King Kong

The reason King Kong has lasted and persisted to this day is not so much for the special effects, but because that large scale entertainment actually had copious amounts of depth and psychology in it (psychology in the form of sexuality). I think the film still persists in legend to this day because it’s actually a very subtle reflection of the 1930’s.

Carl Denham represents the exploitation and risk factor that could serve as a good distraction for the times (the whole movie does this). The audience doesn’t really hate the supposed villains in the piece. King Kong turns out to be more prince charming than Ann’s boyfriend does, and the same example applies to Carl Denham. I feel that the enemy of the piece is the gala society individuals in New York City, and the reason for this is because the Depression was going on at this time. The underdog was more looked upon as heroes, because the underdog in a sense was the lower class that was affected by the Depression; the enemy was the upper class at that time because they were the minority. It’s amazing how all of these themes and messages could be placed in a monster movie. That depth makes the movie scarier.

After all, it’s not as if the NYC scenes are as sexy as the ones on Skull Island. The reason, I think, is because the idea of exoticism and getting away from your problems (this is in reference to the Depression) is much more advantageous than going back to your homeland (NYC). I truly admire that aspect of the movie; that New York’s already been done and it’s time to move on to a new location.

The sexuality that’s in the film, even though it’s subtle, is potent. This film came out before the MPAA restrictions that we as a movie industry are still experiencing today. This is also a representation of the freedoms that America was experiencing at the time (the restrictions came in the form of the Depression). That’s why that image of Kong sniffing Ann is so shocking.

That and the fact that American sci-fi/horror movies do not take those risks anymore. (Just look at The Transformers; the good robots never interfere with the human condition.) I wish they had because that might make the work that we are watching more startling and interesting; maybe that’s the reason for all the “sexuality” in horror movies. It’s ironic that the Depression was still going on when this particular movie was made, and yet there are all these startling daring things in it. This film may be a more accurate representation of the 30’s than a lot of our history books are.