For
this blog I chose to re-watch a movie and have not seen in many years, Borat. I
think this movie is a great example of how intercultural communication did not
happened, and created many bad experiences for the travelers. Even though Borat
is made to be a comedy, many of the problems or scenes that happened are things
that could definitely happen when people are struggling in a new culture. Borat
stars Sacha Baron Cohen and Ken Davitian and came out in 2006.
Borat is a movie about a journalist from Kazakhstan, Borat Sagdiyev, and his journey to America.
Borat and his friend are sent to the United State by the government in
Kazakhstan to be submersed in American culture. The goal of their trip was to
make a documentary about their journey so that the people of Kazakhstan could
learn more on the American culture and way of life. They started the
documentary in New York, when they faced troubles transitioning to the way of
life the minute they stepped of the plane. While in New York Borat watches Bay
Watch for the first time and “falls in love with” Pamela Anderson. Borat
decides they need to travel across country to find Pamela. Along the way they
face many struggles that us as Americans would find easy. They do not know the
etiquette, way of life, or language of the American culture.
When relating to chapter eight I saw
the two concepts that stood out most to me was sojourners and explanatory
uncertainty. Sojourners are people who move into new cultural context for a
limited period of time and for a specific purpose. (Martin, 320) Explanatory
uncertainty is defined as the process of cultural adaptation, uncertainty that
stems from the inability to explain why people behave as they do. (Martin, 332)
It is important to know the migrant because it is easier to explain or
understand their experience in a different cultural context. For example a
sojourner will have a different migrant-host relationship because they are only
in the culture for a short time compared to immigrant who will most likely
assimilate because they are there permanently. We will see many example of
explanatory uncertainty in Borat because Borat does not understand why
Americans don’t behave as the people in his country did to him. Cultures have
different beliefs and customs which cause them to behave differently.
There are many concepts in the book that could be related to this movie.
The main focus of this movie is for the people of
Kazakhstan to better understand the people and culture of the United States.
The people of Kazakhstan are able to go through explanatory uncertainty through
Borat’s documentation of his journey. “This C.J.
was like no Kazakh woman I have ever seen. She had golden hairs, teeth as white
as pearls, and the asshole of a seven-year-old. For the first time in my lifes,
I was in love.” This quote shows the differences in culture when it comes to
women. In Kazakhstan women look nothing like Pamela Anderson, C.J., and it
strikes Borat because it is something so new to him. He does more than want to
try and understand how women could look like this, so different from what he
sees, he wants to meet her. From what she wears, the red swimsuit, to the way
she acts Borat doesn’t understand how every man isn’t in love with her.
While at the store Borat does his
best to understand our food by asking questions. He questioned the clerk many
times and wondered why if it was cheese they were selling why the word cracker
was on the package. He had a hard time understanding, but this was a good
example of where Borat was trying to learn our culture in an appropriate way,
asking questions. The last example I have that shows explanatory uncertainty in
Borat is when they are driving in a taxi in New York City. Borat was surprised to
see a women driving in a car and asked the driver he could make “sexy time”
with her. When the driver denied him and informed him that women are able to
choose who they have sex with he was astonished. He did not understand why men
act the way they do in the United States, are not dominate over the women.
This movie may be an extreme example
of cultures clashing, but I think it does a good job of showing how dramatic
two cultures can be. To really understand another culture it is important to be
open to learning, not judge, and accept the culture group, which Borat was not
good at. Explanatory uncertainty is an important concept to understand and
consider before watching a cultural movie. When encountering a different
culture other than your own you will always be trying to understand why people
act or behave the way they do. Borat did a great job of showing this concept as
well as many others.
Here’s a glimpse of
Borat..
This was a great analysis of Borat, and you are right it is a really extreme example but still a good one because it shows just how hectic and over the top a culture can seem.
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