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A View on the Natives in King Kong
King Kong is not the only movie that gives us a view of
violent native populations. It is, however, one of the most famous
movies in which I have seen this. I will therefore, in the event of the
remake of this movie, comment on the behaviour of the population of
Skull Island as if this was an attempt at showing an African
civilization.
The first impression we get when we see the native
population is ugly. They have worn teeth and many have pierced
their faces with bones. Around in their village, bodies and skulls are
everywhere - proving their fascination for death. This fascination is
not very unusual in a religious community. As a main theme in a society,
however, it is less usual.
The ritual of sacrifice conducted with Ann is in many
ways realistic and the interpretation of the sacrifice ritual in the
movie is very interesting. There are possessed mediums dancing while a
diviner or ritual elder is saying a prayer. Two points in this ritual,
however, proves it to be unusual. Firstly, sacrifice to gods - and King
Kong should be regarded as such in this religious study - occurs only in
emergencies. Ann is sacrificed simply because she has come to the
island, violating this tradition. A possible interpretation is that the
natives regard the arrival of whites as an emergency, which it
eventually turned out to be for most African societies. The other point
is the extremely low occurrence of human sacrifices in TAR communities.
It is also interesting to notice the religious artefacts
that are used by the tribe. The warriors and Ann's kidnappers carry
necklaces with miniature skulls on them. Necklaces have been common
religious artefacts in most religions, though I have not heard about the
use of skulls in these. On the other hand, Ann wears a necklace with
horns of bucks on it, which is absolutely normal for medicine men and
other religious leaders. The horns of bucks are subject to many beliefs
in various cultures, and thus they have a ceremonial significance. In
some societies they even symbolize the masculine power and sexual lust
and abilities.
The huge walls that imprison King Kong, said to be
thirty meters tall, could have been made in such a culture. There
are the pyramids of Egypt, the statues of Easter Island and the great
walls of Zimbabwe to prove this. These structures, however, were all
constructed by advanced or sophisticated cultures. The culture on Skull
Island is portrayed as more simplistic and barbarian than these.
In all, the violence and ugliness of this culture
seemingly exceeds that of known African societies. The only rational
explanation of this behaviours is that the native population believes
that Carl attacks the child as he tries to give it chocolate in the very
first encounter between the film crew and the civilization. This,
however, does not prove the obsession with death and skulls in the
culture.
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