King Kong Still Loves The Ladies Says New 'Kong: Skull Island' Poster

Two new posters for Kong: Skull Island are out and one of them reveals a classic King Kong throughline not yet seen in the marketing for Kong: Skull Island thus far. It looks like the big ape still has a thirst for the ladies. Yes, like Fay Wray, Jessica Lange and Naomi Watts before her, it looks like Brie Larson has the unenviable job of pretending to have a romantic relationship with a giant ape-monster.

An essential part of the King Kong mythos established in the 1933 original, King Kong’s thirst for white women was typical of the era’s monsters, including in 1931’s Frankenstein and Dracula and 1932’s The Mummy. The retrograde racial and gender themes inherent in King Kong have been a source of academic and pop culture discussion ever since, earning the movie a reputation for racism right up there with Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Gone with the Wind.

For some dumb reason, this particularly troubled component of the King Kong mythos has been an absolute requirement for the character since. No one seems willing to just scoop up the Big Ape and put him in literally any other story that doesn’t involve demeaning tribal caricatures of human sacrifice or creepy fetishizing of white femininity.

With its skullcrawlers and Vietnam War-flavored helicopter sequences, Kong: Skull Island at least looked different. Perhaps it’ll do more than simply remake King Kong, yet again. So seeing this is a tad disappointing:

Of course, it’s always possible for a new movie to subvert old, offensive themes. Other King Kong movies have had varying success on this front. The 1976 version somehow made things worse, particularly by playing up a repulsive sexual reinterpretation (here’s King Kong bathing and blowing on Jessica Lange) of their relationship. But in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake, Naomi Watts short-circuits the relationship’s inherent chauvinism (and heavily implied racism), by winning over King Kong with her vaudeville antics, rather than her looks.

Hopefully, Kong: Skull Island pulls off a similar trick when it hits theaters March 10.