...engaging and discerning culture, as a way of life...

June 19, 2007

King Kong (1933) - 6

Yeah, I was suppose to have seen this film when I was in middle school. Well, I didn't, and in fact, I watched the 2005 Peter Jackson version and went on the ride at Universal Studios without having seen this. I can see now the attraction to making a film of this sort, and with the technology to do CGI, the latest version is pretty faithful to the script and idea- while making the mysterious creatures much more life-like. Although I am pretty impressed with the visual effects that are used in this film. I also think that Naomi Watts and Jack Black work well in the roles played earlier by Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong respectively (Adrien Brody was probably a bit of a stretch). The film has a simple message: to show the audience the conflict between art and nature- beauty and the beast. A sub-theme is the violence that humans can do when they think of this as a simple and inherent-to-reality dichotomy. Rather than allow humans to be creative and imaginative it promotes a view of power, fear and control that eventually leads to the destruction of community and humanity. A lesson we seem to need to relearn constantly, or every 30-40 years in the form of a Hollywood film.

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