The marketing campaign for "Civil War" began with one image. Shortly before the film’s trailer premiered, A24 debuted a single poster announcing the production’s imminent arrival. This teaser features none of the movie's notable actors. It also doesn't offer specific glimpses into the plot. Instead, the "Civil War" poster features two snipers poised at opposite ends of the Statue of Liberty's torch. Sandbags dot the exterior of this torch. Everything on this poster exemplifies that this locale is now a go-to spot for soldiers rather than a tourist attraction. It's a striking image suggesting that no parts of America are off-limits in this national conflict. Everything can become a battleground.
Don’t you want to know what could lead to the chaos that resulted in the State of Liberty’s destruction?
This inaugural piece of "Civil War" marketing continues a long-running promotional trend for movie posters in distorting the Statue of Liberty. Over the years, decimating this iconic American landmark has become a go-to design motif for ominous movies involving cataclysmic circumstances. In the fictional universe of "Civil War," the titular conflict is something unprecedented. While the previous American Civil War had been split across two factions, the one in this film has divided the country into four different sectors, and this time they're duking it out with each other in large-scale battles with refined military firepower. Alex Garland's dystopian hit is all about thrusting both its characters and the audience into a seemingly impossible American nightmare. The "Civil War" poster hinging on the distortion of the Statue of Liberty, though, is far less idiosyncratic.
Related
Hollywood loves to destroy national monuments for the sake of eye-catching spectacle. Just look at 1950s creature features. These titles informed by the horrors of the Atomic Age featured recognizable American landmarks going up in smoke. A big octopus takes down the Golden Gate Bridge in 1955's "It Came from Beneath the Sea." A year later in "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," the titular otherworldly invaders attack recognizable locales like the White House. These instances of spectacle tend to play on fears as relevant in 2024 as they were in 1954. Landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and the White House have always been around. They’re seemingly eternal fixtures that only exist in America. If they can get wiped out, nobody or nowhere is safe.
That anxiety underpins the film industry’s love for blowing up and damaging big American landmarks. It also defines the trend of movie posters depicting the Statue of Liberty in disarray. One notable early example of this phenomenon is a pair of posters for 1981's sci-fi actioner "Escape from New York." Set in the distant future of 1997, "Escape from New York" takes place in a world where the America/Russia conflict has resulted in Manhattan becoming a massive unruly prison. When the President........