Avatar's influences

[scarlettina]

I've already described Avatar as Dances with Blue Tabby Cat People meets MechWarrior: The Clueless Age. Turns out that Yes fans are up in arms because Roger Dean's influence, obvious in the conception and execution of the planet Pandora right down to the color palette much less the floating islands, is mentioned nowhere in the film credits or in

Comments

[bedii]

Unfortunately, Cameron has a history of this sort of thing: I refer you to the old Cinefantastique article over the credits for Terminator, which is too surreal to go into briefly. I keep thinking about hank's complaint about Tim Burton's uneven films: "I wish he'd find a scriptwriter he felt he could trust." Cameron's problem is very different, but the same solution might work for him.

[shelly_rae]

It's a story right out of the Bible only with a gender swap--ageless and possibly even archetypal. But we like the characters. The villians are bad ::hiss: the heroes are noble ::yay:: yet flawed with just enough mystical stuff to make it a step beyond mundane. And ultimately the hero gives up all of who he is to be reborn. I liked it.

People forget that Costner's character fell in love with a white woman. Not a Lakota but also someone from outside. The Nation eventually lost. The whole story didn't need to be told because the audience knew the ending. Frozen old men & women on a "battle field" called Wounded Knee. I was reminded more of the battle at Little Big Horn than Dances with Wolves.

I liked Avatar flawed story and all. Visually it was stunning and I was deeply immersed in the world.

Hey Wa'te!

Anon

[scarlettina]

Don't get me wrong--I liked the movie a great deal. But I'm also enjoying the fiddly bits of discussion around it, for better or worse. I had great fun and I want to see it again. I didn't mind the story; I didn't even mind how paper thin the characters were.

With regard to Dances With Wolves, I disagree--the story did need to be told. It wasn't a question of knowing how it ended. While it certainly was about the fate of the Lakota, it was more pointedly an archetypal story--as you point out with regard to Avatar. Both it and Dances with Wolves were stories about men who left themselves to find themselves; they're quest tales.

But more than that, Dances with Wolves turned around the mythology of the Old West in a way white audiences hadn't considered. How many little kids play cowboys and Indians anymore? It was a cultural milestone. As for Costner's character falling in love with a white woman, that may well be true, but they both adapted to the Lakota way of life and even when they left it, didn't rejoin white culture in the end.

[shelly_rae]

I think we're agreeing but with different focuses. I'm also amused by the kerfluffle Avatar has inspired. Just about every part of the film can be said to "rip off" some work or another--but what story is new? How does one solve the problem of being "original?"

I didn't mean that the story of Dances with Wolves didn't mean to be told, I meant that what happens to the Lakota next didn't have to be told. There is no redemption for The People, no salvation, and that honesty I find more moving than Costner's bare butt. Does anyone really think that the next force from planet earth will arrive better equipped for "unobtainium" ::eye roll

[e_bourne]

We haven't seen Avatar yet. Mostly because everything I've read about the story sounds very, well, mundane. The cool technology hasn't been enough to get me excited to see it. So I haven't.

Perhaps I'll regret this later. I don't know. I certainly don't care enough to spill out the dollars now.

[houseboatonstyx]

A defector from the invaders would have good information for the natives -- and, other things being equal, would be good at leading the charge against the invaders' ship.

[kateelliott]