Statue of Liberty in science fiction

Gerry Canavan has compiled a nice little gallery of images of the Statue of Liberty's fate in science fiction stories, movies, and comic books.

...I was struck by the recurrence of a ruined Statue of Liberty as perhaps the quintessential icon of disaster since the 1940s. So struck, in fact, that I began to obsessively collect these images from the 'net wherever I could find them. Submitted for your approval, the fruits of my labor.

Link

[#1 posted by ill lich , January 21, 2008 12:11 PM]

I think this meme is due to the effect a ruined statue has on the viewer, it reminds us of fallen civilizations of the past (think of all the partially destroyed Roman, Greek, Egyptian statues now in museums). Plus, for sci-fi, it is something clearly endemic to the earth and the US-- coming upon a ruined skyscraper means nothing, it could be from anywhere, even an alien race, but the Statue of Liberty clearly means you are on Earth.

[#2 posted by alphan , January 21, 2008 12:54 PM]

Is it not in "Cloverdale" with it's head bitten off?

Didn't Ghostbusters 2 coat her with slime and take her for a walk in New York?

And don't forget that the Transformers© #23 - "Decepticon Graffiti!" and of course the Great homage to her in "Spaceballs" by Mel Brooks

[#3 posted by DWittSF , January 21, 2008 4:55 PM]

Nice collection--bonus points to linking Kamandi and Thundarr the Barbarian, via Jack Kirby!

[#4 posted by Suburbancowboy , January 21, 2008 7:01 PM]

I think some of you may enjoy this photo I took the other day, of the Cloverfield poster, right smack dab next to another poster using the statue of liberty for a completely different purpose.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/subcow/2183597337/

[#5 posted by Moltz , January 21, 2008 8:18 PM]

This is very weird. I saw two sandwich boarders dressed as the Statue of Liberty. For two different stores. On the opposite sides of town. And now... this.

OH! And I saw a bumper sticker that said "LIBERTY > EQUALITY"!!!

AAAAAGH!

[#6 posted by KevinKelly , January 21, 2008 11:48 PM]

This was great stuff. We did a post about movies where the Statue of Liberty gets mangled as well: http://io9.com/332588/movies-that-smash-the-statue-of-liberty

[#7 posted by Clumpy , January 22, 2008 1:46 AM]

Huh. I did a Cloverfield poster parody of my own, but couldn't be bothered to add the Statue of Liberty. Bonus points for recognizing that I took the background from the original poster for "King Kong". . . oops.

http://ffttcomics.blogspot.com/2008/01/fftt-26-its-still-alive.html

[#8 posted by boliyou , January 22, 2008 10:23 PM]

Great find. This guy's amassed an awesome collection, and it's great that he's able to keep it growing through the comments.