NOTE: I had posted this in January of 2010, but find it still relevant today.
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I saw Avatar last weekend - twice - with mixed emotions. I loved it mostly because of its immense potential as a world-changer...in a very real way. I hope it gets translated into as many languages and seen by as many people as possible. And that these people actually talk to each other, dammit.
Yes, it was awe-inspiring to look at, in both its 3D and regular incarnations. But even more amazing - its minimalist storyline and dialog. Many critics fault what they see as a weak and predictable plot. I see a masterpiece of tight scripting which didn't lapse into wordiness or preaching. And given its 162-minute length, the pacing was perfect.
Was it anti-military and anti-American? I didn't see it as a slam against current US
The movie showed a corporation, using mercenaries, engaging in warfare against an alien population after diplomacy (corporate diplomacy, at that) had failed. So that's how things might end up? A corporation gets to decide to open fire on the natives after It diplomatically fails? Of course, that's not how things work now (for the most part), but we might really end up empowering private groups as the equals of national sovereignties. [Think of Blackwater's duly authorized antics in Iraq
Was Avatar racist? Some critics had a problem with the mighty White man saving the noble savage. Maybe filmmaker Cameron's sequel(s) could blunt that criticism. However, it makes perfect sense that a renegade outsider was the only one who could have been the pivotal player to foil the ambitions of other outsiders. It didn't matter that this particular outsider happened to be white, only that he happened to represent the dominant power. Of course, our Neo-Con promoters of American world domination would predict that by the year 2154 (Avatar's setting), earth will indeed be dominated by the United States
Cameron wisely refrained from portraying Jake Sully as some kind of being who is light-years advanced compared to any of the Na'vi. Sully was of average intelligence but was willing to work hard at learning. His one moment of genuine inspiration didn't serve to classify him as a genius - only as a man in desperate circumstances who had a flash of inspiration. That moment? When he decided to try riding and bonding with a Toruk. If successful, he would be embraced as a rare and unique leader called Toruk Makto.
It could be said that Jake Sully saved the noble savages. But it could be said with equal force that they saved him. And that they brought him closer to a spirituality he had not found on earth. After all, when things looked darkest, he didn't pray to Jesus or to God. He prayed to a source that had some proven power on this planet, as he witnessed firsthand. Was this particular source superior to God or was it just one of many similar planetary divinities? Maybe humans had abandoned their God, in contrast to the Na'vi who actively interacted with their deity. And maybe that's why earth had become a dying world.
Some brief notes on Avatar
· The Na'vi seem to be a race of demigods, who are assisted by their environment on a daily basis. Neytiri was able to gracefully descend, breaking her "fall" by an exquisitely timed series of impacts with broad leaves. Perhaps the leaves intelligently met her more than half way, so to speak, giving assists when needed? In contrast to Sully's fall, which was far from smooth. So maybe the leaves, in his case, couldn't as easily "work" with this alien.
· It's hard to believe $150 million was spent on marketing Avatar, which is 50% more than it costs to make the average Hollywood movie. And making Avatar cost about twice its marketing budget - $300 million.
· I had no idea that the term unobtainium, the mineral mentioned in the movie, has been around since the 1950s.
· The actress (Michelle Rodriguez) who portrayed Trudy was hot.
· It's interesting that the Na'vi were blue-skinned, same as certain deities in the Hindu tradition. Also interesting: An avatar is the incarnation of a Hindu deity.
· An avatar also means "man of god" - that is, someone who purposely appears among selected populations at key times in history to preach salvation in a way and manner they can readily bear witness to.
· In spite of the pooh-poohing of certain Christian critics, the movie Avatar does not preach pantheism. [I doubt they even know what that word means.] What the Na'vi call Eywa (the Great Mother) seems to be particular only to Pandora. Eywa is a protective entity that is worshipped (maybe "appreciated" or "loved" are better words) by the Na'vi, but that doesn't make Eywa a goddess. Probably, more than anything else, these critics are offended by the idea of prayers being answered by an entity they don't approve of. In any event, quite wisely I believe, Cameron didn't offer anything approaching a complete theology - only enough to whet our appetites.
· A special nod to Stephen Lang for his marvelous turn as Colonel Miles Quaritch - outstanding performance. Actually, the entire cast was perfect and - it was a pleasure to see Sigourney Weaver back on the screen.
