Spreading "Democracy"

I saw Avatar last night and I won’t mess about. It is Epic.

This fantasy movie has painstaking created a fully realized world so you can revel in your suspension of disbelief. The 3D is awe inducing and aids greatly in immersing you in a place that becomes very real.

It’s also a brilliant piece of business. More and more people are opting out of movie lines and smelly theatres when 50” plasmas adorn the walls of their comfortable homes. However you almost “have” to see this in a full size theatre to get the true affect. The box office will continue to reflect this I’m sure.

Now a lot of critics are complaining about the script and I am with them on that. We have heard Cameron wrote Avatar 12 years ago but back then he was clearly missing the archetype he ended up leaning tremendously on as a foil for the movie...George W Bush.

I don’t have a problem with the movie taking sides against Bush. He was at best incompetent and at worse dangerous, making him a tale of woe worth revisiting.

At times Cameron does a superlative evocation of our current political climate. When the Na’vi have their towering tree toppled the reactions shots could have been straight out of Ground Zero on 9/11. Very effective.

There is also a line Michelle Rodriguez delivers that addresses manufactured deception in order to fight that isn’t the most subtle but a passable allusion.

However I got frustrated with the overt use of uniquely Bush lexicon. Lines like: “Shock and Awe”, “Pre-emptive Strike”, “Fight Terror” is vernacular he gave the world to be sure. The problem is not that Bush shouldn’t be mocked. The problem is it ruins the escapism of the movie. You are pulled out of the experience of a far off planet in 2154, back to 2002...back here.

Why has Cameron done that? In my humble opinion it is because we are for the most part...morons. The theme of the movie is crystal clear. Harmony with our environment is more important than imperialistic gains. Unfortunately the metaphor isn’t enough and a chalk board has been carted out..and it is disjointing and disappointing.

Cameron deftly placed the highly desirable deposits the bad guys seek, underground and fancifully referred to them as “cheddar”. I get it is a metaphor for oil and that Americans don’t care what is in the way of that which they wish to obtain. However you don’t have to actually call the mineral they seek “unobtainium”. We get it. We should all get it.

Being consumed by the greed of attaining “things” to the detriment of “living things” is short-sighted, inane and possibly catastrophic. Great premise but no hammer over the head is needed.

Clearly Cameron’s original script had origins in Native Americans being slaughtered and relocated from their beloved land they connected with spiritually. What a tragic and shameful chapter in history that race and religion made them a lesser concern.

“I see you” was a simple, powerful and constructive means to buttress this point about a shared “humanity” being more important than perceived differences. “I see you” means you acknowledge “they matter”.

It is a very worthy picture. It does so many things so very well. I only wish it didn’t try at times to speak to those of us with a Grade 3 education.

-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.