The Statue of Liberty in popular culture

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February 1979: Statue of Liberty apparently submerged, Lake Mendota (Madison, Wisc.)
February 1979: Statue of Liberty apparently submerged, Lake Mendota (Madison, Wisc.)
American WWI poster "Remember Your First Thrill of American Liberty".
American WWI poster "Remember Your First Thrill of American Liberty".
The Statue in New New York from the Doctor Who episode New Earth.
The Statue in New New York from the Doctor Who episode New Earth.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Statue of Liberty, and its location on Liberty Island, appear in scores of posters, pictures, motion pictures, and books.

  • In opening scenes of the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time for Playstation 2, the statue and its pedastal are shown 780 years in the future perched atop a domed building called 'The Art Museum of Statue'. A floating ring-shaped building (presumably an observation deck) encompasses her head. The surrounding skyscrapers suggest the statue has been moved far from Liberty Island (not that the museum was built on Liberty Island).
  • O. Henry's 1911 story "The Lady Higher Up" relates a fanciful dialog between the statue and the then-famous Statue of Diana at Madison Square Garden. In the story, Diana asks "Mrs. Liberty" why she speaks with what Diana terms a "City Hall brogue." Liberty answers: "If ye'd studied the history of art in its foreign complications ye'd not need to ask. If ye wasn't so light-headed and giddy ye'd know that I was made by a Dago and presented to the American people on behalf of the French Government for the purpose of welcomin' Irish immigrants into the Dutch city of New York."[1]
  • The artist Joseph Pennell created a poster 1918 for the fourth Liberty Loans campaign of 1918, during World War I, showing her headless and torchless while around her the New York area was in flames, under enemy attack by air and by sea. The poster is sometimes referred to on the Web as "That liberty shall not perish" since these are the first words that appear on it.[2][3][4]
  • In the final scene of Maggie-Now by Betty Smith, two characters scatter Maggie's late husband's ashes from the statue's torch.[citation needed]
  • The 1942 Alfred Hitchcock movie Saboteur features a climactic confrontation at the statue, ending in a fall from the torch.[5]
  • During the 1940s and 1950s, the iconography of science fiction in the United States was filled with images of ancient, decayed Statues of Liberty, set in the distant future. The covers of famous pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Astounding Science Fiction all featured Lady Liberty at one time, surrounded by ruins or by the sediments of the ages, as curious aliens or representatives of advanced or degenerate humans of the future gazed upon her remains. The February 1941 cover of Astounding showed a primitive man and woman approaching on a raft a Statue of Liberty surrounded by wild growth.
  • The final joke in the 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon Baseball Bugs depicted the Statue coming alive and admonishing a ballplayer who was disputing the umpire's call.
  • The Statue of Liberty has been used as a symbol of protest, as in the cover for the Dead Kennedys 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy.
  • Is the meeting place of Marvel Comics Spider-Man and the Human Torch.
  • In the Spiderman 2 (video game), Mysterio turns the Statue of Liberty into a giant Mysterio Statue, where Spider-Man must destroy the power core to change it back to normal and stop Mysterio's invasion.
  • In the first episode of Futurama, Fry is shot through a transportation tube that has replaced the Statue's torch.
  • In the ending of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, the statue appears decayed and half-buried in sand, serving as painful, undeniable proof to the film's protagonist, Taylor, that he has been on Earth the whole time. (This scene is parodied in the animated comedy Madagascar, the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs, the Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and in two episodes of The Simpsons—one where Homer is an astronaut [Deep Space Homer], and another where Troy McClure appears in a "Planet of the Apes" musical dates Marge's sister Selma to revive his career and quell the rumors about his sexual fetish with fish (A Fish Called Selma). It also appears in the beginning of the first Planet of the Apes sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
  • In 1978, at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jim Mallon and Leon Varjian of the "Pail and Shovel Party" won election by promising to give campus issues "the seriousness they deserve." In 1979 (and again in 1980), they created their own version of the Planet of the Apes scene by erecting replicas of the torch and the top of the head on the frozen surface of Lake Mendota, creating a fanciful suggestion that the entire statue was standing on the bottom of the lake.[6][7]
  • Beginning in the late 1970s, Miss Piggy has been featured in over a dozen different interpretations of the Statue of Liberty.
An old New York "Liberty" license plate.
An old New York "Liberty" license plate.
  • New York and New Jersey have featured the statue on license plates. The statue was on the regular New York plate from 1986 until 2003. A New Jersey specialty plate, celebrating Liberty State Park has been available for many years and is still available as of 2005.
  • Many libertarian organizations use images of the statue as their symbol.[8]
  • At the end of Men in Black II, Tommy Lee Jones' character utilizes the Statue's torch to erase the memory of an alien spacecraft from the minds of thousands of New Yorkers.
