King Kong Remake Analysis Essay

Movies have shown throughout our time that there is a strong underlying theme or message that can be unseen to most. It can be a minuscule significance to some, who focus on the violence and special effects, but once you start looking back at the big picture of certain films, there is so much more. A lot of people tend to focus on what is being filmed instead of how it’s being filmed. The difference is remarkable between the two films King Kong (1933) and the remake of King Kong produced in 2005. The perspective of how the story played out is very different between the two films. On one end, in the original, Kong is portrayed as a violent beast similar to a Godzilla type figure that is a huge threat to civilization. In the remake, it brings a deeper relationship to Kong to humanize his character. The audience can feel his emotions and reactions in a much bigger way to show he might be a powerful beast, but has a big heart too. The difference of how scenes are depicted by each director seems to be complete opposite visions of how the story plays out in each film. It’s interesting to see overtime how the outlook on how man deals with nature has dramatically shifted. Both films underlying messages can be very unnoticed with all the action, adventuring, and amazing special effects going on in the film. This ultimately makes it harder to pick out how power obsessed America was in the original, and how destructive we really are with nature today. It’s very apparent that both movies follow the same story line and plot, but how it is seen through the director’s eyes is very different. In both movies, the humans seem to be very destructive and disrespectful to nature. This is seen a lot more in the remake. Throughout original King Kong you never get that close to Kong to see how he feels and why he feels certain ways. A lot of the scenes with him in it displays very destructive behavior of him killing and tearing things apart. It sets him up as a monstrous figure similar to Godzilla, whereas the other movie personifies Kong as more of a humanized beast that is just looking for love and understanding. The newer film shows this by longer drawn out scenes between Ann and Kong that are almost intimate. Even though Kong cannot talk, the audience can tell how he’s thinking by facial expressions, along with his grunts and roars. It’s understandable the older film wasn’t able to show these certain sides of Kong due to technology and outdated special effects, but they still repeatedly display Kong’s actions and intentions strictly out of violence. In the original Kong, he is captured and put on display in New York City; he breaks out and is immediately enraged by the situation. He begins to run around the city damaging buildings, killing innocent civilians, and causing complete chaos. This again shows how Kong is a problem with society and a huge threat to anyone near him. Putting his image as this out of control beast brings the element that we have to conquer nature to express our true power with weapons and technology. This scene dramatically differs in the new film. Once Kong breaks free of captivity while being put on display on the stage, his focus is not on destroying and causing harm. His motivation is fully on being reunited with his love Ann. When he finally gets back together with her, they show just the two of them playing together in the snow at central park. They are laughing and enjoying themselves in a peaceful setting, showing that Kong means no harm at all. Until all of the sudden police and military forces interrupt the two with bombings, which puts a sense of how we are the evil force in the movie. Putting Kong on display like he was shows how we really do not respect nature. Its seen so much today that we start to treat animals as objects or material things to be used for our pleasure. Whether animals are used for food, or put in an exhibit at a zoo, it’s very apparent the respect for them is fading. A lot can argue that we need these things to survive or for our entertainment but we definitely go overboard. Our country does not think twice to slaughter millions of animals each day just for our benefit. It also wouldn’t be uncommon to see an animal’s head put up on display on a wall similar to a trophy or family picture. This develops a huge consequence because we don’t ever stop to think from the animal’s point of view. It seems to result in a lot of selfish acts by humans who don’t think twice about treating animals this way, which ultimately destroys their true worth of living beings. In the remake of King Kong, Kong is seen as a protector to Ann. He does not let anyone else harm her and never takes his eye off of her. No matter what the situation seems to be, his full focus is on Ann. In the original she doesn’t seem to be his top priority, and seems like he’s more about showing off how strong and powerful he can really be throughout the film. It’s very apparent in the scene where Kong battles two Tyrannosaurus Rex in the jungle on Skull Island. In the original, Ann is sitting off to the side watching from a distance very frightened. Kong continues to battle and barely acknowledges Ann and seems to worry more about his own well-being. There was even a point where she is pinned under a tree during the battle, and Kong doesn’t seem to notice her presence or screams until he’s finished with his fight. It is completely different in the new film. During the whole scene while fighting the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Kong has Ann wrapped up in his hand, and never lets go. He keeps her close to him at all times and makes sure she doesn’t get harmed. It really shows how Kong means well and looks out for her, almost as her guardian as they go around Skull Island. By doing this, the film really shows how Kong ultimately has good intentions with Ann. Seeing how he will defend Ann by any cost, shows that she has a place in Kong’s heart and he really does mean well. Even though Kong shows his loyalty out of violent acts, it’s still very obvious he does this strictly to protect the ones he cares about, bringing the viewers on Kong’s side. It shows how she is a true priority to Kong and his intentions are for the best, making him a more respectable character that doesn’t deserved to be captured. Building Kong’s character up as a protector and intelligent beast really puts the spotlight on us that we are the destructive force. This seems problematic today with all of the poaching and extinctions of our beloved animals, which we are the main contributors to. There are many cases where laws have been established because of people killing animals for clothing or cosmetic purposes. It shows we don’t believe these animals’ lives are worth much. It’s almost every day where you can see a commercial about donating money to help save or adopt some type of animal in need. When in reality, we probably wouldn’t need to do that if we made sacrifices ourselves to help protect our animals and environment. The last scene where Kong is shot down climbing the Empire State building makes arguably the biggest impression on how destructive we really can be to nature. As seen in the original, Kong is a huge problem in society and an untamable beast. This is a big reason why when the military and police forces are called in, they are portrayed as the hero type image saving the day. It shows it in a big way that we won’t be conquered by something like this, and humans can over power nature at the end of the day. However in the remake, it seems to be the complete opposite. Throughout the film the audience grows closer to Kong, and the last thing that is wanted is for him to be harmed. He has shown that he is loyal to Ann and just wants to be loved. That’s why when the airplanes are called in to destroy Kong; it’s almost hard to watch. It’s apparent that Kong did not want to be captured, and we now have to use violent force against him just because us humans can’t respect nature. It really shows how hypocritical we are and selfish the society can be. When captured he was praised and displayed as â€Å"The Eighth Wonder of the World†, but after breaking free, he needs to be killed. Humans never really look back and see how he might be feeling about ripping him out of his home, thinking he is just some type of ignorant animal that is to be put on display for everyone to look at. It definitely symbolizes how power hungry our country is. We are always trying to fix other countries problems and colonize the world when we have enough issues of our own to work out. In the end the military forces and planes bring Kong to his death, which presents another problem of how we use our technology available to take control and overpower situations. A lot of people view Kong as a problem and a threat to society because you see how violent and powerful he can really be. This is true, but that’s the exact reason we do not need to be capturing and taking Kong out of his environment. If we would have just let him be in peace in his own environment where he belonged, there would be no reason for having to kill him, But America’s greed for fame and money overpowers that in this film. It really goes to show how we are the destructive ones that have no respect for nature and it’s ultimately our fault this happened. It’s very vital to the viewers watching to see the significant themes shown throughout the films. It’s surprising how the same story can be displayed but with completely different underlying messages. The newer and drawn out film really enables the audience on how Kong is feeling throughout the film. It makes a huge impact on how you view everything else. Protecting and conserving nature seems to be the least of our priorities and degrades the worth of animal’s lives. Many viewers always look at it as â€Å"Beauty killed the Beast†, when really I believe we killed the beast with our destructive and selfish plans regarding nature’s finest things.