SCULPTURE WARS

Why do thousands of tourists flock to a statue of a fictional character that has for more than forty years represented the city of Philadelphia more avidly than a cheese-steak? Is it a fascination with cinema? With boxing? The NPR podcast “The Sculpture” purports to answer the question with mixed results. Avoiding the initial thesis and any deep-dive into movie trivia, the discussion meanders towards the more topical concerns like how the Rocky phenomenon (since 1976) affected communities of color. This seems like a stretch. Philadelphia has a rich boxing history (black and white) that Sylvester Stallone cleverly utilized in his franchise that includes nine films with Creed III now in theaters. The setting makes the connection to the city strong and it has certainly snowballed over the decades bringing nothing but goodwill to Philadelphia from keen global fans.

The sculpture itself turned up in Rocky III (1982) at the top of the already legendary Rocky Steps. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, never happy with the Hollywood association, sent the prop to the Spectrum Theater where the fight takes place in the movie. Bringing it back and placing it at the bottom of the steps was a compromise preceded by intense negotiations but was  a feat of public relations genius! Though, this uncanny placement of a fictional creature on the grounds of the Greco-Roman edifice full of fine art for aficionados still makes me wonder. Stallone himself said that running up the museum steps was a metaphor for breaking through to a higher place from which he was excluded. As a boxer? A filmmaker? Odder still is the mention of his middling 80’s-style neo-expressionist paintings! He may have finally broken through to the art world, at least, thanks to celebrity.

The podcast takes us to Joe Frazier’s rotting gym on Broad as evidence of racial neglect. Why is this not the site of pilgrimage? Hang on. Frazier is one of the most famous boxers in the world (he beat Ali) and has his own statue albeit not in Center City. He did not die destitute and alone. Sure, Rocky Balboa was white but his ultimate opponent was the powerful Apollo Creed (also fictional). None of this translates into systemic racism even if many details like punching carcasses in a warehouse are borrowed directly from Smokin’ Joe.

As the podcast drones on, I was surprised to hear the argument implying that the Rocky films work to the detriment of the Kensington section of the city. I ask again: have they seen Creed? In my view Kensington could use a makeover and less underdog sop. The illicit billion-dollar drug trade that scares people away is not mentioned. These are issues that have sent this vibrant city into another decline! Typical NPR.

The more explosive issue avoided in the podcast is cancel culture, my favorite. The fatuous argument is made over and over against sculpture for elites in a city rich in such monuments. Google The Fairmount Park Art Association. It is interesting to note that the entire debate (nation-wide) centers around old-fashioned and stuffy art. I’m not sure how this is addressed by filling historic gaps with equally “out-of-date” figurative but progressive sculpture. And if “equity” is achieved, why is there any reason to remove George Washington whose fine equestrian statue across the street from Rocky owes everything to Marcus Aurelius. Should we make statues of bag ladies instead of war heroes? Isn’t that a job for contemporary artists?

Iconoclasts are a drag. They now desire to pull the thread out of the nation’s narrative, good or bad. My antenna went up a few short years ago when “activists” threatened the statue of Columbus (now released from his box) and threw Leif Ericson in the Schylkill river. Progressive society had left me behind. I used to worry about the general lack of appreciation and understanding of modern art. It represented an anti-intellectual and incurious America that was all Reality TV, sports and Nascar. Now, my worry is deeper. Has ambivalence towards art gathered momentum by turning solely political? Monuments (toxic on not) still give a sense of history just as studying art history gives substance to our fanciful origin stories.

Back to the prop. Are we really meant to begrudge Sylvester Stallone for characterizing the Philadelphia underdog so well? Is the Rocky Statue next for cancellation? Philadelphians love Rocky because he completes their sense of inferiority and dispels it. And that is true for schlubs all over the world. As a transplant, I’ve always found this view self-defeating. It supports a myth that should have been discarded after the Phillies World Series win in 2008 and after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017.

What does the rest of the world see in the Rocky Statue? Is it the universal rags-to-riches story? That’s bloody obvious. NPR’s cultural critics might have stuck to the original idea and delved into why movies are all super heroes and Viking Gods in tights. But that would take a less lazy approach. Everybody knows that popular culture has for some time now had an over-sized impact on society. That’s the elephant in the room that we ignore. At this rate, Darth Vader may soon be immortalized in bronze in front of the Franklin Institute.