D’ya really need this review? The American forces (even into the future) command tremendous over-confidence. The earth-like colony of Pandora has impenetrable trees and trenches. The battle between the planets would be mismatched on weaponry alone. The Earth, or the Americans, being far superior in warfare. They wish to “pursue and destroy,” “fight terror with terror” in a supposed Garden of Evil. But, as a strategist for Pandora puts it, “(If) they bring the fight to us; we have the home field advantage.” The supremely tall, slender Pandorans are called the Na’vis. Like all native tribes, they are in sync with nature. Between a green worldview and the globe’s war over a natural resource, James Cameron’s twin analogies of present-day politics are fairly complete.
This is Cameron’s first feature film in 12 years. There’s a hero, who has little to lose. There’s a heroine, a beauteous, brave Nyetiri (Zoe Saldana), a Na’vi, with a limitless capacity for unconditional love. There’s a villain, Col. Politics and Religion on Pandora: Why 'Avatar' is Crummy Allegor. If you've read any reviews of the new movie "Avatar," you've probably seen discussions about how Political, it is. Religious it is not. And the lack of religion actually weakens the political argument that writer and director James Cameron is trying to make. [SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't seen the movie and don't want any information about it, don't read past the photo below until you see the film.
Which you probably will.] Now that I've protected the others, let's get rid of the obvious: Everything you've read about how amazing the film looks is true. We are now to the point where computer generated images look as real as those filmed with actual people and objects. But the plot is as thin as the wings of the reptilian flying "ikran" that the heroes ride in some of the more thrilling scenes.
Humans from earth discover that the not-too-distant planet they call Pandora has a very valuable mineral. Toss in an interplanetary love story and some brutal, bloody, and horrific battle scenes. Vatican cautions against pantheism on Pandora - scanners. Can you stand one more "Avatar" post? We've talked about the CGI, the design and palette, the politics, the ins and outs of shooting in 3D... but you can blame this one on the Vatican: [Much] of the Vatican criticism was directed at the movie's central theme of man vs. nature. [L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper] said the film "gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature.
" Similarly, Vatican Radio said it "cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium. "" Vatican spokesman the Rev. But the Vatican Rev. may have a point. Native Americans had to be creative and spiritual to see the connectedness in life the way they did. Perhaps that's what the Vatican spokesman is actually objecting to -- not that "Avatar" encourages the worship of God in/as nature, but that it visualizes a world of materialism, devoid of any metaphysical dimension?
UPDATE (01/19/10): NY Times: "You Saw What in Avatar? " Ultimately, Mr. Avatar: anti-capitalist, not anti-military - Dragonfly - Open Sa. I saw Avatar over the weekend, along with a few million of my closest friends. I had been aware of the controversy surrounding the movie’s supposed “anti-military” message going in, so as I watched I was looking out for that message.
I didn’t see it. What I did see was an anti-capitalist message. Let’s deal with the anti-military thing first. I call BS on anyone trying to tell you it makes you root against the good old U.S.ofA. If you see the movie, notice that none of the “military” characters wear any military decorations or identifiers. On to the anti-capitalist message. And why does the corporate guy order the slaughter of the natives? The corporate guy thinks he can get away with it since there is no higher authority, no one to tell him he can’t wantonly kill the natives. Don’t get me wrong, Capitalism can be a great system because it allows entrepreneurs to succeed and innovation to flourish. Avatar? Political? Seriously? - scanners. UPDATE (01/19/10): NY Times: "You Saw What in Avatar? ": "Some of the ways people are reading it are significant of Cameron's intent, and some are just by-products of what people are thinking about," said Rebecca Keegan, the author of "The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron.
" "It's really become this Rorschach test for your personal interests and anxieties. " The "Avatar" camp isn't endorsing any particular interpretation, but is happy to let others read the ink blots. "Movies that work are movies that have themes that are bigger than their genre," Jon Landau, a producer of the film, said in a telephone interview. "The theme is what you leave with and you leave the plot at the theater. " I'm fond of saying that movies are never made or exhibited in a vacuum. I think Kenny nails it: The movie can explicitly mention some thematic concerns in dialog, but how deeply are those themes really incorporated into the fabric of the film itself?
Rhys Southan on the rationalism of the Na'vi :: rogerebert.com : From Rhys Southan, Richardson, TX: I saw Avatar yesterday and thought it was incredible. One of the many ways I appreciated it was as an Inglorious Basterds style re-writing of history the way it should have happened, with the Native Americans defeating the Europeans (except told symbolically, unlike the literal re-interpretation of Basterds). As you suggested in your review, the Na'vi are inspired by what we see as the Native American model of living: close to the earth in its natural state, seeking to be as non-destructive and respectful of other creatures as possible, all tied together with a belief of the connectedness of life. It's a way of seeing and experiencing the world that has an undeniable appeal; some of us idealize it as a more spiritual and generally more satisfying outlook than our own.
But one major difference between the Na'vi and our notion of Native American culture occurred to me today. In other words, there is no spiritualism to the Na'vi.