Imaginario social, crisis y miedo en King Kong (1933)

Abstract

In 1933, the screening of King Kong caused an extraordinary effect on thousands of viewers, both fascination and terror. Indeed, the success of the film was unprecedented at that time due to the overall quality, the spectacular special effects, and the strongly intense emotional connection felt by the viewers who were captivated by the imaginary and the theme of the film. In this sense, their connection is found in the ambivalent and dialectical interrelation that takes place between this first version of King Kong, the crisis of 1929 -and the fears it stirred- and the American imaginary of the 1930s. But, as will be demonstrated in the article, in the imaginary of the film reality and fiction, truth and lies, security and danger, conscious and subconscious, rationality and emotions all merge, mutually contaminating each other. Thus, it can be concluded that the American imaginary of the 1930s reflects, and reflects not, the financial crisis of 1929, for it represents this crisis, their dreams, fears and hopes, their memories and omissions while overriding the past, reinvigorating the present and the hope for a better tomorrow