Does the King Kong movie have racist overtones? (page 2)

Double Edge

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" ...... it's just a movie...don't overthink it.

mkr32208 I agree, there is racism everywhere and no, I don't think that we should not have movies. All I'm saying is that we should be aware of the duality that exists in the entertainment we take in. I don't think that we should go overboard and say that everything around us has racial overtones, however I think we should just be open to the possibilty, when and if it exists. True, offense could be taken at a number of subplots from the movie, but that speaks to another problem in society, racial insensitivity. EC

funkyderek

enlightenedcynic:

I don't think that it is a matter of a Black person not understanding a New Zealand director's movie.

Of course not. The idea that people are only equipped to understand the experiences and behaviour of people of their own culture or skin colour is ridiculous. (That was my point.)

Since the first KK movie(add another K if you will) people have had discussions about the underlying meaning of the movie. If I am correct, the writer of the original story made racially charged comments back when the first movie premiered.

Quite possibly, and maybe he was racist but simply because the protagonists of the movie are white and Kong is exploited by them does not mean he stands for black people. Even if he does, does that not reflect more poorly on the oppressors than the oppressed?

I just wanted to open up a dialouge and see what other people thought about this. I think one would be niave to think that some of the tv programs, videos and movies we view, don't have some sort of double meaing to them.

There's rarely a single meaning to them, beyond entertainment. Do you think there's some sort of secret Hollywood conspiracy to produce racist propaganda so subtle nobody notices?

Peter Jackson is an excellent director...doesn't change the fact though that the storyline may be potentially racist.

It "may be potentially racist", but it isn't actually racist. If you want to make it allegorical, Kong represents nature, which native people have lived in fearful respect of. The West tries to control it with disastrous results. There you go. It's a hippy environmentalist movie, not racist at all.

Spectrum

Hollywood has always had racist ideals. It played to the white racists of USA and Europe and made lots of money in the process.
If white society doesn't like non-whites then you can be sure that they will be portrayed negatively unless the non-whites being portrayed are jews. That's just the reality of hollywood.

lola28

I've heard this before and all I can say is, let it go. It is just a Freaking movie. Why read so much into it?

lola

funkyderek

True, offense could be taken at a number of subplots from the movie, but that speaks to another problem in society, racial insensitivity.

Surely you mean racial "oversensitivity"?

funkyderek

Spectrum:

If white society doesn't like non-whites then you can be sure that they will be portrayed negatively unless the non-whites being portrayed are jews. That's just the reality of hollywood.

Can you provide examples please

enlightenedcynic

funkyderek,

Actually, I do think that hollywod and the rest of the entertainment industry promote stereotypes and use subliminal imagery. Heck..even the WT has done that.

Go back to the 30's and 40's, the Black person is always the maid or servant and the Asian person is the cook. Today, the Black person is a gangsta/rapper and the Asian is a martial arts expert. Whether we acknowlegde it or not, in both subtle and blantant manners, racism exists in the entertainment industry. Our minds get conditioned to see that person or thing in only one way, we confine them to a box.

EC

Abaddon

Klu Kluk Kong?

Okay, if KK is racist (it's an old story so I don't need to see this version), then what is Beauty and the Beast? Quasimodo? They are fundamentally the same stories.

Maybe YOU are picking up on racial stereotypes. B&theBeast or Quasimodo doesn't ring any bells (ha!), Monster : princess + castle. French chick : ugly guy + church. Nothing to take offense from there.

Massive gorilla : female explorer + Africa + New York

Okay, nothing racist in ANY of those terms.

But comparing black people to primates is racist... sadly it's done, but not in the movie.

A female explorer of the period the film is traditionally set in historically WOULD be white... so no racism there.

She is always a beautiful woman, but she's beautiful in the other architype stories. Black heroines in movies are always beautiful too... so no racism there.

Africa. Nothing racist about that. Of course black people originally come from Africa, but we know this already.

New York. Nothing racist about that, I assume. Of course black people live in New York, but we know this already. King Kong is implictly attracted to her as he has never seen a white female before - this is, I believe a plot device, not a racist statement. If he wasn't, there would be no movie. Of course, KK BEING attracted to her is not fun for her, but that's because he's a gorilla. A very large gorillia. This is not 'Gorillas in the Mist', even Diane Fossey would draw the line at that affectionate... Of course, if you live in a society where there are still the shadows of an age where male blacks were seen as bestial and primative, and a danger to white women, you can take SHED LOADS of offense. Please don't commit the same error as racists and assume race excludes sympathy 8-)

But offense isn't actually there, not really, it's just YOUR perspective that makes it so. A non-racist fim is seen by you as racist because of the history of your country.

Besides you shave a monkeys hair off and underneath their skin is white!

Which species of monkey, and what has that got to do with primate skin colour?

Does the King Kong movie have racist overtones?

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