Mawkish, maybe. But "Avatar" is a profound, insightful, important film

[Lorien]

Mawkish, maybe. But Avatar is a profound, insightful, important film

Cameron's blockbuster offers a chilling metaphor for European butchery of the Americas. No wonder the US right hates it.


Avatar, James ­Cameron's blockbusting 3D film, is both profoundly silly and profound. It's ­profound because, like most films about aliens, it is a metaphor for contact between different human cultures. But in this case the metaphor is conscious and precise: this is the story of European engagement with the native peoples of the Americas. It's profoundly silly because engineering a happy ending demands a plot so stupid and predictable that it rips the heart out of the film. The fate of the native ­Americans is much closer to the story told in another new film, The Road, in which a remnant population flees in ­terror as it is hunted to extinction.

But this is a story no one wants to hear, because of the challenge it presents to the way we choose to see ourselves. Europe was massively enriched by the genocides in the Americas; the American nations were founded on them. This is a history we cannot accept.

(snip)

The butchery began with ­Columbus. He slaughtered the native people of ­Hispaniola (now Haiti and the ­Dominican Republic) by unimaginably brutal means. His soldiers tore babies from their mothers and dashed their heads against rocks. They fed their dogs on ­living children. On one occasion they hung 13 Indians in honour of Christ and the 12 disciples, on a gibbet just low enough for their toes to touch the ground, then disembowelled them and burnt them alive. ­Columbus ordered all the native people to deliver a ­certain amount of gold every three months; anyone who failed had his hands cut off. By 1535 the native ­population of Hispaniola had fallen from eight ­million to zero: partly as a result of disease, partly due to murder, overwork and starvation.

(snip)

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/11/mawkish-maybe-avatar-profound-important

Personal note: this article was sent on to me by a family member; born and raised on a reservation, an elder in her Tribe, is VP of a prominent Native American advocacy group, is an elected Democrat in office, and, oddly enough, is business partners with one of James Cameron's ex-wives. She personally loved "Avatar" and is grateful for the attention that it has brought to the history and ongoing struggles of indigenous peoples.

[rcrush]

1. I'm still waiting for it to come out on Redbox so I can only pay a $1 to see it

[Lorien]

2. Did you read the article?

your response seems "uniquely American".

"We have all become skilled in the art of not seeing." (and I'm not talking about movies)

[Schema Thing]

6. Don't make that mistake

Pony up 14 bucks and see it on IMAX 3-D. The other-world created is the most beautiful thing you could imagine. I'm a pretty frugal guy, but that was 14 dollars well spent. (and I'll probably see it again; which I *never* do).

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. Totally agree - the IMAX version is an experience not to be missed

The 3D is used to immerse viewers into the world, and it is astoundingly effective. It really is a radically new use of this technology - rather than just the shock value of, say, a spear coming at your face, you really seem to be there, and it is unbelievably gorgeous. In this area the IMAX tickets can be reserved online (a good idea since they are still selling out) and cost $12.50 each. Absolutely worth it.

[mmonk]

3. Yes, a valuable film in looking into the past

but also looking into the present with the unobtainium that existed in the ground under where the Navi lived which the corporations which hired former marines were seeking. It could be looked at as the gold of the past or the gold of the present and also the destruction of nature in the process as well as the native people.

Well worth seeing in RealD 3D. I went reluctantly with a friend thinking I would not like it. Then I went again and took my family and they loved it and actually felt a connection with a people (the Navi of Pandora) that don't even exist.

[AllenVanAllen]

10. "actually felt a connection with a people (the Navi of Pandora)"

They the were the aspect of the film I loved the most. I have to admit the fist time I saw what they looked like I didn't like them but after seeing them in action on screen, I was sold. Cameron created an amazing alien species that possesses high intelligence, and live a symbiotic life with their home. Although they have similarities to real indigenous people of the world they are very different. They live in perfect balance with nature and have evolved a literal connection with their planet and each other. A way of life that hasn't been achieved by any intelligent species on this planet, besides maybe dolphins and whales.

The Na'vi have a deep connection to nature, while the humans that travel across the galaxy for resources, have completely lost their connection to nature. So apparently 144 years into the future humans haven't changed much.
It's an important message indeed.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Mmmmm, no it's not.

[tekisui]

21. I slept through the end of it.

I felt like I was watching a 3 hour commercial for the latest movie toys. The characters were flat, the story cliche and the action boring.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. While the sentiment may be right, it doesn't help to get facts wrong.

