How Real Is 'Brüno'?

I've lived in the Fort Smith area for most of my life, and I am gay. Word about Cohen's act had spread pretty fast the night of the incident - I was at a liquor store and the clerk there told me that people had come in talking about what had happened downtown. I finally got the chance to watch this movie the other night.

Cohen stated in the film's commentary that people told him to go to Arkansas if he wanted some tried and true homophobia. Homophobia runs on a sort of spectrum. Some people are mildly homophobic, and some people tie gays to fences and beat them to death. I believe Cohen wanted to show the most extreme example of homophobia he could get legally, and he did what he needed to do in order to achieve that goal. The reactions of some of these people (and from the commentary I'm pretty sure no scenes from Texarkana were edited in with the Fort Smith footage) are downright scary. Yes, a lot of them were heavily inebriated, but I really doubt they would have reacted with any less passion had they not been drinking. An idiotic, intolerant redneck is an idiotic, intolerant redneck, drunk or not.

However, I can say I have not personally ever encountered the passionately deranged reactions pictured in the movie. I used to go to the gay bar downtown, and that's the only place I've ever encountered homophobia in Fort Smith. I'd sit outside in the parking lot on some nights, and as the bar is situated at the end of Fort Smith's largest strip of bars, a few drunk, redneck morons would drive by and shout out delightfully original declarations.

That's as close as I've ever been to homophobia here. I don't speak for all gays. I know there are intolerant dolts around here, and I'm sure there are violently intolerant dolts, but they're certainly not the majority. Fort Smith wasn't exclusively named in the film, so it's not like the town is objectively singled out or misrepresented. They named the state, but even in the commentary "Fort Smith" was not said (although Texarkana was named). The idea's that this could be anywhere, particularly in the south.

At the end of the day, even though this movie tried to show just how ridiculous some people are with their discomfort and/or hatred of gays, it's just a comedy film. I'm not one to attempt to flaunt my orientation, I don't go to gay pride rallies, I don't really have gay friends, but I do know that I'm gay, and divisive as this movie was among gays, I can say that I laughed my ass off, which was why I wanted to watch it in the first place.

I've lived in the Fort Smith area for most of my life, and I am gay. Word about Cohen's act had spread pretty fast the night of the incident - I was at a liquor store and the clerk there told me that people had come in talking about what had happened downtown. I finally got the chance to watch this movie the other night.

Cohen stated in the film's commentary that people told him to go to Arkansas if he wanted some tried and true homophobia. Homophobia runs on a sort of spectrum. Some people are mildly homophobic, and some people tie gays to fences and beat them to death. I believe Cohen wanted to show the most extreme example of homophobia he could get legally, and he did what he needed to do in order to achieve that goal. The reactions of some of these people (and from the commentary I'm pretty sure no scenes from Texarkana were edited in with the Fort Smith footage) are downright scary. Yes, a lot of them were heavily inebriated, but I really doubt they would have reacted with any less passion had they not been drinking. An idiotic, intolerant redneck is an idiotic, intolerant redneck, drunk or not.

However, I can say I have not personally ever encountered the passionately deranged reactions pictured in the movie. I used to go to the gay bar downtown, and that's the only place I've ever encountered homophobia in Fort Smith. I'd sit outside in the parking lot on some nights, and as the bar is situated at the end of Fort Smith's largest strip of bars, a few drunk, redneck morons would drive by and shout out delightfully original declarations.

That's as close as I've ever been to homophobia here. I don't speak for all gays. I know there are intolerant dolts around here, and I'm sure there are violently intolerant dolts, but they're certainly not the majority. Fort Smith wasn't exclusively named in the film, so it's not like the town is objectively singled out or misrepresented. They named the state, but even in the commentary "Fort Smith" was not said (although Texarkana was named). The idea's that this could be anywhere, particularly in the south.

At the end of the day, even though this movie tried to show just how ridiculous some people are with their discomfort and/or hatred of gays, it's just a comedy film. I'm not one to attempt to flaunt my orientation, I don't go to gay pride rallies, I don't really have gay friends, but I do know that I'm gay, and divisive as this movie was among gays, I can say that I laughed my ass off, which was why I wanted to watch it in the first place.

...I think the stereotype of person that goes to events advertised as 'HOT CHICKS, COLD BEER, HARDCORE FIGHTS' IS a homophobic and just the perfect moron for the scene. This article tries to make up for the people there while they, drunk or not, just showed themselves whom they really are: homophobic rednecks

This is just like blackface or Gayface. A straight guy playing a gay man with every conceivable stereotype for a laugh. Nothing new there. Someday thats exactly what this will be seen as.

