Sunday, November 23, 2014

King Klunk - Parody of KING KONG (1933)



This excellent and very fun cartoon must come with a big warning about the depiction of the natives on Old Klunk's island paradise. The images and actions are cartoonish and insulting to the non-white races being presented and I think that is a detriment to the show. But at the same time I know what the time period was like and this kind of thing is a part of a lot of entertainment of the times. Indeed, the scenes in KING KONG being parodied are just as offensive, so having this comedy version be racially politically incorrect is rather natural - it's sort of baked into the story. So- if you can enjoy this as a product of its time please do.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What do you think is the most unintentionally insulting movie/ movies of all time?

Rod Barnett said...

Wow. Good question. I'm tempted to fall back on BIRTH OF A NATION but that was made with racism at its core so I don't think you could call it unintentional. The sad-ass comedy SOUL MAN was racist while trying so very hard to be above it. And there are so many films from the 30's 40's and 50's that treat non-white races as children to be sneered at that naming one is hard to do. Lots of jungle films are insulting in this regard- indeed, most of them. Then so are many early westerns. Hard to choose.

Unknown said...

White face I think is the term. Karloff as Mr Wong and the most offensive would be Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Rod Barnett said...

Yes- Rooney's sad inclusion mars an otherwise excellent film. Good/bad choice. ;-)