I watched Avatar today at the theater in 3D. What a show! This is a movie that no fan of sci-fi or fantasy should miss.
Humans are hoping to mine a rare and extremely valuable ore from the moon Pandora, which is inhabited by a species called Na’vi who are 12 feet tall, blue skinned, and who can interface with nature using tentacles growing from their braided hair.
The humans failed to create a relationship with the Na’vi despite creating schools and teaching them English. So the scientists grew cloned Na’vi bodies–avatars–using Na’vi and human DNA from a few highly trained scientists. These scientists can then enter a closed chamber and connect their minds to the avatar and “live” in their bodies. Perhaps the Na’vi will listen to humans when they look like Na’vi.
But one of the scientists died before his time came to connect with the avatar, so his brother Jake was given the opportunity. This is exhilarating for Jake, a marine who lost the use of his legs. Jake’s assignment was to learn the secrets of the Na’vi so the military could oust the natives from their settlement on a rich area of ore. But Jake falls in love with the people and their moon.
It’s the same story of the Europeans destroying the habitat of the Native Americans and plundering its wealth. And that part is predictable but still infuriating. It’s basically Dances with Wolves with a little Last Samurai and McCaffrey’s Pern thrown in.
But I’ll tell you, this moon and its inhabitants that James Cameron created are absolutely breathtaking. The colors delight the eyes, the flora and fauna are rich and diverse, and the Na’vi are frankly beautiful and sexy. And they are above all things deeply spiritual and attuned to their moon which, as it turns out, is a living entity where all things are connected.
My two friends and I (and I imagine the entire audience) sat spellbound watching this feast of entertainment. Don’t miss this. Don’t wait for the DVD. Go see it. I’m going to go see it again.
On a Personal Note
I cried several times during this movie (which is pretty usual for me, being a softy and all), and when I left the movie I felt like my life was completely meaningless.
Here were these beautiful creatures completely connected to their land, their world. They were all slim and fit and belonged to a community that included not only their own kind but the creatures around them. They respected their world and cared for it like a mother cares for her children.
And what do we have? We have people living in boxes who hardly speak to their neighbors. Most of us couldn’t live off the land if we had to. I won’t even bother fishing in Lake Erie because the water’s so polluted there’s a limit to how many fish you can eat per month.
Me, I’ve got a body wrecked from years of poor diet, lack of movement, and stress, and I’m just trying to figure out what food is. I’m trying to heal my body and my mind and my soul. And I’ve got 20 pounds of fat that still needs to go.
We went to dinner afterwards. I had an overcooked beef filet made from feedlot beef, mashed potatoes, and tasteless, rubbery broccoli. These three foods would never exist in the natural world.
I look at the people around me, and they’re sick and fat and mostly unhappy. What happened to sitting around the campfire laughing and loving and beating drums and dancing? Do neighbors even borrow sugar or eggs from each other anymore? Why are we all holed up in our locked fortresses?
What happened to reaching for our dreams? Why am I not acting or collaborating on creative projects? Why am I writing a friggin’ blog? What happened to the life I imagined when I was 12 years old? And the wonder and joy and energy to pull it off?
Why have we all SETTLED?
I read about farmers getting arrested for selling raw milk while the pharmaceutical companies legally continue to crank out drugs that kill people. I read about Monsanto gobbling up the seed market and the USDA trying to regulate small farms out of business. I read about the Bilderberg group and their quest for domination of the planet. I read the fraud that is H1N1 and the corrupt WHO and the CDC. I watch my civil liberties picked off one at a time by the rich and powerful.
There’s so much corruption and our nation’s citizens can’t even join together to overcome it. Did we run out of energy in 1776?
Our world is facing a mass die off of many species because of loss of habitat and poaching and global warming. And people still wear furs and still bulldoze rain forests and still buy too much crap that they don’t need.
We breed too often and create children who are weak and sick. The most natural of events–breastfeeding–is an inconvenience, and sometimes it’s just harmful to infants because of the toxins passed in the milk. Then the children enter an educational system that doesn’t believe in critical thinking. Then they get a job working for someone else while the dream they had when they were 12 slowly dies inside them.
We are a sick species, and unfortunately we’re the dominant species on our world. And we keep taking.
If only I were an optimist.
Sorry this post is such a bummer.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Your post pretty much sums up exactly how I felt, about the film, the bummer parts, all of it. The problem is that America has become Nazi Germany, but because they do it with science and don’t tell anyone, no one seems to notice.
I think it is simply more than most good people can bear, and we have simply lost the will to live in this place. There seems to be no hope, no sign that any with the means to make a change by at least offering us reprieve from having to work for these corrupt fascist corporations to earn food, shelter, the basic resources we have in abundance rotting in silos every year, it really seems overwhelming to the point of futility.
I don’t see going back to a communal lifestyle as at all an option. Certainly it is unsustainable, and besides, they already own all the land.
I actually found myself willing for a nanovirus to physically destroy all who predominantly expressed the “greed gene.” I am not a violent person, but there comes a time when the only hope for a future worth living in seems to be to fight back with the same weapons used against us.
I pray to the Gods who have forsaken this place to give us another solution. If the aliens would only start up a colony for us somewhere and relocate us… But then so many good people wouldn’t want to leave their mother Earth.
So maybe start with homelessness and starvation in the number one super power in the world? I hope Obama chokes on his lies.
Thank you for posting, James.
While dining with a friend last night, he told me that we are overfishing the oceans. The fishers use huge nets with which they dredge the ocean floor. They take only about 20 percent of the catch, and the remaining catch is thrown back into the water. It’s all dead, of course. Such waste is just deplorable. Reminds me of Jake Sully’s line: “There’s nothing green on Earth. They killed our mother.”
Joanne, I just saw “Avatar” and both liked and didn’t like it. I agree that it’s a magnificently-made movie (especially when seen in 3-D!). The movie will surely be winning every technical award imaginable. But for me, the story was kind of ho-hum. Corporate-bullies-running-rampant-over-indigenous-peoples-due-to-greed is a tale that’s already been told many times. I was disappointed that the script was as simple as it was and thought there were too many cinematic cliches in the film.
It’s interesting that you felt your “life was completely meaningless” after watching “Avatar.” Apparently, the movie is having some negative psychological effects on a number of viewers. As CNN reported this week, “James Cameron’s completely immersive spectacle ‘Avatar’ may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.”
Harold, I agree with you about the story. Same thing with Titanic. Great special effects but lousy dialogue. I found myself wishing Cameron would leave the story telling to someone else and concentrate on the special effects. Too many cliches.
Interesting that others are experiencing depression after watching the movie. It’s obviously touching a deep place within us that is. I think our species is just too far removed from nature, and seeing such powerful beings able to climb ropes, leap from bough to bough, and connect empathically with other creatures and enjoying soaring flight just shows how bankrupt we are sitting in front of our TVs eating potato chips worrying about our mortgages.
There’s also the feeling of futility and weakness when faced with those in power over us, whether it’s an employer, a civil servant, or law enforcer. We are not our own, and so much of what we can and cannot do is dictated by a government that is no longer “for the people and by the people.”