My Avatar rant... (or, what movie did these gun bloggers all watch?)

[Matthew Carberry]

Comment on Avatar repeated on multiple blogs:

I'll Netflix it, I don't want to give Cameron $XX dollars for liberal propaganda.

My response:  

If you don't see it in 3D you are missing out on most of the spectacle.  How Cameron makes 3D an integrated part of the visual as opposed to a mere gimmick is the whole point of the film and the real industry game changer.  If you don't want to spend the money, fine, but by "sticking it to Cameron" you are, in essence, missing the movie entirely.

Further:

I don't understand the "lib propaganda" issue people are raising/whining about.  It's not a Michael Moore screed, just a movie designed for entertainment.  The "enviro/noble savage" story has been a part of American fiction since the late 1900's, James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales" from 1896 ring any bells?

So, us rugged individualists are reduced to whining about what is a decades-old, oft used, utterly toothless part of the national gestalt by this point?  Why now, after dozens of identically themed movies since the dawn of film, most if not all meaningless in any grand or petit scheme?  Cause Barry's in the White House?  Cause the commie's tried once again to foist a "global threat" off on us?

If so, it seems kind of a petulent, if not pathetic, response to my way of thinking. We should be better than this; as in so many other areas, going off on minor BS non-issues makes us look idiotic and costs us credibility when the real fights come up.

Cameron didn't put it in the film as any sort of "call to arms" or real proslytization, even if he did, so what?  It is simply one of the dozens of extant, trite, convenient, cut-and-paste plotlines just there to hang visuals on, like "unlikely youth becomes a savior" or "emotionally reserved person learns to love again after meeting woman/dog/child"

Tell yourselves "it's just a show, I really should relax".

[SADShooter]

I've not seen the film, but I have read a few blog commentaries (LawDog, VFTP et al.). Most of them do criticize Cameron's ideological slant, but go on to recommend, quite heartily, that readers see the film for its visual splendor.

(edit for typo)

[Matthew Carberry]

That seems to be the response once people see it, but before it was released and shortly thereafter a bunch of those same bloggers were not going to see it at all due to advance press and the remarks of folks who watched it about the "politics".

Only when the "it's so freaking cool" reports started flying out did mind's change.  The comments I'm referring to are usually in response to those "change of heart" blog posts.  People sticking to their guns about "lib propaganda".

I'm also more generally addressing this overall knee-jerk "believe anything negative" response that has arisen amongst our blog/forum-o-sphere.

I can understand a certain incipient caution about proposed legislative actions and such, but preemptively going into "evil lib" mode over the "politics" of a cartoon?

Really?

[Balog]

Just cause the propaganda is a tired cliche doesn't make it any less annoying to me.

[BryanP]

I saw it over the weekend.  It's a fun flick if you can ignore the gigantic plot holes. 

My biggest gripe was sitting there thinking "Okay, you have space capable shuttles and you're using them as low-altitude dumb bombers, and engaging with ground troops and helicopters.  Wouldn't it be easier to take that same shuttle up and use it to drop rocks on them?"

[HankB]

I haven't seen it yet myself, but I understand the message is that primitive colored folks (in this case blue) need a white guy to save them and their way of life.

Or have I heard wrong?

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/255337

[Sergeant Bob]

I haven't seen it yet and will likely Netflix it (yes, I have a 3D capable 60" TeeWee). If it is a good movie now, it will still be a good movie in 6 months.

What I think is pretty strange is, the name of the mineral they are trying to "obtain" is "Unobtanium". I hope everyone gets the joke.

[BrokenPaw]

I haven't seen it yet myself, but I understand the message is that primitive colored folks (in this case blue) need a white guy to save them and their way of life.

Or have I heard wrong?

It could be reduced to that, yes, if you boil it down far enough.

A more fair characterization might be:  Primitive folks (of whatever hue) facing an overwhelmingly more-advanced adversary, are highly motivated but lack the knowledge of how to overcome that adversary, until someone (of whatever shade) who was once a part of that adversary gives them an understanding of tactics, as well as a powerful symbolic figurehead, to follow.

