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Culture February 27, 2017
“‘Fra-GEE-leh,’ It must be Italian!” Darren McGavin famously says as he unwraps his “major award” in beloved 1983 classic “A Christmas Story.”
And though sculptor Joni Younkins-Herzog’s leg lamp, inspired by the film, seems pretty solid – it’s sure making Lakeland, Florida citizens seem fragile.
Many have taken to the Facebook page to complain about the piece of art – appropriately titled “I’ll Shoot Your Eye Out” – calling it an embarrassment.
The Lakeland leg lamp statue, inspired by “A Christmas Story” has been causing quite a stir in the Florida city. Image via News Channel 8
One woman, Paula Perks Geiger, claimed on the social media site that the leg lamp statue is “promoting sex for our children.”
“I hate this sculpture. Reminds me of a street walker waiting for a pickup,” another Facebook user, Gloria Geiger Bushong, wrote.
And Natalie Joy commented, “I’ve never liked the objectifying of a women’s body part… Didn’t like it in the movie, do not like it in the middle of my city. Let me take a wild guess and say that the panel who picked this out was mostly men.”
But in actuality the sculpture was made by a woman, Joni. The work was even intended to be feminist, since the proportions are based on Barbie’s and the statue is a reference to her other work depicting the female form, she told Heatstreet.
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“It has more to do with being a woman in a predominantly masculine field. Feminist means female perspective as far as I am concerned. I take ownership of these stereotypical trappings of beauty, combined with the humorous context of the movie,” she explained.
Joni said that she had been surprised by the negative responses, since the wife in the movie – which was set in the Forties – “was offended based on context.” The old-fashioned reaction is even more bizarre since Joni reasoned, “Our society and ads and TV are far more suggestive than a disembodied leg.”
Officials were unbothered by criticism of the statue – which is part of an annual art contest in the city – with Director of Communications for the city Kevin Cook offering a half-hearted apology. “If people are offended by a leg, we really apologize,” he said.
Here’s hoping none of the disgruntled citizens follows Mother Parker’s (Melinda Dillon) lead by “accidentally” knocking the leg lamp over.
