That is for ME to know.
I sleep now.
Posted on 12/16/2009 5:56:58 AM PST by Maelstorm
A morally, historically, socially, and politically childish amalgam of Pocahontas and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Avatar finds James Cameron--still the Cameron of Titanic (or the uncomfortably simpering T2, if we're honest with ourselves) rather than the Cameron of Aliens and The Terminator--trying his hand at being Kevin Costner: powerful, dim, and only relevant for a tiny window of time he doesn't realize has already closed. The more simple-minded liberal proselytizing he perpetrates like Avatar, the farther away he gets from the B-movie muscularity that indicated his early career. It's a bad thing, believe me, that the first set of movies people think to compare your latest to is first George Lucas' ridiculous prequel trilogy--then Dances with Wolves.
Like Lucas, Cameron's made the fatal error of writing his own screenplay, larding it with gut-busters like "Pandora will make Hell seem like R&R!" whilst recasting Native Americans as giant blue cats and Sam Worthington as the Next Big Has-Been (see: Cameron's failed attempts to shove Michael Biehn down America's throat). Cameron's long-awaited reunion with Sigourney Weaver isn't another Alien flick, but this thing with Ripley recast as do-gooder scientist Dr. Grace, battling the bellicose military over the soul of the Noble Savages inhabiting a verdant planet. Man is here, see, to harvest priceless ore "Unobtainium" (seriously--if you're that committed to being retarded, why not call it "Cantgetitanywhereium," or "Itsrareium"?) with a band of mercenaries at the beck of Cameron's evil, monolithic Company, led by pressed-shirt Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). We're not far now from naming someone "General Grievous," are we? Dr. Grace has developed the titular Avatar program, which breeds giant blue cats that are then electronically linked with human drivers--the better to freak out learn the ways of the natives and win their hearts and minds. A shame that jarhead Jake (Worthington) falls in love with giant blue cat Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, doing voice and MoCap duties), fucks her under the Spirit Tree upon becoming a member of The People (the Na'vi), and switches sides to repulse the human spoilers after taming a dragon, fulfilling a primitive prophecy, and earning the Indians' fealty. Stupid Indians.
Of course the military, led by muscle-bound Duke Nukem manqué Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), doesn't understand the beauty of the Na'vi culture nor the bumfuddling sanctity of nature, and of course Selfridge doesn't care that the Na'vi's village is housed in a mystical tree that's growing over the largest concentration of unobtainium in the known universe. What you should care about is that Cameron has essentially retold the Pocahontas story with giant blue cats subbing for the Powhatan and every single Native American stereotype subbing for taste. (Jar Jar isn't speaking Jamaican! He's an alien!) The Na'vi, it seems, are literally in tune with their Mother Earth, use little feelers in their tails to again literally commune with their horses, and engage in brutal spiritual rituals in order to Man Called Horse whitey into their inner ranks. Fans of oaters will also be pleased to check off: the presence of a Magua-type character who doesn't like Jake very much because paleface is making eyes at his squaw; the noble chief who takes shrapnel; the witch woman making witchy pronouncements; and the moment when Captain Smith makes good by conquering a savage superstition and henceforth rallies his clan with the horse-cats of the plains and the fierce water-cats of the north. Because this is a Cameron joint, you also have a tough-talking Latina and a bunch of scary-looking mechas; and because this is a late-Cameron joint, there's unfortunately a lot of stuff about how humans destroyed their own planet out of greed, how the misguided men must fight "terror with terror" by employing "some kind of shock and awe," and how naïve an intellectually-limited billionaire filmmaker sounds when trying to force himself into some kind of relevant conversation.
The real hell of this 160-minute marathon is that it's shot well, edited brilliantly, paced with heat and wisdom, and yet undone at its end by its reliance on the same old shit--on stale outrage (Bush Jr. lied to get us into Iraq? Well, gorsh!) and tired paternalism. This exact thing was done better, and with infinitely more scabrous self-awareness, in an episode of "Futurama" called "Where the Buggalo Roam"--a sad thing to say about a film that took ten years and a medium-sized country's GDP to bring to fruition. Even the special effects, though, have the scrolling, smooth quality of a Pixar feature without the commensurate command of storytelling and almost mystical contact with the zeitgeist. An extended sequence of Jake exploring this wonderland, Pandora, has him tripping luminescent moss in a deeply sad--and probably unintentional--homage to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video, while elsewhere, Cameron inserts the (literal) deus ex machina in floating forest spirits plucked from Miyazaki's cutting-room floor. It isn't much better than the faux-wow of Ferngully, clarifying the truism that cutting-edge F/X, if not married to a thematically-strong, well-written framework, result in ferociously-defended pieces of camp-classic drag bullshit like Tron and Willow.
