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By: Tanishka D, 05/05/2026
Yagshamesh! While my name is not Borat, the enthusiastic reporter from kazakstan as seen in Sacha Baron Cohen's hit 2006 moviefilm of the same name, I am somebody who finds the character and what he represents very interesting. This article will go over the nuances of what makes Borat so compelling and entertaining through the lens of sociolinguistcs, representation theory and the rhetorical triangle as well as implications derived from creative choices by the people who were behind the camera.
Who is Borat?
Who is Borat?
Borat Margaret Sagdiyev or Borat is a fictional journalist from the very real central Asian nation of Kazakhstan and is played by Sacha baron cohen across his many media occurrences. The character was one of the featured players on “Da Ali G show” (2000-2004) before being the subject of two moviefilms.
What makes Borat so entertaining?
What makes Borat so entertaining?
One reason as to why the audience finds the antics of Borat hilarious is because the character relies on sharing his outrageous views about the world; views which come off as violations of socio- cultural norms. He uses vulgarity to highlight the workings of western societal habits, which may come off as peculiar to some. His background makes him naive to the workings of nations such as the USA; making it easy for people to counter his arguments and make him the butt of the joke. However, given the character’s aforementioned naivety, the people who Borat is making fun of will share their ways and trust with him, allowing them to agree with his otherwise socially unacceptable thoughts out loud.
Audiences may also find the characterization of Borat amusing as the media surrounding the character has him interacting with real people from all walks of life. The people who were interacting with Borat believed he was a real person and were thus more likely to trust him than if they were told that he was a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude. (IKYK)
Borat and the rhetorical triangle
Borat and the rhetorical triangle
The character is made compelling through the creators' use of the rhetorical triangle, which is a series of principles for effective persuasion devised by Aristotle. The three principles are as follows:
Ethos: credibility of the speaker
Pathos: emotional effect on audience
Logos: logic to back the argument made
In universe, The character is established as being a reporter for Kazakhstan, making documents of his first hand experiences valid as evidence to support the credibility of his antics. Furthermore, the character appeals to emotion because of his use of satirical humour which can either comfort or discomfort the audience. Lastly, Borat justifies actions that most of the western world may find unorthodox by stating the ways of his country; allowing the audience to reflect on how their ways are different from the character.
Talk that Talk
Talk that Talk
Believe it or not, the accent that Sacha Baron Cohen does to portray Borat is not Kazakh at all. The accent used by the character is a caricature of accents found in Eastern European nations.
Central Asian and Eastern European accents are both quite distinct, although they share some commonality due to Russian influence as most were part of the USSR. However, the real magic of Borat's voice lay not in the inaccuracy but rather how a majority of the western audience were oblivious to it. This allowed the creators to distance the charater form the audience, making his foregin-ness a source of humor. The writers also utilised stereotypes about central Asia and third world nations to construct the accent, further exemplifing the humorous nature of the character.
The linguistic smorgasbord
The linguistic smorgasbord
The language Borat speaks in the movie when he is not speaking english is a mish-mash of words from polish, hebrew and Romanian. In fact, his iconic catchphrase "jagshemash" is a common greeting in slavic languages such as polish. Borat is speaking Hebrew for most of the time when he is giving off the impression he is speaking kazakh. As a result, the character and film are massively popular in Israel despite the character's antisemetic remarks. The film contains many hebrew expressions which are only endemic to speakers of the language who are from Israel- shibboleths if you want to sound fancy-which increased the audiences emotional attachement with the character. One example of a shibboleth in the moviefilm is his hilarious reaction of "wawaweewa", an expression for wow which was popularised by an Israeli comedy skit.
Controversy surrounding the character
Controversy surrounding the character
Whilst Borat was a box office hit, there were people who found the very nature of the character's existence contoversial. People from kazakstan believed that the character did not represent their nation accurately. As a result, the film was banned in Kazakstan and their government was not very happy about it either, so much so that the embassy of Kazakhstan had to intervene. Furthermore, the charaters disdain for jews and Romani people left a sour taste in the mouths of many.
When looked at through the lens of the representation theory devised by Stuart Hall, It can be said that the need for a character such as Borat was born out of minimal or misrepresenation of central asia in the media. As a result, the creators of the character felt the need to fill this gap in representation; abeit with their narrow understanding of the region. Morever, the film was distributed by 20th century studios, allowing hegemonical and powerful western organizations dictate how Kazakhstan was portrayed in the moviefilm.
Conclusion
Conclusion
It can be siad that the character of Borat was not made with the people of kazakhstan in mind. The character was created as a representation of people who are other to the target audience of individuals who are oblivious to the world outside thier little bubble. The character of Borat does an effective job of exposing societal issues and allows for introspection and reflection on the values that shape modern western societies.
Thank you for making it this far. I hope you found this article very nice :)! If you have any suggestions for movies/ shows i should cover for future articles and videos, do fill out the google form on the suggestion box tab.
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