James Cameron’s new fantasy tale “Avatar” has grossed over $1 billion worldwide and may be on its way to getting an Academy Award nomination. Despite the success of “Avatar,” conservatives are up in arms over the political undertones and what appears to be a reference to the Iraq war. “Avatar” is about another planet known as Pandora. Pandora contains a natural resource known as “Unobtainium.” The big money corporation (RDA) will stop at nothing to obtain this element, even if it means wiping out the Na’vi, which are 10 foot blue aliens.
I have an old friend who went to West Point, graduated top five percent of his class and spent a lot of time over in Iraq. Politically I’d like to think I’m somewhere in the middle but I definitely lean a little left. My friend is very much a conservative and very much in support of the war in Iraq and I could hear him grumbling under his breath throughout the entire movie. I can’t pretend that this did not affect my movie going experience. The whole time all I could see was a parallel to the war in Iraq.
The problem is James Cameron started working on this movie over a decade ago, long before the war in Iraq. It has been pointed out to me that Cameron has a history in his storytelling (specifically “Aliens” and “Terminator”) of making the people with power heartless, irresponsible and evil.
I read over at www.abcnews.com a quote from Jonah Goldberg (editor-at-large of the National Review). It read, “I wasn’t infuriated by ‘Avatar.’ I was infuriated by the way it framed the culture-war debate… as if there are no secular people on the right.” I agree with Mr. Goldberg, but I don’t know what Cameron’s intentions were while working on the script. You can’t make a good argument unless you understand the other side’s point of view, but was he even trying to make an argument?
If Cameron was in fact trying to symbolize the war in Iraq then I feel that he missed the boat on that argument. You can’t make a good argument unless you understand the other side’s point of view. In the movie you can’t relate to why they wanted to attack the Na’vi’s habitat. It’s not a good enough reason and no sane human being would side with an attack such as that - not even Dick Cheney.
This year the Academy Awards are allowing for ten nominations as best picture, which is double from the past. This means that there is a decent shot at getting nominations for “Avatar” and other hit movies from the summer. While “Avatar” is a visual spectacle does it really deserve to be included in the Best Picture category? I don’t think “Avatar” is as good a movie as “District 9.” There were political undertones in “District 9,” but it was cleverly put together and truly one of the most original movies I’ve ever seen.
“Avatar” is essentially a “FernGully” remake - sorry reimaging isn’t it? Only to be completely honest I think the storytelling was more effective in “FernGully.” That’s not fair. If you watch “Avatar” on the surface it’s a lot of fun and really just amazing. It’s when you over analyze it like I’m doing that it becomes disappointing. I must admit I’m bitter towards James Cameron, and was before “Avatar.” I really loved the movie “L.A. Confidential.” This event has bugged me so much so that I forget that Cameron has made such amazing movies such as “Aliens” or “Terminator.” Maybe my issue is with the Academy Awards and not James Cameron. I’m sorry Mr. Cameron.
BYLINE:
Bob Zerull is a frequent movie and concert goer who talks about his ventures to arenas and theaters more than any person should be allowed to do. Now, he puts them down on paper. Visit: www.cadaverchristmas.com. Email Bob at bob@zoiksonline.com.
5 comments:
Perhaps Cameron was trying to convey the message that it's senseless to try and wage any war, period. I will agree here that a little more could have been done to build the Human's story and provide reason for the attack on the Na'vi and this would probably have benefited the film.
But it's possible the point Cameron was trying to make is that America doesn't really work that way. He might have subtly been saying America doesn't need much reason or provocation to warrant an attack or an invasion.
I dunno if Cameron was really trying to convey particular social or political message. I feel like script was so terribly written, the chances there's some sort of deeper message is pretty slim.
He's not trying to make a statement about the Iraq war. The statement is clearly spoken in the movie. "If someone has something you want, you will make them your enemy so you feel justified in taking it." This applies to every single war of aggression over the course of history, not just our latest Iraq adventure...
Give Cameron a bit more credit than that Anonymous, he did after all spend 12 years on this film, I doubt highly that such strong connotations could just fall into the script without him noticing, but hey, I don't know the guy.
I wonder what the director's response might be to these allegations of political underpinnings if he were to be questioned on the matter.
And Catchudoine to an extent I believe what you have said to be true, but in the film the humans are chasing a resource, not land as has been the case with most wars over the course of history.
I dunno why conservatives would make a huge fuss over Avatar and so readily connect it to Iraq. I felt more of a connection with western colonialism than anything, especially in terms of Africa and Native Americans, and our tendency to annihilate entire cultures to obtain more markets and goods. No matter how you feel about it, it's history. Trail of tears, the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, you see the kind of situation presented in the movie all over the place. We are a nation of 'winners', especially when it comes to obtaining what we want.
Yes, you could apply this to Iraq. Fox news gave the image that Iraqis were backwater uncivilized tribals (just like the Na'vi), though it turned out not to be so true after all. But thats the biggest link I can come up with, the middle east was selling us oil before we rolled in so oil and [unobtain]ium wouldn't be an exceptional comparison.
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