my opinion on avatar...
it was an anti-war movie. it was an anti-capitalist movie. it was an anti-imperialist movie. it was a "we need to go green and humans are the scourge of the earth" movie. it was a "rich white corporations & nations are the scourge of humanity" movie. it was an action movie. it was a love story. the graphics were fucking amazing.
in short, it was very very good.
i don't see how anyone would not see how this is an anti-war movie. first of all, sigourney weaver is a big time anti-war activist...she's not gonna be in a movie promoting war. plus the following phrases were used in the movie: "pre-emptive war." "shock & awe campaign". "the war on terror"... the only reason we're here is for "UNOBTAINIUM"... they definitely repped for the indigenous americans, africans, and south asians...
there was so much interesting shit about it...like...parallel with the current war on terror...powerful nation discovers rich resource in land that doesn't belong to them...destroys their home (home tree) so then the people have to go to the sacred tree and rely on their faith to renew and unite them: since this the only safe haven they now have, they commit 100% to defending it. in fact, they go outside of their clan to unite with other clans and work in tandem to defend their collective homeland. i saw this as a metaphor for how the west created/nurtured/fostered religious fundamentalism in the middle east. clearly i'm not saying that everyone in the middle east is a violent fundamentalist.
also, in the movie, their beliefs and land are interconnected. in fact their faith literally is rooted in their land.
i have heard critiques of the movie that talk about how the beginning is just a waste of "oooh look at how cool all the 3D cgi is. i think those people really missed the point. it creates this whole world & cosmology that is totally alien...makes you learn it...& then shows you how fucked up it is to have all that shit ripped away from you just b/c rich white men with guns want a mineral resource that you are sitting on.
there were things i didn't like. the main one was the whole process of how they partner with the pterodactyl bird thingies...the forced domination & then penetration with the braid thingy felt like rape to me. it made me super uncomfortable.
of course there's the racial politics of the white guy going native, and then becoming the leader of the people. i mean...yeah. but at the same time, it's like choosing between the earth (which he says no longer has any "green" on it) and a sustainable world...i think we (in the first world and privileged classes) will all have to give up a lot and completely change our lifestyle, and stop wanting to be the global, cultural hegemons if we want the world to be a place we can continue to inhabit. or in other words...if there are people/cultures who can live with the earth and fuck it up less than we are doing...we really need to learn as much as possible from them.
i did hate how much he spoke english. but im sure that was a business decision b/c ppl hate reading subtitles, unless it's the passion of the christ.
the gender stuff seemed a lil inconsistent... like...both genders apparently fill the exact same roles in society as evinced by the fact that it's a woman who is showing a man how to "be" navi...but then the rite of passage thing has only male subjects. but maybe it wasn't that deep.
i would so go see this movie again. i mean i probably will. i loved it. i have more to say, and more intelligently, but had to get that out.
in short, it was very very good.
i don't see how anyone would not see how this is an anti-war movie. first of all, sigourney weaver is a big time anti-war activist...she's not gonna be in a movie promoting war. plus the following phrases were used in the movie: "pre-emptive war." "shock & awe campaign". "the war on terror"... the only reason we're here is for "UNOBTAINIUM"... they definitely repped for the indigenous americans, africans, and south asians...
there was so much interesting shit about it...like...parallel with the current war on terror...powerful nation discovers rich resource in land that doesn't belong to them...destroys their home (home tree) so then the people have to go to the sacred tree and rely on their faith to renew and unite them: since this the only safe haven they now have, they commit 100% to defending it. in fact, they go outside of their clan to unite with other clans and work in tandem to defend their collective homeland. i saw this as a metaphor for how the west created/nurtured/fostered religious fundamentalism in the middle east. clearly i'm not saying that everyone in the middle east is a violent fundamentalist.
also, in the movie, their beliefs and land are interconnected. in fact their faith literally is rooted in their land.
i have heard critiques of the movie that talk about how the beginning is just a waste of "oooh look at how cool all the 3D cgi is. i think those people really missed the point. it creates this whole world & cosmology that is totally alien...makes you learn it...& then shows you how fucked up it is to have all that shit ripped away from you just b/c rich white men with guns want a mineral resource that you are sitting on.
there were things i didn't like. the main one was the whole process of how they partner with the pterodactyl bird thingies...the forced domination & then penetration with the braid thingy felt like rape to me. it made me super uncomfortable.
of course there's the racial politics of the white guy going native, and then becoming the leader of the people. i mean...yeah. but at the same time, it's like choosing between the earth (which he says no longer has any "green" on it) and a sustainable world...i think we (in the first world and privileged classes) will all have to give up a lot and completely change our lifestyle, and stop wanting to be the global, cultural hegemons if we want the world to be a place we can continue to inhabit. or in other words...if there are people/cultures who can live with the earth and fuck it up less than we are doing...we really need to learn as much as possible from them.
i did hate how much he spoke english. but im sure that was a business decision b/c ppl hate reading subtitles, unless it's the passion of the christ.
the gender stuff seemed a lil inconsistent... like...both genders apparently fill the exact same roles in society as evinced by the fact that it's a woman who is showing a man how to "be" navi...but then the rite of passage thing has only male subjects. but maybe it wasn't that deep.
i would so go see this movie again. i mean i probably will. i loved it. i have more to say, and more intelligently, but had to get that out.