No sex in his mind! King Kong was just curious about Ann: the Koko experiment

Janaisa (2012) presented a good multimedia comparison of the three King Kong versions, and found that Ann’s attitude towards Kong changes from always trying to escape (1933) to trying to save him in the other versions, where he no longer kills humans (according to Irwin, 2010, Dwan and Ann’s fraternizing with Kong could be cases of Stockholm Syndrome).

The supposedly “erotic” scene in which Kong examines Ann (or Dwan, in the second film) was also analyzed by Janaisa (2012). In the third film, Ann makes pirouettes for him; in the second, Kong washes her, and in the first version, Kong peels off Ann´s clothes and sniffs his fingers. Janaisa does not discuss the reason for these differences, but it was the lack of eroticism in the third version that triggered my idea of comparing versions and writing this article.

The 1933 version with cloth removal and sniffing is the most interesting of the three. Esther M. Friesner (in Haber, 2005, p. 158) wrote that Kong is surprised because Ann doesn’t smell like previous brides, and that she is not eaten for that reason. But I will turn to the original script for a more official explanation of what is happening in that scene (Dohm, 2007):

“Kong, in side angle, begins to pick her clothes off, as a monkey might pick a rag doll to pieces.

INT. LAIR - MED. SHOT – NIGHT

Ann shrinks and screams as her clothes are pulled off bit by bit.

EXT. TRAIL - FULL SHOT – NIGHT

Driscoll comes up the trail. He can hear the girl's screams. He hurries.

INT. LAIR - FULL SHOT – NIGHT

The girl is almost naked.

SIDE ANGLE. Kong is still picking  at her when he turns startled.”

What Kong does with Ann is exactly what a real gorilla does with a doll, as you can see in the video Koko's 42nd Birthday (https://goo.gl/HHj6ox).