that's some good old fashioned family racism!

To quote Peter Griffin, approximately. After seeing the original King Kong tonight at the Castro (Movie Theatre of all Movie Theatres. You get an organist before the movie, and this time, a Looney Toon! Could I ask for more?) and also making a recent trip to the Musée Mecanique, I wonder what the appropriate reaction is to blatant old fashioned racism/misogyny. I think the animatronic wonders housed at the MM are precious relics of a bygone era. I also think they're offensive. And I don't just think I'm being overly sensitive/PC. In King Kong, the racism is pretty visible. The Golden Woman is preferable to the natives as an offering to Kong, and of course, Kong is fascinated by her. Peter Jackson toned it down a little, included personalities in with the physicalities. But comparing his portrayal of natives to the original's, he actually wins the offensive award in my book. But what book do I have? I'm practically a Golden Woman myself.

For some reason I'm mentally comparing these experiences to visiting Auschwitz & Birkenau. You see what the past wrought, you're horrified, you realize the gravity, you're sobered. Etc. It's a good thing to do. You watch old King Kong. You see the old Chinese guy peeling potatoes and speaking broken English. You titter. Granted, it's not as horrifying as a room full of human hair (some of which had been woven into fabric), but there's something sinister there--in King Kong, at the Musée Mecanique-- that now has the gloss of irony over it. What to do, what to do. I suppose as long as it opens the dialogue it's a good thing. I heard people walking home from King Kong at the same time as me having a critical discussion about the western beauty ideal. So that's good. Something tells me you won't hear much of that at the Musée Mecanique?