Statue of Liberty in popular culture

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After its unveiling in 1886, the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, quickly became an iconic symbol of American freedom, and began to be featured on posters, postcards, pictures, and books. The statue's likeness has also appeared on coins, currency, postage stamps, art, in films, television programs, music videos, and video games, and has been used in logos and in theatrical productions. The Statue of Liberty, promptly situated in New York Harbor, is a popular and recognizable local, national, and international icon and political symbol and has often been the first significant item seen by arriving immigrants. David Glassberg, writing in 2003, identified six different political meanings the statue has been imbued with in different time periods since its 1886 erection: "1) as a monument to political cooperation between France and the United States; 2) as a monument to the end of slavery in America; 3) as a monument to American national unity; 4) as a monument to immigration and economic opportunity; 5) as a monument to political liberty and freedom around the globe; and 6) as a monument to the character and resilience of New York City and its residents." In Glassberg's view, these meanings have largely but not entirely replaced each other successively. John Clute, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, commented that the statue began to be viewed shortly after its unveiling in negative ways in addition to positive ones, with the statue as a whole embodying "Ozymandian pride" and the torch representing a warning rather than merely serving as a beacon.thumb| upright=0.85|Reverse of a $1 presidential coin

Currency and stamps

The Statue of Liberty has been depicted on various United States coins. currency, and postage stamps. In 1986, the United States Mint released a three-coin series, Statue of Liberty $5 gold coin, a silver dollar and a clad half dollar, for the centennial of the statue. In 2001, the Statue of Liberty was on the reverse side of the New York state quarter in the 50 State Quarters series. Since 2006, the United States ten-dollar bill has featured two portrayals of the Statue of Liberty's torch in red on the obverse. In addition, the statue is on the reverse of all presidential $1 coins issued between 2007 and 2016 and in 2020. It is also on the obverse of the half dollar of the 2026 United States Semiquincentennial coinage; its torch is shown on the reverse. The statue has also been depicted on the bullion American Platinum Eagle and American Palladium Eagle.

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The French commemorated the 100th anniversary of its gift of the Statue of Liberty to the United States by adding the statue's image to its 100 franc coin. For the 100th anniversary of the statue, the U.S. and France jointly issued a stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty continues to be used in corporate logos. The insurance company Liberty Mutual has used the Statue of Liberty as part of its logo since 1921. The Central Railroad of New Jersey used the statue in its logo from 1944 until it ceased operations in 1974, symbolizing its terminal at Liberty State Park. Its successor, NJ Transit Rail Operations's Raritan Valley Line, also uses the statue as its symbol. New York featured the Statue of Liberty on its regular license plate from 1986 until 2001, released shortly after the 100th anniversary of the statue. The division's official nickname is "Statue of Liberty".

The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League used the head of the Statue of Liberty as their logo on their third jersey from 1996 to 2007 and again in 2020–2021 and 2022–2023 seasons.

Numerous films use images of the Statue of Liberty to symbolize immigrations—the arrival to the United States and pursuit of the American Dream. In The Godfather Part II (1974), shots of the Statue of Liberty symbolize the American Dream for the young immigrant Vito Corleone.

Destruction

right|upright=0.8|thumb|301x301px|Joseph Pennell, That Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth (1918)

Damage to and destruction of the statue, or its remains appearing among devastated surroundings, is a recurring motif. The earliest known example is John Ames Mitchell's 1889 novel The Last American, where the statue overlooks the ruins of New York City a thousand years in the future. In George Allan England's novel Darkness and Dawn (1914), Statue of Liberty's torch is symbolically destroyed. The threat of destruction was a regular theme in fundraising advertisements for the statue's restoration ahead of its 1986 centennial. In The Day After Tomorrow (2004), the Statue of Liberty is drowned by a tsunami.

