If you've seen "Pocahontas" and "Fern Gully," the only thing worth seeing about "Avatar" is all of the pretty. Set in 2154, "Avatar" tells the story of a marine who winds up on a far-away planet called Pandora, which, conveniently, houses an element (I shit you not, called "unobtanium") which would solve all of mankind's problems. The only catch is that Native Americans, I mean fairies, I mean indiginous people who live there: big lanky fellers called the Na'vi are living on top of the planet's most rich deposit. The marine (aka John Smith... known in this movie as Jake Sully... and I'll stop) is given the task of infiltrating the Na'vi by way of a remotely controlled Na'vi/human hybrid cloned body in order to learn their secrets and figure out their weaknesses. But, wouldn't you know it, along comes the unattainable chief's daughter, and everything changes, including a total upgrade of his cognitive capabilities. That doesn't literally happen, he just starts off the movie as a grunt who is unable to think beyond the orders he is given, but by the end becomes a spiritually inclined individual with incredible interpersonal and problem solving skills.
What blows me away about this movie is how forgiving people are for its bad story. Even James Cameron acknowledges its similarities to "Dances With Wolves." I concede that it is possible to retell a story and still do it well, but "Avatar" simply doesn't. It is a checklist of all of the prerequisite scenes for going-native stories. They knew that they were going to have a "girl finds out that boy has been working for her enemies all along and is too upset to let him apologize" scene, and just focused on making it look good rather than be good. The same thing happens scene after scene, without any narrative surprises. I have been asked "What's so bad about having a familiar story?," to which I reply, nothing, as long as you do it well. "Avatar" doesn't. Nonetheless, the world over seems forgiving of this giant, glaring flaw. So, again, I return to the pretty.
If you are of the mind that cinema can be considered art, it is, invariably, a strongly visual one. Does that mean that it is possible, nay, universal to entirely dismiss a poorly recycled narrative because of the visual innovations that a movie offers? Is a movie great simply because it does something first? If so, "Chicken Little" deserves the credit for being the first RealD movie. When it comes to appreciating the visual aspects of "Avatar," I will gladly be the first one to stand up and yell "Yes, yes, oh Fillion yes, please give me more!" It is unquestioningly beautiful, but its near flawless appearance is not enough for me to ignore its hollow, soulless centre.
I agree that a lot of the themes of the film are also important. I am all for environmentalism and finding peacable solutions to problems, but the issues are over-simplified. By making the issues so clearly cut and dry (for instance, we know that the attacking military presence is evil because the colonel leading the operation is calmly drinking coffee while the Na'vi's homeworld is being destroyed) we disassociate from the character, because he is "evil," rather than identifying with him, and understanding the direct impact of passive, technological warfare, as was Cameron's intention. A similar head-drilling theme was the interconnectedness of life on Pandora. Rather than having the relationship between the inhabitants and the planet be a respectable enough reason to be worth saving, the Na'vi are actually electrically connected to their planet, using their hair braids as extension chords.
There's a certain amount of irony to the fact that "Avatar" condemns human beings for trying to conquer what they believe to be lesser life, but makes a magical display of the forced submission of Pandoran animals. It's only when Jake forges a dominant relationship with a dragon creature that his coming-of-age is complete. I assume it is meant to symbolize a harmony between the two (because you can own the earth, and still, all you'll own is earth until you can paint with all the colours of the wind), but when one being takes neurological control of another, there's some kind of -ism going on.
Feel free to disagree, as many do, but I stand by the fact that I am glad that the "Avatar" technology exists, but am waiting to see it put to better use. This picture sums up "Avatar" for me:
Pretty blue packaging, but, at the end of the day, inside is all cheese.
Rating: 2.75
So I'm thinking I'll head to Chipmunks instead:-) Nice critiquing by the way, I have a good sense of what's the movies about, and why I'll wait for the DVD, or not.
ReplyDeleteSee, your review made me actually want to see this movie, but only in a Trainwreck Fascination sort of way. I want to see if it's really that awful. xD
ReplyDeleteSo, having seen the movie now, I just wanted to add a couple things to our discussion of it.
