Statue of Liberty in popular culture



The Statue of Liberty, and its location on Liberty Island, in New York, appear in posters, pictures, motion pictures, video games, and books.

In literature

 * O. Henry's 1911 story "The Lady Higher Up" relates a fanciful dialog between the statue and the then-famous Statue of Diana at Madison Square Garden. In the story, Diana asks "Mrs. Liberty" why she speaks with what Diana terms a "City Hall brogue." Liberty answers: "If ye'd studied the history of art in its foreign complications ye'd not need to ask. If ye wasn't so light-headed and giddy ye'd know that I was made by a Dago and presented to the American people on behalf of the French Government for the purpose of welcomin' Irish immigrants into the Dutch city of New York."
 * Jack Finney's 1970 novel Time and Again takes advantage of the presence, in 1882, of just the arm and torch of the statue in Madison Square Park for an important plot development.
 * In the final scene of Maggie-Now by Betty Smith, two characters scatter Maggie's late husband's ashes from the statue's torch.
 * In Amerika by Franz Kafka, the author inaccurately depicts the statue as holding aloft a sword rather than a torch.
 * The DC Comics superhero Miss America was originally granted her powers by the Statue in a vision. This was later retconned to have been a dream; she had really gained her powers from an experiment.
 * In the Marvel Comics universe, the torch of the Statue of Liberty is the secret meeting spot between superheroes Spider-Man and his friend/confident Human Torch.
 * The final chapter of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach reveals that "The Glow-worm became the light inside the torch on the Statue of Liberty, and thus saved a grateful City from having to pay a huge electricity bill every year."
 * Ellen Kushner's 1986 Choose Your Own Adventure book Statue of Liberty Adventure has the protagonist exploring the statue to find its original inspiration.
 * In a special gibi Cinema Classics of the Monica's Gang, the name of the history of the planet was Coelinhos, a page in the Statue of Liberty appears mired in the sand.

In television and film

 * During the early episodes of the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the Statue is often seen during the introduction sequence.
 * In Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, Tom and Jerry "strip" Statue of Liberty leaving her in bikini. The Statue then gives a pose and Tom whistles at her.
 * In an episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Green Goblin creates his own version of the Statue of Liberty with his own face and hat instead.
 * Statue of Liberty appears in Ben 10 episode Kevin 11.
 * The 1942 Alfred Hitchcock movie Saboteur features a climactic confrontation at the statue, ending in a fall from the torch.
 * The final joke in the 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon Baseball Bugs depicted the statue coming alive and admonishing a ballplayer who was disputing the umpire's call.
 * The statue is seen in various episodes of Futurama. In the very first episode, Fry is shot through a transportation tube that has replaced the statue's torch. The opening sequence shows the statue holding a ray-gun, whilst other appearances show it with its normal torch.
 * In the ending of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, the statue appears decayed and half-buried in sand, serving as painful, undeniable proof to the film's protagonist, Taylor, that he has been on Earth the whole time. (This scene is parodied in the animated comedy Madagascar, the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs, the Kevin Smith film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and in two episodes of The Simpsons—one where Homer is an astronaut ("Deep Space Homer"), and another where Troy McClure appears in a Planet of the Apes musical dates Marge's sister Selma to revive his career and quell the rumors about his sexual fetish with fish ("A Fish Called Selma"). It also appears in the beginning of the first Planet of the Apes sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
 * Beginning in the late 1970s, Miss Piggy has been featured in over a dozen different interpretations of the Statue of Liberty.
 * At the end of Men in Black II, Tommy Lee Jones' character uses the statue's torch to erase the memory of an alien spacecraft from the minds of thousands of New Yorkers.
 * Much of the advertising for the film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) used an image of the Statue of Liberty nearly buried in snow and ice (much like the University of Wisconsin "Pail and Shovel Party" prank), after a storm surge and catastrophic climate change. In this image, the Statue of Liberty is facing the wrong way - West towards New Jersey, with the New York skyline to its right. This image is parodied in the Disaster Movie teaser poster.
 * In the episode of The Critic, Jay Sherman, who inherited a billion dollars from his supposed deceased parents, took some of that money to clean up New York. One of his tasks was him personally lowering himself down to the armpit of the Statue of Liberty and spraying her with a large can of deodorant. In a Valentine's Day themed episode, Jay fantasizes about the statue coming to life and telling him she has needs. A cop then points to a sign that tells people not to fantasize about the statue.


