As Britain's shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss has become one of the objects of "entertainment" for Britons. Before stepping down as prime minister, some British media compared the life of Truss's prime minister with the "lifespan" of lettuce. Now, her paper statue will be a prop for a bonfire festival in England, carrying a "jubilant" lettuce on her shoulder.
Based on British media reports on November 3, local time, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, which often uses celebrity statues as the object of mockery at the bonfire festival, announced that the annual bonfire festival will be held in Kent, England, on the evening of November 5, and unveiled the celebrity statue to be satirized at this bonfire festival - the 11-meter-tall statue of Truss.
As shown above, Truss's statue holds a cardboard box, and the cardboard box has many objects that satirize Truss, such as a Guinness World Records plaque, which ironically makes Truss the shortest-serving prime minister in British history; There is also a cheque card of £115,000 indicating the "pension" that successive British prime ministers can receive; There is also a sign with "mini budget" written on it that makes her step down quickly, and so on.
Of course, the most striking thing is the lettuce on the shoulder of her statue that laughs out of tears. The British "Daily Star" once compared lettuce with Prime Minister Truss's "shelf life", and after "Lettuce PK Truss" quickly went on the Internet, it finally caused Western mainstream media to report it. The Daily Star even projected lettuce onto the walls of the British Parliament building.
Truss became British Prime Minister on September 6 and announced his resignation on October 20. So, without this lettuce decoration on the statue of Truss, the ironic effect of the bonfire festival may not be highlighted.
Since 1994, lighting majestic statues of celebrities has become almost an essential celebration at this bonfire festival. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the bonfire festival was suspended for two years in 2020 and 2021, and this year the festival resumes and will be held normally. This year's association chose the controversial Truss, whose statue will light up the bonfire night.
The Edenbridge Bonfire Association is a non-profit organisation that has been around for almost 100 years and intends to raise £5,000 for local charity this year's Bonfire Festival.
Usually, the association's annual bonfire festival selects a celebrity politician with a "story", such as the scandal-prone former Hollywood tycoon Harvey Weinstein, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former US President Donald Trump and so on. The statues of the "lucky" people of the year are often designed to be quite sarcastic.
The celebrity statue at the 2018 Bonfire Festival is Johnson, who was not yet elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Johnson was elected Prime Minister in 2019), but he was one of the leading advocates of Brexit and was "famous". At the Bonfire Festival that year, his statue was carrying a missing piece of the EU flag cake in one hand, and the missing piece on his other. In addition, his messy appearance is also fully reflected on the large statue, as shown above.
The celebrity statue at the 2017 Bonfire Festival is Weinstein, who, pictured above, is a.
The celebrity statue at the 2016 Bonfire Festival was Trump, who defeated former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that year to win the U.S. presidential election. In the image above, his statue holds Hillary's head.
As soon as it was announced that Truss's statue would be lit at this year's bonfire, it sparked controversy on social media Facebook. It was argued that such behaviour was undesirable.
User Martin Bachelor said: "This is showing others that bullying and violence are acceptable. Take this as an example, it is extremely disgusting. ”
Another user, Adele Taggart, said: "Why do you think this behavior is acceptable in today's world? Disgusting, savage, shameful. ”
However, the Bonfire Association's selection of characters for this year's Bonfire Night has also gained a lot of support.
User Dipak Gohil said: "That's a statue, don't take it too seriously." Bonfire night has been celebrated like this for a long time. ”
Another user, Darren Hartle, said: "It's humor, and now too many people forget about it... Life is full of humor and irony. Accept life as it is. ”
So the question is, can you accept this kind of humor and irony?