  • Much of the advertising for the film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) used an image of the Statue of Liberty nearly buried in snow and ice (much like the University of Wisconsin "Pail and Shovel Party" prank), after a storm surge and catastrophic climate change. In this image, the Statue of Liberty is facing the wrong way - West towards New Jersey, with the New York skyline to its right.
An Italian fascist poster from World War II uses the statue's representation of America to demonize the Allies. The text reads "here are the liberators"
An Italian fascist poster from World War II uses the statue's representation of America to demonize the Allies. The text reads "here are the liberators"
  • The first level of the 2000 computer game Deus Ex takes place on Liberty Island and inside the statue pedestal. The statue itself has been heavily damaged in a bombing that occurred several years before the events of the game. In the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War, the last level is again at the statue, which has been re-erected as a light sculpture.
  • The American Dad episode A Smith in the Hand has Stan carving The Statue of Liberty on a wooden plank to kill his urge to masturbate, only to pleasure himself to the picture.
Spoiler warning: The following section reveals a magic secret.
  • On April 8, 1983, CBS broadcast a program, the fifth of a series featuring illusionist David Copperfield, in which he made the statue apparently vanish. The effect took place at night. The program showed the statue from the point of view of an audience seated on a ground-level platform, viewing the statue through a proscenium arch. According to William Poundstone, the illusion involved closing curtains fitted in the arch; turning off the statue's floodlights; and slowly rotating the platform on which the audience was sitting. In a literal example of misdirection, the now dim, but not quite invisible, statue was no longer aligned with the arch. Thus, when the curtains were opened, the arch now framed darkness. Televised views from a helicopter showing the statue's "disappearance" were, according to Poundstone, views of a duplicate ring of lights, surrounding empty ground, which had been installed on Liberty Island for the illusion.[9] The Guinness World Records website judges this to be the "largest illusion ever staged."[10]
Spoilers end here.
in Judge Dredd comic, the Statue of Judgement is a mammoth statue of a Mega-City Judge, built in Mega-City One where New York City once was, next to the smaller Statue of Liberty. The difference in size illustrates the power of judges overcoming liberty.
in Judge Dredd comic, the Statue of Judgement is a mammoth statue of a Mega-City Judge, built in Mega-City One where New York City once was, next to the smaller Statue of Liberty. The difference in size illustrates the power of judges overcoming liberty.
  • The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League use the head of the Staute of Liberty as their logo on their third jersey.[11]
  • The New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association use the Statue of Liberty image in their team logo.[12]
  • The album cover of Supertramp's Breakfast in America shows a rendering of the downtown New York skyline made from egg cartons, coffee mugs, and other dining utensils. In the foreground a waitress with a name tag reading "Libby" holds a glass of orange juice on a saucer in her outstretched right hand, and a menu in her left, as she mimics the statue's pose.[citation needed]
  • In the disaster film, Deep Impact the statue is toppled and her severed head pushed into the streets of the city by the tidal wave of water created from the asteroid impact (Seen when the tidal wave hits Manhattan)[citation needed]
  • The statue assists the Ghostbusters to defeat the evil Vigo the Carpathian in the comedy, Ghostbusters II. The statue is shown to move like a human being would. An earlier scene in the film, however, showed the mood slime used to animate the statue could cause solid substances to animate (as a bathtub was shown to become flexible).[13]
  • A pre-release poster for the 1984 film Supergirl was a painting that showed the film's star flying by the Statue of Liberty, which was depicted holding up its torch with its left hand.
  • The statue is one of the first glimpses of the United States seen by Bronson Pinchot's Balki Bartokomous character in the opening credits of the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers.[citation needed]
  • The 1993 Spider-Man comic story arc Maximum Carnage featured Carnage and his allies torturing Venom in the torch. Though oddly, the torch interior is depicted as being rather large, able to hold several people with extra room. The related video game from Acclaim also featured a stage set in the observation level[citation needed].
  • The 1998 Nintendo 64 game Duke Nukem: Zero Hour features a level set in the statue.[citation needed]
  • The climax of the film X-Men took place within the pedestal, museum, inside the statue, and atop the torch of the statue.[citation needed]
  • The 2006 episode of Doctor Who, New Earth, features a planet 5 billion years in the future on which humans have settled following the end of the world. The Doctor and Rose visit the city of New New York, the fifteenth city of this name since the original. Incorporated into the city is the statue (It remains unrevealed if it is the original which has been rescued from Earth before its destruction, or if it is a copy. As New New York is the fifteenth city to hold the name then it is possible the statue is a copy.), dwarfed by the large skyscrapers.[citation needed]
This album cover illustrates the audio recording Live from New York (2004) by Bonerama.
This album cover illustrates the audio recording Live from New York (2004) by Bonerama.