 * In Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I, after escaping the Roman Army in the "The Roman Empire" segment, the gang head to Judea. The Statue of Liberty can be seen in the cityscape.
 * The American Dad! episode "A Smith in the Hand" has Stan carving The Statue of Liberty on a wooden plank to kill his urge to masturbate, only to pleasure himself to the picture.
 * In the series Seinfeld, George Costanza works for a time at a fictional company called Kruger Industrial Smoothing. The company is said to have participated in the 1980s restoration of the statue. In a different episode, George and Jerry discuss whether or not the statue was assembled prior to its transportation to America.
 * In the disaster film, Deep Impact the statue is toppled and her severed head is pushed roughly into the intersections of Wall Street and William Street by the tidal wave of water created from the asteroid impact.
 * From 1985 until early 1988, the Statue of Liberty was used for the opener of all the NBC News programs, accompanied by The Mission, a music package composed by John Williams.
 * The statue assists the Ghostbusters to defeat the evil Vigo the Carpathian in the comedy, Ghostbusters II. The statue is shown to move like a human being would. An earlier scene in the film, however, showed the mood slime used to animate the statue could cause solid substances to animate (as a bathtub was shown to become flexible).
 * A pre-release poster for the 1984 film Supergirl was a painting that showed the film's star flying by the Statue of Liberty, which was depicted holding up its torch with its left hand.
 * The statue is one of the first glimpses of the United States seen by Bronson Pinchot's Balki Bartokomous character in the opening credits of the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers.
 * The climax of the film X-Men took place within the pedestal, museum, inside the statue, and atop the torch of the statue.
 * A 2006 episode of Doctor Who, "New Earth", features a planet 5 billion years in the future on which humans have settled following the end of the world. The Doctor and Rose visit the city of New New York, the fifteenth city of this name since the original. Incorporated into the city is the statue dwarfed by skyscrapers. It is unrevealed if it is the original which has been rescued from Earth before its destruction, or a copy. As New New York is the fifteenth city to hold the name then it is possible the statue is a copy. The statue is also seen in the 2007 episodes "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks", both based in New York in November 1930.
 * In Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning the statue is destroyed by Emperor Pirk's forces as a symbol of the fall of the old world order as the propaganda film narrator proclaims "The time was right for a brave new empire: the P-Fleet was born".
 * Bart Simpson shouts to a boatload of immigrants "Hey, immigrants! Beat it! Country's full!" from the statue in the Simpsons episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". The official aboard the boat tells the group, "OK people, you heard the lady. Back into the hold. We'll try Canada." The immigrants moan and go back below the deck.
 * The statue frequently appeared in the background of the Disney animated show Gargoyles. It was the setting for the first battle between the gargoyle clan and the main antagonist David Xanatos after the latter was released from prison.
 * In Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, the statue collapses during an earthquake.
 * In the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", Peter Griffin brings Glenn Quagmire the Statue of Liberty's foot as a wedding present because Quagmire has a foot fetish. Later in the episode Adam West sees the foot and believes the statue has been destroyed, parodying the scene with the statue's ruins in Planet of the Apes.
 * In the episode "The Edge" in the cartoon series Gargoyles, the aerial fight between the Gargoyles' clan and the 'Metal Clan' takes place around the statue, with one of the two secondary robot Gargoyles crashing into Lady Liberty's book, the other being shot down and exploding on the lawn of Liberty Isle. The leader Robot Gargoyle is then trapped on top of the Statue's head, and (revealed later on as Xanatos in a power-suit) surrenders, flying off.
 * In an episode of The Simpsons, Grandpa Simpson tells the family about when he first arrived at America, stating that he and his mother and father lived in the statue for a while, until they filled it up with trash and moved.
 * In an episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy, a poorly-built replica of the Statue of Liberty is built to cause an "accident" to befall upon Ed's violin (which he plays very poorly). However, this plan is foiled when Edd gives Wilfred (Rolf's pig) a powerful magnet, which he eats.
 * The Statue of Liberty was the stage for a massive Cobra attack in the opening sequence of G.I.-Joe The Movie.
 * In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode Flatbush Koopa, the Mario Bros. find the statue modified with King Koopa's head on it. This happens again in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode Recycled Koopa, and at the end of the episode, the statue, having returned to normal, praises the Mario Bros..
 * In the film Cloverfield, a giant monster decaptitates the statue and throws it onto a Manhattan street. Later in the film, the decapitated statue is seen from the Brooklyn Bridge.
 * In the CSI: NY episode Can You Hear Me Know?, blood is present on the crown and visible from long range. Two security guards were murdered during a systems update where the security system was temporality down.
 * The statue is frequently seen on School House Rock.
 * In the TV movie by Hallmark, "Category 7: The End of the World", the statue is destroyed by a tornado.
 * In the movie Resident Evil: Extinction, the New York-New York version of the statue is seen abandoned in Las Vegas.
 * In the French film, "The Triplets of Belleville", the statue is fat and holding a hamburger on a tray instead of a tablet.
 * In the last Busytown episode, "The Big Apple Christmas Caper", the statue is a pig and gets its torch and crown ripped off by a giant magnet.
 * In the documentary Earthquake in New York City, the torch arm of the Statue of Liberty falls during the earthquake.
 * During auditions in Season 5 of American Idol, a young man who hailed from New York was dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. As soon as he sings "Start Spreading the...." (from the song New York, New York), Simon Cowell immediately interrupts and ends the young man's audition.
 * In episode 53 of Digimon Adventure, the Statue of Liberty is seen in the background behind some people, as they watch at the sky in support of the Digi-Destined's efforts in stopping Apocalymon in the Digital World. The presence of this statue in the background in this scene highlights the people's strong hope and desire for the Digi-Destined's victory, which would prevent the fulfilment of Apocalymon's apocalyptic desires.
 * In the movie Titanic (1997 film), the statue is seen when the RMS Carpathia arrives in New York City.
 * In the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the statue is seen submerged in the ocean up to the bottom of her torch due to global warming.
 * In the movie Independence Day (film), the statue is seen toppled after the alien invasion.
 * In the season nine premiere of Smallville, Clark dives off a simulation of the Statue of Liberty as part of his training.
 * Many scenes in the film Jungle 2 Jungle take place around the statue, including having one of the cast members climb atop the statue's head.

