Finally--finally--got to see Avatar in 3D IMAX last night, so I have been de-thwarted. Unthwarted. Free from thwart. Definitely the venue to see this movie in. The visuals and special effects were awesome. The plot, well, derivative doesn't even begin to cover it, and the bad guys might as well be twirling their moustaches and tying maidens to the railroad tracks, 'k?
And it suffers from a lot of the problems that bad, lazy science fiction writing suffers from. All the info-dumping at the beginning, where two characters have a spirited discussion of stuff they both already know, so that you, viewer, will know it too. And perhaps only a pet peeve for me, but I am totally thrown out of my suspension of disbelief when two aliens are getting it on and start kissing. Lazy, lazy writing. Alien foreplay ought to be a little more alien. You can look to the non-human animal kingdom and throw in some grooming or biting of each other and not even have to stretch your imagination. (1...2...3..."Oh, Andrea, it's only a movie.")
But my main problem with this movie is the whole "noble savages" trope. It's so offensive to portray the indigenous people as all good and pure and in touch with nature and so much more morally superior to us. I was trying to explain this to Mr Indemnity and he was like, "Well, it's better than portraying them as gooks to be killed" and I was like, not really. It's the flip side of the same card. It's objectifying them. It's making them Other, not real people with the same wide range of emotions and behaviors and thoughts as any of us. (So Mr Indemnity pointed out the indigenous people in this movie are 8 foot tall blue aliens and thus not just like us, at which point I gave up. *You* all will get my point and not torture me with specious argument, I'm sure. Symbolism. We've all heard of fuckin symbolism, haven't we?)
N E Way. I realize a lot of this stems from liberal guilt. In the movie, it's okay for the natives to make fun of Jake Sully, tell him he's like a baby and an ignorant child, and nickname him their word for moron. But would we as the audience think it was just as okay if they put Neytiri on a spaceship and made fun of her and called her stupid because she didn't know how to run a computer or use a fork? No, of course not. But liberal guilt will tell us we're supposed to be subliminally embarrassed because we no longer as a society know how to track a wild animal through the forest by smell or we're supposed to be willing to make reparations through shame because maybe someone made fun of Pocahontas for not being able to use a fork 400 years ago.
Okay, I'll stop dissecting the popcorn movie! It was fun. See it in IMAX if you haven't already. Plus, Michelle Rodriguez is so pretty and so badass. "You're not the only one with a gun, bitch." You'll be entertained.
xoxo
5 comments:
Hey, those were *10*-foot-tall blue aliens.
I mean, if they were eight feet tall they'd be much more like us and then maybe I'd be agreeing with you.
Although, frankly, besides enjoying winding you up I still don't have the problem with the noble savage thing and liberal guilt. It may not be a realistic depiction of a full range of whatever, but the more alien something is the harder it is to portray the differences. A lot easier for us to make back story cultural assumptions about someone in Manhattan than on Pandora (or New Guinea) thus the Manhattan character can be more nuanced, there's only so much alienness (or not) one can depict in a three hour movie, so there's almost no choice but to make it a far vaguer sketch of otherness or sameness.
Plus, my liberal guilt says that any movie that advocates for wantonly destroying (blue) people and things just cause they're not like us and they happen to be in our way is a good thing, even if the depiction is a little simplistic (but looks awesome).
Still waiting *my* turn for the 3D IMAX experience, as I'm told that seeing this in any other medium isn't worth the popcorn price.
Oh, Mr Indemnity, as I said to Mr Barma yesterday about something *completely* different, I'm not out to convert anyone to my world-view. (Even though I'm right.) I just know what I know. :-)
Uncle, yeah, even if you have to settle for a Tuesday night, do see it in IMAX.
Tuesday...noted.
By the way, in my youth I *could* track animals through the forest. Not by smell, though. On this planet you need a dog for that.
I am sure your (former) ability to track animals means you are of Good Character and A Noble Heart and vastly morally superior to those of us whose important life skills are more along the lines of knowing how to order takeout, find the best price for anything on the internet, and get anywhere on the T whilst not annoying our fellow passengers by failing to move into the fucking train. :-) :-)
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