Artist gets revenge on Borat...

[Che Guava]

..and hits him where it hurts most

Artist gets even after Borat hoax

New York artist Linda Stein was among a group of feminists who were taken in by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's character.

Her part in the film inspired her to create a new series of artworks, including one featuring Borat.

In it, she has drawn a small penis on his thong. Ms Stein said: "I felt there should be some exposure on his part."

Ms Stein is known for her statues "knights", which represent female protection.

She has paired three sculptures with figures from the entertainment world - Borat, Marilyn Monroe and Wonder Woman - for a new exhibition.

The artist was interviewed by Borat in her studio after being told he was a third-world reporter making a film about women's rights.

But it was a spoof, and Borat started talking about women walking three steps behind men, pulling the plough and having smaller brains than men.

The film was a runaway box office success, winning Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for best comedy performance and earning an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.

Baron Cohen said his character was "a tool" to expose and challenge racism, homophobia and sexism.

"He may do better with homophobia and racism, but he just didn't do very well with sexism," Ms Stein tells the BBC News website.

In the film's aftermath, the artist received thousands of e-mails.

Most were from men criticising her attitude, with some saying: "What's the matter with you, don't you have any sense of humour about misogyny?"

"I have those words in an e-mail," Ms Stein says. "Borat's excessive woman-bashing is being taken the wrong way by the audience.

"He's getting too many guys to chuckle with him. He didn't show any of the parts that made him really look foolish."

Ms Stein drew the small penis on Borat's thong because, she says, "as he exposed people, he should be able to take what he gives".

The figures of protection were inspired by the 9/11 attacks
And she is anticipating another surge of angry e-mails in response.

"You'll miss the point that if he has the right to expose and say what he says about women, and say that it's in the name of exposing bigotry, then I could say the same thing," she says.

"The phallus on Borat is in the name of exploring what manhood is, and if a man thinks having a big phallus is manhood, the point is misplaced. That's not what it's about."

Borat is now featured in Ms Stein's work titled Anti-hero/Hero - with Borat the anti-hero - which will be shown in an exhibition, Eccentric Bodies, from Thursday.

The show takes place at Rutgers University, New Jersey - which was at the centre of controversy when radio host Don Imus called the university's female basketball team "nappy-headed hos".

The Borat interview and the Imus affair reminded Ms Stein of other battles for equality in her life, and spurred her on to tackle the subject in her art, she says.

"Though I find Sacha Baron Cohen a brilliant man, people must realise that a one-hour interview with him was actually very painful.

"Even though he was this bumbling idiot, the words and the tone and the look on his face weren't so different from what I had heard all my life.

"Though it was painful for me to be in the movie, I think something very good has come out of it for me because it's energised me to address sexism more than ever before."

As well as the Rutgers exhibition, which also features six other feminist artists, Ms Stein's knights have been chosen as the central sculpture commission for the $4m (£2m) Walk of the Heroines at Portland State University in Oregon.

"If Borat started a dialogue on feminism with his movie, I'm now continuing it and taking it a step further," Ms Stein says.

"I'm asking that some of those men who e-mailed me to realise that I wasn't in on the joke and that women are in a very vulnerable situation throughout the world."

link

I haven't actually seen the film, but was interested for those that had if you thought that Ms Stein is justified in her attitude and sculpture...

 

[Ofuh]

What a stupid . .. .. .. .. ..
I hate ********s.

 

[potatokiosk]

How exactly is she getting even...?

 

[Phlegmak]

Her use of a small penis is dumb. And I hate this notion of "exploring what X is" that artists sometimes say. God damn, that's stupid. Her notion of wanting revenge on him is fine though.

 

[azzaman333]

Err... why do I care what some pissed off artist thinks?

 

[Yoda Power]

Whether or not you agree with this woman, you have to admit that using video shots for commercial buisnes, of someone without asking them, and lying about your real intentions, is wrong.

 

[warpus]

Whether or not you agree with this woman, you have to admit that using video shots for commercial buisnes, of someone without asking them, and lying about your real intentions, is wrong.

It's comedy.

 

[Yoda Power]

It's comedy.

So you wouldn't mind if someone interviewed you for something you thought was serious, and then showed the material in a comedy film, making you look like a total idiot, and getting all the cash for what's basicly your work?

I'm not on a crusade against satire comedy, I just happen to believe that you should pay some respect to the people you abuse.

 

[Masquerouge]

I'm eagerly awaiting Cohen's response, to see if he is as willing to be mocked as he is to mock.

 

[aelf]

I'm eagerly awaiting Cohen's response, to see if he is as willing to be mocked as he is to mock.

Why would he care? If he was so thin-skinned he wouldn't be doing what he does. A lot of feminists are feminists because they are insecure. It's no surprise than she was offended. And now she wants revenge.

 

[Urederra]

Thanks Guava, that made my day!!!!

Precious.

And how Borat "acting" as a misoginist "expose and challenge racism, homophobia and sexism" other than his very own? Apparently it didn't work with this "artist" whose name I am not going to look up.

I never had any respect for that person.

 

[Kozmos]

Borat is my hero.

 

[nivi]

Is she like..13? HaHa you have a small penis! HaHa!

 

[amadeus]

Let's examine this objectively.

People who saw "Borat"          People who will see this

     50,000,000                             3

 

[aelf]

And how Borat "acting" as a misoginist "expose and challenge racism, homophobia and sexism" other than his very own? Apparently it didn't work with this "artist" whose name I am not going to look up.

I never had any respect for that person.

It's called poking fun at yourself and your society for the faults that exist. It's in the tradition of Greek comedy, so it's not exactly without credentials, is it?

 

[Nylan]

Lame way to get back at him. No, he shouldn't have mislead her, but that's no reason to make fun of his anatomy, especially for a "civilized feminist"

 

[Masquerouge]

Lame way to get back at him. No, he shouldn't have mislead her, but that's no reason to make fun of his anatomy, especially for a "civilized feminist"

I believe it is. He made her look like a fool, she certainly has the right to make fun of him too.

 

[azzaman333]

I believe it is. He made her look like a fool, she certainly has the right to make fun of him too.

She does have that right, but all she is doing is making a fool of herself...

 

[Nylan]

Precisely. For all her talk of being decent and standing up for people, building them up, she sure is doing a lot of tearing down.

 

[Shadylookin]

who cares all my girlfriends tell me that its ok cause size doesn't matter

seriously though her plan of revenge seems so middle-schoolish it's ridiculous. Zomg someone made me mad so he must have a small penis.