Destruction
Since the Statue of Liberty is a famous landmark, it is often shown destroyed in films to symbolize the end of mankind. The table below shows some examples of movies which feature the statue destroyed.

In addition, the statue is often used on websites and images as a symbol of global warming.

In video games

 * In the opening cut scene for the video game Parasite Eve, the Statue of Liberty can be seen crying what appears to be blood. Later in the game, the main protagonist and antagonist battle on Liberty Island near a fallen and gooey Statue of Liberty.
 * In the arcade/Sega Genesis game Chelnov (Atomic Runner in the US and Europe of the Sega Genesis version) the final boss's third and final form takes place on Liberty Island with Chelnov defeating the deathtarian leader on the statue itself. The deathtarian explodes in front of the statue, thus illuminating the Manhattan skyline.
 * In the PlayStation game Tekken 2, character Paul Phoenix's stage is set in New York City, with the statue visible in the background.
 * In opening scenes of the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time for PlayStation 2, the statue and its pedestal are shown 780 years in the future perched atop a domed building called 'The Art Museum of Statue'. A floating ring-shaped building (presumably an observation deck) encompasses her head. The surrounding skyscrapers suggest the statue has been moved far from Liberty Island (not that the museum was built on Liberty Island).
 * In Spider-Man 2, Mysterio turns the Statue of Liberty into a giant Mysterio Statue, where Spider-Man must destroy the power core to change it back to normal and stop Mysterio's invasion. Spider-Man could not get back to land due to the "alien ships" being destroyed. He hitches a ride on a boat.
 * In Punch-Out!! for the NES, after completing the circuit (only the Minor and Major), there will be a cutscene with a password showing Little Mac jogging following Doc on a bike. At the end, the Statue of Liberty is shown, along with the password.
 * The first level of the 2000 computer game Deus Ex takes place on Liberty Island and inside the statue pedestal. The statue itself has been heavily damaged in a bombing that occurred several years before the events of the game. In the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War, the last level is again at the statue, which has been re-erected as a light sculpture.
 * The statue appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, but can only be seen in the distance. A token at the southern tip of Manhattan nearest the statue is the Statue of Liberty Landmark token, however.
 * In the 2007 multi-platform title Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the Statue is briefly seen in the opening cutscene, bombed by German planes and zeppelins, completely engulfed by explosions and with its torch arm falling off. Teaser images showed the Statue near neck-deep and sinking in the water, with its torch on fire and others showed a Nazi banner on its torch hand.
 * The 1998 Nintendo 64 game Duke Nukem: Zero Hour features a level set in the statue.
 * Two video games in the turn-based Civilization franchise (Civilization II and Civilization IV) both have the Statue of Liberty as a World Wonder that one civilization in total during the game can achieve. In Civilization II, actual footage of immigrants coming to the United States in the mid 1900's, on a boat and seeing the Statue in the distance of New York Harbor is used after the players civilization acquires the Statue of Liberty in the game.
 * In the opening cutscene of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 the statue is heavily damaged by an invading Soviet fleet. The first mission of US campaign depicts the statue being destroyed by a truck-mounted V3 missile. Its ruins are used as symbol of America's downfall by Soviet propaganda.
 * A parody of the statue appears in fictional Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV as the "Statue of Happiness", holding a styrofoam coffee cup in place of a torch and featuring the likeness of Hillary Rodham Clinton. The inside of the statue contains a chained beating heart, and the statue is said to have been presented to the United States of America in 1886 by France to mark "100 years free from British food and spelling".
 * The opening credits of the game Freedom Fighters are followed by a view of the Statue of Liberty with Soviet Su-47 fighter jets flying overhead.
