On “Avatar” and Economic Hit Men
I saw Avatar yesterday and I also just happened to be finishing John Perkins‘ new book, “Hoodwinked.” Perkins is best known for his bestseller, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” which is remarkably similar to Avatar in that it is the story of what the powerful government/corporate interests of a technologically sophisticated planet do when they decide that another planet, called Pandora, has something they want. Of course, Pandora also has people on it who’ve lived there forever. And of course the way they live is in harmony with nature (and as such includes the killing of animals and the blessing of their carcasses, but I’ll try not to get into that right now).
Pandora’s people are merely an obstacle that needs to be overcome. Either by befriending them and building schools and sharing technology and other goodies in the hope of manipulating them to help extract and hand over the valuable substance beneath their feet (called Unobtainium), or later by enlisting force when it is discovered that there is nothing the powerful, advanced people can offer the people of Pandora that they actually want, the military/industrial interests don’t see failure as an option.
Sound familiar?
Of course, because this is Hollywood we’re talking about, and the opening weekend was Christmas (and yes, Pandora’s people have a god), the ending is appropriate, while being appropriately unrealistic.
This film can be approached from several other angles. Anyone want to share their thoughts?
Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
According to the Bechdel Test movie list, the film is centered around men – which seems rather appropriate, given the masculine/militarized/dominionist plot. (Not that women cannot be all of these things, mind you; it’s just that we’re usually socialized to be the opposite.) Reviewers have also criticized Avatar‘s racial politics – again, not much of a surprise, given the push for a “happy” (to Western audiences) ending.
That said, I haven’t seen the film, and I’m ambivalent about paying to watch it.
Technologically speaking, it really is a marvel. I didn’t even know what the plot was. My brother-in-law is a computer animator and he strongly recommended it from an artistic point of view.
The ending is truly fantasy. (SPOILER ALERT) And very religious in a deus ex machina kind of way. In fact, god (“Eywa” can you say Yahweh?) literally intervenes to save the day.
As for the women, yes there are more than two (there are three) and they all strong, and they do talk to each other a couple of times, and thank Eywa they don’t spend all of their time talking about guys. They are very much the moral centers and by far the most interesting characters, in my opinion. Too bad everyone around them is male, and only one woman (of the 3) survives.
I thought it was certainly visually stunning.
But I also thought it was a walking cliche. Chauvinism – check! Connection to the environment – check! Domination and subjugation of other species – check! Native “humanoids”who wear thongs, paint their bodies, and apparently have African and/or Native American music as their theme songs – check! White man bad, corporate suit confused but evil, army “jugheads”read to go that extra mile to kill people – check! Happy ending in which god intervenes, the natives are restored to power in an unrealistic fight between them and the white man – check! An hour too long – check!
I’ll probably see it again on netflix, because I thought the cgi was beautiful. I loved the female main character, although it was hard to stomach the idea that a people would have women and men engage in equal roles, including hunting and warring, but women still somehow need to be chosen and mated by a man. Blergh.
It’s in my BlockBuster queue. The special effects do look amazing.
I appreciate the warning on what to expect from the plot…
And I’d figure as much – That there would be strong leanings towards the patriarchy, and systems for domination/greed. After all how else would this movie, or any “artistic endeavor” find funding… If not by appeasing the financial “gOds”?
I don’t know if anyone else noticed the McDonald’s commercials tying in Avatar to the Big Mac.
Says Cameron: “When I set out to write this movie [in 2005], I knew that the [computer generated imagery] was about to create a situation where we could do anything that we could imagine,” he said. “McDonald’s has stepped up and met that same level. I don’t think anyone has seen anything like what they’re doing with these tie-ins, the McD vision augmented reality in particular.
Talk about irony and hypocrisy. With a movie centering on the “rape” of another planet’s environment and the disregard/potential elimination of its native, interfering “humanoids”, it seems odd to use McDonalds as a platform for the movie. On so many levels, really!
Are you kidding me–what do you think the blue people are doing when they “bond” with the beasts–subjugating THEM TO THEIR WILL.
Are you flabbergasted by the post or the film?
True about the blue people and the “beasts.” I’ve read people talking about how they’re communing with the beasts. Meanwhile, as you are saying, they are plugging into them to dominate them and brainwash them.
This was one of my huge — huge — problems with the nonhuman-human relationships in the film. True to form, I finally started writing my post about this issue (about the fact that the film promotes domination and “breaking” of animals, not true respect) two weeks ago and never bothered to finish it. Maybe I’ll make completion my goal of the day, after I meet editing goal, that is.
The romanticized tail and it’s connection really = cattleprod, bit, shock collar, whip, rope, and everything else humans use to force animals to do what they want. It’s interesting how the animals don’t approach the humans to use them for anything.