July 14, 2009
Of my homosexual friends and acquaintances, none of them behave like uber-gay Bruno. That said, I have met or seen the occasional homosexual man who does behave in the same over-the-top, ridiculous manner as Bruno, and they have annoyed me just as much as Cohen annoyed or offended his unwitting subjects. When I have mentioned this prejudice to friends or even made some off-color remark, some have accused me of being “homophobic.” Yet somehow, whenever I’ve made fun of some over-the-top, ridiculously macho straight man – some wannabe stud layered in gold chains, AXE body spray and possessing an inflated, yet fragile ego – somehow I’m never called “heterophobic.” In fact, my politically-correct friends are usually laughing with me.
Bruno is a raunchy but hilarious movie, and if viewed primarily by an audience that had never come into contact with real-life gay men and women, GLAAD might have a point. But after his first film, Borat, Cohen’s fans knew exactly what to expect from the guerilla-style comedian, and I seriously doubt social conservatives were flocking to see the R-rated, borderline X-rated, movie. Yet if you had to pick, while Cohen made fun of everyone from black Americans to the depravity of starry-eyed stage mothers, the worst stereotyping in Bruno was the film’s portrayal of working class Southerners.
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