In the realm of film making, Richard Brooks’s Lord Jim, is the sine qua non of this genre, with a screenplay that is a gem of cinematic compression. More recently, Schindler’s List is perhaps the most striking example, but by far, David Lean has provided the best treatment of the “race traitor” theme, with movies like The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter. These films offer a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the subject, not to mention, superb dialogue, that James Cameron can never hope to approach. David Lean also has a stunning visual sense, chancing upon magnificent landscapes, with color tones that mirror the mood of the subject, with the delicacy of a post impressionist landscape painter. All of this is achieved without resorting to expensive special effects. I find it all together ironic that Cameron’s neopagan worship of pristine nature must employ artifice on a level yet to be surpassed, in order to convey his “Noble Savage living in harmony with Nature” message.

And while we’re on the subject of Noble Savage vs Colonialist Exploiter, the Enlightenment era myth of the noble savage was exploded ages ago. Inter-tribal warfare depleted the ranks of North American Indians, long before the white man arrived on the coasts of America and the brutal torture of prisoners was the order of the day. Human sacrifice on a massive scale was practiced in Central America. We revere the Indian for living in harmony with nature, yet perhaps this is because they lacked the technology to do otherwise. On the other hand, I think it is somewhat unfair to dismiss Avatar as yet another treatment of a hackneyed cliche. When someone breathes new life into old cliche and radically recontextualizes it in a surprisingly new way, it no longer functions as a mere cliche. Therefore, James Cameron deserves some credit for bold and adventurous film making, even if his allegorical sermonizing is enough to make us cringe.

By far, the most intriguing aspect of this film is the quasi-mystical, neopagan subtext of Pandorian nature religion, which hints at something deeper than the Exploiting White Man cliche. The Nature of planet Pandora, like the Pandorians themselves, is un-fallen, nurturing and benevolent. There is only enough danger and adversity to provide the Pandorians with a sense of excitement, adventure and fulfillment, by overcoming trail by ordeal type situations. Thus, all are content, living happily in prelapsarian harmony with the Gian Mother Matrix, until the corrupt humans intrude and nearly throw everything out of balance. At this point, Mother Nature rallies her minions to an apocalyptic battle to overthrow the invader, and restore the balance. No doubt, the substance of this deeper myth, will be explored ad nauseum in sequels and spin-offs of this unprecedented blockbuster.

All said, I enjoyed this film on a sensory, visceral level. It must me remembered that James Cameron is a gifted film maker, but a creature of his time and in a post literate age of sound bites and text messaging, it’s not fair to expect highbrow literary concepts, such as meaningful dialogue and nuanced plot development in a mass medium. After all, how can movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland hope to pay for themselves, with their hyper inflated budgets for special effects, other than by my marketing themselves to the lowest common denominator? Thankfully, for the rest of us, who can still concentrate after all that sensory overload, there are always books.

In the realm of film making, Richard Brooks’s Lord Jim, is the sine qua non of this genre, with a screenplay that is a gem of cinematic compression. More recently, Schindler’s List is perhaps the most striking example, but by far, David Lean has provided the best treatment of the “race traitor” theme, with movies like The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter. These films offer a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the subject, not to mention, superb dialogue, that James Cameron can never hope to approach. David Lean also has a stunning visual sense, chancing upon magnificent landscapes, with color tones that mirror the mood of the subject, with the delicacy of a post impressionist landscape painter. All of this is achieved without resorting to expensive special effects. I find it all together ironic that Cameron’s neopagan worship of pristine nature must employ artifice on a level yet to be surpassed, in order to convey his “Noble Savage living in harmony with Nature” message.

