Here's another story that proves the power of social media.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing takes suggestions on how to improve the city through Twitter. About two weeks ago, someone sent a tweet in which they suggested the city erect a statue in honor of 'RoboCop,' since the movie was set in a future "Old Detroit." Bing rejected the idea, but it was picked up & spread across the net.
Using Facebook & other websites, a Kickstarter Campaign was started to fund the building of a statue, and today it was announced the group has raised their goal of $50,000. A piece of land near Imagination Station, a public art space in Roosevelt Park in southwest Detroit, has been offered to place the statue.
Specifically, the Imagination Station is offering a piece of its property on Roosevelt Park facing Michigan Central Station as Robocop's new home. If this is where Robo goes, this is approximately what his view will be:
We say "if", because in our quest to choose the best location possible, if another even better location appears before installation, Robo might move. Rest assured that the absolute worst we can do is incredibly awesome.
(Source)
According to Mayor Bing's spokeswoman, Karen Dumas, the Mayor would "
consider" using public land for a donated RoboCop statue.
So how did all of this start?
From the Detroit Free Press:
That statement unleashed a wave of responses from sci-fi fans and others amused by the debate.
Supporters of the statue, saying it will spur tourism and positive attention for the city, created a Facebook page called, "Build a statue of Robocop in Detroit," which encourages Bing to change his mind.
A few Facebook users are taking the matter into their own hands.
Victoria Bielecki of Phoenix pledged to buy the statue herself and "haul it all the way up there in my 1992 Suburban."
"Do you know how freaking awesome it would be for my 7-year-old to look up at a 10-foot statue of RoboCop?" the 27-year-old told the Free Press. "The city also needs something that represents security because of the crime rate there."
'RoboCop' is an odd '80s action film that really works & has a lot of levels to it. I gave director Paul Verhoeven's '
Showgirls' a lot of crap in the last diary, so let me say some good words about '
RoboCop.'
On first blush, most people would dismiss the movie as just a "violent sci-fi/action flick." However, not only is it a great action movie (with moments that even parody the genre), but it also has some great social commentary on government & corporations. Tell me if any of the following sounds familiar:
- "Shifts in tax structure have made the economy ideal for corporate growth." - That line is spoken by Omni Consumer Products' "Old Man" (Dan O'Herlihy). He also notes that Detroit has been impacted by this, with schools, police departments, and other public services suffering because of those shifts. OCP's ED-209 and RoboCop programs are his way of "giving back" (and cleaning things up just enough for OCP to take over Detroit & build their private Delta City).
- Privatizing Government Services - The Detroit Police Department has been contracted out to OCP in 'RoboCop.' A strike looms, and in order to get candidates for RoboCop, OCP restructured the police department to put prime candidates in high risk areas. Also, there's Directive 4 which keeps RoboCop from enforcing the law against senior officers of OCP.
- "Who Cares If It Worked Or Not?!?!?!" - ED-209 is a commentary on absurd product design. Specifically, when companies design something to look good/pretty/tough/etc. and forget to make sure it actually works well. Of course, "who cares if it works" if you get to sell upgrades & replacement parts to the same suckers who bought the damn thing!
Craig Hayes also incorporated his ideas about modern 1980s American design, especially car design, into the robot. He envisioned futuristic designers making the robot look good in order to make it marketable before they made it work well, “just like an American car.” The crew commentary audio track on the Criterion Collection DVD release confirms the obvious commentary on ridiculous corporate design policies, with such features as an obviously over-designed hydraulic system, over-attention paid to cosmetics and the placement of obviously vulnerable features such as the radiator grill on the very front of the robot.
- "Something with reclining leather seats, that goes really fast, and gets really shitty gas mileage!" - How about a 6000 SUX?
'RoboCop' has been analyzed by movie fans as a modern-day Frankenstein's Monster, which comments on keeping one's humanity when dehumanized. Verhoeven has been pretty open about claiming the intention was for RoboCop to be an "American Jesus."
"The point of Robocop, of course, it is a Christ story. It is about a guy who gets crucified in the first 50 minutes, and then is resurrected in the next 50 minutes, and then is like the supercop of the world, but is also a Jesus figure as he walks over water at the end. Walking over water was in the steel factory in Pittsburgh, and there was water there, and I put something just underneath the water so he could walk over the water and say that wonderful line, “I am not arresting you anymore.” Meaning, I’m going to shoot you. And that is of course the American Jesus."