Wherein Robin discusses Avatar

[tamago23]

[Forewarning: no spoilers in this post, although the article linked to within the post is extremely spoiler-heavy.]

I saw Avatar in IMAX 3D last night. It was... well, there really aren't any words. Frolic and I sat there silently for about five minutes afterward, and then I said, "Holy fuck." Yeah, I'm coherent when I'm awed

Comments

[alexisyael]

I do think the Noble Savage line was skirted, but I mostly think he kept himself from crossing it. (There were maybe two cliche moments I thought were fairly eek worthy, but it wasn't really awful).

It did bug me that there was not enough diversity in the human cast (all white with one black man and one Hispanic woman). The Matrix really showcased what diversify can be in the future and I think that should now be the norm. The Na'vi were (from a quick perusal of imbd) mostly black, which is cool, but again: the humans of the future shouldn't be homogenous. We just aren't going that way.

Her argument about Native American culture was strange because to my eye there was a lot more Arabic/ Berber influence (and yes, American and even Aboriginal cultures, too: makes sense, those are our indiginous models!) I saw a LOT of anti-war propaganda (against Afganistan/ Iraq invasions) but I'm looking for that as an anti-war person.

The 3D aspect I already complained about on my LJ. Admittedly I was fidgeting the whole movie, trying to readjust the glasses and be able to see out of both eyes. In retrospect, I should have just gotten another pair.

It was epic. In the vein of all the great epic scifi/ fantasy movies of the last three decades (and in that vein, not a one is perfect, they all have some flaw or other, even my most beloved Matrix trilogy).

[tamago23]

I thought it was more diverse than that - among the small group of scientists (5 people, including the main character) there was a Middle Eastern-looking man, and some noticeable diversity among the Marines. Honestly though, even despite this being set in the future, it didn't surprise me that the rest of the scientists were white. People who get to that level of achievement tend to be the privileged ones (the nerds who can afford to spend 500 hours training to run an avatar, plus five years studying the language, etc). White supremacy is an entrenched system and I don't honestly see that changing anytime soon; it will adapt and shift, but I don't think whiteness and white privilege is going to go the way of the dodo simply due to the passing of time and the birth of more mixed-race people.

I didn't remember seeing your Avatar review, so I just went to your LJ and looked, and still couldn't find it. o_O Am I missing a post somehow? Can you link?

I had zero problems with my glasses, they just felt like sunglasses. And yes, it was indeed epic. That word occurred to me more than once. And some of the chase scenes were worth the $17.50 all on their own. :D

[antonchigurh]

I saw alot of African culture in the Na'vi as well. Also, did Pandora remind anyone else of the Myst series?

Cameron said he came up with the idea and story 14 years ago but there wasn't the 3-D technology yet to visualize it. That's why he spent so long filming underwater and playing with 3-D cameras. I'm guessing the anti-war theme stemmed from Desert Storm but can still be applied to Afghanistan/Iraq/entire Middle East.

I loved when Colonel Quaritch referred to the Na'vi as terrorist- despite what the humans were doing. As they say, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".