Comments on: “Avatar” Puts an Interesting Twist on an Old, Old Tale

By: Jon Herzog

Jon Herzog — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:46:19 +0000

I just saw the movie tonight and didn’t see it as an indictment of the human race or even of technology per se. I thought more that the message of the movie was one of hybridization triumphing over single-mindedness. You must remember that Jake’s Avatar is not full Na’vi — it’s constructed from human and Na’vi DNA samples. And the same with the final battle at the end. The Na’vi were only able to defeat the humans with both human and Na’vi technology (communication and grenades/flying dragons, Eywa and neurotoxins) and both human and Na’vi fighters. To me, the mere fact that the military-industrial complex was human wasn’t what made them evil. What made them evil is that they were single-minded and willfully ignorant. Giovanni Ribisi’s character cares only about greed and the bottom line at his company (and the negative effects that wiping out an indigenous population would do to the public image of the company). And he willfully remains ignorant of the natural surroundings, calls the Na’vi “those blue monkeys” and completely ignores the biological/cultural experts. The General believes that the military solution is the only solution. He gives lip service to the diplomacy solution only because he knows that it may give him valuable information for the eventual strike that he plans on doing. And while he engages with the natural surroundings on Pandora, he cannot evolve his understanding beyond mere survival skills and knowledge. (I actually think the general is a great case-study in trauma. His first day on Pandora, he was literally scarred. Someone who was so self-assured of his ability to survive anything–as he had survived unknown war atrocities that are vaguely mentioned–lost all self-confidence in those skills on Pandora. To me, the General’s journey over the course of the film is one of revenge. It’s never explicitly stated in his dialogue, but it’s almost as if his sole purpose is to wipe out as much life as possible in an attempt to restore what had been lost to him.) Let’s also remember that one of the other main antagonists is Tse-tuy, the next-in-line chief. Also, single-minded in believing the superiority of the pure Na’vi, wanting to respond to everything violently, and also remaining willfully ignorant of the technology the humans possess. In the immediate run-up to the destruction of the hometree, he’s about to lead a flying Pickett’s Charge at the human planes but is too slow in getting his air force to their flying dragons. He redeems himself somewhat after Jake becomes the 6th person ever to tame the big dragon, but still gets mowed down by a gun and gets the “Disney villain death from on high” treatment. Getting back to my main point, the film is more a message of hybridization. The Na’vi are at their strongest when they mindmerge with the world around them — horses, dragons, ancestors & memories. It is this willingness to literally connect and engage with their surroundings, to foster and respect the land that provides them with the means to survive, that ultimately saves them. And hybridization applies to the behind the scenes stuff as well. James Cameron is a tech-wizard and certainly did not make a technologically brilliant movie whose sole purpose was to indict technology as evil. Let’s remember that the 3-D tech for this was developed as he made documentaries about preserving life on the ocean floor and preserving the history of the Titanic. He’s about (and for me the movie is also about) finding the balance of developing and using technology responsibly and with respect for nature. I’d say the same thing about the message for commercialism/greed. The man who has made the single most profitable movie of all time is not anti-capitalism, but rather is about making/using that money responsibly. He hasn’t made a wide-release picture since 1997. After winning every Oscar imaginable, he could have spent the last 12 years making crappy summer tent-pole movies or crappy Oscar-bait films (cough Spielberg cough Indiana Jones 4 cough The Terminal cough) but instead spent his blood, sweat and tears (and money I’m sure, too) into passion projects that made little money in the service of developing a technology that will hopefully draw more people back to theaters.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:18:47 +0000

Thanks, Jesse, for the article links–they do a nice job of distilling some of the feelings I had watching the movie. I went expecting pretty much what I got–a roller coaster ride (that’s why I think a lot of kids saw TITANIC multiple times and, to be honest, while I probably will go see AVATAR a second time). On top of what’s been said above and elsewhere, the thing that really bothers me, plot-wise, is that after Jake makes a full commitment to the Na’vi and assembles the clans, he basically lets the horse-analog warriors ride into a deathtrap, primarily as a distracting element for the aerial warriors. Maybe it “had to be that way,” but I think, given Jake is already responsible for the destruction of the hometree/death of the chief et al. he’d be a little less willing to allow Na’vi to be cannon-fodder. A friend was telling me about her experience of watching GLORY as a white viewer in a largely black audience; she said the regimental massacre scene was a lot less-GLORY-ous in that context.

My other thought on exiting the movie was that Sigourney Weaver has managed to find a role that combines her previous turns in GORILLAS IN THE MIST and ALIENS.

By: katy

katy — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:45:52 +0000

Oh man. Like Ferretrick, I’m groaning realizing that I’m going to have to see this freaking movie, which has just never looked remotely interesting to me. The Best Picture buzz alone makes me feel duty-bound. How can I whine about its undeserving nomination if I haven’t seen it? Mercy, what I’ll do for the right to complain!

I thought the “Will White People Ever Stop Making Films Like Avatar” link Jesse posted was thought provoking, even not having seen the film. Do you disagree with that take, Mark?

And another pressing question I have: will the 3D and the effects make me sick? I’d hate to have to toss my cookies just to be able to complain about the film getting nominated, but again, I’ll do what it takes.