The film Liberty (1986) is a fictionalized account of the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
In Ghostbusters II, (1989), the Statue of Liberty is brought to life by the Ghostbusters to help save New York City.
The Statue of Liberty appears in the ending of the film Men in Black II (2002), where a neuralizer located in her torch is used to erase the memories of the entire population of New York City.
The animated French comedy film The Triplets of Belleville (2003) parodies the Statue of Liberty as obese and holding a hamburger and a Coke.
The finale of the film Meet Dave (2008) was filmed at the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
In the film The Walk (2015), Phillippe Petit narrates from the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
The climax of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) is set on and around the Statue of Liberty. The film was not released in China because its film board did not approve of the inclusion of the Statue of Liberty.
The Dead Kennedys' depiction of the Statue of Liberty on the cover of the album Bedtime for Democracy (1986) to protest U.S policies. The poster was supposed to encourage enlistment into the United States Navy by creating feelings of patriotism and fear.
Individuals who purchased a Liberty bond in 1917 and 1918 were rewarded with a "A Badge of Honor" pin that featured an illustration of the Statue of Liberty.
On the cover of the February 4, 2017 issue, the German magazine Der Spiegel showed the Statue of Liberty beheaded by Donald Trump.

Television

The Statue of Liberty is a 1985 documentary film by Ken Burns on the history of the Statue of Liberty that was shown on PBS. The documentary was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

On April 8, 1983, CBS broadcast The Magic of David Copperfield V, where illusionist David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty seemingly disappear. Copperfield said he chose the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the "illusion of freedom". He said, "I thought that by making the Statue of Liberty – our symbol of freedom – vanish, I might make the audience aware of how important freedom is". The television show was watched by an estimated fifty million viewers, and is recognized by the Guinness World Records as "the largest illusion ever staged".

The Liberty Arcade in Disneyland Paris features an exhibit about the Statue of Liberty and is a tribute to the statue and France's relationship with the United States.

Visual arts

Working on the Statue of Liberty, a 1946 painting by Norman Rockwell, shows workmen cleaning the torch held aloft by the statue. Originally created for the Saturday Evening Post, the painting now resides in the Oval Office of the White House.
Andy Warhol's Death and Disaster series of silkscreen printings features the Statue of Liberty (1962–1963), as does his Statue of Liberty series (1976–1986). The latter was inspired by the centennial of the Statue of Liberty.
Static (2009) by Steve McQueen is a seven-minute looping film of the Statue of Liberty, as viewed from a helicopter. Dani Aguila's Taking Liberty with the Lady (1986) is a collection of Statue of Liberty cartoons from around the world, demonstrating the versatility of the statue's image. Using the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of America, comic books often have villians attacking or destrying the statue. This storyline was first used in 1942 during World War II, where the Human Torch (Jim Hammond) fought the Japanese spy Moppino who destroys the statue (All-Winners Comics #4, Marvel/Timely Comics).

Modern comics continue to include Statue of Liberty imagery. Swedish cartoonist Joakim Lindengren and Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi created United States of Banana in 2017; in this parody comic book, Lady Liberty falls in love with a prisoner, Segismundo, who lives in a dungeon beneath her skirt. The statue complains, "I have inspired empires. I have destroyed empires. They turned me into the mausoleum of liberty".

Video games

Numerous video games incorporate the destruction of the Statue of Liberty. After the War (1989) and Comix Zone (1995) both show a destroyed statue as part of apocalyptic settings. while Tropico 6 (2019) allows the player to steal the Statue of Liberty, and Twisted Metal 2 (1996) allows players to ignite the Statue of Liberty's torch by firing missiles at it. In 1989's Ghostbusters II, a computer video game based on the film of the same name, the player must gain control of the Statue of Liberty and save New York City. The 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV features a parody of the statue called the Statue of Happiness, which holds a coffee cup instead of a torch.

Statue of Liberty in popular culture

Currency and stamps

Destruction

Television

Visual arts

Video games

See also

References

Further reading