NOTES FROM LECTURE TWO: KING KONG
BASIC INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL:
NOTES FROM LECTURER TWO: KING KONG
King Kong
1933
RKO Pictures
TERMS
diagetic/diagesis: within the world of the film
id: basic drives
ego: the self
super ego: controlling structure
evolution: change in a species over time – often from one species to another
pongid: ape like
hominid: human like
quantitative /qualitative: a kind of analysis which reduces things to numbers, as opposed one that looks at the qualities of things rather than amounts.
temporal vs. spatial: time vs. space
liminal: betwixt and between – derives from a Greek word for the threshold of a door. Generally used to indicate a status that is neither here nor there but transitional.
BEFORE THE FILM
The topic this week is evolution and its appearance in films. Three films demonstrate three specific approaches to evolution: One Million B.C. (Victor Mature, Carole Lombard); King Kong, and 2001: A Spcae Odyssey. The approaches might be labeled “realistic” “symbolic” and “philosophical”.
One Million B.C., is defined here as “realistic” in that it actually depicts “prehistoric” people (however inaccurately). Humans do NOT live at the time of dinosaurs, for example. Humans may go back some 5,000,000 years, but dinosaurs were extinct millions of years before that. In this film, there are two tribes - rock and shell people in which Mature (Tumak) is from one and Landis (Luwana) is from the other. Tumac floats down a river to her tribe. They are rather different. Timak's wears fur, fights over food, the strong survivie. Hers wears cloth, shares food, sings and laughs. Ultimately Tumak's forcefilness gets him thrown ot. He and Luwana go back to his people where he becomes the leader. She, civilizes them and teaches them to share etc. At the end, her people are trapped by a huge dinosaur, and are saved by Timak's people and they all live happily ever after.
King Kong, the film today, is evolution in a symbolic way. In this film there are no prehistoric people, but we do have something akin to them.
2001: A Space Odyssey which the college will be showing on Nov. 10th and you should attend the showing, approaches the question of evolution in a very philosophical way. It raises questions about what causes major shifts in evolution – that is those that are qualitative
In this film, evolution is special rather than temporal. That is it occurs across space rather than time. Different groups represent different evolutionary steps. In biology living things are divided into “species”, which for sexually reproducing animals usually means that members of the species can breed and produce viable offspring (those that are capable of mating and producing offspring), where as members of different species can not. Generally living things are given a genus and species name. (The genus name is always capitalized). Current humans are called Homo sapiens
Changes in evolution that cause one species to evolve into another are harder to define and we need not really go into that. What we should be aware of is that at some point of time there are no humans (Homo sapiens) in the world, but later there are. Evolution claims that they evolved from earlier forms often called Homo erectus and they, from earlier forms. If we go back far enough in human and ape ancestry we would ultimately find some animal which is ancestral to both humans (hominids) and apes (pongids). This ancestor is neither ape not human, but ancestral to both. People are NOT descended from gorillas since no animal ever evolves from another which is living at the same time.
People have been evolving for millions of years. One crucial question is what makes us human, and when and how did that happen.
Freud postulated a number of things about the human psyche, and although many current psychologists feel Freud is “dead”, the theory had (and continues to have) and enormous impact on artistic analysis. As part of the theory, Freud postulates an id which is a kind of uncontrolled set of drives. There is also a super ego which attempt to control a rampant id and in the process in effect produces an ego or “self”. While the theory has undergone tremendous modification by different psychologists over time, the basic ideas are poplar in film and are often made into a “pop” psychology (see especially Hitchcock’s films like Psycho, Marnie, and Vertigo)
See what kinds of “evolution” are apparent in the film.
What does evolution mean and what does it do?
How might it be linked to Freudian psychology?
FILM PROBLEMS
Remember in film, we need to look at the ways in which the film produces the director’s attitude toward the subject matter. This is crucial in Kong. What are the text and subtext of the film? We can see the text on the screen, what is the sub text?
What things repeat in the film? Are there lines or ideas that are stated frequently? What are they?
How does the sound work in the film? What happens in terms of diagetic and non diagetic sound.in the film?
AFTER THE FILM
Theme – what does the title card say?
(Beauty and the beast)
What is Denham’s theme song?
(Beauty and the beast) Beauty softens the tough guys
“It wasn’t the planes, it was Beauty killed the beast”.
How does this appear in the subtext?
Driscoll can save Darrow before engagement, but not after. She has to be saved by the military.
Women/culture/ feminizing
Women are cultured and soften men. But men need to remain somewhat strong for emergencies.
Kong=id. Can not be controlled and dangerous to civilization (near destruction at beginning of film but OK by end in terms of the depression)
Kong is unable to socialize into modern times – he is too primitive. His softening leads to his downfall. His attachment to Darrow – his putting her down is what causes the planes to be able to attack him.
A certain amount of restraint is necessary or else power is destructive. If too much restraint, it is dangerous. Not enough is also dangerous.
THE NUMBER THREE OFTEN WESTERN – Too Much, too little, just right.
The film is set in four locations: New York, the ship, the part of the island where the natives are, the other side of the wall inhabited by Kong and dinosaurs.
The ship is liminal. The fog appears as the “time/space” crossing moment. This is the moment when there is actually the crossing of a “time/space” line, when the ship cuts its ties to the current world.
Music:
The film opens with three notes that are a leitmotif for Kong. After that the film has no music until when? When the fog appears on the ship, and from then on it is virtually non stop.
The music and the characters often move in almost choreographed patterns –on the beat.
Music is sometimes diagetic and sometimes not and sometimes interactive. In the scene with the native ritual, the chanting of the natives meshes perfectly with the background music. The film becomes virtually ritual at that point, and continues that way to then. Ritual and myth are intertwined and the film becomes mythic
Sound in General
Like many horror films, off screen sound is common, We hear the breakers before they are identified; we hear Kong before he appears. Compare this with scenes of a similar nature in The Haunting.
Timing
The film lasts about 100 minutes. Kong first appears nearly 45 minutes into the film, giving the director a good deal of time to build tension about just what Kong is. The first mention of his name is almost 40 minutes into the film. There is a discussion about the wall on the island while looking at the map, before actually getting there. Denham says the native keep the wall in repair, They have to. There is something on the other side the fear. The captain suggests a “hostile tribe”. There is a pause. Denham walks away with his back to the camera and then turns and says “Have you ever heard of Kong?” The captain leans back and looks at Denham and says it is a god or spirit or some native superstition. Denham replies it something neither beast nor human – something monstrous, and with that, in effect describes both Kong, who is in a sense neither beast nor human, since he fills the slot normally filled by humans – and isn’t human. His lack of self control (super ego) makes him id driven and in a sense, not socialized, hence not human. (Compare Forbidden Planet and the “monsters from the id”)
ALTERNATE INTERPRETATIONS
Some people have felt that Kong represents White America’s fear of Black sexuality and the bringing of Kong back in chains is the equivalent of bringing slaves from Africa.
Here the problem can be raised that the ship has not gone to Africa, but somewhere in the Indian Ocean – the actual point is given where the ship is, when Denham reveals the position of the island (not thousands of miles away). This puts the ship near Sumatra and in the East Indies – the home of Orangutans (but not gorillas). In addition, the Captain says the language spoken by the Natives resemble that of one of the islands, which he speaks and is able to understand.
The fact that the natives are dark skinned (one is actually Jim Thorpe a famous American Indian athlete) as are say Fijians, does not make them Africans.
Counter arguments say that this is just “displacement” that is the island represents Africa even though it isn’t really Africa. This raises the question of “reading in” and “reading out” of a text.