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[Eleanor Antin: Politics & Paper Dolls]

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I thought that I was

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finished working with paper dolls

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and was on to other things--

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["Theater of the Absurd" (2016)]

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until those idiotic Republican debates,

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and that insane list of characters

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that could have been in some mad comedy.

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I have little Marco trying to be noticed.

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He's trying to go like this

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but he's half in the light.

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Trump is the narcissistic absurdity he is.

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Cruz, he's like a vampire.

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I wanted to put a little blood on his lips,

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but I didn't want to be too obvious.

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My work has always been political,

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has always been comic--

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and also sad.

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That was one of the advantages

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of being brought up by a Communist.

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Everything you read in the paper was a capitalist lie.

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--You want to look at these guys?

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You know, for someone like me,

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who is known for reinventing history

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in terms of the present--

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with the similarities and ambiguities--

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I realize, oh my God, this is like...

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I was prophesying!

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You know, the future!

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Hijacking a plane is one of the most

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horrifying things you can think of.

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Life is a mixture of the absurd,

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the comic, and the disastrous.

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At some point, this airplane hijacking happened

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and they had a movie of it,

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["The Nurse and the Hijackers" (1977)]

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and they had it on TV endlessly,

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this horrible movie.

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But, it was a fascinating story

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about Entebbe--

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it was a place in Africa.

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There were political problems

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and the rebels stole a plane.

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There was something fascinating

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about the horror of a hijacking of an airplane.

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There's me.

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There's Eleanor.

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--[ANTIN CHARACTER VOICE OVER] I don't know
if I can go through with this.

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--I'm so very scared!

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[ANTIN] In my film,

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the hijackers are eco-hijackers.

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They steal the plane

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so that they can go to OPEC nations

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and convince them not to sell oil to the West

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because it was destroying the planet.

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--[ANTIN CHARACTER VOICE OVER] So this planet

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--is in a state of crisis.

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--You know it is in this state

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--and we know it.

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[ANTIN] And then the Israelis come

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and they shoot the hijackers.

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And this one guy--by accident,

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in his entusiasm--

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gets killed.

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--[ANTIN MAKES SOUND EFFECTS OF MACHINE GUNS
FIRING]

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--[ANTIN CHARACTER VOICE OVER] Omer, hold
your fire!

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--Oh Temir, you fool.

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--Oh my God!

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--[ANTIN MAKES SOUND EFFECTS OF MACHINE GUNS
FIRING]

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[ANTIN] It's a long, complicated fifty-page script.

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--[ANTIN CHARACTER VOICE OVER] So what have
you got now,

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--night games,

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--and AstroTurf,

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--and, and...

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--television!

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--And where... is...

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--Ebbets Field... now?

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--Gone with the steeplechase, mother!

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--You know they've got apartment houses there now!

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[ANTIN] This is Judy Chicago.

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This is Jackson Mac Low,

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the poet.

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--If this wasn't stuck on,

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--he's naked underneath.

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--He looks so cute!

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Whenever a friend would come to visit me,

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I would make them model for me.

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I love looking at them

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and looking at them in the video.

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And some of them,

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they're my friends who are dead.

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This is Ree Morton,

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my friend who got killed in Chicago.

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She is my chief hijacker.

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This is Elizabeth Murray,

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with the glasses.

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I hate it,

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but the point is that death is built into life.

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And then people always say,

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"Yeah, but people have to die"

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"so that other people can come forth"

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"and have their life."

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And, you know, I mean,

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what kind of bullshit is that?

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--[ANTIN SINGS]

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[ANTIN] I mean, I'd like the people...

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everyone to be happy,

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but what do I care if this other person,

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a hundred years from now,

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gets born, you know?

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Like, I want to stay born!

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I want to stay alive!

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And I won't.

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Death is for everybody I know.

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Of course, it's also for the people I don't like,

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so that's maybe not so bad,

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but also the people I love!

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It certainly makes me enjoy my life.