"The statue looms and glints at more than 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds, looking out at the city with, how to put it a characteristically stern expression? Despite its daunting appearance and history as a crimefighter of last resort, the giant new bronze figure of the movie character RoboCop is being seen as a symbol of hope, drawing fans and eliciting selfie mania since it began standing guard over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon."
"There was a time when Detroit pushed back on anything pointing to its past reputation as an unsafe city, and the movie, which developed a cult following, spawning two sequels and a reboot, didn't help its image. But with violent crime trending down for years and homicide numbers now below mid-1960s levels there is less pushback and city officials offered no objections to the statue's installation, Toscano said."
"The statue campaign appears to have started around 2010 when Detroit's mayor, Dave Bing, was tagged in a tweet that noted Philadelphia's statue of the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa and said RoboCop would be a GREAT ambassador for Detroit. Bing tweeted back, saying there were no such plans. But some Detroiters ran with the idea, crowdfunding it through a 2012 Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $67,000 from more than 2,700 backers worldwide, and Detroit sculptor Giorgio Gikas finished the statue in 2017."
The 11-foot, 3,500-pound bronze statue of RoboCop now stands bolted near the sidewalk by the Free Age film company in Detroit. The figure draws fans and selfie-seekers despite a stern appearance and its cinematic history as a last-resort crimefighter. The 1987 RoboCop film depicted a crime-ridden near-future Detroit and spawned sequels and a reboot, building a cult following. The statue campaign began around 2010, gained momentum with a 2012 Kickstarter that raised over $67,000 from more than 2,700 backers, and was sculpted by Giorgio Gikas in 2017. Falling violent crime and low homicide numbers reduced objections and helped cast the statue as a nostalgic symbol of hope.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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