Yo, Adriatic!

Earlier this year, the town of Zitiste, Serbia, erected a statue of Rocky Balboa and flanked it with giant chickens in order to show the town’s hard-working spirit.

Well, move over, Sly, because more fictional characters are coming to Eastern Europe! The New York Times reports today towns in Serbia have erected or are planning on erecting statues of Tarzan, Bruce Lee and topless model Samantha Fox. (One would only imagine the reporter was simply fooled — “Ha! We made that guy from the Times think we’re building a statue to Samantha Fox!” they’d say, in Serbian or whatever — on that last one, but he writes: “Officials boasted that the statue would be larger than Rocky, but so far the only sign of Ms. Fox’s likeness is an empty pedestal in a local art gallery, with the word ‘rumors’ written on it.”)

The statues are uplifting to some, but Serbian visual artist Milica Tomic called the statues “a dangerous joke in which history is being erased and replaced by Mickey Mouse.” (Note to Tomic: You’re supposed to use Donald Duck for these analogies.)

“This turning to Rocky or Tarzan is unhealthy and dangerous,” she said. “We need to find a way of representing our grief, our responsibility and our despair. Until we do that, Serbia cannot come to terms with the present and the future.”

Samantha Fox, though, now that’s inspiration.