Script:
Listen to part of a lecture in an Art History class. The professor has been talking about colossal statues.
Professor: We′ve been looking at colossal statues—works of exceptionally huge size—and their essentially public role, in commemorating a political or religious figure. We′ve seen how some of these statues date back thousands of years . . . like the statues of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt—which you can still visit today . . . and how others, though surviving only in legend, have fired the imagination of writers and artists right up to our own time, such as the Colossus of Rhodes, that 110-foot statue of the Greek god Helios (HEE-lee-us). Remember, this same word, "colossus"—which means a giant or larger-than-life-size statue—is what today′s term "colossal" derives from.
Now, it was one thing to build such statues, at an equally colossal cost, when the funds were being allocated by ancient kings and pharaohs. But if we′re going to think about modern-day colossal statues, we need to reexamine more closely their role as social and political symbols—in order to understand why a society today—a society of free, tax-paying citizens—would agree to allocate so much of its resources to erecting them. A good example to start out with would be Mount Rushmore.
Now, many of you have probably seen pictures of Mount Rushmore; perhaps you′ve actually visited the place. Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota, is a colossal representation of the faces of four U.S. Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, carved directly into a mountain. Imagine: Each of those faces in the rock is over sixty feet high! Now, carving their faces took over six and a half years, and cost almost a million dollars. And this was in the 1930′s, during the worst economic depression in U.S. history! Does that strike any of you as odd?
Well, I personally think that the Great Depression of the 1930′s actually makes this more understandable, not less so. Often it′s the case that, precisely at times of hard-ship—when the very fabric of society seems to be unraveling and confidence is eroding—uh, that people clamor for some public expression of strength and optimism, perhaps as a way of symbolizing its endurance in the face of difficulty.
So, with that in mind, let′s go back to Mount Rushmore. Actually, the original motivation for a colossal monument in South Dakota had very little to do with all this symbolism . . . and everything to do with money: you see, it was first conceived of basically as a tourist attraction, and it was supposed to feature the images of legendary figures of the American West, like the explorers Lewis and Clark. The government of South Dakota thought it would bring lots of money into the state.
It was only later on that the sculptor—the artist who designed and oversaw the project, a man named Gutzon Borglum—decided the project should be a monument honoring four of the most-respected Presidents in U.S. history—much more than a tourist attraction . . . its very prominence and permanence became perceived as a symbol of the endurance of U.S. ideals and the greatness of the country′s early leaders. So, you see, what began as a tourist attraction became something far loftier.
Let′s look at another example of this phenomenon.
The Statue of Liberty is another colossal statue—(indicating by his tone of voice that his assumption is a near certainty) one that I assume a number of you are familiar with. But, umm, I would guess that—like many people today—you don′t realize that, when it was designed, over a century ago—by a French sculptor—it was intended to symbolize the long friendship between the people of France and the people of the United States—one which dated back to France′s support of the American colonies′ war for independence from the British.
But the shift in the statue′s meaning started soon after it was built. Back in 1883, Emma Lazarus wrote that famous poem—you know, the one that goes: "Give me your tired, your poor . . . ." (pause)and so on and so forth. That poem describes the Statue of Liberty as a beacon of welcome for the entire world. Well, in the early 1900′s, it was put on a plaque on the pedestal that the Statue of Liberty stands on.
From that point on, the Statue of Liberty was no longer perceived as just a gift between friendly republics. It now became a tribute to the United States′ history of immigration and openness.
This association was strengthened in the imagination of the general public just a few decades after the statue′s completion, with the immigration waves of the early 20th century . . . especially since the statue happened to be the first sign of America seen by those immigrants sailing into the port of New York. So, as with Mount Rushmore, the original motivation for this colossal statue was forgotten, and the statue is now valued for more important reasons.