{"id":244,"date":"2019-11-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/?p=244"},"modified":"2019-11-20T14:47:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T14:47:10","slug":"jimmys-notes-on-episode-4-timothy-deal-vs-son-of-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/20\/jimmys-notes-on-episode-4-timothy-deal-vs-son-of-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy&#8217;s Notes on &#8216;Episode 4: Timothy Deal vs. Son of Kong&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"783\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JIMMYS-NOTES.jpg?resize=783%2C327\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JIMMYS-NOTES.jpg?w=783&amp;ssl=1 783w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JIMMYS-NOTES.jpg?resize=300%2C125&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JIMMYS-NOTES.jpg?resize=768%2C321&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 783px) 100vw, 783px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>So, with <a href=\"http:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/13\/episode-4-timothy-deal-vs-son-of-kong\/\">the\nepisode on <em>Son of Kong<\/em><\/a>, I was\nsurprised to hear Nathan and Tim telling me what to do with my notes. It\u2019s my\nblog, dangit, and I\u2019ll not be told what to include! Then I discovered that,\nunbeknownst to Nathan (supposedly), I\u2019m <em>contractually\nobligated<\/em> to include whatever he tells me to research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(sigh) I was a NASA\nengineer once\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, here are my\nnotes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.giphy.com\/media\/MFlGiIq0QqkjC\/giphy.gif?resize=289%2C217&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"289\" height=\"217\"\/><figcaption> Kiko already has a gif, Tim! It&#8217;s one of several.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>There hasn\u2019t been an incident where any of the monsters on the Island ate any children. That was just a joke by Nathan and Tim. I assure you, Monster Island has an excellent safety record\u2026so long as <a href=\"https:\/\/wikizilla.org\/wiki\/Kilaaks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alien disco nuns<\/a> aren\u2019t involved.<\/li><li>If we go by authorized publications, there were actually <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gone_with_the_Wind_(novel)#Sequels_and_prequels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two book sequels and one prequel<\/a> to <em>Gone with the Wind<\/em>, although none of them were written by Margaret Mitchell. Tim was probably thinking of <em>Scarlet <\/em>by Alexandra Ripley (no relation to <a href=\"https:\/\/avp.fandom.com\/wiki\/Ellen_Ripley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ellen<\/a>) published in 1991, which was made into a TV miniseries featuring Timothy Dalton in 1994. There was also <em>Rhett Butler\u2019s People<\/em> by Donald McCaig in 2008 and <em>Ruth\u2019s Journey<\/em> (also by McCaig) in 2014.<\/li><li>Tim calls it the island in the film \u201cSkull Island\u201d\u2026again. And Nathan didn\u2019t correct him. What the heck?<\/li><li>They got the dates for the Universal horror sequels <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Universal_Classic_Monsters#Films\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pretty accurate<\/a>. <\/li><li>Merian C. Cooper pitched a sequel to RKO in March 1933 and principal photography started April 4. Yeah, it was <em>that<\/em> fast!<\/li><li>I reached out to one of Nathan\u2019s grad school professors, Dr. Kaufmann, about 1930s film credits, and he pretty much agrees with Nathan and Tim: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it common, but it certainly was done at times.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t say when or where it originated, but I haven\u2019t seen it in film for a while now except as a joke.\u00a0 It seemed more like a TV thing back in the day (70s and 80s).\u201d<\/li><li>Sadly, Noble Johnson isn\u2019t in the opening credits of this film.  <\/li><li>I can\u2019t believe I researched this, but \u201cthe finger\u201d (\u201cflipping the bird\u201d or whatnot) actually dates back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome and had essentially the same meaning as it does now. The first usage of it in the U.S. was in the 1890s when it was brought to the country via Italian immigrants, although the first documented use of it in the U.S. was in 1886 when a baseball player was photographed making it. In other words, it was a thing in the 1930s. Read all about it <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_finger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/li><li>Tim says, \u201cAnna,\u201d when he meant, \u201cAnn.\u201d I guess the lost \u201cA\u201d from MPAA moved to her name. \ud83d\ude1b<\/li><li>Do Kiko and Kong get along? Well, Kiko is now a kaiju clown. He entertains the kids who visit Monster Island, which disappoints Kong a little. Thankfully, he forages his own make-up from plants growing on the Island, so the Board doesn&#8217;t have to allocate any of their budget to his shenanigans. <\/li><li>According to John LeMay\u2019s new book, <em>Kong Unmade<\/em>, the \u201cmidquel\u201d Kong film would\u2019ve been titled <em>The New Adventures of King Kong<\/em>. Nathan said it would\u2019ve been set in Africa when it actually would\u2019ve been the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Malay_Archipelago\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Malay Archipelago<\/a>. I don\u2019t recommend he audition for <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Where_in_the_World_Is_Carmen_Sandiego%3F_(game_show)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Where in the World is Carman Sandiego?<\/a><\/em><\/li><li><em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em> was and wasn\u2019t set in the 1930s. It\u2019s weird. