When you talk about bringing down statues today, a lot of people say you’re tearing down history. But on July 9, 1776, the citizens of the new Republic didn’t find it “woke” to topple a 15‑foot‑tall statue of King George III — they found it necessary.
That story is featured in the immersive documentary experience “By George: It All Comes Down,” which runs on a loop 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at Dupont Underground in D.C. through the Fourth of July weekend.
Director Paul Moon says it wasn’t just symbolic. The 4,000 pound gold-plated statue was made of lead, and with supplies cut off to the colonies, that material suddenly became valuable.
An 11-year-old girl named Mary Ann Wolcott, the daughter of a signer of the Declaration, helped melt the fallen statue into musket balls. She made ten‑thousand of them herself. The community in Litchfield, Connecticut produced forty‑thousand in all…ammunition fired right back at the British.
Moon says they still find pieces of those musket balls on battlefields across the Northeast.
The documentary isn’t just about the past. Moon uses the toppling of King George to explore how societies build — and sometimes remove — the monuments that define them. From ancient Rome to the Arab Spring to the recent removals on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, he says these moments reflect when people decide the time has come.
Ultimately, Moon connects these historical events directly to modern debates about leaders wanting new monuments and memorials. He hopes the film encourages people to think more deeply about the shelf-life of public art.
“I think it’s vital for people to have literacy about the many reasons and ways that we’ve created monuments and memorials,” Moon said, “How long they’re meant to last, and how long they have lasted, and what role they play in our world.”
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