Snead, I Disagree

Snead says, on page 22,

[Denham] sees the removal of Kong not as theft, but as a good business proposition. In any case, the viewer’s attention focuses on the danger that the girl seems to be in, while overlooking the actual dangers to which Kong (blacks) is being exposed.

Besides the fact that it looks like he is trying to overtly imply that the viewer is racist, I think he’s just plain wrong. Seemingly unnoticed by the characters, there are certainly points in the film where Kong shows emotion and evokes a kind of pathos from the viewer. I mean, I’d be angry if people came in and interfered with my lifestyle too. Kong’s just hanging out on his island when Denham and crew show up and ruin everything.
Later, on page 24, Snead says that, “for a black spectator, [Ann’s] position – being terrorized by blackness – could only be shared with the greatest psychic conflict.” It’s not blackness terrorizing her; it’s a forty foot gorilla. If you can’t empathize there, you probably don’t understand what the gorilla is capable of, though there is plenty of evidence in the film.
On the same page, he goes further:

A white male viewer might sense in Kong’s death a cleansing of his previous identification with the beast. A black viewer might not only reject the price Kong pays for his own ‘guilt,’ but also would wonder why there is no price to be paid by Kong’s exploiters.

I think any kind of viewer might experience either of these, and I don’t think skin-color would give any preference; it’s more of a psychological difference. If the gorilla Denham brings back from its home hundreds of miles away solely for monetary gain kills people and destroys things, I think Denham should definitely be held responsible. After Kong dies, I’m supposed to breathe a sigh of relief because I felt like I was rampaging through the jungle and city, which would make me feel guilty? I feel like someone was kidnapped and murdered.
Denham says “he’s always been king of his world, but we’ll teach him fear.” He was fighting T-Rexes his size, and doesn’t know fear? Denham is just making stuff up so he can bring him home, and Snead sees no problem with it, even suggesting that “we never question Denham’s right…to abduct Kong.” I can’t agree with Snead about any of this. It’s nuts.