And while we’re on the subject of Noble Savage vs Colonialist Exploiter, the Enlightenment era myth of the noble savage was exploded ages ago. Inter-tribal warfare depleted the ranks of North American Indians, long before the white man arrived on the coasts of America and the brutal torture of prisoners was the order of the day. Human sacrifice on a massive scale was practiced in Central America.We revere the Indian for living in harmony with nature, yet perhaps this is because they lacked the technology to do otherwise. On the other hand, I think it is somewhat unfair to dismiss Avatar as yet another treatment of a hackneyed cliche. When someone breathes new life into old cliche and radically recontextualizes it in a surprisingly new way, it no longer functions as a mere cliche. Therefore, James Cameron deserves some credit for bold and adventurous film making, even if his allegorical sermonizing is enough to make us cringe.

By far, the most intriguing aspect of this film is the quasi-mystical, neopagan subtext of Pandorian nature religion, which hints at something deeper than the exploiting White Man cliche. The Nature of planet Pandora, like the Pandorians themselves, is un-fallen, nurturing and benevolent. There is only enough danger and adversity to provide the Pandorians with a sense of excitement, adventure and fulfillment, by overcoming trail by ordeal type situations. Thus, all are content, living happily in prelapsarian harmony with the Gian Mother Matrix, until the corrupt humans intrude and nearly throw everything out of balance. At this point, Mother Nature rallies her minions to an apocalyptic battle to overthrow the invader, and restore the balance. No doubt, the substance of this deeper myth, will be explored ad nauseum in sequels and spin-offs of this unprecedented blockbuster.

All said, I enjoyed this film on a sensory, visceral level. It must me remembered that James Cameron is a gifted film maker, but a creature of his time and in a post literate age of sound bites and text messaging, it’s not fair to expect highbrow literary concepts, such as meaningful dialogue and nuanced plot development in a mass medium. After all, how can movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland hope to pay for themselves, with their hyper inflated budgets for special effects, other than by my marketing themselves to the lowest common denominator? Thankfully, for the rest of us, who can still concentrate after all that sensory overload, there are always books.

In the realm of film making, Richard Brooks’s Lord Jim, is the sine qua non of this genre, with a screenplay that is a gem of cinematic compression. More recently, Schindler’s List is perhaps the most striking example, but by far, David Lean has provided the best treatment of the “race traitor” theme, with movies like The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter. These films offer a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the subject, not to mention, superb dialogue, that James Cameron can never hope to approach. David Lean also has a stunning visual sense, chancing upon magnificent landscapes, with color tones that mirror the mood of the subject, with the delicacy of a post impressionist landscape painter. All of this is achieved without resorting to expensive special effects. I find it all together ironic that Cameron’s neo-pagan worship of pristine nature must employ artifice on a level yet to be surpassed, in order to convey his “Noble Savage living in harmony with Nature” message.

And while we’re on the subject of Noble Savage vs Colonialist Exploiter, the Enlightenment era myth of the noble savage was exploded ages ago. Inter-tribal warfare depleted the ranks of North American Indians, long before the white man arrived on the coasts of America and the brutal torture of prisoners was the order of the day. Human sacrifice on a massive scale was practiced in Central America.We revere the Indian for living in harmony with nature, yet perhaps this is because they lacked the technology to do otherwise. On the other hand, I think it is somewhat unfair to dismiss Avatar as yet another treatment of a hackneyed cliche. When someone breathes new life into old cliche and radically recontextualizes it in a surprisingly new way, it no longer functions as a mere cliche. Therefore, James Cameron deserves some credit for bold and adventurous film making, even if his allegorical sermonizing is enough to make us cringe.

By far, the most intriguing aspect of this film is the quasi-mystical, neo-pagan subtext of Pandorian nature religion, which hints at something deeper than the exploiting White Man cliche. The Nature of planet Pandora, like the Pandorians themselves, is unfallen, nurturing and benevolent. There is only enough danger and adversity to provide the Pandorians with a sense of excitement, adventure and fulfillment, by overcoming trail by ordeal type situations. Thus, all are content, living happily in prelapsarian harmony with the Gian Mother Matrix, until the corrupt humans intrude and nearly throw everything out of balance. At this point, Mother Nature rallies her minions to an apocalyptic battle to overthrow the invader, and restore the balance. No doubt, the substance of this deeper myth, will be explored adnauseum in sequals and spinoffs of this unprecidented blockbuster.

