It’s common for an American city to see uproar and infighting over everything from city politics and government to controversy over public artworks.
But it’s difficult to think of a more unexpected piece of public art - or of a more impassioned and contentious city controversy surrounding it – than the 50-foot leg lamp of Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Based on the iconic movie prop from holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” it began life as a temporary inflatable attraction in 2020 before a bespoke 50-foot tall sculpture of the leg lamp was purpose-built and installed in downtown Chickasha in late 2022, kicking up massive new tourism numbers, heated citywide debate, and even a cease and desist from Warner Brothers.
That entire wild saga is all covered in the brand new streaming documentary “Fragilé” (a reference to the film’s famous mispronunciation of “fragile”) directed by Chickasha local Reagan Elkins, who found himself and his camera unexpectedly in the thick of it throughout the tourist attraction’s whole unpredictable life.
Reagan Elkins: I do videos for a local company here, and the owner is a guy named Tim Elliot.
One day, he showed me this photoshopped picture of a giant leg lamp downtown, and I thought he was joking. A few months later, I got a call that said “hey, they're putting up an inflatable leg lamp downtown. You might want to bring a camera.”
And what's crazy is this little inflatable caused us so much buzz in Oklahoma and in the nation. I mean, it went viral. So some locals were all about it, and some not so much.
Brett Fieldcamp: When Elkins ran downtown to shoot the unexpectedly comical and fraught process of inflating that first temporary leg lamp attraction, he had no idea that it was only the beginning of a tale spanning years and stirring controversy throughout the city, as some touted the substantial rise in tourism and attention for the city, and others derided the attraction as gaudy, objectifying, or even just random.
But as the next years continued playing out and continued to generate buzz, headlines, elation, and anger – seemingly in all in equal measure – he continued filming, capturing the intrigue, emotions, and even the shocking revelations, such as the claims of Chickasha resident Noland James that he was actually the original creator of the mannequin leg lamp design.
Reagan Elkins: I really had no idea what this would turn into. I just knew, you know, as an artist, I knew that I needed to capture this.
The film covers from 2020 when they put this inflatable up for the first time until even recent history. So we've been filming and editing for that long, everything from City Council drama to how they made the permanent structure, putting up the permanent structure, the big reveal day, everything, we have it on camera.
So it's pretty wild.
Brett Fieldcamp: Having never helmed or produced a feature-length documentary before, Elkins and his filmmaking and digital media company Intellego Media found themselves in the unique position of having a story this rich, odd, and seemingly documentary-ready practically dropped at their door.
And Elkins himself felt uniquely suited to telling that story, because for all of the drama, debate, and heightened emotions surrounding the giant leg, he says he’s never had much of an opinion one way or another.
Reagan Elkins: I live here in Chickasha, and so I’d just walk a few blocks down the road and go film this thing. My studio is literally on Chickasha Avenue, five blocks away from the leg lamp. And so we’d just go down and film all the things that were happening down there.
But I also genuinely don't care about it. I think it could stay up for 1000 years or be taken down tomorrow, I've said that.
I care about the story, but I don't care about the leg lamp. It doesn't bother me.
Brett Fieldcamp: What Elkins does care about is his city, and this film, he says, is an opportunity for him to explore and showcase the unique passions that people have for their hometowns and for the communities in which they live, even if it is all centered around such a peculiar attraction.
Reagan Elkins: I mean, I'm fourth generation Chickasha. I've lived here all my life. And whenever you get people that I know and that I consider friends, you know, going up against each other at city council, it felt like our town was kind of being torn apart to a certain degree.
But overall, I think it's way deeper than that. It's really about a group of people that really love their community and they want what's best for it, but we all disagree on how to get there.
Yeah, it's been fun. It's just definitely one of those projects that you know, has the tourism intrigue, has the Christmas intrigue. It has all those things, and, of course, the “Parks and Rec”-style town drama, city council meetings and all of that stuff on the foundation of a 50 foot… leg.
Brett Fieldcamp: The documentary “Fragilé” is available to watch now at fragiledocumentary.com (spelled like “fragile,” of course,) and for more, follow @fragiledocumentary on Instagram.
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