A Monumental Controversy

[robotech_master]

One of the most potent images to come out of the September 11 tragedy is this one--the three weary, grimy firefighters hoisting the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center. Much like the earlier photo of the second flag-raising at Iwo Jima, it seems to stand as a symbol of the patriotism and indomitability brought out by a troubled time.

The New York City Fire Department has recognized the power of this picture--and so they are commissioning a statue based on it, to stand as a memorial to all the firefighters who died in the buildings' collapse. But . . . there's just this one little problem. In the name of symbolizing everyone, they're changing the races of the participants. It seems that the racially diverse firefighters who died can't be represented by a statue of just three ordinary firefighters--they have to be a white, a black, and a Hispanic firefighter instead.

To me, this is more than a little disappointing. As the fellow said in the article I've linked above, they're rewriting history. If they wanted to represent those firefighters with a more generic image of firefighters standing solemnly, or saluting a flag, or something, then that would be fine.

And likewise, if someone else wanted to make an image derivative of the firefighter image but plainly not intended to be representing that event, that would also be fine. There have been a number of Iwo Jima homage images, including this one of the 1980s animation/comic book/action figure line G.I. Joe. There's no possibility of people confusing that with the original, trying to pretend it was these action figures who raised the flag on Iwo Jima instead of the original soldiers!

But as it is, the NYC Fire Dept seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it too, trading on the resonance of that image, in the context in which the event occurred, without having to represent the actual people in question. I wonder if the Iwo Jima memorial statue also changes the faces of the people from its photo, and if so to what extent?

According to the article, the three firefighters themselves declined to comment, just issuing a statement through their lawyer that they were disappointed the statue had become a political thing rather than historical. I suspect that if I were one of those firemen, I really wouldn't want the thing made into a statue either way--because even if it did represent them accurately, it's got to be really embarrassing to be honored in that way for just doing their job, especially in a circumstance where a lot of their friends and thousands of other people were killed. It's also worth noting that the people who own the copyright to that photograph never authorized the NYFD to make any derivative works based on it.

Anyway . . . what a mess. Hopefully it will be resolved to the satisfaction of most involved. A friend made a suggestion in online chat last night that there should be a cooling-off period of about a year before any 9/11 monument is considered. It sounds about right to me; emotions are still running too high at the moment for anybody to be thinking clearly about the issues involved.