Avatar
Submitted by Troy on Fri, 12/18/2009 - 23:01.
Finished viewing Avatar. A fine movie. It's definitely an indictment of American-style corporate militarism.
It put into frame a strange and perhaps twisted fantasy of mine: the deserved comeuppance of a Columbus/Chivington/Custard figure.
Also, couldn't help feeling a bit curious for the European-descended audience members who were perhaps for the first time exposed to a somewhat legitimate and definitely stylish interpretation of Pre-America beliefs and folklore.
I often despair of whatever Western civilization is supposed to be. It`s hardly any sort of mastery of the earth, but rather a huge disconnect from it.
Yeah, definitely worth the twenty-four bucks I forked over to see it.
Hey Troy....
We heard a review on CBC yesterday, and the guy was positively raving about it too.
He said it is a much deeper film than it appears on the surface. Not all blast and doom kinda thing. His take was that Gaia was the real hero.
Brand new special effects technique too eh? Less flat CGI.
Waiting for the DVD.
Hope all is ok there. Nice to see ya!
:)
It's a fact: 100% of all the people who ate carrots in 1850, are dead.
Gaia was totally deus ex machina
When things were at their bleakest, the planet rides to the rescue? I suppose when you write yourself into a corner as Cameron did at the point, you gotta bring in something to save your heros, if they themselves need saving.
After all, how could Cameron set himself up for a sequel without his heros? But I suppose it's by far more convincing than Lucas' Ewoks saving the universe in Star Wars. Also, it feels as though their victory is only temporary.
But it was a great movie, and best of all there were no pretentious speeches. It showed, rather than talked, which is by far more effective in convincing and inviting for audience participation. You are witness to the hero's growth and change from a mercenary outcast to a valued and exhalted member of a society that actually accepts him rather than reviles him.
The choice the hero makes at the end is quite philosophical too. Did he really give up his humanity? Or did he finally accept it? At any rate, he is a marriage for the old and the new, and perhaps in the inevitable sequel, we'll be witness to what he will bring to life by his very existence. A birth of technology that works within nature rather than devours it for energy.
As for myself, I'm doing fine. I'm at a bit of a loss for how I want to set myself up a personal online journal with which I can be content. I no longer want to simply be reacting to each and every little news item that comes along, but to also grow my thoughts and ideas into reality: to be the change I hope for in the world.
But such itself sounds a bit pretentious. I honestly simply want for my posts to all be of a bit more substance. Also, cynically, I do need another source of income, and my writing is an option. So I've got a Blogger journal in the works with Ads enabled.