at lunch because when they’re not shown eating rats and boars, they have to eat something.  So why am I writing this? Well because I wanna! And I’m tired of this and Borat being hailed as brilliant. Yeah sure, an obnoxious gay stereotype showed his dick in public in Alabama and the reaction was outrage.  I can’t believe it! Dang, stop giving this guy so much cred.

Mostly, I’d like to talk about it because Brüno’s sole purpose is to get a rise out of people and I find Art for Outrage to be ridiculous.  It’s just “how much can we get away with?” So. What purpose does that serve? The movie is not exactly pro gay rights either.  When has extreme stereotyping ever made anyone more tolerant? I can guarantee the three completely stoned fratties that sat across from me are going away from this movie with new material, not a new found respect.  If they didn’t know what gay people were like before, they sure think they know now.

Saying I don’t like the movie would be fuel for the fire and just what they want me to say and I’m not being paid by Sacha Baron Cohen for this publicity!  Just do like you would during a scary movie:  keep telling yourself “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real” and then you won’t have any nightmares.