· The charge: Cameron is a hypocrite because he was only able to make such a film because of the advantages offered by our glorious empire - great material wealth and lots of guns to keep it that way. My answer: I don't see this situation as hypocritical as much as I see it as ironic, for wasn't it once said that the capitalist will sell his executioner the rope used to hang him? Of course, those same critics don't exactly spend a lot of time duly noting the down side of empire.
· At one point in the movie (because of something Dr. Grace Augustine said about interconnections between plants), I thought Pandora's flora would be the ones to rise up and engulf the corporation's infantry. Hmm...what a strange term: corporate infantry. I surely hope it never comes to that.
· Sequel notes: It would be interesting if the Marines who had been wounded and left behind were somehow (at least) bodily converted into Na'vi form. This would be an example of Eywa not "taking sides." Since the dead Marines were now with Eywa, She would learn from them the plight of the dying planet earth which would add further motivation to save the wounded Marines. How these transformed Marines interact with the Na'vi could provide an interesting tension. If Eywa moves with mercy and compassion in favor of the balance of life, how could She ignore the death of earth and its people?
· Sequel notes: Since the corporation blew it, an official delegation representing earth's governments could be sent to Pandora. Perhaps they might even have genuine negotiation in mind. Since Hometree had been destroyed, perhaps the Na'vi would have no reason to object to a mining operation on that site only. In exchange, though, the Na'vi offer a counterproposal: They will allow this one mining operation in exchange for earth allowing a contingent of Na'vi to go to earth to preach their way - and maybe try to make contact with Gaia, the earthly equivalent of Eywa. Such preaching would make the Na'vi avatars in the Hindu sense of the word.
Dr. Dolittle and the Secret Lake
As much as I loved Avatar and see its value as a world-changer, I felt a twinge of loss. I couldn't help but wonder, "Will Avatar's breakthrough filmmaking technology discourage films of more modest budget and scope? Will people come to read [books, that is] even less than they do now? And is the ancient rite of storytelling around a campfire being rendered totally obsolete before our very eyes?"
Herculean effort and Midas amounts of money brought Avatar into being. But will this new age of storytelling serve only to diminish the imagination?
When my son was six-years-old [25 years ago], he was especially fond of one of his Christmas presents - an elegantly illustrated story about Dr. Dolittle. I think it was one of those Little Golden Books with large type and (maybe) a couple of dozen words per page. After reading this to him many times, I wondered out loud, "Do you suppose there are any more stories about Dr. Dolittle?"
From a local bookstore, I heard about the original series of books written by Hugh Lofting. When I saw a list advertising one such novel over 350 pages in length, I hesitated. Could this possibly be the source of our brief Little Golden Book? However, the title intrigued me - Dr. Dolittle and the Secret Lake - so I special-ordered it from England
So I thought, "Now what? My son is looking at me right now with this book in hand, a book we'd waited weeks for." It would have been tempting to shrug it off by saying, "This is not the same Dr. Dolittle - there's some kind of mistake here." But, happily, I didn't. We made a ritual out of me reading it to him a half-hour before bedtime until we finished the whole thing. And my son was thoroughly enraptured by this very tall tale. And more? I too was smitten.
The Secret Lake , as it turns out, is located in Africa and contains water from the Biblical flood of Noah. As Wikipedia puts it:
"The Doctor then receives an urgent call to rescue what is literally his oldest friend: Mudface the Giant Turtle, who was a passenger on Noah's Ark.
And since Dr. Dolittle can speak to the animals, he ends up writing down the story of that Flood as dictated to him by this turtle still alive after all these centuries. After seeing Avatar, I thought about how Lofting's story of the Secret Lake
Never once were we bored. I ended up buying four more Dolittle novels penned by Lofting, though they weren't nearly as long. They were each as wonderful in their own way. Of course, it helped immensely that I had read to my son every day from the time he was six months old. So he was ready for this.
Note: It takes a lot more effort (a labor of love, actually) to prepare a child for The Secret Lake than it does to prepare for Avatar. But those extra efforts are far likelier to produce heaven on earth.
Steven Searle for U.S. President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
"Some viewers were actually depressed after watching Avatar - sad that this utopia doesn't really exist. To them I say, Transform yourselves into avatars and dedicate the rest of your lives into making our earth into the paradise you crave" - Steve.
Contact info: bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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