Malcolm Mclaren and Vivienne Westwood:
'Exposé: Punk Rock Sex' T-shirt (Seditionaries 1978)
Image via: metmuseum.org
King Kong, King Kong, I don't think clear
King Kong king, the king is here
His heart's still pumping, his blood's still running
King Kong king, the king is here [1]
I.
Everybody loves King Kong (1933) - the tragic story of a giant gorilla transported to a world not of his own making, who falls for a beautiful young white woman originally offered to him as a sacrifice.
And when I say everyone, I mean everyone - from Adolf Hitler to Malcolm McLaren ...
II.
Actually, although it is a widely reported claim that Hitler was spellbound by King Kong, historians debate whether this is more popular myth than verifiable fact.
For while several contemporary accounts from people within his inner circle confirm the Führer was a Hollywood film fan who enjoyed watching movies nearly every night - and while the Nazi newspaper Der Angriff published a very positive review of King Kong (in predictably racialised terms) - Bill Niven points out that there is no official record definitively proving Hitler ever saw it [2].
McLaren, however, was definitely a fan of King Kong and repurposed this powerful piece of cinematic mythology on at least two occasions: firstly, weaving it into his own aesthetic as a provocative fashion designer and, secondly, as a lyricist with Bow Wow Wow, the band he conceived and managed after his Sex Pistols project terminated.
III.
Returning to the UK in early 1978 after the Sex Pistols' fateful US tour resulted in the dissolution of the band as a regular four-piece, McLaren and his partner Vivienne Westwood set about printing a series of obscene novelty designs that he had come across in America on a range of plain T-shirts and muslin tops sold at Seditionaries.
Among these was a cartoon-style image of King Kong atop the Empire State Building masturbating over a female figure (presumably Ann Darrow - the struggling actress and Kong's love interest in the 1933 film as played by Fay Wray).
The cultural significance of the shirt titled 'Exposé' (and subtitled 'Punk Rock Sex') is debatable. It's crudely provocative and mildly amusing, but I wouldn't say it's one of the great pieces designed by McLaren and Westwood. Sid liked wearing it, so that's something, I suppose - but I wouldn't personally describe it as representing the raw, anti-establishment aesthetic that defined early punk fashion [3].
IV.
Other lyrics have a certain ambiguity or complexity. Kong is not merely seen as a symbol of primal chaos and untamed animality, he is also viewed by McLaren as a product of American mass media designed to entertain cinemagoers around the world and generate huge profits for the film industry - a monster who eats and shits money and who eventually bores us by repeating his antics over and over on screen.
King Kong, in other words, is part of the Spectacle and McLaren's aim is to subvert, weaponise, and repurpose his image and his story in order not merely to offend polite society, but challenge consumer capitalism - to liberate him, if you like, and give Kong back his outrageousness.
Notes
[1] Bow Wow Wow, 'King Kong', a hugely underrated track with lyrics by Malcolm McLaren and music by Matthew Ashman, David Barbarossa, and Leigh Gorman, on the album See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! (RCA Records, 1981).
[2] See Bill Niven, Hitler and Film: The Führer's Hidden Passion (Yale University Press, 2018).
[3] In fact, I tend to agree with Paul Gorman that the new shirts produced for Seditionaries in the autumn of '78 had a tone of peevishness "rather than triumphant disruption". If they worked as (slightly juvenile) provocations, "in the absence of a coherent clothing collection providing a framework, they lacked panache and indicated that the McLaren/Westwood design relationship was marking time".
See The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren (Constable, 2020), p. 403.
