Gender roles in "King Kong" (1933). Ann Darrow as an example for independent women or the traditional image of womanhood

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Film Science, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: The film "King Kong" is one of the most famous films of Pre Code Hollywood. Its success was referred to the variety of topics and narratives that the film includes, combined with an excellent use of sound and special effects. This text lays the focus on the aspect of gender roles in the film. It will be shown that especially the figure of Ann Darrow embodies different stereotypes and that she can be seen as an example for an independent woman but also as a model for a more traditional image of womanhood. First of all the various contexts shall be presented (Historical context, men and women during the Great Depression and Hollywood during the Great Depression). After that follows a short analysis of two other important aspects, the Woman´s film and the aspect of race in expedition films. Both of them are strongly interwoven with the question about gender roles in "King Kong". Finally the main characters in "King Kong" are going to be analyzed in view of the gender roles they embody and also how they change.