The population of Hispaniola in 1492 was app. 250,000 - not 8 million. It is unlikely there were 4 million across the entire Caribbean, including Cuba, at the time. There is no archeological evidence that the population of all the Americas at the time exceeded 50 million.

The extermination of 48 million people, rather than 98 million, is no less a crime - but there will be those who will base their arguments against there being an american holocaust on such discrepancies.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. Another thing - this film is also appealing to a widespread and deep need for

spiritual connection with the natural world and with one another. Another parallel of the Na Vi with native Americans. They never believed they "owned" the earth.

[GumboYaYa]

9. I think the plot is boring and weak, but

the cinematography is the best I have ever seen and that kept me glued to the film. It is an enjoyable cinema experience even though the characters have little depth and the storyline is completely predictable.

[otohara]

31. I'm With You

Lame - especially the writing - so little dialog and toonish.

[Lorien]

11. I see the unrecc trolls are out in force. The truth about our history offends them

or maybe that just have a kneejerk hatred for anything that mentions a popular flick.

[Lorien]

13. Ah look-more of them! I'd like to hear why the artcle offends them

but I doubt that they'll bother to read it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I unrecced because Avatar sucks.

It's not profound. It's not insightful. And it's not important.

It's overwrought fluff.

Just like this thread.

[Zix]

17. Yeah, but you think EVERYTHING sucks.

[proteus_lives]

23. Me too.

Doesn't matter how many people polish this turd, it's still crap.

[damntexdem]

25. De gustibus non est disputandum.

But you're wrong. ;-)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. Nobody went on and on about the plight of Native Americans...

After watching Battle for Terra.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. My BF refuses to see it.

I've seen how he acts when he feels people disrespect the military.

He told me if I wanted to see it with my friends I was free to go but he wouldn't go with us. I haven't seen it yet but I want to.

*sigh* I'll prolly watch it on DVD with the girls some night he's out with the boys.

[Lorien]

14. The "bad guys" are a corporation, not the US military

though veterans are working for the corporation, similar to Blackwater.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

15. Thanks but...

...though I don't think that will sway him much. Vets = military in his mind (he's a vet).

[readmoreoften]

19. The hero of the movie is a vet.

The Iraqi/Afghan war vets I know liked it, but then again, they're anti-war.

[Lord Helmet]

18. meh

[Zix]

20. I enjoyed Avatar lots, but mainly for the FX.

I thought the plot was okay. It made sense and nobody did anything film-breakingly stupid. That's good enough for me, these days.

I think the message was okay. I didn't think it was particularly profound, or needed doing again, but I suppose we need a new "Pocahontas" every once in a while.

[proteus_lives]

22. I'm not Right and I hate it.

It's a shitty movie.

One-dimensional characters and wooden acting.

It's amazing how many people are impressed with an empty box because it has shiny wrapping paper.

And all the tropes make me want to puke. White Messiah and Noble Savage. We gotta get past that shit.

[rcrush]

29. Hey you're a FREEPER cause you didn't like AVATAR

FREEPER! I BET YOU DIDNT LIKE DARK KNIGHT EITHER!

[perro azul]

33. I think if it hadn't been a 3D flick it would have grossed about 42 dollars...

:shrug:

[damntexdem]

24. Yeah, what the white-guy-going-native does is window dressing.

What it important is what it shoes the system doing.

[librechik]

27. Avatar="Fort Apache" esp. the arrows stuck in the earthmover tires.

Except, in the end, the Indians get to keep the fort. I was cheering. In fact, I was thinking how the Navi should make the earth scumbags walk home, like they made the Cherokee.

But then that's me (part Lakota)

[TrogL]

28. I thought it was a more specific message at first

I live not far from a huge mining operation. They've got equipment almost identical (minus the armament and breathing apparatus) to some used in Avatar. Seen up close, the place looks like hell on earth and the pollution can be seen from orbit.

[Political Heretic]

30. It was an entertaing, beautiful to look at film. My favorite of last year. Important? Um hell no.

[Lorien]

32. Did you actually read the article?

As I mentioned above, it was a family member who is highly active in the Native American community who emailed it to me. The person who sent it to her was a guy from Singapore who had NEVER heard any Native American history. He was floored by the Guardian article. So, I'd say that there may be some indigenous people out there who disagree with you. It's been bloody hard for any of them to be heard, and if a "profoundly silly" film helps them in that, then more power to it.