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/movies.stackexchange.com\/questions\/92056\/when-does-the-wizard-of-oz-movie-take-place\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this thread<\/a>, the Kansas scenes seem likely to be in 1900 (when the novel was written), but the Oz scenes use what was then modern technology (which is odd if it was all Dorothy\u2019s dream). So, it\u2019s strangely (and brilliantly) ambiguous. <\/li><li>The 1932 film <em>I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang<\/em> was actually based on a book published the same year titled <em>I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!<\/em> by Robert Elliott Burns. So, the book at least is set in Georgia, not Alabama. The book is about the author\u2019s time in a chain gang in the 1920s, but the film has a fictional protagonist. Burns was still in prison in New Jersey when the film was released. He and many other chain gang prisoners were able to appeal and be released in January 1933 as a result of the social outcry from the film. So Tim got some of the details between the film and book mixed up (but then again, so does <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/I_Am_a_Fugitive_from_a_Chain_Gang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>, which at one point lists Burns as the film\u2019s protagonist when it was James Allen. Got to love crowdsourcing). <\/li><li>The MPAA was actually started under a different name in 1922 and had its name changed in 1945 (and now they\u2019ve dropped the second \u201cA\u201d). You missed that date by a lifetime, guys. \ud83d\ude1b<\/li><li>On a related note, the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Motion_Picture_Production_Code\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hays Code<\/a> wasn\u2019t a government mandated thing. It was an industry standard adopted by the MPAA under its first name while Will H. Hays was its president (1922-1945).<\/li><li><em>Notorious<\/em> was released in 1946. I\u2019m surprised the Criterion crowd hasn\u2019t sent Nathan any hate mail for getting this wrong\u2026yet.<\/li><li>There was one other sequel to the original <em>King Kong<\/em>, and it supplants <em>Son of Kong<\/em>. It was a short story written by science fiction author Philip Jose Farmer titled, \u201cAfter King Kong Fell.\u201d I showed Nathan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WVwXcQF-A94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a video on it from the Omni Viewer<\/a>, and he now wants to read it. It\u2019s noteworthy for cameos by Doc Savage, the Shadow, and the Shadow\u2019s girlfriend Margot Lane.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With these out of the way, here are Nathan\u2019s leftover notes from the episode. Most of these are excerpts from his sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Escapism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cEscapism\u201d (Wikipedia)<\/a><ul><li>\u201cEscapism is the avoidance of unpleasant, boring,\narduous, scary, or banal aspects of daily life.[2] It can also be used as a\nterm to define the actions people take to help relieve persistent feelings of\ndepression or general sadness.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cThe word \u2018escapism\u2019 often carries a negative\nconnotation, suggesting that escapists are unhappy, with an inability or unwillingness\nto connect meaningfully with the world and to take necessary action.[5] Indeed,\nthe Oxford English Dictionary defined escapism as \u2018The tendency to seek, or the\npractice of seeking, distraction from what normally has to be endured.\u2019[6]\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cHowever, many challenge the idea that escapism is\nfundamentally and exclusively negative. C. S. Lewis was fond of humorously\nremarking that the usual enemies of escape were jailers;[7][8] and considered\nthat used in moderation escapism could serve both to refresh and to expand the\nimaginative powers.[9] Similarly J. R. R. Tolkien argued for escapism in\nfantasy literature as the creative expression of reality within a secondary\n(imaginative) world, (but also emphasized that they required an element of\nhorror in them, if they were not to be \u201cmere escapism\u201d).[10][11] Terry\nPratchett considered that the twentieth century had seen the development over\ntime of a more positive view of escapist literature.[12] Apart from literature,\nmusic has been seen and valued as an artistic medium of escape, too.[13]\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cFreud considers a quota of escapist fantasy a\nnecessary element in the life of humans: \u2018[T]hey cannot subsist on the scanty\nsatisfaction they can extort from reality.&nbsp;\n\u201cWe simply cannot do without auxiliary constructions\u201d, Theodor Fontane\nonce said\u2019.[14] His followers saw rest and wish fulfilment (in small measures)\nas useful tools in adjusting to traumatic upset;[15] while later psychologists\nhave highlighted the role of vicarious distractions in shifting unwanted moods,\nespecially anger and sadness.[16][17]\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com\/education\/news-and-education-magazines\/escapism-and-leisure-time-1929-1941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cEscapism\nand Leisure Time 1929-1941\u201d (Encyclopedia.com)<\/a><ul><li>\u201cIn 1938 social science researchers hypothesized that\nunemployment leads to emotional instability. These studies seemed to indicate\nthat the longer a person was unemployed, the more likely his or her personality\nwould become fatalistic and distressed. In an attempt to escape from this\npsychological state, it was speculated that people were turning to popular\nforms of entertainment such as the movies, radio, or reading. Such speculation\nis not unreasonable given studies that show children will play even during the\nworst of times. The fact that very few popular culture forms dealt with the\nrealities of the Great Depression in any explicit way further supports popular\nculture as a vehicle of escape. Using pop culture to escape emotional stress\ncan also be supported through the generally accepted psychological idea of \u2018flow.