Kong: Skull Island

In addition to being arguably the most dramatic, spectacular and entertaining of the King Kong films, Kong:Skull Island is of special interest as an historical document. As any remake or sequel should, the film inflects the original material to express its current times. As the original Kong expressed the Depression anxieties this one reflects America’s post-Nam anxieties. 

The opening credits play against a montage of newsreel clips from the 1940s to the 1970s. That summarizes the social and political changes since the original King Kong film, where the beast was conquered by the beauty, Fay Wray (or as I always say, “Fay Wray from Cardston Alberta”). That Kong sniffed that helpless lady’s underwear. The new one softens to her facial caress and rallies to save her life, both by conquering the greater evil monster and by rescuing her from drowning.   

The film is set in the wake of the Vietnam war. That allows for some Credence Clearwater Revival and “White Rabbit” on the soundtrack, always good for the pulse, and a filial homage to Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The Conrad and Marlow surnames evoke the latter film’s source, Heart of Darkness. The music also includes David Bowie, Ziggy Pop, etc.,  and works up and back to close on Vera Lynn’s 1940s ditty, “We’ll Meet Again.” These allusions provide a literary and musical history that parallels the political one in the film. Acknowledging the battle-lines have changed, the American heroes' team includes Asian scientist.

The WW II leftover Hank Marlow functions like a time machine, having been isolated from his civilization for 30 years. He brings the Vera Lynn climax into the score, suggesting that history is a continuous cycle of wars, separations, reunions. The film’s first post-script is his magical reunion with his faithful wife and son, set apart from the main film as a small home movie. 

The second surveys the range of threatening unnatural monsters that populate our film world because they inhabit our minds. That is, they embody our primal fears as shaped by our own insecurities and our historical suffering and insecurity. Thus Hiroshima begat Godzilla, Motha, and that crew. That’s why Marlow names the subterranean dragons “Skull Crawlers” and why Kong rules over Skull Island. These monsters are creatures of our imagination, projections from our fears.  

The two senior army men are a contrast in sensitivity and humanity. Marlow has lived with the primitive tribe for so long he understands them — and they him — without speech. Marlow (here as in the Conrad novel) is the understanding mediator between the two cultures. These people’s closeness to their land is imaged when the camouflaged soldiers emerge from the walls. Marlow persuades the heroes Conrad and anti-war photographer Mason Weaver to save Kong because that is Kong’s territory. He justly rules it. Moreover, the island, its people, indeed the whole world, would be imperilled by the underground dragons, were Kong unable to continue their suppression. 

In contrast, the army captain Preston Packard is the pathological fighter, determined to murder any Other in his path, determined to continue any murderous cycle to the end. Hence his mode of persuasion: "You are going to tell me everything that I should know... or I blow you away.” Hence his delusion of insight: “I know an enemy when I see one.” He tries to stare down his monster enemies. Sad. He denies losing the Vietnam war: “We abandoned it.” He won’t leave this one however apocalyptic its conclusion. Fortunately the dragon chows down on him before he can blow up Kong. 

The two monsters whose battle royal provides the film’s climax parallel the recent politics especially in the Middle East. Bill Randa’s stubborn — and crooked — campaign to avenge his earlier loss recalls Dubya’s campaign against Hussein (“That man tried to kill my daddy”). Yes, “monsters exist,” but they really may be the hunters of the putative monsters. 

This film’s initial war is against the villain Kong. But his apparent, temporary defeat only unleashes the greater evil from the deep, the big dragon. The contemporary lesson is clear. If you don’t understand the alien culture don’t act as if you do. For then, erase one evil threat, such as, say, Hussein, and you only unleash a greater one, i.e. ISIS. Contemporary world politics needs a more sophisticated understanding. 
     As well, Kong’s importance to his island’s people is a corrective to the usual American presuming to determine what another people need and want. Marlow teaches Conrad and Weaver to respect Kong as part of the alien culture, of which they have no understanding but which has as much right as they to survive and live their own way. Hence the recurring “We don’t belong here.” The King Kong story has always been a parable about colonialism. The present drama of American righteousness, ignorance and belligerence continues that tradition.