King Kong a Racist?
I recently saw the new version of King Kong with a couple friends. Leading up to seeing the movie, I'd seen & heard that the movie was getting poor reviews & was not going to do well. #1 at the box office isn't bad. The most interesting thing I read was that King Kong was a racist movie & always has been. I saw the original, & followed with the most recent. I neither saw nor heard racist content/material in the movie. So I'm thinking to myself, what's the deal? Is it truely racist & I just can't see it because I'm a white middle class man, or is it just another NAACP load of crap?
posted by Murdoc @ 8:40 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
It's King Kong size crap if you ask me. Maybe they say it was racist because when that black dude shot Kong, Kong threw him against that wall. Therefore Kong hates blacks. I'm not sure why this theory exists. Maybe the dirty natives.
I once read that any movie that shows white people sailing off to the Third World to capture a giant ape and carry it back to the West for exploitation is going to be seen as a metaphor for racism.
That was true for the original Kong in 1933 and for each of the two remakes (and even the 2 Mighty Joe Youngs).
There seems to be a lot of people who make their living in the pursuit of racism. It can become pretty silly. (according to NEWSDAY a GOOGLE search using the words "King Kong racism" yielded 490,000 hits).
king kong has like an 80+% rating at rotten tomatoes. i've read very few negative reviews, so i don't know where the poor reviews part comes from. #1 was disappointing just because it was not a HUGE #1.
now on to the racism. i actually just finished watching the 1976 version on amc before logging on this morning. i remember thinking, "how is it that there are no complaints that this movie is racist?" apparently i don't do the right google searches.
I haven't seen that version, what was racist about it?
perhaps i will create a post about it as i don't wish to hijack ben's blog. look for it in the next day or so
psshhh, ben won't mind, will ya ben. Was it the monkey or the island folk? I wanna know what was racist.
no dave, I wouldnt mind. Go ahead brint, tell us.
all right, fine. this will be the abridged version. i was struck by the thought that the movie could be perceived as racist mainly due to the island folk and the lack of any other significant black characters. it's not a problem to me (or to most) when backwards tribes are portrayed by blacks because most backwards tribes are darker skinned. but it seems like if you are going to use the ignorant black tribal folk, there should be a significant black character to help the balance.
i'm sure i will be crucified for being a whiny liberal or pc police guy, but i think the reason this doesn't bother us normally is becuase we are middle class white guys - like ben said earlier, though it may have been sarcastic. i try to frame it like this: think about the portrayal of Christians in most films or tv and think about the bad taste it leaves in your mouth. the portrayal of the bigot or the abusive parent in the name of Jesus wouldn't bother me if the movies that contained them also had positive portrayals of Christians in them to balance it all out. we can't argue that many Christians are as portrayed (the same way that backwards natives are black or brown) but we can start to assume an agenda if the portrayals are one-sided.
oh.
All stereotypes come from truth.It doesn't mean that they should always apply, however all tribal peoples are simple and backwards. That doesn't mean there's an agenda; I think that maybe the truth hurts sometimes. Anybody know where I can find a cliche or two?
My wife makes a wonderful cliche.
Denden, we bought our shoes today. Jessica got some mizuno & i went with brooks. Pretty comfortable.
...now you guys can start running everywhere instead of driving!
btw...if they get wet...DONT throw 'em n the dryer...they'll self-destruct. Just let 'em sit.
On a side note...is it possible that you chose Brooks over those perfectly excellent Mizunos because of some racist bias against Asian products?
I guess anythings possible. I like other asian products like...rice, chow mein, general chicken, sushi, saki (never actually had it but hey), and the list goes on.
my mom. you forgot my mom on your list
your mom is an asian product? even if it's not, that just sounds racist...LOL
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