Letters to the Editor
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Jackson talented BEFORE Lord of the Rings?
Good article, but was Jackson really talented before he did LOTR?
Would that be when he made Bad Taste? Or Meet the Feebles? Or The Frighteners?
I don't think so.
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Stephanie Zacharek is always wrong
Zacharek has terrible taste in movies. She wrote that "Hellboy" had sufficient "poetry," with a "deep moral underpinning." She also wrote that "Four Brothers" is "gripping." Does she get paid to write blurbs for B-movie DVD cases?
Digital characters have come a long way in the past few years. Gollum was the most expressive character in the LOTR series, and I felt more for Yoda in "Revenge of the Sith" than I felt for any of the flesh-and-blood actors. Yet, it's hard to believe that Kong will inspire the audience to believe in simian romance. Zacharek argues that Jackson extends Guillermin's idea of Kong as a poetic hero--give me a break.
Furthermore, Peter Jackson should have researched the original King Kong before deciding to remake this movie. Its racist implications are unmistakable. In the early 20th century, a string of movies, books, and plays depicted African Americans as ape-like, savage creatures. Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes, published about 20 years before the original Kong was released, depicted apes as very similar to Africans, both ready to rape the pure, white Jane. King Kong delivers the same message: Kong is a superape, the ultimate threat of miscegenation. The kidnapping of Anne is an extension of an early twentieth century myth: the rape of a white woman by a black man. Zacharek completely ignores this message in her review. Should she pay attention to these important details?
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Jackson's earlier work
Mark - Check out Jackson's first film, Heavenly Creatures (featuring a young Kate Winslet). Excellent film, imo.
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In Response to Mr. Spittle
That would be when he made 'Heavenly Creatures', sir. (snap)
As for voiceofreason (congrats on finding a username more self-righteous than your post), if we are to interpret Kong as a negro-rape myth (an interpretation that, given the blatant depiction of Kong as sympathetic anti-hero in the 1933 original, is suspect, and absolutely stinks of the sort of philosophically shallow conceptual frameworks peddled in contemporary universities' liberal arts programs), does that interpretation extend across all time and manifestations? Is it the essence of the story? Clearly, whatever interpretation of the original you want to cling to, Jackson has recontextualized the narrative, and regardless of any perceived racist undercurrent, that was obviously not the aspect of the film that appealed to him and certainly does not figure in the foundations of his version.
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Jackson's Pre-LOTR Oevre
For whatever it's worth, Peter Jackson's B-horror movies are considered to be outstanding examples of that particular genre. I can't sit through them, but they do have many admirers and did long before Peter Jackson was a household name. And, of course, Heavenly Creatures is a startelingly good film. I'm looking forward to King Kong. Jackson has proved before that he can take expensive effects and find the soul in them, which is something most other big-name directors have failed to do since the advent of CGI.
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Research?
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Research?
"Jackson should have researched the original King Kong before deciding to remake this movie."
Jackson researched this movie well beyond any reserarch most of us will do in our lifetime. His life ambition was to remake this movie.
Were there racial overtones in the the original? Perhaps, But Jackson deserves the benefit of the doubt that he can remake this movie with encouraging racism.
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What the...?!
"John Guillermin's wonderful, sorely underappreciated 1976 remake"
I'm often mystified by Stephanie Zacharck's reviews. Does she go out of her way to lavish praise on the banal and vilify the heartfelt? But "John Guillermin's wonderful, sorely underappreciated 1976 remake" is beyond the pale. Next she'll be writing of the "sorely underappreciated" Tintorerra. Let's face it, no one is going to see this thing for a romance between a dumb blonde and ape. People will go for the dinosaur fights, Skull Island, trashed elevated trains and the big fall. But Ms. Zacharek, once again, hits the bulls eye by claiming the Skull Island scenes weigh the movie down. Take out those scenes and this film would have taken a bigger fall than...well you know who.
