Ali G

Development of the character

The character of Ali G is a stereotype of a white suburban male from Staines who imitates rap culture as well as urban British and Jamaican culture, particularly through hip hop, reggae, drum and bass and jungle music. Ali G was part of a group called Berkshire Massive, and he ran and grew up in an area of Slough called Langley (both actual locations in the UK). He also lived part of his life in Staines. Baron Cohen has stated that BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood was an influence on the development of the Ali G character – Westwood hosts Radio 1's Rap Show and speaks in a faux Multicultural London English and Hip-Hop dialect. Ali G's middle class credentials mirror Westwood's: the latter was brought up in Lowestoft, Suffolk as a bishop's son.^[2]
Prior to Ali G's appearance on The Eleven O'Clock Show, Baron Cohen had portrayed a similar character named MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume on a show he presented called F2F, which ran on a satellite channel called Talk TV (owned by Granada Television). While chatting to a group of skateboarders, in character, Baron Cohen realised that people could be led to believe the character was real, and filmed a number of segments which were ordered off air by London Weekend Television.^[2]

 

History and appearances

Ali G, a boorish, uneducated, faux-streetwise poseur with a deeply stereotypical view of the world, first came to prominence on Channel 4's The Eleven O'Clock Show as the "voice of da yoof" in 1998.^[3] He interviewed various public figures in the United Kingdom, always either embarrassing his interviewee by displaying a mixture of uninformed political incorrectness, or getting the interview 'victim' to agree to some breathtaking inaccuracy or insult. His key saying is "booyakasha".
Other examples of his bold interviewing style include getting Lindsay Urwin, the Bishop of Horsham, to admit that God created the Universe, and then asked him, "And since then, [God]'s just chilled?" Ali G asked the Bishop about God's appearance, to which the Bishop replied, "Well, he's sort of Jesus-shaped." During an interview with James Ferman (former director of the British Board of Film Classification), Ali G asks whether his made-up vulgarities would restrict a film to an over-18 audience, and suggests that film censorship be performed by younger persons who understand contemporary slang. In a interview with the Chairman of the Arts Council of England Gerry Robinson Ali G first question was: "Why is it that everything you fund is so crap?"
Ali G was in a series of ads for the 2005–06 NBA season, in which he used his brand of off-kilter journalism to interview various NBA stars. The spots were directed by Spike Lee.
Ali G was also featured in the music video "Music" by Madonna as her limo driver.

 

 

 

Background

Ali G is a fictional gang member of the "West Staines Massiv", who currently lives with his grandmother in a semi-detached house at 36 Cherry Blossom Close, in the heart of the "Staines Ghetto". He was educated at what he calls "da Matthew Arnold Skool"; the Matthew Arnold School is a real secondary school. He also has a short stint at Vanguard College Preparatory School. As a youngster Ali never had any luck with the ladies and once started crying at the start of sex.
Ali G grew up in Slough but now lives in Staines and has left Berkshire Massive to join west staines massive where he currently owns the group and have a rivalry over east side massive.
Staines, a working-class commuter town to the west of London, is far different from the inner city ghetto that Ali G claims. In the same comic vein, he also makes reference to other similar working-class towns in the area, such as Egham, Langley and Englefield Green. Despite the incongruous nature of his home town, he purports to exemplify inner city culture. Ali's "real" name is later revealed to be Alistair Leslie Graham (revealed in the eponymous film).
Ali G speaks a comical patois in keeping with his delusions of being black of Jamaican ancestry and peppered with such catchphrases as "Aight" (alright), "Booyakasha", "Big up Yaself", "Wagwaan", "West Side", "Batty Boy" "Respek" (respect), "For Real", "Poonani", "Check It" and "Keep It Real". His trademark hand gesture closely resembles the "dip snap".

 

 

Family

Ali was born on a Council Estate to mother Tina. He has an older sister and an older brother. He has a younger sister and other younger siblings. When Ali was fifteen he went to live with his grandmother when his mother had another baby and there was no room for him and his older brother and sister, who went to live with their father. Ali's baby brother is called Rory.

 

 

 

 

 Criticisms of the character

Although Baron Cohen has repeatedly stated that the Ali G character is a parody of suburban, privileged youth 'acting black', numerous commentators have opined that the force of the humour is derived from stereotypes of blacks, not poser whites. According to this view of the character, the suburban background written into Ali G's character serves as an alibi.
Ali G also seems to revel in dumbing down; although he has had a middle-class upbringing and his parents are presumably hard working, he is anti-school. His life appears only to revolve around acquiring material wealth, taking drugs, gaining respect on the streets through violence and sleeping with lots of attractive women. Many black and white commentators feel that what Ali G reflects is where Black British – and to some extent American youth – has gone wrong and that there is something wrong with a Cambridge graduate making fun of the whole issue.

Felix Dexter, of The Real McCoy comedy series, said in The Guardian that he appreciated the humour of an innocent confronting an expert with neither understanding the other. But, he added: 'I feel that a lot of the humour is laughing at black street culture and it is being celebrated because it allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at that culture in a safe context where they can retain their sense of political correctness.