A Monument to Mediocrity: Detroit Gets a RoboCop
Seriously? A statue? Of RoboCop? After fifteen years of languishing in storage, we’re celebrating this…this aggressively beige embodiment of 80s action movie logic? Lets be clear: the original film was darkly satirical. It mocked corporate greed and police brutality with a grim wink. This statue? It celebrates it. Or at least, it pretends to.
I suppose in a city facing real-world struggles – crumbling infrastructure, systemic poverty, persistent crime—a giant metal man pointing menacingly into the future feels exactly like what we need. A symbol of…what? Law and order delivered by a cyborg fueled by angst and questionable legal ethics? Wonderful. Absolutely brilliant civic planning.
And dont even get me started on the aesthetic. It’s just…grey. Grey metal, grey intentions, probably grey rain perpetually clinging to its synthetic skin. Is this what we aspire to? A monument to blandness?
I picture tourists coming, snapping pictures, and thinking Detroit: Where the future is aggressively average.” Instead of tackling actual issues, weve erected a tribute to a fictional police officer who mostly shoots people and complains about corruption. Fantastic job, Detroit! You’ve outdone yourselves. I can’t wait to see what other deeply symbolic sculptures you conjure up next. Perhaps a bronze bust of rush hour traffic?