The "old south" is not the only hotbed of bigotry and hatred it is everywhere...that Cohen chose a southern location is bigotry in of itself..bigotry to people who live in the south, his methods paint all southerners as racist bigots. Homophobia is not just a southern thing..it is a human thing every where on this planet. What amazes me that people out in La-la land (Hollywood), and up North (New York and the New England states) think they are immune to bigotry..they have people who are just as bigoted, prejudiced, discriminatory and hypcritical as any one else from any where else. So Please refrain from assuming the "old south" has a monopoly on bigotry!!!

I was born at Sparks Hospital. I graduated from Southside High School, home of the Rebels - aka bigots. I was just as bad as the others. I ridiculed gays, belittled women, and told racist jokes. Thank God that I moved out of the "old south." I still regret my actions. Yes, the scene is exaggerated, but the underlying truth is still there. There are educated, thoughtful, caring people in Fort Smith, but they are the minority, and they sure as hell don't attend dollar beer night at the cage matches.

sigh - I guess I can't disagree with Against-Ignorance either. My problem is that I really don't like how anyone in this situation acted. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, and here comes that doof hellboy.

Would this scenario with the 'Blue Collar Brawl' be thrown out of any court as a clear case of entrapment? Certainly. Does that remove its validity as proof of this town's rampant homophobia? Certainly not. Nobody forced anyone to wear those disgusting shirts. Nobody forced anyone to get ridiculously drunk in a public place. And I'm sorry, once you start threatening violence and getting this mean; alcohol stops being an excuse. Grown men are supposed to have a certain level of control over themselves; even while drinking. That's just a basic part of being a grownup. These homophobes no more get a pass for their behavior than Mel Gibson gets a pass for the drunken road side revelation that, yes, he is as anti-Semitic as many thought. The truth hidden in the mind of a sober man will be revealed on the lips of a drunk man.

Sarah I'm afraid you missed something major in your article. You should know the top people in a city are informed as to what the show really is. Having done research you would have noticed it's a brand new multi-million dollar civic auditorium here in Ft Smith which leads directly into why would you let thousands at a tough-guy contest throw beer all over the place? Why would you subject your police force thru all this knowing full well what's going to happen? One correct answer is..you are gay. Gotcha didn't he? Scratch Romania, scratch Ft Smith..who out there is next?

To conservative dad, I have to say that I respect that you have a level of tolerance for gays that seems to be within your moral boundaries, rather than setting up a double standard. We might disagree ultimately, but you seem to have a decent sense of fairness that I can respond to.

I would suggest that the broader problem is in general with a culture that has been thriving on shows and productions that are designed to show the worst sides of our nature. Mind you, I'm not defending intolerance of anyone for anyone else, I'm simply stating that the sort of baiting that Cohen or any number of reality shows engage in is wrong, and is not by any means the product of a higher moral position. For the record, I'm gay and I don't think I'd like "Bruno" either - he's just plain obnoxious. But more obnoxious is the abusive point and laugh attitude that the film takes. People aren't perfect, and it is really not that difficult to find a flaw. That Cohen found a flaw or provoked a reaction and then put those people up for national ridicule is every bit as low as the folks who would publicly ridicule gay people in their communities. Many of Cohen's victims could just as well be members of my family, and I would not appreciate them being treated in such a way. There seems to be a raft full of folks on this comment page that I'd like to give a good shouting to, but this article was about "Bruno", and Cohen would have benefited greatly to have considered the admonition that he who has no sin may cast the first stone.

So a bunch of people get drunk (but its not their fault 'cos they were given cheap beer) and then go ape when someone provokes them. But its not their fault because they were drunk?

No amount of fire and brimstone talk or love the sinner/hate the sin convictions will convince any homosexual that what they're doing is unnatural, unbiblical, and a lifestyle choice. It will not be until judgement day that they finally realize the fruits of their labor!

sanborl: First of all, being gay is not a "choice" -- it's how someone is born, just like others are born straight (and if it were a choice it certainly wouldn't be a "poor" one). Second, you Conservatives are only "under attack" by those of us who are human beings. Why should you care if two men want to slow dance (or two women)? What harm does it do you, besides offending your narrow and judgmental viewpoint? Nobody's asking for your blessing, and nobody needs it. I'm a straight woman married to a straight man. We have plenty of gay friends. In fact, my best friend is gay and has been in a committed relationship with the man he loves for 7 years. They have the same right to express their love for each other in public that my husband and I do. If any couple, straight or gay, becomes rude in public then yes, step in and object. But if two people of the same sex are engaging in any public behavior that you would not find offensive in a straight couple it's none of your damn business.

