Sacha Baron Cohen films—and the "Borat" character, in particular—are the ultimate form of postmodern thought policing. After all, the best kind of racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, and homophobia is that which the system controls.
The funny moments in Cohen's films are purchased on the cheap. They come when the audience is allowed to indulge in crude racism and sexism, usually coming from the mouth of Borat himself. Or, in the guise of "Brüno," when we're granted the right to laugh at an absurd queen.
Cohen can play to the gay stereotype with Brüno precisely because Cohen himself has the stamp of approval by the liberal system. We're thus allowed to laugh at the gay minstrel show precisely because the moral and political battle over homosexuality has already been decided.
There's a double move here, too. In many instances, Brüno is depicted as an Austrian crypto-Nazi. Thus, the system can subliminally infer that "fascism" arises due to hidden sexual perversion and "repression."
This brings us to the recent scene involving Rudy Giuliani. I won't cast judgement on Rudy, because the scene is heavily edited and the whole thing is obviously a setup.
Maybe Rudy was just tucking in his shirt... maybe he had images of an afternoon delight with a blonde bimbo dancing through his head. I wouldn't fault him if the latter were the case. He's a man, after all, and we can't expect moral perfection.
But the whole message of the scene is something quite perverse. Heterosexual behavior is pathologized: Rudy is depicted as a creepy monster. The voice of morality comes in the form of a transexual making anal-sex jokes.
Cohen, dressed as an out-of-control pervert, is puritanically scolding Rudy for, well, doing what red-blooded, healthy men have done since the Stone Age. That is truly perverse.
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