Film Review - King Kong (1933)

(Figure 1, King Kong Movie Poster 1933)

King Kong (1933), an iconic and hugely influential film of our times which keeps satisfying audiences time and time again, in the words of Leonard Maltin on KingKong "it is so much a film of its time, it is timeless and yet it is very much 1933" (American Film Institute (2009). The films set design was cutting edge for its time, there is a giant animatronic ape head with real moving mouth and eyes, stop-motion animation in regards to any scene which contained a dinosaur or King Kong and sets made from painted glass layers, I can only imagine the terror which brimmed through that first audience, as it the was the most realistic thing they had seen other than real life. Another moment during this screening as well was one of the most famous deleted scenes, which people walked out on as being too graphic, the moment the crew falls into the chasm after being tossed off the log by Kong and are devoured by a dinosaur, a giant crab and various giant spiders. 

By todays standards it would arguably not be allowed for release to the public, it was a different time back in 1933 and cultural acceptance and equality has come on a very long way since then. There are plenty of sexist remarks, and racist thrown about which audiences aren't so on board with in regards to acceptance. For example the way the Natives are portrayed, on this remote East Indian Island as African Tribals', the captain of the ship also seems to know the language they speak which assumes the Natives have the same language as African tribes as well as the grass skirts, and the bamboo mud huts, basically tarring them with the same brush and removing their individuality. "Critics have drawn connections between the capture of Kong and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, with Kong’s disastrous escape in New York symbolic of the perceived “disaster” of granting black people in the U.S. true freedom." (Blay. 2017)

 Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) is also subjected to many sexist remarks by John Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) "King Kong is full of sexist undertones. The woman, Ann, represents a sexual object- someone whose main purpose is to serve as the object of affection for a large group of men. In both the 1933 and 2005 movies, the white men compete with the natives and King Kong over her. She doesn't seem to have any power or any purpose other than to be a sexual object." (Gumtow et al,. 2017) 

Bibliography:

American Film Institute (2009) Leonard Maltin on King Kong Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=44&v=r2WqVpYgl2s Accessed: 09/10/17

Blay, Z. (2017). This Video Breaks Down The Racist History Of 'King Kong'. [online] HuffPost. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-video-breaks-down-the-racist-history-of-king-kong_us_58c19101e4b0d1078ca4d309 [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017].

Gumtow, T., Heerjee, R., Ward, K. and Maenza, J. (2017). Sexism. [online] Available at: http://kingkongkingdom.weebly.com/sexism.html [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017].

Illustrations:
Figure 1 King Kong Movie Poster (1933)