Wait, I live in the Fort Smith area. First it is not a small Southern town, it is the second largest city in Arkansas. Second, if two men dance together in a non-gay bar almost anywhere in this country, unfortunately they can expect a bad reaction. Also, if you put together an event especially designed to attract the worst element in any city, odds are you will attract that element, and they will act as you plan. But saying an entire town is homophobic is short sighted. I could sit here and say, All New Yorkers are rude elitists, I actually met one once so I know that to be true. Everyone I know in San Francisco is gay, so I guess I can say everyone who lives there is gay. I met a couple of people from Texas and they were both drunk, so I can assume that everyone in Texas are alcoholic. I was born in Fort Smith, I am registered Democrat, support a Woman's right to choose, have an Obama 'O8 bumper sticker on my car and consider myself a liberal. I guess that means according to Ms. Ball, I don't exist.

As someone FROM Ft. Smith, no this honestly is not representative. Yes, there are plenty of hicks/rednecks/generally ignorant and stupid people around here but they aren't anywhere near the majority. If you target advertising to a set type of crowd, that is what you are going to get. Its unfair to typecast all of Ft. Smith (hardly a "small town" with over 100,000 people) as some backwoods den of homophobia. Most unfortunately it is the bible belt around here so yes progress has come slower. But on the same Main Street the bar is where the deplorable incident of the gay couple being booed out of likely took place is also now a gay bar, complete with a rainbow colored Budweiser sign at the front (Ok, it is hard to escape the southern influence entirely...).

As an Arkansan, it is tiring constantly being stereotyped as ignorant illiterate hicks with the intellectual depth of poorly crafted caricatures unworthy of even the slightest respect. I'm southern, and proud of it, but that doesn't mean I'm a zealous christian, in any way homophobic, a gun touting redneck, or even Republican for that matter. What I am is an atheist libertarian with socialist leanings (An odd mix, I know) who does happen to know how to handle firearms well but I don't believe that's a "God given right," a pacifist, and I've been an active war-protester for years. As for the Southern part of me however, what I am big on is respect given to any and everyone by default as a matter of common decency. These crowds being disrespectful to the the gay couple, that is terribly embarrassing for me. A crowd not so stupid as to fail to realize they'd been disrespected when a homosexual encounter begins in what was supposed to have been a demonstration of MMA fighting skills, I'm a little bit less but still slightly embarrassed at their being irate at a scene I probably would have just laughed my as* off to.

The simple truth is the Cohen team tried to instigate a set response, and they succeeded in getting it. The homosexual element was the obvious facet being used to illicit a negative response from them, so predictably the rowdiest members of a drunken crowd used that facet to hurl back insults. To them, they'd already been insulted by being lured there on false pretenses and I can guarantee you a good number weren't oblivious to fact that they were having a joke pulled at their expense. Of course they were mad. I just wish they'd either found a better way of expressing their indignation or better yet would've been quick enough to get a good laugh out of the joke instead of playing so completely into its trap.

That all being said, am I still going to go see Bruno? God yeah, lol.

@ conversative dad

There's a different between not finding anything funny about something and hurling slurs, epithets and committing acts of violence against them. You using the highly derisive slur "queer" for no reason other than to denigrate gay people. So what if they're flamboyant? What business is it to you? You repeated the word "queer" again and again, probably knowing fully well that it is a slur.

Are they forcing themselves onto you on the streets, harassing you, forcing you to talk to them? If I see someone preaching Christianity on the street, I don't walk up to them and confront them, I just walk away. It's not my thing but it shouldn't really matter to me because what they are doing is not hurting anyone.

So what if you've worked with gay people before? "I have gay friends". Whoppity do. You refuse to spend your free time with them, which is telling. Also, in the work place, there is sometimes talk about what people do in the bedroom, gay or straight. If you're against it period, fine. But it's not a big "gay" thing to bring it up. Some people do it, others do not, regardless of gender or sexuality. If you dislike it, just don't participate in the discussion. The fact that you had to bring it up further proves that you are a homophobe.

As for the movie, I'm pretty sure it doesn't try to portray Ft. Smith as EXTRA homophobic. It's merely showing that homophobia exists everywhere and uses Ft. Smith as the backdrop for one of its segments. You cannot deny that Ft. Smith doesn't have homophobes and rampant homophobia. Just look at the gay couple portrayed in this article (being booed off a dance floor (and apparently no one stood up to them)) and the fact that you yourself live there.

You believe that marriage is between a man a woman. Why? Because God said so? God also told you to stone your kids if they ever disrespect you, to treat your wife as a slave and that it's OK for male soldiers to abduct, rape and force-marry women when they're fighting in wars. Do you condone all that? No? Then what gives you the right to choose what in the Bible to follow blindly and what to dismiss as "Jesus told us that does not matter anymore"?

There is absolutely no logical reason for wanting to be against gay marriage. No, "God says so" is not a logical reason, it is a religious reason. And why should YOUR religion impose on EVERYONE ELSE?