Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Long Live the King: The Lasting Cultural Impact of KING KONG
www.broadwayworld.com: Today, King Kong the Musical opens on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre. Many people are probably wondering, "how did King Kong end up a musical?" It does seem puzzling at first, to think a film about a giant gorilla can transcend film screens and land on the stage as a musical, but when you think about the impact King Kong has made on our culture for almost a century, it begins to make more sense.
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As may come as a surprise to many, I have never watched any King Kong film. That is why I was hesitant at first to read the article because I was like "what of I do not understand a thing that the article talks about. I was wrong!
The article is written in a way where the reader, in the first ten lines is aware that the article is talking about the cultural impact that Kong has had over the years on the people.
The cultural impact that Kong has had seems extremely important to me and to the writer of the article, precisely because it involves the notion that something gigantic and seemingly scary is capable of emotions.
The fact that Kong is portrayed as someone who is a monster-like character but is still able to feel emotions and exhibits this constant struggle to decide being a monster or someone who can think with his heart, really leaves an impact on people because people are attracted to emotions and the ability for someone to act on those emotions.
No wonder King Kong is the success that it is today!
I really like the part of this article that said that musicals “can be about circuses or shoe factories or pie shops or giant gorillas, as long as they make you think, and more importantly, feel”. When I first heard that a King Kong musical was in development I was pretty surprised, as it seems like a weird topic for a musical. Even though King Kong is a cultural icon like the article mentioned I’m not sure how popular this show will be. Yes, a lot of people are aware of what King Kong is about, but will that be enough to bring people in? To me the biggest draw of this show is the huge puppet, but that might not be something that other people are as excited about. Other pop-culture musicals like Mean Girls or Frozen have enough of a following to fill seats, but there’s not exactly a thriving King Kong fandom. Then again, a rap musical about the founding fathers also sounds like a weird musical idea, and look how successful Hamilton has been.
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