 * In the last level of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, the player must disarm the last nuclear device on a boat in the waters around Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty is visible.
 * In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, the mission is to retrieve the Statue of Liberty after it is stolen by Krang and Shredder. The statue appears in the background during the final battle with Shredder inside the Technodrome, and wen the game is completed the statue is taken back to its foundations.
 * The computer game Tycoon City: New York allows players to build the statue (though its ownership rests with the city).
 * In World in Conflict the statue can be destroyed during the Soviet attack on New York City, however a mission objective in the single player campaign is to save her from occupying Soviet forces. Also in World in Conflict, the front of the disk, packaging and instruction manual features the Statue of Liberty in front of the USSR symbol. Also, online advertisements for the game showed a brief timeline ending at 1989, when the ad turns static for a moment and then shows Lenin's head on the Statue.
 * The Statue of Liberty makes an appearance as an Alliance-controlled structure in the Sierra game Manhunter: New York.
 * In The Simpsons Game, at the end of the level Around the World in 80 Bites, Homer must take down a miniature Simpsons statue. Groundskeeper Willie also comments on how Homer had destroyed the statue, in a reference to Planet of the Apes. Comic Book Guy adds to that by roughly saying "Less quotes, more cleaning"
 * In Crash of the Titans, a statue of Doctor N. Gin represents him as the Statue Of Liberty.
 * In The Godfather the statue can be seen at certain points.
 * In Dino Stalker the statue appears half-buried in a desert in level 4.
 * In Driver: Parallel Lines the statue appears as itself.
 * The original ending of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty would have had Arsenal Gear crashing into and displacing the statue, and a scene during the credits would show it now resting on Ellis Island. This and other ending scenes were removed due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
 * In JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain, the scene in which Botley explains Polly's plan to alter time, shows that Polly caused the Statue of Liberty to be built entirely out of red licorice, giving it the name "The Statue of Licorice". In JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island, it is mentioned in several tablets in the Mummy's Tomb.
 * In Twisted Metal 2: World Tour, the statue is seen in the distance in the New York stage. After shooting it repeatedly it will lose its clothes, revealing a red bikini underneath. Continuing to shoot it will result in the statue to become an extremely fat woman, still in a red bikini, before being destroyed completely.
 * In Ninja Gaiden II A Fiend named Alexei has taken over the entire New York and sits atop of the Statue. Ryu Hayabusa must stop him in order to save the City and the world. Ryu is shown meeting him from the head of the statue while Alexei sits on the torch. The game's upcoming PS3 version, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, will feature the statue as one of the new bosses.


 * In the Sega Genesis game Comix Zone, Lady Liberty's ruined head can be seen in several panels in the first episode, "Night of the Mutants".
 * In the Sim City Series, the statue can be built as a world landmark.
 * In the PC game Jump Start Music, the statue is called "The Statue of Lullaby" and is holding a violin.
 * In the puzzle game Magic Jewelry for Famicom, a depiction of the Statue appears on the right side of the screen while playing. When a level is cleared, it switches its color along with all the screen.
 * The Statue of Liberty re-appears on the game Spider-Man 3, only more minor, appearing only at the map of Spider-Man.
 * In Civilization IV, the Statue of Liberty may be built by any player who has discovered Democracy, even in non-democratic states. The civilization that builds it may not donate it to another nation.
 * In Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 In the Soviet campaign, the player must destroy the Statue of liberty to build Lenin Statue in its place.
 * In LittleBigPlanet on PlayStation 3, a "Sacktue of Liberty" costume was available for a limited time to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2009. There is also a sticker of the Statue of Liberty that can be collected in one of the levels.