By: Mark Blankenship

Mark Blankenship — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:29:03 +0000

Even if it weren’t my job, I’d probably be seeing all these movies, too. Lord knows I hauled myself to everything well before I had a place to write about my reactions. I guess I’ve kind of always felt obliged to see everything, and then one day I started working on turning that impulse into a profession. (For those who don’t, by the way, the Michael who comments here also did a lot to help me figure out how to make that career possible.)

By: ferretrick

ferretrick — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:24:31 +0000

Returning to your opening paragraph, Mark, the answer is yes. I really had zero interest in seeing Avatar, and I haven’t yet…but some friends have, and raved, and apparently its going to be A Big Thing.

(To me, it just sounds like Titanic in Space-Jake Sully is Kate Winslet, the humans are her mom and all the other shallow, suffocating Rich Bitches who just wanted Rose to shut up and marry Billy Zane, the Navi gal is Leonardo DiCaprio and the Navi people are the fun loving, free lower classes that seduce Rose away to their world of fun like spitting off the side of boats and pounding beers).

Anyway, point being, I now feel compelled to go see what all the hype is about, even though the movie looks incredibly tiresome to me. And its NOT my job to talk about culture, I see movies for enjoyment.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:27:58 +0000

What Jesse said.

By: Jesse M

Jesse M — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:09:02 +0000

I’m in the thin ranks of Avatar skeptics, and I think it’s important to test these praises of Avatar. In particular, you suggest that it’s revolutionary for the humans to be completely villified in favor of the Other… yet, almost all “going native” stories tend to do this. Tarzan, Dances With Wolves, etc: the “modern culture” that we’re initially expected to identify with is ultimately rejected and completely exiled. The flaw in these stories is that we’re never prompted to really identify with these familiar cultures anyway. Like the “wise native” culture, they’re portrayed in a one-dimensional light.

Further, it’s a bit far-fetched that Sully is not only fully initiated into this supposedly inhuman culture… he actually becomes a leader there, in less than a year of integration; the only biological feature that makes the Pandoran species genuinely unique — their nerve-center connectivity to other native species — is something that Sully masters immediately, apparently without even thinking.

The movie is really actually divided into three groups, not just two. There’s the “brute human” type, exemplified by the Colonel and Giovanni Rabisi… there’s the “noble savage” exemplified by the actual Nav’i characters.. and then there’s the “human apologist” characters, found in Sully and Sigourney Weaver, who ultimately redeem the human race and prove themselves spiritually equal to the Nav’i, and somehow, more intellectually and militarily capable.

I had a lot of fun watching the movie, but I haven’t been able to cast aside my nagging discontent with its storyline. I assume you’ve read the criticisms at io9 and Cinematical? They do a fair job of summing up my misgivings.

http://io9.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatar

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/22/the-geek-beat-bury-my-heart-on-pandora/

By: Avner Kam

Avner Kam — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:02:58 +0000

Dahhhling — you write that “Cameronâ€™s film is slyly apocalyptic. It destroys humanity while weâ€™re off cheering for other things.” — that is way too literal. Not humanity, but the militaristic approach is destroyed.

Considering there are no real aliens that we know of and that only we are watching this flick, we are also the Na’vi, and proof is that we were moved when the blue couple got it on. The film major emotional impact is this cross-species union, and just like in the case of race, it teaches that we belong with those that think like us, not look like us.

Let the A-holes die — their death is not the end of humanity; vice versa.

By: Mark Blankenship

Mark Blankenship — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:48:53 +0000

Hey Michael… I think you mean Sigourney Weaver. Susan Sarandon is currently enduring CGI in “The Lovely Bones.”

And yeah, there are a few humans who make it, but I got the impression that like Sully, the Doctor and that other scientist were awakened by the Na’vi.

Regardless of where their enlightenment came from, though, I’d still argue that the thrust of the dominant thrust of the narrative is that humans are evil, and that the locus for primitive saintliness can only be found in alien forms. They tried to turn Weaver into a Na’vi, after all, and it’s awfully significant that Jake becomes a Na’vi in the end. To me, that says that even those few humans who are enlightened are really more Na’vi than human. Or more broadly, that in the world of the film, “goodness” is associated with being alien and “evil” is associated with being human.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:28:58 +0000

(I want to write an essay on the perseverance of the Pocahontas myth in American drama and film–it’s been staged since the Colonial days. The feminizing of nature, national guilt over genocide, it’s all there from the start . . .)

I have to admit–having seen the film in 3-D from the second row–I was exhausted by what I felt were the endless cliches of the story, and the overstimulation of my eyes–I speculated that Cameron made a deliberately derivative screenplay so that we could let the story coast and focus on the luxurious CGI.

Was Cameron even aware of the ironies of his conception? To beat the humans, bring arrows, dragons, AND GRENADES. And to conceive nature as a kind of internet that you can literally plug into as if by a computer cable . . . ?

(In regard to the brave vilification of humans you refer to, Mark, there were a minority of humans who got it and valued the Navi all through. It’s not a total statement. Susan Sarandon dies beatified.)