Like most of the films on this project, I had never seen King Kong before. The reason is simple; I simply had no interest in a stop motion monster movie from the 30s. Similarly, I've never seen Godzilla. Now that I have seen Kong, I'm having strong emotions about it, which Robin assures me is the whole point of the movie.
March 20, 2011
King Kong (1933)
All of the great monster movies are tragedies. Though there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for it, it's something essential to the genre. Perhaps because it forces a moral reckoning: we stand in awe of the mighty beast, yet what terrible power do we wield that destroys it? And, beyond the moral implications, that equivalency plays on anxieties about our own mortality. What should be a celebration of victory inevitably becomes a contemplation of the impermanence of all things. The King is dead. Long live the King.
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