ReplyDeleteHere's the review I was mentioning having read before the movie. It's... a little bit harsher on the movie than I might be, but it's a really interesting look at it from a racial perspective. http://community.livejournal.com/debunkingwhite/845771.html
Regarding your disapointment with Ehwa being "real", I think I was less disapointed in it then you were because I took her real-ness to be less Actual Deity and more a personification of the Collective Unconcious.
As for the deus ex machina ending of Lord of the Flies, I really disagree with you on that. I mean yes, totally, I can see why you'd view it that way, but for me, the ending always increased the horror of the story for me. The fact that help //was// coming, that if they had actually done what they were supposed to do and maintained the signal fire, then none of the horrible events would have actually had to have happened... the sudden interruption of civilzation always brought that idea to smack me in the face. So for me it was less deus ex machina and more Suckerpunching the themes into me.
Also, tell your fiancee that I'm super sorry if my ragging on the race!fail harshed her squee at all. I still enjoyed the movie, and DAMN, but it was pretty.
And one more comment!
ReplyDeleteDespite the race!fail, the film /did/ have pretty darn kickass female characters, which is nice to see in any film, but especially sci fi. The pilot rocked all my pairs of socks.
I only brought up "Lord Of The Flies" because in our discussion of it in Grade whenever English that I first heard the use of the phrase. I agree that that example doesn't exactly fit the definition of Deus Ex Machina.
ReplyDeleteDylan, I'm sorry, you're way off on this movie. Yes the trippy graphics are amazing, but it's not just for the sake of being pleasing to the eye. It actually has a place within the movie that's not just extra, it ties the movie together. The movie is about the symbolism. It's the spiritual awakening of Jake. He's helping his brother out (a strong theme), because his brother was killed for the paper in his wallet (another strong theme), and he gradually makes the transition from the harsh physical world (where he doesn't have the use of his legs) to the spiritual world, where he is free to move about. The deposit of unobtanium at the base of home tree is not a literal deposit of substance, it's metaphorical, it represents the Na'vi's superior spirituality, that the rest of mankind wants, but can't obtain (yes-unobtainable), because they are trying superficial ways to get it. The tree is also a metaphor, it represents the community and the interconnectedness of it. And at the end when Jake is fighting off the colonel, and the princess of the na'vi shoots the arrows into the colonel, but not after he breaks the barrier between the mobile pod, suffocating Jake's real body, and the princess saves him, and Jake is in her arms, that was a really powerful moment for me, because it represented Jake being saved because of his faith. And the ending, where he is fully transferred into his avatar body, and it ends with his eyes opening, it was like he was awakening, or being enlightened. It's all tied together by the colour blue of course, because blue is the colour of space as we see it from Earth. It represents equilibrium. Remember Eywa protects equilibrium. Theoretically, if everything was stripped down to it's core, if the equilibrium was fully restored, and Earth was no longer, it would all just be blue. And at that point, people would not care about material anymore, they would only care about spirit and faith. Well, people wouldn't exist, but it's theoretical remember. Anyways, that's what I got out of the movie and I'm sure there's more to it. It says so many different things without even saying them, and once you start realizing them, you make connections and you begin to realize how amazing this film is. Watch it again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your counter arguments, except that I don't believe Eywa forced the animals to intervene. Eywa isn't a physical being, and I think it was more just a plot device. It's more a product of faith being rewarded, instead of forcing animals to sacrifice themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about blue was mostly speculation, but you have to admit, it is very pretty and just very pleasing to the eye.
And yes, he does create a very unique world.
Also, I still firmly believe that Pandora represents mankind's striving. It is what people wish they were. Jake's transition is made because he has faith that the Navi's way of life is the best way of life, and even against orders from the colonel he still rebels, and is rewarded by being saved and transitioned into his avatar body, whereas the rest of mankind (represented by the colonel) even with far superior weapons, still is not able to conquer the Navi because of their superior spirituality - peace, faith, and spirituality win out.
I know you want me to tell you who I am, but I am still going to remain anonymous, because I really don't like disagreeing with people, it creates unneeded tension.
I agree 100% with the reviewer. A perfect example of how non-creative the plot is, is what the humans are after is called "unobtainium". The plot was too predictable. As for some who speak of underlying themes and symbolism. If one were to look hard enough, one can argue that Plan 9 From Outer Space has a theme, regardless of how obscure and ambiguous.
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