I saw the supposedly homophobic movie Bruno, but was not offended. GLAAD urged a gay boycott of the film. I passed it by only because I'm not crazy about the Borat guy. Eventually, a year or so after its release, I decided to watch it to see what all the fuss had been about. Yes, homophobia in all of its many permutations is on full display in the film. No, I did not think it offensive. I think the movie is actually a satire on homophobes, portraying their primitive conception of gays. Of course real gays are not like Bruno. That's obvious or should it be to anybody who isn't living in a cave. Bruno plays every homophobic chord there is, and at the end of it all, the audience is thinking, "So what?" It renders mundane and non-threatening, through repetition, what may have seemed, in an earlier time, threatening. I think it's good and watched the whole thing to the end. In fact, I think the GLAAD boycott was a clever marketing strategy to give the film street cred among the homophobes. I bet it worked in large measure to lure the other side into the audience.
But there's a more important question. Was it funny? No, I didn't laugh, but I did smile. I kept watching because I wanted to see what shocking thing would happen next. That kept me going through the entire length. The best phrase I can use to describe the film is homophobic camp. As such, it has a little something to please everybody. Viewers can read the message that they want to read into the movie, but only at the risk of getting it completely wrong. I think the movie makes its message clear at the end when Snoop Dogg says, "If you're gay, okay."
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