A Question of Stature: Restoring and Ignoring Rocky

Abstract

This article examines 25 years of debate surrounding the Rocky statue, a bronze sculpture of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa that was created as a movie prop for Sylvester Stallone’s 1982 movie, Rocky III. After Stallone presented the sculpture as a gift to Philadelphia, local officials, residents and Stallone himself clashed over whether it belonged on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where countless individuals flocked to reenact Rocky’s iconic run up the museum’s steps. Critics who identified the statue as an advertisement for the film series or as a movie prop, but not as a work of fine art, argued that it would be more appropriately installed at the city’s sports complex. Traditional media outlets presented a reduced version of events that pitted everyday Rocky fans against elitist art snobs. The statue was linked to class-related conflicts in Philadelphia but it also played a role in the city’s attempt to navigate its relationship to an imagined cultural heritage. I propose that the case of the Rocky statue is more complex than the simple high/low dichotomy presented by journalists and agitated observers. Over time, the statue was transformed into a city icon that was first highlighted by, and then implicitly included in, Philadelphia’s tourism initiatives.