Avatar
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, & Sigourney Weaver
Oh Avatar, how you have captured the eyes and hearts of the viewing public. I’ll admit, I saw a preview for you and thought “oooh, shiny!” I also thought at first that you were created by Guillermo Del Toro, why you gotta look like Pan’s Labyrinth? Truth be told, I have mixed feelings about this movie. It was beautiful, and that in itself is part of the problem.
As I have mentioned before, I am not the biggest fan of 3D. I get that it’s this revolutionary technology, and can really open the possibilities of our movie going experiences. Obviously, I saw Avatar and it’s amazing visually. But as a viewer that seems physically unable to adapt to 3D, I hate that to experience the beauty of a movie like this, you are forced to see it in 3D. Short of getting new eyes, I have yet to find a way to avoid the monster headache that accompanies the viewing of a movie in 3D.
Anyway, my headache and Avatar are only tied by the output format, so I won’t hold it against the movie. But I feel like I need to give it two different reviews – one for plot and one for appearance. Appearance wise, gorgeous. This is what I want the world to look like for reals. If freckles really glowed in the dark, I would be out at the dermatologist asking for a lovely array of them. And you know I want an adorable neonish path to light up when I walk!
The plot, or rather the themes in the movie, are where I really have a problem. It’s a pretty typical, over done, “civilized” versus “savages”, omg there’s a pretty girl story line. And really, I don’t have issues with that. But when you’re James Cameron putting years into a movie, supposedly working on a script for over a decade, I think you could maybe have a less generic plot. And possibly get rid of some theme’s in our society that are kind of offensive.
I’ll start by saying I don’t think James Cameron is responsible in the slightest for these themes. But I do think that people in positions of semi-power have an obligation to try and change the overall societal view by not continuing the misconceptions.
First, we have the Na’vi, the indigenous people of Pandora who are humanoid and living on an Earth-like planet. They wear little clothing and are wicked in touch with the planet with a special connection where everything is linked together through the roots of the plants. At one point, they are specifically referred to as savages. Oh, and their planet has some precious metal that the humans want, although it’s never stated what for. My problem is this – why do we always have to portray another species, especially one that has something we’re after, as something we would consider so uncivilized and behind on technology?
It’s just offensive to me. I don’t know why we can’t consider a race in touch with the earth as something equally advanced as we consider ourselves to be. I mean, we create these people in our fictions anyway, why can’t we give them some credit? Or are we so arrogant that we assume if we are lucky enough to achieve a higher level of space travel, all the other races we come in touch with are automatically going to be inferior to ours?
I also severely dislike the way the humans behave towards the Na’vi and the planet. The frustrating thing about that is…we kind of are that way. We tend to go blindly in, assume we will be able to persuade the people into giving us what we want, and just blast them to bits if they don’t. So while I dislike the stereotype given to the Na’vi, I equally dislike the one associated with the humans, but think it’s legitimate. And it depresses me.
Fortunately, I don’t think we’re going to encounter this kind of problem in real life for quite some time. But I genuinely hope that we can figure out an honest, diplomatic way to do things. And also, we should maybe not develop a need for something we can’t get on our own planet.
See this movie if: Honestly, you probably already saw it. If you didn’t, like I said, it’s beautiful. You should see it for the visual for sure. But don’t expect a unique plot.
My Rating: 3.5/5 (I had a hard time deciding a rating on this one, folks)
Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Sigourney Weaver was in Happily N’Ever After with Sarah Michelle Gellar
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