King Kong

I went to see the new King Kong movie Friday night. We took along my son and his buddy. I knew, ever since we saw the previews for this movie, that it was going to be spectacular. I felt that the dinosaur scenes were a bit too long, in keeping with Jackson's style. And the liberty he took with the character's story lines was ok with me. But what struck me during this movie that I failed to notice in the previous versions is the deeper meaning behind the story. It brought to my attention how anything that is raw, primal or primitive is always exploited by man (usually "white man") for personal and financial gain. He attempts to control it for his own purposes and when he can't control it it, he kills it. It's the same with endangered animals, the Amazon rain forest, old growth forests, native peoples. The only one who understood the "beast" was the one (a woman) who surrendered to it. It is only when we surrender that it becomes possible to see the beauty within the beast. And for that reason the story is tragic and sad.