All said, I enjoyed this film on a sensory, visceral level. It must me rememberded that James Cameron is a gifted film maker, but a creature of his time and in a postlitarate age of sound bites and textmessaging, it’s not fair to expect highbrow literary concepts, such as meaningful dialogue and nuanced plot development in a mass medium. After all, how can movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland hope to pay for themselves, with thier hyper inflated budgets for CGI and special effects, other than by my marketing themselves to the lowest common denomiator? Thankfully, for the rest of us, who can still cocentrate after all that sensory overload, there are always books.

I’d also like to say that I think there are two pieces of unintentional irony in the film.

One being that the savior of the indigenous people is another arrogant white guy, just like Dances With Wolves. He bests the Na’vi champion, steals his bride-to-be, tames the unconquerable dragon and then rallies the people to victory. The destroyers are also the saviors. They hold all the power. That to me seems to subvert the theme of honoring the culture and wisdom of native people. This white savior is meant to assuage white guilt by doing what no one is history ever actually did. It seems to me that saviors more often come from within the ranks of the oppressed. I think the idea is handled better in District 9 since the hero is a reluctant hero and his transformation, physically, mentally and spiritually, are more gradual and believable. He never actually tries to usurp leadership, and throughout most of the movie his motivations are selfish. He has to be forced to change through his trials and tribulations and in the end he disappears into anonymity among the aliens.

The other unintended irony to me is that while the theme is meant to be the imperialists versus the natives, or the machine versus the soul, or even left brain versus right brain, you could connect that to commerce versus art. And the film loses that battle despite itself. Commerce wins here, and art loses. And as you point out John, this seems to be the trend of the last decade. Avatar tries to connect to the soul through artificial means, just like the main character, and it fails.

Agree with the 48 hour mentality…we are slowly making our way into prime culture amnesia, a very dangerous thing indeed.

But my initial reaction was, indeed, correct.

The film is basically built up out of a sequence of cliches recycled from other movies: the displaced Other who finds a dual identity as white man and aboriginal is from Dances With Wolves; the mastery of the unmasterable Beast which is brought back to the aboriginals to impress them with the messiah-like abilities of the new Great Man is from Dune; the armies of the animals that are sent in like cavalry at the end are from Princess Mononoke; the battle scenes are lifted almost wholesale from The Phantom Menace; the mechanical walkers are stolen from Return of the Jedi; and Cameron even robs from himself: the military vehicles look like rejects from Aliens; the sergeant is stolen from The Abyss and / or Aliens; as is the wise-cracking tough Latino woman; and so forth.

My point here is that Cameron has such a fertile imagination as evident from his other films, I don’t see why he felt the need to create a movie that just robs from everything and everyone to make a tired point about globalization vs. indigenes.

I think audiences nowadays just have short memories and are easily impressed. After all, there’s nothing much else going on in film. It’s slowly decomposing and turning into a trivial trash heap of old movie cliches and reruns from the 1950s. But history no longer exists. Instead it has been replaced by the 48 Hour mentality in which the only thing anyone ever remembers is what is precisely 48 hours old and no more. Anything beyond that time frame is regarded as ancient history.

So audiences are coming away from this film feeling like they’ve been lifted into a world they haven’t seen before. They’re lying to themselves: put in a copy of Return of the Jedi and you’ll see what I mean. Lucas was there first and he did a better job.

I think film is so bad now that our standards have fallen so low and we’re willing to accept almost anything that comes along that makes the slightest impression as the New Big Deal. Avatar ain’t a Big Deal at all. It’s old, old hat.

I’ve seen it all before and done much better by other filmmakers.

I hope Cameron has a fresh idea next time around. This one sucks.