  • Bart Simpson shouts to a boatload of immigrants "Hey, immigrants! Beat it! Country's full!" from the Statue in the Simpsons episode The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson. The official aboard the boat tells the group, "OK people, you heard the lady. Back into the hold. We'll try Canada." The immigrants moan and go back below the deck.[citation needed]
  • In the computer game Deus Ex Liberty Island is the home of the UNATCO headquarters, a fictional UN counter terrorism unit. The game takes place in a dystopian future in which French terrorists used explosives to blow the head off the statue. The game starts with a terrorist organization having taken over most of the island (except for UNATCO HQ) and the player has to reach the top of the statue.[citation needed]
  • Two video games in the turn-based Civilization franchise (Civilization II and Civilization IV) both have the Statue of Liberty as a World Wonder that one civilization in total during the game can achieve. In Civilization II, actual footage of immigrants coming to the United States in the mid 1900's, on a boat and seeing the Statue in the distance of New York Haror is used after the players civilization acquires the Statue of Liberty in the game.[citation needed]
  • In the music video to Franz Ferdinand's song, Eleanor Put Your Boots On, the titular character (an animated Eleanor Friedberger) runs up the Statue of Liberty.[citation needed]
  • In the Marvel comic Ultimates Volume 2, the Statue of Liberty is destroyed in the same manner as the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.[citation needed]
  • In the opening cutscene of Red Alert 2 the Statue is destroyed by invading Soviet fleet and it's ruins are used as symbol of America's downfall by Soviet propaganda. Oddly enough, the first mission of US campaign depicts the Statue being destroyed by a truck-mounted V3 missile instead.[citation needed]
  • In American Football, the "Statue of Liberty play" is an old trick play in which the quarterback holds the ball high over his head as if to throw a pass, and then does a stealthy handoff to a running back.
  • The first trailer for the upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto IV shows the Statue of Liberty from behind. However, because the game isn't set in New York, instead the fictional city named Liberty City, it presumably isn't the Statue of Liberty, and the front of her possibly looks different.

[edit] Motion pictures

This is a list of movies that the Statue of Liberty has appeared in. Most of the appearances are, like the monument, set in New York City.

Year Movie Appearance Image
1917 The Immigrant Charlie Chaplin admires the statue when his ship arrives at New York harbor.
1942 Saboteur Climactic confrontation fought on the torch.[14]
1968 Planet of the Apes
1968 Beneath the Planet of the Apes
1974 The Godfather: Part II The young, orphaned Vito Corleone, on a boat of Italians emigrating to America, sees the statue from behind a nearby boat. It is his first glimpse of America.
A grownup Vito returns to Corleone and celebrates with his family. He presents a souvenir replica of the statue to a Sicilian old woman who takes it as la Madonna americana[15].
1978 Superman: The Movie Superman and Lois Lane fly through the Metropolis skyline, close to the Statue of Liberty at one point.
1981 Escape From New York In the dystopian 1997 in which the film is set, Liberty Island is used as the headquarters for the police force encamped around Manhattan Island. Additionally, in posters advertising the film, the head of the demolished statue is depicted lying in the ruined streets of Manhattan, although the statue is intact in the film.
1981 The Man Who Saw Tomorrow Destroyed during a dramatization of one of Nostradamus' prophecies.
1982 The Soldier The Soldier and Susan walk around the base of the statue at the end of the film. The shot widens to include the statue and lower Manhattan; the end titles roll over the still shot.
1983 Superman III Evil Superman confronts the blonde antagonist on the crown of the statue, stating that he doesn't save people any more.
1985 Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
1985 National Lampoon's European Vacation Griswold family returning to U.S. sees the Statue of Liberty. Clark accidentally opens cockpit door while searching for a bathroom, bumps pilot, and causes plane to hit the statue's torch, damaging it.[citation needed]
1986 An American Tail Under construction but was seen finished in the end.
1987 Au revoir, les enfants The Statue of Liberty shot from The Immigrant plays as entertainment at a boys' boarding school in Vichy France.
1987 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Nuclear Man lifts the The Statue of Liberty from her pedestal and hurls her towards Metropolis. Superman catches and re-attaches her to her pedestal.
1988 Working Girl Cinematographer Blain Brown considers the opening shot "the best helicopter shot of all time." It starts with a tight closeup of the face of the Statue of Liberty, "circles around the head, peels off to a wide shot of New York Harbor, then gracefully moves in to a tight shot of the Staten Island ferry... One can only wonder how many takes were necessary to come around and catch the ferry in exactly the right spot to complete the move."[16]
1989 Ghostbusters II Brought to life to rally positive support from New Yorkers; important role in film, appearance lasts about six minutes.[17]
1995 Batman Forever It says Gotham in the crown. Its head is damaged by the helicopter.
1995 Judge Dredd The Statue of Liberty is at the entrance to Mega-City One. Later on, Dredd and Rico have their climatic confronation in the crown.
