Skull Islander (De Laurentiis)
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- Carnahan: “You trying to tell me there's people on this island?”
- Jack Prescott: “Yes I am. There's more, I'll characterize them. Scared people.”
- Dwan: “Scared of what?”
- Jack Prescott: “I don't know exactly, but whatever it is, apparently they thought they need a wall this size to keep it out.”
- ― Conversation between Petrox Explorer crew members while seeing the giant wall (King Kong, 1976)
The indigenous people of Skull Island are a tribe of humans living on Skull Island who appear in the 1976 film King Kong. Over hundreds of years, they adapted to life on the same island with Kong, whom they revered as a god, until the Petrox Corporation expedition came to Skull Island in the 1970s, captured the giant ape, and transported him to New York City.
Development
The costumes of the natives are based on those of real inhabitants of Borneo.[2]
Appearance
Skull Islanders have dark skin and black, mostly curly hair. They wear straw clothes and sometimes decorate themselves with shells, feathers, or yellow or white tattoos on their bodies. The priests wear ceremonial capes, and some women wear golden wigs. The witch doctor has an ape mask and a necklace with a fang or tooth of a slain carnivorous animal.
Culture
The natives have lived on Skull Island for hundreds of years. To protect themselves from Kong, they separated their part of the island with a massive wooden wall, taller than the beast. Knowing that even such a structure may not be able to hold him back, they sometimes tried to appease him by giving him women from their tribe as brides. Evidence of such rituals, according to Jack Prescott, dated back to 1749.
The Skull Islanders' way of life has much in common with that of the Stone Age. They weave clothes from straw, fight and hunt with wooden spears, and eat the fruits and vegetables that grow on the island. They also collect sea mollusks and use their shells for decoration. The moon symbol is important in their culture. They make sacrifices on the full moon, and some of them wear round ornaments that resemble a nearly full moon disk. This ornament was given to Dwan, but she threw it away in an attempt to run away from Kong.
History
- King Kong (1976)
King Kong
In the 1970s, the Petrox Corporation sent an expedition to search for a new source of oil, and the legendary Skull Island was discovered in the area under study. A reconnaissance party of nine people landed on the coast of the island and soon discovered a giant wall. Seeing that the cracks in the wall were sealed with earth, Jack Prescott guessed that the island was inhabited by people. Fred Wilson, the expedition leader, disagreed, but at that moment primitive music began to play. After walking a little further, they found a settlement of natives near a giant gate and began to watch a ceremony. A young woman with a distant expression sat on a litter while other tribe members around her beat drums, danced in strange capes, and shouted "Kong!". Seeing the woman being given a golden wig, Dwan assumed it was a wedding. Prescott agreed and mistook the witch doctor in the ape mask for a groom's stand-in. Soon this man noticed the presence of strangers. He nervously interrupted the ceremony and approached with a group of armed tribesmen, bursting into accusations that the strangers had witnessed a magical rite. However, upon seeing Dwan with natural golden hair, the witch doctor became quiet and then demanded that she be given in exchange for six women from his tribe. The expedition refused, the islanders tried to take Dwan by force; the shots fired into the air caused them to flee.
At night several natives set out in a boat towards the Petrox Explorer, intending to kidnap Dwan for their ritual. They sailed through the fog bank and headed towards the lights of the ship. Dwan was fishing on a platform at the water's edge, and then began packing to go and retire to the cabin with Prescott. She neither saw nor heard a canoe approach from behind. Moving quickly, one of the natives grabbed her and covered her mouth. Dwan managed to let out only a weak cry, but one of the kidnappers dropped a bone necklace on the platform. Prescott found it and realized that Dwan had been kidnapped.
The natives brought Dwan to the settlement, clothed her in a ceremonial dress, and gave her a calming drink. While she was in a trance, the witch doctor and other islanders performed the necessary rituals under the light of numerous torches. The giant gates opened and the women carried Dwan to the giant altar and left her there tied to two pillars. The gates closed. The Skull Islanders gathered at the top of the wall and continued to shout the name of their god and blow their trumpets. Hearing them, Kong, the giant ape, came out of the dark forest. The natives fell silent and watched as Kong picked up Dwan, who had come out of her trance, and carried her away with him. When he disappeared behind the trees, the natives came down from the wall, and the witch doctor began to perform a new ritual dance. At that moment, a rescue party from the Petrox Explorer arrived and dispersed the islanders with signal flares and shots into the air.
The islanders spent the next two days hiding in their settlement while Wilson's crew was studying the substance from the puddle and preparing a trap for Kong. When Prescott and the rescued Dwan returned, Kong came for them, broke down the gate, and fell into a pit filled with chloroform. Some of the natives came out of hiding and cautiously approached. They saw Kong move one last time, raise his hand, and fall asleep. The Skull Islanders bowed down, mourning Kong's fate. On the way to New York City, Prescott said that the natives were missing Kong, and within a year the island would be full of burned-out drunks. On the first night of the New York show, two performers dressed in neutral native costumes walked with Dwan onto a mock altar in front of Kong's cage.
Technology
Woodworking
The islanders make baskets, spears, drums and boats from wood. They also built a giant wall and gate from tree trunks.
Constructing
To protect themselves from Kong, the natives built a giant wall of tree trunks held together with earth, which they change after the rainy seasons. They close the gate by sliding a smooth wooden bolt and use oil as a lubricant. The altar on the other side of the gate was carved out of the rock.
Weaving
Skull Islanders weave clothes mainly from straw.
Gathering
The natives collect bivalves from the sea and use their shells and pearls as decoration. The ceremonial hat worn by women chosen for sacrifice is entirely woven from shells and pearls.
Weaponsmithing
The islanders are armed with long, thin spears made from wood.
Vessels
Skull Islanders make their voyages in long wooden boats.
Firemaking
The natives make fire and light many torches during nightly ceremonies. They likely make them using a petroleum-like substance from puddles in their settlement.
Medicine
The islanders heal wounds with medicinal herbs. When they dressed Dwan in her ceremonial attire, they tied medicinal leaves to her right arm.
Gallery
Trivia
- This is the first incarnation of the native people of Skull Island and the second people to worship Kong, after the Faro Islanders, who built a wooden wall instead of a stone one.
References
This is a list of references for Skull Islander (De Laurentiis). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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