Probably overthinking this but…
What happened to the previous women given to Kong? I guess the most charitable interpretation might be that he pet them too hard like Lenny did the mouse?
Or maybe Kong just wanted a snack?
What was the story on the natives? They inhabited that enormous stone structure, and you could see other giant ruins on the island. Atlantis maybe?
Some of the **King Kong **remakes actually delved into this a bit. From what I remember in the 1976 version, there’s a scene where Jeff Bridges tells about a European attempt in the 1600s to explore “Skull Island” that was quickly abandoned upon sightings of great beasts. The 2005 Peter Jackson version also touches on this and strongly suggests that Kong is the last of his kind.
They died when he tried to peel them.
The previous women all went to their Aunt’s farm upstate…
(Psst…the Giant Gorilla ate them)
Is far as the natives, I always assumed they were once a greater civilization that degraded over time or came to the Island and lived in the ruins of one that disappeared.
Probably only anime fans will get this. But maybe he’s the giant ape version of Tatsuhiro Satō, from Welcome to the N. H. K.
Welcome to the N.H.K. - Wikipedia.
In general, when the natives in movies (especially Hollywood movies of the 30s and 40s) sacrificed a woman to the Gods, that woman was considered lunch (or a crispy critter in the molten lava).
It’s clear that Kong’s attraction to Ann was due to her blonde hair; the natives had never seen it. (insert all sorts of casual racist assumptions of the moviemakers).
You got it. Ann (1933) survived her peeling by wearing two layers.
It’s implied in the Delos W. Lovelace 1932 novelization that they were killed and/or eaten. The recent Peter Jackson movie implies the same, when the rescue party comes upon the bones of the previous women.
I haven’t seen the original movies but watched the Peter Jackson remake for the first time a few days ago. I did think he had to tread carefully when depicting the islanders but what would be so racist about they or Kong having never seen blonde hair before if all the islanders were a people who didn’t have blonde hair (or blue eyes for that matter).
And in the Jackson movie Kong spares Ann first because she defends herself and secondly because she entertains him. I assume thats not the case in the originals.
I found the whole movie fairly entertaining but it did have at least one well done moment, namely when Kong and Ann are on top of the Empire State building watching the sunset and the fighter planes arrive, its clear Kong doesn’t understand what they are but he does understand what they’re there for…to finish him off.
Coincedentally also read a short story, ‘After King Kong Fell’ by Philip Joseph Farmer in an anthology of short stories also a few days ago!
edited to add that in the 2005 movie at least its pretty clear what happened to the previous women when Ann sees the bones of Kongs previous victims with the same necklace as she’s wearing in them.
I was referring to the obvious racist comments that that scenario could give rise to, not the fact Ann had blonde hair. Apes and black people and white women can lead to some explosive racial stereotypes.
In the original (which you really need to see), there’s no real reason why Kong spares Ann, other than that she’s unusual looking. Maybe the sound of her screaming (and Fay Wray was a great screamer) was Kong’s love call.
Ah, OK, racism isn’t such an historic problem over here so I missed that issue.
I actually was thinking I need to check out the original so I’ll make a point of doing that, thanks.
In the 1976 version, when the explorers first encountered the natives, the natives were preparing to sacrifice one of their own. The prospective sacrifice was wearing a wig made of straw. Seeing that Jessica Lange’s character was a natural blonde, the natives promptly offered to buy her.