Martin Luther King Jr. statue "looks confrontational&qu

Mr. Coffee · Post by **Mr. Coffee** » 2008-05-11 05:39pm

I love the look of the proposed statue. I mean, with his arms cross edand that kinda scowl on his face it looks like he's about to say to someone "What the fuck did you just say to me, bitch?". He look like he's about to slap the fucking taste out of someone's mouth.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-05-11 05:40pm

General Zod wrote:
Flagg wrote:The statue looks like it would be at home standing aside to Josef Stalin or Saddam Hussein. There's a difference between looking "confrontational" and looking "despotic".
How exactly does someone "look" despotic? Unless you associate certain poses with certain regimes I'm having trouble picturing it.

The pose, the stature, the crossed arms and the look on his face, with eyes staring down at you as if he knows better than you. It's evokes power, authority, and seems to demand obedience.

I could see it working if it were a statue of Malcolm X, but not MLK Jr. His expression needs to be softened to one of hope, and his posture needs to be more "welcome to tolerance" or "beckoning to the future". I see what we have now and I'm intimidated, not made hopeful.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2008-05-11 07:08pm

Personally, I don't think it looks even remotely angry. He just looks like a man who isn't going to take shit from anyone. In any case, I think the nature of the design is interesting, assuming that this model is a complete representation of the final statue. Twenty eight feet of King emerging from from a slab of stone would be awesome.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-05-11 09:06pm

Ford Prefect wrote:Personally, I don't think it looks even remotely angry. He just looks like a man who isn't going to take shit from anyone. In any case, I think the nature of the design is interesting, assuming that this model is a complete representation of the final statue. Twenty eight feet of King emerging from from a slab of stone would be awesome.

I didn't even think "despotic" or "angry" until I read that that was the perception of the design. Eh, it seems benign enough to me. And I think the likeness is quite good.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-05-11 09:16pm

Ford Prefect wrote:Personally, I don't think it looks even remotely angry. He just looks like a man who isn't going to take shit from anyone. In any case, I think the nature of the design is interesting, assuming that this model is a complete representation of the final statue. Twenty eight feet of King emerging from from a slab of stone would be awesome.

He looks like a man of principles standing up for them. It's bizarre to me that people can look at it and see it as overbearing or 'demanding obiedence'. It's a guy in a freshly-pressed suit not giving an inch. He doesn't even look like he's scowling to me.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2008-05-11 11:26pm

Does anyone know if the designer deliberately intended for the King and Lincoln statues to be of identical height?

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2008-05-12 01:17am

Flagg wrote:I could see it working if it were a statue of Malcolm X, but not MLK Jr. His expression needs to be softened to one of hope, and his posture needs to be more "welcome to tolerance" or "beckoning to the future". I see what we have now and I'm intimidated, not made hopeful.

The thing is, when he got shot Dr. King's views had been shifting closer to Malcolm X's. For that matter, the same was happening to X in the other direction.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2008-05-12 01:47am

Adrian Laguna wrote:
Flagg wrote:I could see it working if it were a statue of Malcolm X, but not MLK Jr. His expression needs to be softened to one of hope, and his posture needs to be more "welcome to tolerance" or "beckoning to the future". I see what we have now and I'm intimidated, not made hopeful.
The thing is, when he got shot Dr. King's views had been shifting closer to Malcolm X's. For that matter, the same was happening to X in the other direction.

True, but let's be honest, neither one of them are remembered for, in the end of their days, coming closer together in philosophy. King is "I have a Dream!" and Malcolm is "By any means necessary!" The majority of people don't want to see Martin Luther sprinkled with X, nor do they want to see Malcolm sprinkled with King. They want them divided and on opposite sides of this particular spectrum.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-05-12 01:51am

Looks exactly like a man who fought the good fight and knew he'd die for that very reason. I don't get the criticisms at all.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2008-05-12 02:24am

If someone was going to make a statue of me, I'd either want to look as bad-ass as possible or be made to resemble a Greek god. Either would be acceptable. Personally, I think that's one bad-ass statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gerald Tarrant · Post by **Gerald Tarrant** » 2008-05-12 02:38am

Sort of Like the George Washington as Zeus?

Link

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2008-05-12 11:39am

I like the statues design in principle, but I have to look really closely to tell that its MLK jr. The statue doesn't immediately evoke what I as a midwesterner know about MLK Jr. and his acts, although that might be a failing of me education rather than a serious flaw.

However, when I think of what I believe a sculpture of MLK Jr. should look like, it should be him, with a white man's hand in one hand, and a black man's hand in the other, pulling them from the mire (of ignorance). I just think the statue should represent more within itself, without needing the context of the person. Look at the Lincoln memorial, you can tell that man presided over hard times, or Washington's memorial to remind us of George's massive cock.

Darmalus · Post by **Darmalus** » 2008-05-12 12:14pm

Dark Hellion wrote:...it should be him, with a white man's hand in one hand, and a black man's hand in the other, pulling them from the mire (of ignorance).

It's a stone statue, unless you paint it, how are your going to tell the difference between the hands?

I don't really like the other statue that Gerald Tarrant posted, cocked heads always look submissive to me, and a statue of King should be anything but submissive.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2008-05-12 12:17pm

It's a stone statue, unless you paint it, how are your going to tell the difference between the hands?

Use black and white stone, like Neizvestny used for the statue of Khrushev, depicting his better side (liberalism) as white and his worse side (stupidity, impulsive action) as black.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2008-05-12 12:36pm

You make them of the same color stone. They would be visually distinctive anyways (facial structure and stuff, just like Caucasians and asians are visually distinctive without color) and the usage of the same stone color would symbolize with the message that all men are of the same substance regardless of skin color. The message is simply too important not to pound into our petty tribalistic human brains.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2008-05-12 03:56pm

Gerald Tarrant wrote:Sort of Like the George Washington as Zeus?

Link

Now, see, I don't care for that either. One of Washington's big points was that he wasn't supposed to be treated as a god. That may seem odd, considering I'm such a big fan of the Lincoln memorial, but at that one, I dunno, he looks more... grandfatherly than divine.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-12 03:59pm

I like the King statue. I hope they stick with the design.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2008-05-12 04:57pm

It looks like he's going to eat a pretty white Christian baby alive!

SCARY BLACK MAN!

Who the fuck is this panel of Governmental Right Thinking Art Citics, anyway? The same kind of people responsible for the annual cringefest of horror known as "A Capitol Fourth"?