The video: Chicago already has a reputation for head-turning public sculptures, from the giant Picasso artwork gracing Daley Plaza to Anish Kapoor's mirror-clad "Bean" in Millennium Park. And as of last Friday, you can add Marilyn Monroe to the list. A 26-foot-tall statue of the iconic sex symbol, lace panties on full display under her billowy-skirt from The Seven Year Itch, sits smack in the middle of Chicago's Magnificent Mile. The J. Seward Johnson work, "Forever Marilyn," is a hit with tourists. (Watch reactions below.) But locals are having a decidedly more mixed reaction. The larger-than-life Marilyn is slated to stay up until spring 2012.
The reaction: "Marilyn's making us look bad," or maybe we're making her look bad, ogling the "beyond-kitschy" statue, gawking up her skirt, and licking her legs, says Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times. The worst part is that the "hideous" blight on a beautiful stretch of our city celebrates a film moment that has nothing to do with Chicago. Why not Blues Brothers? Ferris Bueller? Seriously, "did we lose a bet" with New York? Methinks Chicago "doth protest too much," says Carole Brewer in ChicagoNow. Not everyone is a fan of the resurrected sex symbol, but love her or not, she's "doing what public art is intended to do — to get us talking." See for yourself:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pet cloning booms in ChinaUnder The Radar As Chinese pet ownership surges, more people are paying to replicate their beloved dead cat or dog
-
The EPA: Let’s forget about climate changeFeature You’ll miss the EPA when it’s been gutted, said former EPA heads
-
Schumer: Did he betray the Democrats?Feature 'Schumer had only bad political options'