I personally loved the movie (and in the interest of full disclosure, my spiritual leanings are more along the lines of the Na'vi, in the sense that I believe that nature is a system of interconnectedness that we ignore for pure profits' sake at our peril; but I'm not a sandal-wearing hippie, and I do get the fact that all life is a tradeoff between preserving what is and taking what one must.)

In short, the people hailing it as unbroken ground are perhaps forgetting a few hundred years of storytelling, and the people decrying it as purest leftist propaganda would do well to check their NIMBYometers to see how many oil wells, nuclear reactors, or livestock farms they have in their yards; it's perhaps too easy to be OK with the destruction of someone else's home in the interest of "progress" or economic gain.

It was a decent story, well told, and visually stunning.  I've seen it twice.

-BP

[MicroBalrog]

ople decrying it as purest leftist propaganda would do well to check their NIMBYometers to see how many oil wells, nuclear reactors, or livestock farms they have in their yards;

I have a coal plant within sight of my house (visible when I look out of the window), a nuclear reactor (Sorek Experimental) within 7 klicks), and a major Bromine plant within walking distance.

How's that for a NIMBYometer reading?

[mtnbkr]

What I think is pretty strange is, the name of the mineral they are trying to "obtain" is "Unobtanium". I hope everyone gets the joke.

I got it.  Unobtanium has long been a joke name for any fancy new metal (titanium, scandium, etc) used in the bike industry.  I first heard the term 15+ years ago. :)

Chris

[BrokenPaw]

I have a coal plant within sight of my house (visible when I look out of the window), a nuclear reactor (Sorek Experimental) within 7 klicks), and a major Bromine plant within walking distance.

How's that for a NIMBYometer reading?

Fair enough.  You are not a typical sample, however.  Most of the people (especially in the US) who think in terms of Industry Uber Alles are not prepared to have that industry impinge upon their property.

[AZRedhawk44]

It could be reduced to that, yes, if you boil it down far enough.

A more fair characterization might be:  Primitive folks (of whatever hue) facing an overwhelmingly more-advanced adversary, are highly motivated but lack the knowledge of how to overcome that adversary, until someone (of whatever shade) who was once a part of that adversary gives them an understanding of tactics, as well as a powerful symbolic figurehead, to follow.

Heck, that could fit the Revolutionary War.

[RevDisk]

I personally loved the movie (and in the interest of full disclosure, my spiritual leanings are more along the lines of the Na'vi, in the sense that I believe that nature is a system of interconnectedness that we ignore for pure profits' sake at our peril; but I'm not a sandal-wearing hippie, and I do get the fact that all life is a tradeoff between preserving what is and taking what one must.)

In short, the people hailing it as unbroken ground are perhaps forgetting a few hundred years of storytelling, and the people decrying it as purest leftist propaganda would do well to check their NIMBYometers to see how many oil wells, nuclear reactors, or livestock farms they have in their yards; it's perhaps too easy to be OK with the destruction of someone else's home in the interest of "progress" or economic gain.

It was a decent story, well told, and visually stunning.  I've seen it twice.

-BP

What BP said.   Yea, it's a hack story.   98% of movies ARE hack stories.   Personally, I care more about how a story is told than whether I know the plot already or not.  I've seen plenty of some classic plays more than once.   It's pretty, there's decent if not strange eye candy, and Michelle Rodriguez going rogue in a futuristic gunship in warpaint.   What more do you want from life?

My sole argument is that the company was friggin stupid.  Space travel is hideously expensive apparently.  DNA and tissue samples are pretty light.   Screw the mineral, I want the biological USB port.   The biotech is worth a thousand times what any single mineral.


Oh, and yes, I am used to having nuke plants and farms within LOS.  No oil wells yet, but we're working on that.  Shale oil, baby.  Billions of gallons of beautiful Pennsylvanian shale oil, that'd likely put Saudi Arabia to shame if we can optimally extract it.

