xhonzi said:
Yes, I realize that we already had an Avatar thread and a Politics thread... but I didn't want to derail (as if this were possible) either one.
So, I had heard various reports of the amount of pro-liberal content in Avatar. I mentioned a quote earlier in the Avatar and 3D thread that Cameron claimed he was trying to step lightly around the political pitfalls.
Having seen the movie this morning... he's flat out lying. There are parts of this movie that are so oriented as to specifically evoke political controversy surrounding President George W. Bush and the current conflict in Middle East.
But let me take a step back. I really wanted to like this movie, and I came pretty close. I was aware of the hype and how distorted hype has effected me in the past and prevented me from enjoying an otherwise good movie. I'm also a 3D nut, and have sat through- nay, enjoyed! some terrible movies just because they were in 3D. I went in with guarded expectations and I felt the movie really won me over. Until the 3rd act started.
It's really summed up in a couple lines from the characters. Perhaps someone at fanedit will produce a "Tolerable for Conservatives or anyone else not drinking the Green Kool-Aid" edit. Shouldn't be too hard to cut 5 lines of dialogue maybe.
Here's the dialogue:
The evil human's attack on the peaceful Na'vi is referred to as "some sort of 'shock and awe' tactic". Obviously an referrence to the US and Ally's tactics in the Middle East.The evil Colonel of the Marines tells the human soldiers that the Na'vi are about to attack them and that they must match "terror for terror."
Jake, disgusted that his fellow humans are not being patient enough with the Na'vi, throws a book on their culture down and says, "this is what humans do! They find someone living on top of something they want, and they make them an enemy so they can take it!" Seems a little too ripe of the theories that Bush staged 9-11 (or at least allowed it to happen) so that we could go to war and make oil prices.... go up?
And finally:
Jake tells the "Gaia" like spirit that is the God of the Na'vi people... that there is no green left on Earth and that the people there killed their mother and that he needs to stop them from doing the same thing here.There's also one more shot of when the evil humans are scrambling to their fighters that shows this incredible dense brown smog hanging over their compound. And there are about 28 smoke stacks billowing in the background. Just in case you didn't get it.
What did I miss?
I think it's really a shame. Technically, it's all there. The movie is well acted, the CG is superb, I enjoyed the 3D quite a bit. The music is moving, the action is exciting, and the characters are compelling. If Cameron could have simply avoided using it as soapbox to bash George W. Bush (the election of which caused Cameron to cancel his application for US citizenship) it would have been totally great.
I admire you, my liberal friends, for you probably enjoyed the movie with little exception.
Now if Global Warming weren't a total crock.
I don't think global warming is a total crock. Whether we can really do anything about it is another question, but I do think we should try. That said, I understand the urge to react against all the trendy shouting about the matter.
Your report on Avatar is interesting. It sounds much as I expected. A film drowning in self-satisfied poltical bullshit. It's amazing how people can still continue to view the Iraq war as the US going to invade Iraq for oil (that tired cliche) and as the US then killing all the Iraqis who have died there. There are so many obvious reasons why Bush and co might have wanted to go into Iraq other than oil. And the fact remains that what the US did was liberate Iraq from an oppressive dictatorship under a GENOCIDAL dictator. As a result there were democratic elections in Iraq. The US created hope for a bright new future for Iraq. And the terrorists vandalized that. That last is the crucial point that many left-wingers like to forget. That the terrorists played a part and are the actual people who have made Iraq the mess it has become. That it wasn't all the US. The terrorists were the ones who killed all those Iraqis and the US troops there been PROTECTING the Iraqis from them. And pulling out of Iraq is leaving the Iraqi people to the mercy of the terrorists. I can't understand liberals who claim to care about the Iraqi people but want the US to pull out of Iraq and abandon them. Though I can certainly understand the urge to pull out Iraq, considering how hard the war has been for the US. So Hollywood spouts trendy brainless cliches to sell a big event movie. Watch The Hurt Locker instead. That film shows some of the horror in Iraq without beating you over the head with poorly thought-out political cliches.
Also, I am sick of fiction that goes on about how awful the human race is while showing how some alien species is so much better. We are all human and we should have some respect for the human race, despite its faults. This contempt for humanity is disgusting. And if some alien species is as much like us as such alien races have to be to be portrayed as relatable, then that alien species would share our faults. Lets have the non-whitewashed version of the Navi. I bet that really "what humans do" they do too, all the conquest and war and bloodshed. Come on Mr Cameron, let's have the real story of the Navi. Fat chance of us seeing that, because that would require some complexity and intelligence and we're not going to get that in a film like this.