Ali G at Harvard; or How Sacha Baron Cohen Got Blessed by America’s Cultural Establishment

Oodles of print have been written about Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” And there’s perhaps not a great deal more to say about it, other than it’s remarkable how well the film has been received by America’s cultural establishment. Edgy, shock comedy that uses racial and gender stereotypes to subvert racial and gender stereotypes usually doesn’t go down so well with highbrow critics. But, in this case it did. The Washington Post called the film “a perfect combination of slapstick and satire, a Platonic ideal of high- and lowbrow that manages to appeal to our basest common denominators while brilliantly skewering racism, anti-Semitism, … [and] sexism.” (Platonic ideal? Borat?) Of the film, The New York Times said “The brilliance of ‘Borat’ is that its comedy is as pitiless as its social satire, and as brainy.” Then, we heard Terry Gross, of NPR’s Fresh Air, gush over the comic in her amusing interview with Baron Cohen. And lastly, the British comic has been nominated for an Oscar by Hollywood’s film elite.

If any further proof was needed that Baron Cohen has been embraced by the cultural vanguard, then let this video serve as final witness. In 2004, Harvard invited Baron Cohen to speak at “Class Day,” the big traditional event that takes place the day before commencement. And here you get him speaking to students and parents not as Baron Cohen, but as Ali G., all in a light-hearted way. (For more on this visit, see the article in the Harvard Gazette.)

 


by | Permalink | Comments (3) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (3)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • […] Ali G at Harvard; or How Sacha Baron Cohen Got Blessed by America’s Cultural Establishment […]

  • I don’t know how Ali G got his foot in the door to this event. You can almost feel the unease of some of the other people seated at the back that were putting a voice to this event. Even in the UK some of his stuff was a little like, “How did he do that!” I haven’t watched any of his recent stuff but one of my favourites has to be his parody of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ renamed as ‘Who wants to win an ounce?’ The ounce referring to drugs of course! Classic!!

  • Bob says:

    15 years later. Ali G is the man! His comedy is dead but his voice will never be.

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.