Rushmore Refacement: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:krangmtrushmorewz4.jpg|link=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|
Villains, especially cartoon villains, are remarkably narcissistic and prone to childish vandalism. Whenever there's a landmark with a famous face on it, there's a good chance the villain will demonstrate his need for attention by putting their own face on it instead (or some ridiculous caricature of a real face, to emphasize their whimsicality). Mount Rushmore (which features U.S. Presidents [[George Washington|Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]], [[Theodore Roosevelt|Teddy Roosevelt]] and [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]], in case you've forgotten) is an especially frequent target of this; the [[Statue of Liberty]] and the Great Sphinx of Giza are other popular venues for refacement.▼
▲Villains, especially cartoon villains, are remarkably narcissistic and prone to childish vandalism. Whenever there's a landmark with a famous face on it, there's a good chance the villain will demonstrate his need for attention by putting their own face on it instead (or some ridiculous caricature of a real face, to emphasize their whimsicality). Mount Rushmore (which features U.S. Presidents [[George Washington|Washington]], [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]], [[Theodore Roosevelt|Teddy Roosevelt]] and [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]], in case you've forgotten) is an especially frequent target of this; the Statue of Liberty and the Great Sphinx of Giza are other popular venues for refacement.
An alternative, less sinister refacement would be simply adding more heads, either for parody purposes, or of notable future presidents.
Compare [[Deface of the Moon]]. A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Monumental Damage]].
{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* During [[The DCU]]'s ''Last Laugh'' [[Crisis Crossover]], some of the Jokerized villains added Joker smiles to Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, and other landmarks. The Joker himself seemed to view this as too obvious to be funny.
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* The Kryptonian supervillains in ''[[Superman II]]'' stop by Rushmore to carve something new with their heat vision. No points for guessing what.
* In ''[[Batman Forever]]'', Two-Face defaces "Lady Gotham" (a Statue of Liberty stand-in and a [[Mythology Gag]] to the comics).
* In ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'' the Riches avoid the evil route and make their own Mount Rushmore with their faces instead of refacing the existing one. A rare case where the characters are nice enough not to ruin a national monument, but narcissistic (and rich) enough to feel the need to make one of their own (it does cover their vault).
** However, Regina mentions "Mount Richmore" was their sculptress' idea and Richard even lampshades how pretentious it is (though he seems more concerned over how his cheeks look "puffy"). The 'Richmore' is blasted to bejeebers by villains trying to kill the heroes.
* Part of the [[Viral Marketing]] for the [[Watchmen]] film includes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WsciSNVS0&feature=channel_page an informational video about] [[Super Registration Act|the Keene Act]] which reveals the heads one at a time and fourth is not Lincoln but rather ''[[Richard Nixon]]''. Yes, this makes little sense even given the [[Alternate History]] that ''Watchmen'' is in, [[Rule of Funny|just go with it]]. Also, it's not actually ''showing'' the monument, just an animated version, so it's possible it doesn't "really" look like that.
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* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "When Aliens Attack", it's mentioned that New York once had a super-villain governor who stole the world's most famous monuments, including Mount Rushmore. A sight-gag reveals he added his face to it.
** Another ''[[Futurama]]'' example: The statue of Abe Lincoln in his DC Memorial was at some point replaced with that of an alien conqueror sitting on a throne of human skulls.
* ''[[The Fairly
* In one of the season finales of the first ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, it's revealed that the villains are headed towards Mt. Rushmore. Raphael theorized (and we're treated to his imagining) that Krang wanted to put his face on there and "scare the country into submission."
** There's another episode where the Turtles go to a future ruled by Shredder and the Statue of Liberty has been changed to a statue of Shredder holding up a laser gun.
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* ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has Robotnik often building large statues (including a Great Sphinx with his face), then Sonic deface them.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* During his reign over ancient Rome, [[A God Am I|considering himself the embodiment of a god]], the emperor Caligula replaced the heads of many statues of the gods with his own. He also made his horse a consul, so go figure. This makes this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]].
* The Sphinx predates the ancient Egyptian civilization we are familiar with by quite some time and some Egyptologists claim it originally had the face of a lion, until a later pharaoh changed it to his own face. Said Egyptologists are savagely mocked and ridiculed by most historians, however, so this may or may not be true.
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* Around the time of his death in 2004, some conservatives wanted to add Ronald Reagan to Mount Rushmore, and there was even a bill in the House (H.R.4980) introduced with 18 co-sponsors.
** The Reagan Legacy Project continues to push for this as part of their ongoing efforts to canonize Reagan ''everywhere.''
*** Especially [[Take That|the dime]].<ref>For those not familiar with American currency, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the current iconic president of the Democratic Party is on the dime. The Republican party's iconic president on U.S. currency is Lincoln, ''but'' Lincoln doesn't appeal to some Southerners because of the Civil War and the Reconstruction. Also Lincoln is already on the penny and five dollar bill.</ref>
* Greenpeace managed to pull off unfurling a banner of President Obama as a fifth face, to prod the prez to push Global Warming legislation.
* The Crazy Horse Memorial is actually in the same geographical area as Mount Rushmore (only about 17 miles away in fact) and depicts the eponymous warrior atop a steed and pointing into the distance. Far bigger than the depicted Presidents it is very much a [[Take That]] to the other memorial. Or rather it will be, as it was started in 1948 and is still unfinished...
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* A Russian example: the city of Samara once had a monument to the tsar Alexander II the Liberator. When the Bolsheviks came to power, they replaced the statue with Lenin. The humorousness of the situation is that the statue of Lenin was too small for the huge pedestal.
* A statue of Lenin in Odessa, Ukraine was altered into a statue of Darth Vader as part of a desovietization campaign. This was done because the relatively minor nature of the changes was far cheaper than building a new statue entirely.
* During his term as president of the United States, [[Donald Trump]] expressed several times his desire to add his face to Mount Rushmore.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:The Ground Beneath Our Feet]]
[[Category:Rushmore Refacement]]▼
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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