A new remake of King Kong is out. I have lost track of how many times they have remade this movie. The question is Why?
The original was and entertaining, if somewhat silly, movie. Even as a small child, I never found Kong to be frightening, although the Valley of Spiders scene did give me a nightmare or two. All of the remakes have been sillier and boring. I have no intention of seeing the new version.
Why does Hollywood keep remaking old movies. The new ones never match the originals, but there is another problem. Have we lost all hope of any new, creative ideas. We have been beset in recent years by 'Superhero' movies, some of them, like Batman, remade many times. Okay, kids may like them, although I can't really imagine why. They are, believe it or not, gearing them for adults, and are, generally way to dark for kids. They are also all too idiotic for grown ups, so I really don't know what audience they are seeking. Teen agers, I guess. If our culture has fallen to the point where this is the best our young adults are exposed to, we are in bad straights indeed.
I have no objection to fun escapism on occasion, but a steady diet of it is like a steady diet of Twinkies.
But, back to my original topic. Hollywood used to hire writers like William Faulkner, Ray Bradbury, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Malcom Lowry, and a lot of other talented, if less known, writers. There were original ideas, well developed into fine films. Occasionally, re-makes were done, but they were classic tales like The Hunchback of Note Dame or Mutiny on the Bounty. Now, we have countless remakes of Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. maybe, our society has just run out of ideas. Or, more likely, we have become so uneducated that we no longer have writers capable of original thought.
If you want to see King Kong, show the big ape some respect and watch the original.
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