King Kong-Racist or Revolutionary?

King Kong is a story that has been remade more than Friday the 13th, and I'd like to find out why.

In Quentin Tarantino's 2009 movie "Inglourious Basterds," there is a scene that takes place in a basement bar involving several Jewish American soldiers disguised as Nazis playing a drinking game with a famous German film actress and a high-ranking SS officer. God, I love Tarantino.

The game involves placing the name of a famous person, real or fictional, on one's head and attempting to guess what the name is through a series of questions. The SS officer determines that his person-King Kong, unbeknownst to him-lived in the jungle, was taken away for the profit of other people, and arrived in America in chains. After determining that his person was not, in fact, the story of the Negro in America, the officer announces that he "must be King Kong."

Now, this is one of those moments which Tarantino uses to point out how much smarter he is than everyone else at understanding movies, but I love Quentin enough to let it slide. In fact, I completely agree that the parallels between King Kong and slavery are quite prominent. However, I believe that the parallels run deeper than that.

Why is King Kong scary? Not because he is a giant monster rampaging through a city, but because he is black. Allow me to explain.

There is an unfortunate trope in Hollywood that directors don't want to show black people "taking our white women." Unless they are Will Smith. Cracked.com wrote an interesting article about it here:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19549_5-old-timey-prejudices-that-still-show-up-in-every-movie.html

Before I proceed, I would like to establish that the racial undertones to the King Kong story go far beyond the idiotic and racist "apes look like black people" concept. King Kong is not a slave allegory because of his appearance, but rather because of the story parallels described by a Nazi in a Tarantino movie. While Tarantino has not always been at the forefront of racial sensitivity, the King Kong theory definitely holds water when compared based solely on story. King Kong was taken from the jungle in chains and transported to an American port for the financial benefit of white men. Are we clear? Good.

Now, King Kong is a truly memorable and effective story based on the tropes mentioned above, ergo, King Kong is black. While watching Peter Jackson's 2005 remake "King Kong," I noticed that Ann Darrow HAD to be a beautiful, blonde, white woman. I figured that her appearance probably developed from attempting to emulate Marilyn Monroe's appearance as perhaps the most famous American pin-up girl.

However, I started to think that her appearance was more meaningful than that, and I had to come up with enough thoughts to put into a blog post. King Kong falls in love with Ann, and Ann looks into Kong's eyes and sees a creature so close to humanity that she can feel the emotions he feels. She sees an intelligent, caring creature that truly loves her and is willing to do anything to protect her, despite the bubbling rage within him. She sees something that no one else could possibly see and, Stockholm Syndrome or not, starts to care for the great monster.

Unfortunately for these star-crossed lovers, this was 1933. America barely considered black people to be of the the same species as white people. They were much less willing to acknowledge a giant killer ape as a person capable of emotion and even thought. Even today, there are still people out there that fill with rage at the very idea of interracial marriage. These people are what I like to call "Southerners or grandparents or over-privileged white assholes." 

So, when we see the army chasing King Kong through New York with guns, tanks, and airplanes, they are not defending the city from a monster, they are defending the poor, defenseless white girl in the brute's hand. They cannot allow this escaped slave to make off with one their white women! They are defending American idealism for God's sake! USA! USA! I found it particularly interesting that the white boys in the airplanes are the final attack on Kong, in a movie that takes place eight years before the Tuskegee Airmen first took flight.

So, does this make the story of King Kong racist? In my opinion, no. While there are so many incarnations of Kong throughout pop culture that some of them are shown as mindless brutes, but the true story of King Kong is a love story as well as a tragedy. Two lovers from opposite ends of the world struggling against the cruel way of the world to find happiness despite what "society" deems is appropriate. Sadly, their love was never meant to last, and death follows them inevitably. In Peter Jackson's "King Kong" especially, Kong is shown as a troubled, caring monster that struggles with his own emotions but knows that he loves Ann more than he cares for his own safety. The audience is allowed to empathize with Kong more than any character in the movie.

"King Kong" is so revolutionary because it has always been a beautiful love story posing as a monster movie. Despite the similarities and equal cultural relevance the movie holds with Godzilla, they could not be more different. Kong is nothing more than a lover fighting against societies conventions but is tragically killed by society.

The final scene of "King Kong" has always been poignant and moving. Kong is on top of an enormous skyscraper, fighting airplanes while trying to keep Ann safe. Kong is repeatedly shot, and looks down to see the pain and anguish Ann is experiencing. Kong looks into her eyes and loves her so much that he is forced to give up the fight and loses his grip on the building. He falls to his death in the middle of New York and the audience is left with that timeless quote, "It wasn't the airplanes...it was Beauty killed the Beast."

King Kong is a moving, powerful story that has been told for almost a century and will be told for years to come. It tackles the paranoia and fear of white men against a physically superior "black" monster. It allows the audience to empathize with a vicious monster and root for him against all of societies destructive pressures. Most importantly, it shows that even though the monster loses, society is not always right. Sometimes cultural prejudices must be overcome to truly understand the rest of the world. Therefore, King Kong is one of the most revolutionary, racially-charged movies of the early 1900s.

Also, I would have to rate Peter Jackson's "King Kong" as See It because of a few odd scenes that throw off the flow of the movie and the fact that it's over three hours long. Not at all bad, but maybe not necessarily worth that much time.

Until next time, what are your thoughts on the movie? I love to hear the opinions!
-kmaker