i saw "avatar" over the weekend. it was moving. it was provoking. it was inspiring. and i was thinking further about avatar yesterday too- when i read, worldwide, its three week take is now up to $1billion (due mostly to inflated/premium ticket prices for 3D screenings).
what i was thinking, other than the stunning $1billion attention getter, was how the same old message was updated, repackaged, and resold. more so than any other movie i've seen in a while, these characters were cookie-cutter stereotypes. the corp guy was a greedy yes-man bastard, the military commander was a macho meathead jock, the scientist was a pawn, and our hero was the "disadvantaged" underdog.
this movie was so dumbed-down, so simple, so obvious, its no wonder no one thinks about the message... they don't have to think at all!
then i was thinking of all the contemporary movies with the same storyline... my list is as follows: alien, braveheart, dances with wolves, the abyss, waterworld, the day after tomorrow and pocahontas. and i'm sure there are more, older movies too, with the same story lines, i just can't think of them at this moment.
but since there really wasn't anything new in this film, other than the medium, all i can surmise is mr. cameron was just out to generate MORE income for his empire. is he an artist? is he a businessman? is he a rainmaker? has he done more good than harm? can he use the proceeds of his blockbuster to do something meaningful? what's his game? time will tell.
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I read the reviews and thought "no". Then I read that the Pope doesn't like it because it promotes a sort of nature-worship. And now I am more curious about the film. I am assuming it's not that easy to get the Pope to issue a statement. I don't know how far it pushes this idea that we should revere nature, but...I think we can probably stand to at the very least defend nature's case more often - maybe most of the time - now that we've desecrated our planet so much.
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