[Balog]

I grew up nearish to a nuke plant (my Dad helped build it). They aren't all that high in terms of environmental impact.

[Matthew Carberry]

I grew up nearish to a nuke plant (my Dad helped build it). They aren't all that high in terms of environmental impact.

I, for one, would like to shake all three of your hands.

[Viking]

Oh, and yes, I am used to having nuke plants and farms within LOS.  No oil wells yet, but we're working on that.  Shale oil, baby.  Billions of gallons of beautiful Pennsylvanian shale oil, that'd likely put Saudi Arabia to shame if we can optimally extract it.

Isn't that starting to become profitable nowadays? I seem to remember something about the new Canadian boomtowns that has sprung up around new oil fields where it's suddenly profitable to extract the stuff.

[Balog]

I, for one, would like to shake all three of your hands.

That ain't a hand baby. 

[Matthew Carberry]

That ain't a hand baby. 

I would rather spend time with the people of this forum than with the finest people in the world.

[Balog]

I would rather spend time with the people of this forum than with the finest people in the world.

And hey, we're giving it away for free...

[Perd Hapley]

I would rather spend time with the people of this forum than with the finest people in the world.

How did you develop such poor taste? 

[Balog]

How did you develop such poor taste?  

You've got no room to talk Mr 17536 posts...  

[erictank]

I've not seen the film, but I have read a few blog commentaries (LawDog, VFTP et al.). Most of them do criticize Cameron's ideological slant, but go on to recommend, quite heartily, that readers see the film for its visual splendor.

(edit for typo)

I went to see it with most of my family on a visit to Syracuse two weeks ago. The theater had the 3D setup, so that's what we saw it in.

OH.

MY.

GOD!

The story, as has been noted (many, MANY times) is weak and old.  That's not what makes it such a jaw-dropping spectacle.  It reaches out of the screen and pulls you into it in a way that no other movie ever has (at least for me) based SOLELY on its visuals.  The 3D is there, but the movie doesn't club you over the head with it - I found myself entranced, at one point, watching the ash fall in front of Neytiri and realizing it LOOKED LIKE IT WAS ACTUALLY BETWEEN ME AND HER.  I ducked away from a grenade which bounced towards me during one of the battles.  I forgot I was wearing the 3D glasses at all, and just fell into the screen.

I haven't decided if I'll buy it when it comes out on video - I don't think my TVs are 3D capable, so it might be wasted, in which case I won't.  But I'm glad I went to see it, and in a theater where the effect was fully realized. 

Just wait until you can get these kind of visuals AND a great story!  It won't be long now, I think.

[RevDisk]

I grew up nearish to a nuke plant (my Dad helped build it). They aren't all that high in terms of environmental impact.

I grew up half a mile from Three Mile Island. 

Isn't that starting to become profitable nowadays? I seem to remember something about the new Canadian boomtowns that has sprung up around new oil fields where it's suddenly profitable to extract the stuff.

Yep.

[Cromlech]

The movie did have many clichés, and the story itself wasn't anything new and/or groundbreaking, but I didn't see anything wrong with the premise.

Corporation comes to your someone else's home town planet, and decide that they want to dig up the area underneath your their house tree-house, so they want you them to move on somewhere else, and they aren't compensating you them to do so.
Home-owners do not like this.

Corporation decides to send in Bulldozers the size of football pitches anyway, and starts to turn your their back yard forest to mulch, while on the way to your their home.

The home-owners really don't like this. You They decide to defend your their property with your their firearms arrows and spears.

Okay, I've had my fun with the strikeout function now, I'll stop.

Corporation sends in their own privatised military air wing and launch high-explosive missiles at the supporting structures of your home, along with some Napalm at you.

I don't know about any of you guys, but I'd be pretty pissed.

Now I realise that some people are unfairly comparing the US forces in the Middle East to the Corporation in the movie, but the fact remains that the Corporation are douchebags and they 'get theirs'.