\u2019\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cFlow is that point within any activity when you lose\nyour sense of self and become one with whatever you are doing. With the\ncomplete absorption in an activity, time disappears, along with the sense of\nself and all that it might have been feeling prior to absorption. It is\nplausible that becoming absorbed in an off the wall comedy, a radio adventure, melodramatic\npulps, or dancing to the Lindy Hop would provide relief from the uncertainties\nassociated with everyday life.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cNine years into the Great Depression the National\nRecreation Association completed a study of five thousand people asking them to\nname the recreational activities in which they participated the most. Among the\nmost frequently mentioned activities were reading newspapers, magazines, and\nbooks; listening to the radio; going to the movies; visiting or entertaining;\nmotoring; swimming; writing letters; conversation; card parties; picnicking;\ngoing to the theater; attending parties and socials; hiking; family parties;\ntennis; and serious study.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cA more positive legacy of the period may be that\npopular culture allowed the United States to become a more integrated society.\nFor example, the enormous popularity of swing allowed for more interactive\nrelations between black American and European American communities. At least\none scholar has argued that American popular culture is far more pluralistic,\ndynamic, and tolerant than United States legal and political culture. The Great\nDepression also was an era in which folk music became popularized as large\nnumbers of people simultaneously learned of its ability to communicate the\nhardships of daily life and as a musical form able to contain a political\npurpose. This legacy was first fully realized during the protests by young\npeople during the 1960s.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/entertainment\/movies\/how-the-great-depression-inspired-hollywoods-golden-age-26481978.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cHow\nthe Great Depression inspired Hollywood&#8217;s golden age\u201d<\/a><ul><li>\u201cEven in the depths of the Great Depression, between\n60 and 80 million Americans went to the movies once a week or more, and back in\nthose days they really got value for money. In the early 1930s, an American\nmovie ticket would buy you a cartoon, a newsreel, a B-feature and the main\nfilm, which amounted to something like four hours&#8217; entertainment for a nickel,\nthe price back then of a gallon of petrol or a packet of cigarettes.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cHow bitterly audiences must have laughed when, in\nDuck Soup, Groucho&#8217;s Rufus T Firefly sang \u2018If you think this country&#8217;s bad off\nnow, just wait till I get through with it!\u2019\u201d <\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cThough the studios rode out the first few years of\nthe Depression comfortably enough, by 1933 their massive debts were catching up\nwith them. All had borrowed heavily to finance the mass purchase of movie\ntheatres and their conversion to sound, leaving them with combined debts of\nover $400m.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>\u201cAnd by 1933, as mass unemployment took hold of\nAmerica, cinema attendances began to fall &#8212; in that year by a massive 40pc.\nAttendances would not recover until the late 1930s, and by that time Hollywood\nhad to cope with the strictures of the newly formed League of Decency, which\nhad raised a formidable political lobby and attacked films for their immoral\ncontent. From that point on, Hollywood would have to start selling America\ninstead of attacking it.\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s all the important\nstuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I have other things to research. Like auditory theories related to space kaiju.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow me on Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nasajimmy?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@NasaJimmy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>#JimmyFromNASALives<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>#WeShallOvercome<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, with the episode on Son of Kong, I was surprised to hear Nathan and Tim telling me what to do with my notes. It\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/20\/jimmys-notes-on-episode-4-timothy-deal-vs-son-of-kong\/\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Jimmy&#8217;s Notes on &#8216;Episode 4: Timothy Deal vs. Son of Kong&#8217;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":5,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,114],"tags":[172,179,165,174,173,90,177,19,66,180,168,178,170,154,18,82,175,171],"series":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-jimmys-notes","tag-1930s","tag-after-king-kong-fell","tag-escapism","tag-geography","tag-gone-with-the-wind","tag-great-depression","tag-i-am-a-fugitive-from-a-chain-gang","tag-jimmy-from-nasa","tag-jimmys-notes","tag-leisure-time","tag-merian-c-cooper","tag-mpaa","tag-nathan","tag-son-of-kong","tag-the-monster-island-film-vault","tag-timothy-deal","tag-where-in-the-world-is-carman-sandiego","tag-wizard-of-oz","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monsterislandfilmvault.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}