Worth mentioning is that Avatar, along with end-of-aughts brothers like Precious, The Blind Side, Invictus, Transformers 2, et al, demonstrates that the United States remains incapable of dealing directly with race in its mainstream, prestige entertainments in any way save for the obvious, pandering, sometimes condescending, sometimes just bigoted, always ignorant, and, it almost goes without saying, tediously offensive. In defense of Avatar, it's probably the best Cameron can do with regards to discussing the Native American genocide--that is, replicate the Trail of Tears as space cats evicted from their burning tree and showcase them chanting to the Great Mother to save the soul of the white man, then hijack history to show the beset-upon, oil-rich nation triumphing over its evil exploiters. It's The New World, but the Powhatan succeed in repulsing the Colonists. It's so confused about itself, with its Princess Mononoke rebellion of Nature subtext married to its wampum-for-Manhattan outrage, that despicable Colonel Quaritch snarls at Jake at one point, "What does it feel like to betray your own...race?" It's pitiable. At least Avatar, while displaying the same racial insensitivity and tin ear as Titanic, is unlikely to pollute the culture to the same extent or for anywhere near the same duration as Titanic. Watch the recent "South Park" satire of it ("Dances with Smurfs"), created without first-hand knowledge of the film at a miniscule fraction of its budget, to see the poor, benighted thing punched square in the babymaker.-Walter Chaw
There’s a Bollywood-produced computer-animated version of the Ramayana due out within a year that I’m really looking forward to. The Hindu mythology has so many epic stories that an advanced studio could do wonders with. I sometimes wonder why Disney can draw from the stories of so many cultures, and the best representative of the Indus valley they can find is Mowgli. They could do amazing things with the origin of Ganesha or, dare I say it, the Ramayana (though the Mahabharata might be more in WETA’s back yard).
If anyone saw "Slumdog Millionaire," in one of the sequences, the peaceful Muslims were attacked and murdered by the evil Buddhists. Anyone want to guess what would have happened to the movie if the protagonist had been a Buddhist and his village had been attacked by Muslims?
I don’t want it to bomb because Hollywood is evil. I want it to bomb because it’s a stupid movie and I want Hollywood to stop thinking insulting the viewer is a good way to make money. Hollywood is a copy cat industry, movies that make money get copied, movies that bomb don’t, so as a movie junky I want the kinds of movies I like to make lots of money and the kinds of movies I hate to bomb miserably.
To each their own, I thought Blindside was a wonderful film and I will see it again... AVATAR isn’t my kind of movie...
We saw the Blind Side last week.
About a Christian, conservative, republican, NRA-member, southern, white family that brings a black teen into their family and brings him out of his hopeless, poverty-stricken, gang-banging, crack-smoking home and help him achieve his potential.
I’m sure that Ms. Bullock choked on some of the lines, but it was a good movie, and I reserve the right to take my family to movies if I choose.
That is for ME to know.
I sleep now.
bump for later.
I like Willow. Tron, not so much.
***After years of having their economies undermined by self annointed “Dances with Wolves” types, the Hopi and Navaho tribes have ordered all Greens and Enviros to pack up their 1964 Microbusses and leave their reservations.****
Back in 1973-74, when the American Indian Movement (AIM)took over the Wounded Knee area, they were invaded by lots of bearded “helpful” hippies in oposition to the FBI.
"All right, Troopers! We're going to turn this thing into a really beutiful, but poorly written movie! Let's kill some Thundercats!"
I am going to see it Thursday PM. Will let you know my verdict
The trailers are very inviting (to me a sci/fi & special effects buff)
I do okay with the PC stuff.. I just try to find the enjoyment that is there for each movie I chose to see.
***If you need half a billion worth of special effects to tell a story, then the story isn’t worth telling.***
Rodger Corman or Golan-Globus could have made 200 movies for that price! Probably just as bad or better!
I agree...
good post
I take exception to the fact you are NOT a good Conservative if you chose to go to movies (and HORRORS - enjoy them)
You & wife have a great date/afternoon!
Not trying demean the Native Americans, but when a white person takes up “native spirituality” that basically means that person has hit rock bottom. Of course its a good business selling dream catchers to the desperate.
It's obvious, IMHO, you understand exactly the con that's being pulled off here. I live not that far from Sedona, AZ where there's an industry, and not a cottage industry, dedicated to relieving wealthy liberals of their overweighted purses by peddling them faux Native Am., new age hoopla. When I think about it, it's a shuck and jive that's been going on since the medicine shows of the 1800's.
“However we’ve found there’re still a few smaller theaters around offering matinees. During the week M-Fri they’re quiet, while those who are there are always older, more civilized & quiet during the show. As it should be.”
Never thought of that. I just bought a 42 inch flat screen , and I bought a gizmo that allows me to stream Netflix into my tv. I’ll stick with that, cause I have a great lounge chair from which I can sip a tall cool one while watching ;-)
” 1776 said: “I wasn’t aware it was a girl flick movie.”
Is it?
Pray-tell. ;^) “
Snookered again, eh? LOL!
I don’t care. Still going to see it.
And I always think of our liberals, their views on communism, Red China and Tibet, talk about conflicted. So for a billion I’ll make a cartoon depicting Marines bombing the shot out of a theocratic backwater and turning it to the modern world. For a kicker I’ll make the Marines’ commander in chief a “magical” figure who only wants to bomb the poor b*st*rds out of the stone age.
Native American is somebody born here. My grandfather was an Indian. He, my cousins and most of the Indians I know are Christians.
The only people I see practicing native spirituality are white folk.
Failing that, a civilization that can cross interstellar space could come up with a biological agent to get rid of the natives with minimal fuss.
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