In music

 * In 1968, Al Kooper posed as the Statue of Liberty on his first solo album, "I Stand Alone."
 * The cover of the 1973 Atlantic Records compilation album Let It Rock has the statue holding aloft a microphone instead of the torch, winking, and flashing 'her' legs.
 * The album cover of Supertramp's Breakfast in America shows a rendering of the downtown New York skyline made from egg cartons, coffee mugs, and other dining utensils. In the foreground a waitress with a name tag reading "Libby" holds a glass of orange juice on a saucer in her outstretched right hand, and a menu in her left, as she mimics the statue's pose.
 * XTC recorded a single called Statue of Liberty, about the singer's apparent attraction to the statue.
 * The Statue of Liberty has been used as a symbol of protest, as in the cover for the Dead Kennedys 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy.
 * In the music video to Franz Ferdinand's song, Eleanor Put Your Boots On, the titular character (an animated Eleanor Friedberger) runs up the Statue of Liberty.
 * The front cover for metal band God Forbid's album, IV: Constitution of Treason featured the Statue with the torch torn away from the arm with a hellish environment.
 * In the music video Go West of the Pet Shop Boys, Statue of Liberty is symbolising socialism
 * In the Music Video Black or White by Michael Jackson. He is dancing in the torch and a pan out happens and it shows famous places from around the world.
 * A claymation version of the statue is briefly featured in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker right before the "Speed Demon" segment. When Michael is hiding from various claymation characters, he ducks behind the statue, who starts saying "land of the free, home of the weird."
 * The deathcore band All Shall Perish used an edited picture of the Statue on the cover of their third album Awaken the Dreamers, where the torch has been replaced by a gun, most likely to reflect the band's radical left wing political perspective.
 * The alternative band The Smashing Pumpkins featured a red and black Statue of Liberty on their album  Zeitgeist, partially submerged in a red sea and in front of a rising sun.

As a political symbol

 * The artist Joseph Pennell created a poster 1918 for the fourth Liberty Loans campaign of 1918, during World War I, showing her headless and torchless while around her the New York area was in flames, under enemy attack by air and by sea. The poster is sometimes referred to on the Web as "That liberty shall not perish" since these are the first words that appear on it.
 * In 1978, at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Jim Mallon and Leon Varjian of the "Pail and Shovel Party" won election by promising to give campus issues "the seriousness they deserve." In 1979 (and again in 1980), they created their own version of the Planet of the Apes scene by erecting replicas of the torch and the top of the head on the frozen surface of Lake Mendota, creating a fanciful suggestion that the entire statue was standing on the bottom of the lake.
 * Many libertarian organizations use images of the statue as their symbol.
 * The Conservative Party of New York uses the statue's torch and flame as its symbol.

In sports

 * The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League use the head of the Statue of Liberty as their logo on their third jersey.
 * The New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association use the Statue of Liberty image in their team logo.
 * In American Football, the "Statue of Liberty play" is an old trick play in which the quarterback holds the ball high over his head as if to throw a pass, and then does a stealthy handoff to a running back.

In numismatics
The Statue of the liberty has been depicted in several coins, not only in the USA, but all over the world. Once of the most recent silver coin is the 20 euro S.M.S. Sankt Georg commemorative coin. The obverse shows the armored cruiser S.M.S. Sankt Georg sailing into New York Harbor on May 17, 1907; passing right in front of the Statue of Liberty. This was to be the last visit of an Austrian naval vessel in the U.S.A.

Other

 * During the 1940s and 1950s, the iconography of science fiction in the United States was filled with images of ancient, decayed Statues of Liberty, set in the distant future. The covers of famous pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Astounding Science Fiction all featured Lady Liberty at one time, surrounded by ruins or by the sediments of the ages, as curious aliens or representatives of advanced or degenerate humans of the future gazed upon her remains. The February 1941 cover of Astounding showed a primitive man and woman approaching on a raft a Statue of Liberty surrounded by wild growth.


 * New York and New Jersey have featured the statue on license plates. The statue was on the regular New York plate from 1986 until 2001. A New Jersey speciality plate, celebrating Liberty State Park has been available for many years and is still available.
 * On April 8, 1983, CBS broadcast a program, the fifth of a series featuring illusionist David Copperfield, in which he made the statue apparently vanish. The effect took place at night. The program showed the statue from the point of view of an audience seated on a ground-level platform, viewing the statue between two scaffolding towers in which a large curtain was raised.
 * Epcot's The American Adventure attraction ends with Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain standing on the Statue's torch, relishing their view of America. The attraction opened in 1982, and so used a replica of the Statue's pre-1986 torch even after a major renovation in 1986.
 * The Central Railroad of New Jersey used the nationla monument as its logo, it main station Communipaw Terminal located on the Upper New York Bay nearby.
 * Daniel Johnston was once stopped by police for drawing on the monument's interior.