1996 Independence Day After the aliens leave New York City in ruins, there is a view of New Yorks devastated skyline. In the foreground, you can view the Statue of Liberty's head lying in the Hudson River in the right hand corner.
1997 Titanic When the rescue ship arrives at New York City.
1997 The Fifth Element The statue can be briefly spotted as the spacecraft takes off over New York Harbor. The oceans have receded drastically so that the pedestal under the Statue of Liberty, roughly five times as tall as it currently is, is now connected directly to the mainland.
1997 Jungle 2 Jungle A young boy raised in South America climbs the statue, sits on the crown, and is disappointed to find that the torch is not actually on fire.
1998 Deep Impact Destroyed when a massive tidal wave reaches New York City.
1998 Saving Private Ryan German propaganda mentions that 'The Statue of Liberty ist kaput!' to discourage American soldiers. Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, skeptically listens to the message and replies: 'Well, that's disconcerting' while continueing the fight.
2000 X-Men Site of a climactic fight sequence.
2001 A.I. The SoL is submerged up to the bottom of her torch.
2001 Band of Brothers As the troopship leaves for England in episode 1 of this HBO miniseries, the Statue of Liberty is featured prominently as the last sight of America many of the soldiers will have for many years (or forever in the case of those who would lose their lives in combat).
2002 Men in Black II Agent Kay pushes a button and the torch of the Statue of Liberty neuralizes the whole of New York City.
2004 The Day After Tomorrow Multiple scenes: when New York City is flooded; after freezing over; when the survivors are being picked up.
2004 Around The World In 80 Days Under construction.
2004 National Treasure Brief view in an intro shot of New York City.
2004 Taxi Seen in intro.
2004 Godzilla: Final Wars Seen destroyed as Rodan finishes off the American battleship with New York City ablaze.
2004 Team America: World Police At the end of the scene taking place in New York City.
2004 - present CSI: NY Establishing shots.
2005 Hitch Multiple scenes.
2006 Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Superman is kicked into the torch of the Statue by General Zod, destroying it. The destruction is later reversed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ op. cit
  2. ^ UCSD History Project, Slide: WP-A-29 "Poster: That Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth"[1] (512x768 pixel image. Caption: "Poster, "That Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth... Buy Liberty Bonds. Fourth Liberty Loan, 1918. The Statue of Liberty has been attacked. The head and arms have been knocked off and lie by the edge of Bedloe's Island as enemy planes fly over New York harbor in a fiery red glow. Joseph Pennell." Citation from the page: "Public domain. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. LC-USZC4-1347. In Walton Rawls, Wake Up America!, 1988, p. 66."
  3. ^ Royal Albert Museum, "That at Liberty Shall Not Perish From The Earth 1918, Joseph Pennell (1857-1926), U.S.A. 103 x 71 cm"[2]
  4. ^ "Posters American Style: Advice to Americans" (website)[3]
  5. ^ Duncan, Paul (2003). Alfred Hitchcock. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-1591-8.  pp. 92-93: "On the set of Saboteur: Hitchcock explains what he wants inside the head of the Statue of Liberty for the climactic sequence..." [4]
  6. ^ Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota, pictures of the University of Wisconsin prank
  7. ^ Image of Lake Mendota prank
  8. ^ [5], [6], [7], [8]
  9. ^ Poundstone, William (1986), Bigger Secrets, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-38477-X: Description of Copperfield illusion.
  10. ^ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specifiedGuinness World Records (2006). . Retrieved on 2006-06-01.
  11. ^ [9] New York Rangers logo for third alternate jersey, 1997 - current.
  12. ^ New York Liberty website, showing Statue of Liberty in logo. Note that the team's mascot is not the statue, but a dog, named Maddie after Madison Square Garden.
  13. ^ Sony Pictures DVD, ASIN B00000J11I, scene selections 23, "The Statue of Liberty" and 24, "A Harbor Chick" (1:26-1:32)
  14. ^ Duncan, Paul (2003). Alfred Hitchcock. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-1591-8.  pp. 92-93: "On the set of Saboteur: Hitchcock explains what he wants inside the head of the Statue of Liberty for the climactic sequence..." [10]
  15. ^ Il Padrino Parte 2, a short comment on the film mentions the quote.
  16. ^ Brown, Blain (2002). {{{title}}}. Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-80500-3.  [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0240805003&id=1JL2jFbNPNAC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=%22statue+of+liberty%22+%22motion+picture%22&sig=8F9CKM2tV27fuKYiBzkjON11DmU p. 75
  17. ^ Sony Pictures DVD, ASIN B00000J11I, scene selections 23, "The Statue of Liberty" and 24, "A Harbor Chick" (1:26-1:32)
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