Anti-imperialism in 3-D

[IndianaGreen]

Anti-imperialism in 3-D

There is much more to Avatar than the spectacular special effects, says Nagesh Rao.

January 7, 2010

ANOTHER ELEMENT of the film's anti-imperialism that critics seem to have missed is its subtle criticism of the negative historical role played by anthropologists and other social scientists working for colonial powers. Grace and her team of scientists are employed by the same corporate entity that has hired Col. Quaritch and his trigger-happy mercenaries.

In this respect, the scientists in the film are like those employed by the U.S. Army's "Human Terrain System," whose stated purpose is to "improve the military's ability to understand the highly complex local socio-cultural environment in the areas where they are deployed."

But Grace is no military lackey, and her team's meticulous attention to the scientific project, as well as their moral and ethical sensibilities drive them to oppose Col. Quaritch and their corporate sponsor, in the form of Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). The film's insistence that the aims of social science can't be reconciled with those of imperialism stands in stark contrast to the complicity of academics currently involved in the Human Terrain System program.

Like most sci-fi films, Avatar offers a withering critique of the world that we live in. But unlike most recent sci-fi films, it is filled with a utopianism that we haven't seen in a while. Is this a nostalgic longing for lost innocence? By presenting the Na'vi and their way of life as akin to indigenous cultures destroyed by colonialism, does the film run the risk of grasping at an irrecoverable past?

Perhaps here too Avatar offers more than at first meets the eye. There is something undeniably futuristic about Pandora itself, where flora and fauna alike are interconnected as if part of one gigantic neural network. The network of energy that binds everything on Pandora is ultimately responsible for Jake's resurrection as his Na'vi avatar.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/07/anti-imperialism-in-3D

[proteus_lives]

1. A shitty, unoriginal script in 3-D.

One-dimensional characters, wooden acting.

Put Dances with Wolves and Ferngully in blender then spice with shitty dialogue and place the thing in space and you get Avatar.

$400 million on computers and advertising and about 50 bucks on a script.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Yep

It's a shame that Cameron gave the right wing such a big target. If only he'd spent some of that money on a good script.

I have a very negative review on my blog.

[provis99]

3. yeah, it was crap.

My brother and I went, and were dumbfounded when audience members stood up and clapped when it was over. For me, it was nearly three hours of excruciatingly dull recycling of old storylines. Even the 3D became boring after 10 minutes.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. There's a three-hour version?!

Man, the one I saw felt about five times that long.