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Andy Serkis
Stephanie Zacharek writes that Andy Serkis plays Kong "to give Naomi Watts a living presence to play off when she was filming the blue-screen sequences" but that's the least significant aspect of his role. Every facial expression, every gesture, and every movement of Kong is really that of Serkis who studied and researched primate behavior in depth for this role. Let's not forget that Serkis played Gollum in LOTR in the same way, imbuing him with convincing emotional subtlety. Unfortunately, Serkis was disqualified for an Oscar nomination because Gollum was digital; let's hope the Oscar gods see past this primitive and rather myopic definition of acting in the future.
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Black rape myth
I wouldn't dismiss the racial undertones of this movie. They may be muted and other aspects of the story may soften them, but there are unmistakable elements of the black rape myth.
http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/2005/12/king-kong.html
That's not to say King Kong won't be an enjoyable movie or that the story as it's now told perpetuates the myth. But, the story has as one of it's roots a negative racial stereotype.
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Too funny
http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/2005/12/king-kong.html
Why ABB Hates the King Kong story…
A bitch has no hatred for Peter Jackson or his team of amazing folks. What this bitch hates…fucking cannot stand and thinks should be relegated to the same dark, murky hole in Hades that hopefully holds the entire body of black-face entertainment is the story.
King Kong, which was made famous as a 1930’s film, is the story of a white, very white...extremely white and Aryan the way Ann Coulter wishes she was Aryan...woman who some how ends up on a tropical, very tropical, WILD and untamed island populated by…NATIVES! Yep, natives who become entranced with this Aryan representation of civilized female beauty even though they have never set eyes on a white woman. Depending on the version, they either have always worshiped white women or simply begin to worship them once they set eyes on the blond bombshell that plops down on their island.
Now, they have a secret. A big fucking secret! There is a giant highly sexualized primate lurking on the island! Oh no! Jesus, why would a loving Gawd ever create such a beast? In the words of Wolf Blitzer…he’s so black!
In order to pacify said giant black primate, the natives offer up sacrificial women. The giant primate then takes the women and leaves the natives alone for a while. ‘Cause…well, you know…he's getting his freak on. And everyone knows that giant sexualized primates are soothed and calmed by the company of a terrified nubile woman.
Even though the regular offering of native women has pacified the giant primate, the natives know that this stunning white woman will put his ass over the top. Shit, they started coveting her right from the start! No way is their giant highly sexualized primate going to turn down a tryst with an unwilling blond beauty.
So, they capture the girl, tie her ass to a stake and offer her.
The giant primate, who represents society’s notion that black men are obsessed with white women and are driven into uncontrollable frenzies by them, comes upon the blond and…well…becomes obsessed with her and is driven into an uncontrollable frenzy.
It gets better!
The blond, at first disgusted and terrified by the giant black primate, begins to fall under its spell. This is vital, because EVERYONE knows that the black man…oh, shit…no that would be the 'giant black primate' has skills and, given enough time, can seduce pure untouched blonds with his sexual prowess!
Lets see...ummm...oh yes...blond is freed, primate is captured, marketing blitz hits New York, blond feels sorry for primate, primate is obsessing over blond, primate gets loose…city is terrorized, blond is kidnapped by obsessed primate, they get to the Empire State building and somehow the primate gets to the top. Makes sense since we’re talking about a GIANT primate who just has to be used to climbing tall buildings and shit like that. Anyhoo… the primate, with blond in hand, is shot and falls to the bottom. Terrorized blond cries and primate dies with one...
large...
extremely large and black...
...fucking GIANT and BLAAAAAACK hand reaching out towards said blond symbol of white pure beauty.
Sigh.
Yeah, a bitch fucking hates this story. My ass knows that Hollywood can’t and/or won’t get its shit together regarding portrayals of minorities. But fuck this fucking shit!
Fuck everyone involved in bringing this historic insult back to the screen…to insult the fucking shit out of me again! Fuckers!
And as far as the portrayal of women…oh shit, that requires another post. Suffice it to say, King Kong is a revival of the pedestal and blondie sits right on top of it. Virginal, untouched, coveted…she is the ultimate possession…a literal theatrical attraction.
Between the portrayal of women and the resurrection of antiquated racial stereotypes, this black woman can find little good in the King Kong story. Which means that this remake will join the other blockbuster films of 2005 on the 'this bitch won't even watch it on cable' list.
Happy Friday, chil'ren...