Slow Burn - Decoder Ring | We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
It seems like the only time you hear about new statues these days is when something goes horribly wrong. Unfortunate bronze renditions of Lucille Ball, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne Wade, and many others are always going viral, becoming a fixture of late-night shows and mocking comment sections. Is the internet too harsh a critic? Or is American statuary a total bust?
In this episode of Decoder Ring, host Willa Paskin talks to artist Atalanta Arden-Miller about what’s happened to one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world—why so many contemporary statues turn out off-center, off-kilter, and off-putting. The answer takes us from ancient Greece to Nazi Germany to North Korea.
This episode was written by Willa Paskin. It was produced by Max Freedman. It was edited by Josh Levin and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Our intern is Phoebe Mulder.
Special thanks to the Works in Progress Podcast, where we first heard Atalanta talk about the dismal state of statuary today.
If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the classic film, Mr. Smith goes to Washington from 1939, Jimmy Stewart plays a pure-of-heart, small-town scout leader who unexpectedly becomes a senator. |
| 0:19.9 | When he arrives in Washington, D.C. for the first time, he eagerly tours the city. |
| 0:24.6 | He takes in one patriotic landmark after another, the monument to Jefferson, the Constitution, |
| 0:31.6 | until he finally arrives at the Lincoln Memorial. |
| 0:36.6 | He removes his hat as he walks up the wide stairs |
| 0:40.6 | and threads his way through vast columns |
| 0:43.1 | to gaze upon this giant marble Lincoln, |
| 0:47.4 | thoughtful and seated. |
| 0:49.7 | And then a small child begins to haltingly read |
| 0:52.7 | from an inscription of the Gettysburg address. |
| 0:55.0 | That we hear highly... |
| 0:58.0 | Resolve. |
| 0:59.0 | Resolve. |
| 1:00.0 | Resolve. |
| 1:01.0 | As the child speaks, Mr. Smith seems to really hear the words. |
| 1:08.0 | Freedom. |
| 1:10.0 | Freedom. Freedom. |
| 1:11.7 | He looks back reverentially at Lincoln, and his face fills with emotion. |
| 1:17.0 | He's moved, proud, overcome. |
| 1:20.8 | This figure hacked out of stone. |
| 1:23.5 | It's made him feel so much. |
| 1:27.0 | That's the power of a great statue. |
... |
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