Is Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan woke?
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
Movie
Released: January 1, 2020
Wokeness Score
8/10
Strongly Ideological
Woke messaging is very prominent and often feels forced or shoehorned in. Characters and plot are primarily shaped to serve the ideology. Many viewers feel the agenda overshadows the entertainment.
Key Summary Points
- Targets Trump administration and Republicans via pranks exposing alleged bigotry and conspiracy beliefs.
- Centers father-daughter arc on feminist awakening and rejection of misogynistic traditions.
- Mocks COVID skeptics and promotes progressive views on pandemic response and voting.
Wokeness Analysis
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) heavily incorporates progressive messaging through its targeted satire of 2020 American politics, the COVID-19 pandemic, and right-wing figures. The plot frames Borat's mission as delivering a bribe to Vice President Mike Pence under President Trump, positioning the narrative around anti-Trump sentiment and conspiracy theories like QAnon. A central arc involves Borat's daughter Tutar challenging patriarchal norms, leading to themes of feminism and female empowerment that critique misogyny in conservative spaces. Scenes mock anti-maskers, promote science over skepticism (e.g., Fauci references), and depict racism and anti-Semitism as overt traits of Trump supporters and Republicans, while largely sparing left-leaning targets. Conservative critics describe it as a partisan campaign-style attack that uses pranks to embarrass right-wing individuals and ends with an explicit call to vote. The film's release timing weeks before the election and focus on 'woke' issues like #MeToo-inspired feminism and pandemic response make the ideological agenda prominent, often overshadowing pure comedy. While the mockumentary format retains crude humor, the story prioritizes social commentary on contemporary divisions, fitting heavily ideological criteria.
Plot
Fourteen years after the original, Borat Sagdiyev is released from a Kazakh gulag with a mission to deliver a monkey as a bribe to Vice President Mike Pence to curry favor with President Trump for Kazakhstan. His 15-year-old daughter Tutar stows away and becomes the intended gift instead. Father and daughter navigate American culture during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 election, encountering QAnon believers, a right-wing rally, a crisis pregnancy center, and figures like Rudy Giuliani. Through pranks and interactions, they confront issues of racism, sexism, and misinformation. The film culminates in Kazakhstan adopting 'feminist' changes and a satirical 'Running of the Americans' event mocking U.S. responses to the virus and science.