King Kong

I was not certain what to expect from this movie before I saw it. On the one hand, it was directed by Peter Jackson, who of all movie directors captures my sense of life most perfectly. On the other hand, though, it is a remake of an old movie I still haven't seen, and I've learned that you can't expect consistently good movies from any source. I hung back, waiting to hear from people I knew whether it was worth seeing or not.

Then I read the discussion on Oo.net about the movie and I was still more hesitant. No one really gave a distinctly positive review.

Jackson proved them wrong.

I'm sorry to say that the discussors missed the theme of this movie by about a mile. Maybe even more. What is the theme of King Kong? Masculinity.

There is only one female character in the movie, Ann Darrow, and the plot revolves around her completely, but her only purpose is to provide a contrast so that you can understand the workings of masculinity in its proper context. Without anything to compare it against, namely, femininity, the idea of masculinity is meaningless. Femininity is not explored, but simply presented as a generalization in the person of Naomi Watts' character.

Each of the different male characters embodies some aspect of masculinity; all failed or succeeded to the extent that they approached the ideal. Jack Black's character Carl Denham was the perfect archetype of drive and ambition, but his confused priorities and misunderstanding of what was really important were the ruin of everything he tried to accomplish.

Adrien Brody's Jack Driskell was the true and proper hero except for one failing: his inability to demonstrate his worth. Some quality kept him too reserved and withdrawn from the object of his desire (Ann), so she turned away from him and accepted an imperfect substitute that was more straightforward.

Captain Engleham (Thomas Kretschmann) represented a certain bloody-minded narrowly- focused competence that is generally encountered in professional career men. In his area of expertise, he was the best. The outside world took no notice of him nor him of it; he was almost a self-contained universe and thus a marginal character for all his ability.

Preston (Colin Hanks) was simply the symbol of a kind of confused innocence and honesty, but his unworldliness made him unable to even blunt the worst excesses of other characters. Jimmy (Jamie Bell) was the exemplar of reckless youth, with Evan Parke's character Hayes providing a fatherly foil.

Kyle Chandler as Bruce Banner demonstrated one of the worst and ugliest aspects of masculinity I've ever seen: narcissism. All the worse, in my opinion, because in his enchantment with himself he'd managed to convince many people that there was something under that pretty exterior. Faced with a real difficulty, however, he was forced to rely on others. And yet they continued to give him credit.

All the events of the story tie back into the idea of masculinity. I was especially pleased at how the crew of Engleham's ship moved instantly to rescue Miss Darrow when she was captured by the Skull Island savages. They didn't even question the necessity or ponder leaving her behind.

So what, exactly, did King Kong represent? He was an aspect of masculinity that goes by the simple name of The Brute, an appropriate term I picked up reading Ann Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy. It is something about men that I have come to appreciate, if not fully understand; the deep and unstoppable passion that good men have that makes them capable of terrible and wonderful things. It is savage and can be frightening, but in general I think it's a good thing. Without that "fire in the gut", it is all too easy to lay down and die or let what is precious slip away.

All of his behavior emphasized this, from playing with Ann a bit cruelly, as though she were a toy instead of a human being (something I've seen most men do with women, so I was especially struck by it), to his pride and offended dignity after being hit in the head with a rock. Kong was so human and genuinely cute that the ending was very hard to watch indeed.

So why did Kong die? What factor conquered the magnificent brute so in love with life and with the beauty he had found? Ignorance. In his dumb incomprehension of the new and terrifying world that confronted him, he was not capable of directing his actions constructively. He could not accomplish his ends. He could only destroy them. Such was his magnificence, love, and dignity that he chose to be destroyed himself rather than allow that to happen.

I definitely recommend the movie. And, gentlemen, when you go see it, ask yourself when you return to the outside world: what sort of man am I?