I hadn't heard about that, but it does fit. (Great movie, but a little too cliche-ey.) Of course, if the Marine had been black, I'm sure a different but related trope would have covered it, something to do with Will Smith, maybe. Ah, well, you can't win for losing.
On Avatar: I thought the cinematography was fabulous, and the engineering of the story to have the audience cheer when the Americans were killed to be tiresome.
A great film for the visual effects, though. And the amateur biology and systematics person in me was looking for patterns among the various life forms. The Na'vi seem rather freakish, and not fitting many of the patterns established by other life.
(Note: By "freakish" I don't mean unattractive, just that they do not follow the body plan established by the other neck-breathing hexapods shown. Even the "primate" analog visible when Na'vi Jake first sets foot in the jungle is a hexapod.
On Avatar: I thought the cinematography was fabulous, and the engineering of the story to have the audience cheer when the Americans were killed to be tiresome.
Technically, it was a gorgeous movie, but peoplewise, Avatar left a lot to be desired. And there really wasn't anything absolutely identifying the terrestrials as Americans or anything else. The Corporation could have been multinational, and in fact, given the trouble Earth was in (implied in the movie), it probably was. I did cheer when that odious mercenary bastard leading the military side of things got his, but besides him, the only other terri I really didn't like was the slimy little Corporation executive, and, unfortunately, he lived to go back to Earth.
A great film for the visual effects, though. And the amateur biology and systematics person in me was looking for patterns among the various life forms. The Na'vi seem rather freakish, and not fitting many of the patterns established by other life. (Note: By "freakish" I don't mean unattractive, just that they do
( ... )
I'm amused by the fact that he obviously considers "white-free" a good thing for a movie.
Anyway, the reason for the "Mighty Whitey" trope is simple. It was once TRUE. The reason why is that, although an average person from a native culture might be far more competent at surviving in his own environment than the average European, the European culture was cosmopolitan and hence individuals who were (or could learn to be) far superior at surviving in that environment than the average native, even before advantages in contacts and technology were factored in. It was a numbers game.
Heck, it even applied (but mainly only in the military sense) to populous China -- consider the career of "Chinese" Gordon.
I know. The thing is, the whole issue has become so clouded by controversy, and people have become so ignorant of history, that you generally can't say something like that, even though it's true, for fear of setting off riots.
Comments 50
I wonder why he didn't include a very famous recent example: Avatar. in which white US Marine Jake Sully arrives to save the blue native people.
The film has been nicknamed "Dances with Smurfs"--but "Pocohontas on Pandora" is probably closer.
===|==============/ Level Head
Reply
Reply
A great film for the visual effects, though. And the amateur biology and systematics person in me was looking for patterns among the various life forms. The Na'vi seem rather freakish, and not fitting many of the patterns established by other life.
(Note: By "freakish" I don't mean unattractive, just that they do not follow the body plan established by the other neck-breathing hexapods shown. Even the "primate" analog visible when Na'vi Jake first sets foot in the jungle is a hexapod.
Perhaps forewarned is four-armed, after all.
===|==============/ Level Head
Reply
Technically, it was a gorgeous movie, but peoplewise, Avatar left a lot to be desired. And there really wasn't anything absolutely identifying the terrestrials as Americans or anything else. The Corporation could have been multinational, and in fact, given the trouble Earth was in (implied in the movie), it probably was. I did cheer when that odious mercenary bastard leading the military side of things got his, but besides him, the only other terri I really didn't like was the slimy little Corporation executive, and, unfortunately, he lived to go back to Earth.
A great film for the visual effects, though. And the amateur biology and systematics person in me was looking for patterns among the various life forms. The Na'vi seem rather freakish, and not fitting many of the patterns established by other life. (Note: By "freakish" I don't mean unattractive, just that they do ( ... )
Reply
Anyway, the reason for the "Mighty Whitey" trope is simple. It was once TRUE. The reason why is that, although an average person from a native culture might be far more competent at surviving in his own environment than the average European, the European culture was cosmopolitan and hence individuals who were (or could learn to be) far superior at surviving in that environment than the average native, even before advantages in contacts and technology were factored in. It was a numbers game.
Heck, it even applied (but mainly only in the military sense) to populous China -- consider the career of "Chinese" Gordon.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment