Of Eywa and Things Which Are Elementary
Real life has been exploding all over me in the past few months in a way that I don't like, and I'm not exactly up to talking about it. So, I figure now is a good time to talk about a couple things that everyone else has opinions on.
Yes, the movie. Frankly, I wasn't all that excited about it from the previews. It had been out in the theaters for over two months before I saw it, and then it was mainly because so many people had been shouting "OMGWHYYOUHAVETO!!!!!!" Since I was pretty damn pleased (for 'pleased' read 're-obssessed and squeeing overmuch') with "Sherlock Holmes", I saw no reason to go see anything else for a while. XD
So I finally did. And there were good things. Sure. But ultimately, I left the theater thinking what's the big fucking deal?
First off, this whole 'oh the special effects are amazing, this will change cinema forever!' ...whut? Erm okay, I get that the scope was large for the quality, but these effects are no better than Gollum in the LOTR trilogy. And you saw him first in 2002, guys. Big deal.
Frankly, I'm not a very harsh critic. I don't usually notice problems in plot/structure/etc unless it's really obvious. When I'm watching something, I'm usually so immersed that I miss the weaknesses. And I like it that way because I have more fun. Ultimately, if you spend all of your time at the movies getting bothered by every little thing, you just shouldn't go. Not everything is brilliant and it doesn't have to be. As a culture, as a species, we could all stand to lighten up a little bit.
That said, when I say that the plot of Avatar was so clichéd I was wincing in the theater, you know I'm not doing it to be uppity bitch and prove that I know something special about scriptwriting. Um, wow. Not only is the plot kind of stolen from the Disney version of Pocahontas as others have pointed out, but it is simply one of the oldest stories in the books. And there's nothing subtle about it. They might as well go around batting us in the head with clubs and shouting "WE'RE KILLING THE EARTH, WE'RE HEARTLESS BASTARDS THAT DON'T UNDERSTAND NATURE, WE THINK WE OWN WHATEVER LAND WE LAND ON. THE EARTH IS JUST A DEAD THING WE CAN CLAIM. HAVE YOU EEEEEEEEVER HEARD THE WOLF CRY TO THE BLUUUE COOORN MOOOOOOON--"
Whoops, spontaneous song break. Sorry about that.
Seriously though. I know they managed to avoid any racism comments because the Na'vi were aliens and an amalgamation of all sorts of people. I don't think James Cameron was being racist at all. But please, for the love of GOD, stop with the 'noble savage' stereotype. It's a pet peeve of mine, and I'm shocked that I haven't seen anymore complaints on that front. You know what? the Na'vi would have been more interesting people if they hadn't been so amazing and wonderful and in touch with everything the world offers, zomg. You want to show a culture connected to the earth, that's great. But if that makes them essentially perfect and humanity essentially shitty... well, I'm sorry. That's not very interesting. People are more complicated than that. I'm sure aliens are too.
What amazes me with this movie is how incredibly batshit people have gone over it. The film is so heavy handed, and yet people who don't even like sci-fi allegory or movies about aliens (or movies about how we suck and need to get out asses in gear) are eating it up like sugar cookies at Christmas. Why? Are they honestly not getting that slap in the face? You heard the boy talking to the sentient tree - "They killed their Mother." That's us, guys. Get it? *elbow to the ribs* Get it?
It was nice that the female characters were a little more interesting than the male characters for a change. Unfortunately, that didn't do much for the overall story. I get it, the film is called Avatar, and avatars are being used on several levels; the scientists use the alien body avatars, the military guys use the mechanical avatars, the Na'vi use their flying dealy-boppers as avatars, but the main character is basically an avatar too? Really, the guy is crippled and his brother was a smartypants. That's pretty much all we know. He has practically no personality. He is the avatar for the audience.... K, bored now, thnx. Also, the thing was about an hour too long and you knew every plot development an hour before it came to fruition. Even the soundtrack wasn't saving it; James Horner did a nicely majestic score, but it had quite a bit in common with the work Klaus Badelt did on The Time Machine. Nothing we haven't seen. And they play long and hard on the theme about how the whole ecosystem is connected: "She is a part of you, as we are all a part of each other." Oh wait, that was from The Dark Crystal. Jim Henson already beat you to it a couple decades back. Muppets: 1 Cameron: 0
To it's credit, the clichés still managed to get something out of me once or twice. I mean, who doesn't like to see nature kick man's butt? Neytiri shouted "Eywa has heard you!" and yeah, I teared up even as I was going 'wow, that's sort of ridiculous.' To be honest, I think the most important part of the film is the moment where she is holding Jake's human body and they finally see each other. That was really the only moment I had been waiting for and it had a nice impact.
And in the end, District 9 had a lot of the same themes - albeit more centered on an allegory about people (and Blackwater, shh, don't tell anyone) and how we willfully misunderstand and hurt each other, rather than our abuse toward the planet - and was handled masterfully in comparison. To the point where I nearly had to walk out of the theater about halfway through, I was so uncomfortable and upset. And that has never happened to me before in the theater. The fact that they have both been nominated for Best Picture makes me sad (not that the Oscars really mean anything. it's the principle of the thing). They are not the same caliber by a long shot.
And then there was that whole hilarious fiasco about the deleted scene. You know the one I'm talking about. With the alien sexors. And the best part? Lots of people are, it seems, less concerned with that than they are with thinking about The Great Detective banging his trusty flatmate. *cough* Um, I have no idea why. Really. I don't. >_>
It was perfect. ...I'm sorry, did you want something else? Hang on, lemme think a second.
Okay, let's start with one sad fact; the Sherlock Holmes fandom (get over it, fogies, it is a fandom. I know you hate new words, but trust me, this one's not anywhere near as hard as 'slash' or 'eroticism' or ...) is one of the oldest in the world. With that comes a very severe problem. Any time you reinvent something that has a multi-generational fanbase, someone's gonna get pissed. I'm looking at those old guys who go to those Baker's Street Irregular meetings. Yeah, you. Stop glaring at me.
It occurs to me now that one of the problems that the Homes fandom has is a similar problem in the Doctor Who fandom: you're dealing with a main character who is portrayed, at first glance, as entirely asexual. So when the character is then later portrayed in any way that is not asexual, people get CRAZY. (okay, when I finally post my trip record of the ChicagoTARDIS convention, I really want to have a discussion on why it is that men seem to be more threatened by this development than women. I'm not kidding, the overwhelming majority of the people who seem to want to keep their brooding genius characters asexual are men. This intrigues me greatly). So now you see, we have a problem. Because when Sherlock Holmes is played by Robert Downey Jr. ... well, he's going to be sexy. Really sexy. (See: Tony Stark, Harry Lockhart, et al.) Sorry.
I admit, when I first heard the casting for that movie, my internal thought monologue went "Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson? Guy Ritchie? ....WTFBZUH?" I promptly decided not to care about it from that point on, and avoided all the spoilers so that I could be pleasantly surprised (or not) and form my own opinion on the movie. By the time I got to the theater, I was crazy excited. By the time I left the theater, I was completely in love.
I'd enjoyed many different incarnations of Holmes on film over the years (Basil Rathbone was my favorite as a kid, not because he 'got it right' per se, but because, you know, he's Basil Rathbone), but had always been disappointed that no version ever embodied my favorite elements of the character; the fact that he's moody to the point of manic depression, that he's eccentric to unfortunate extremes, that he can be rude and callous one moment and entirely forgiving the next. He has no stiff upper lip, nor is he truly any sort of gentleman. People have teased me for sighting the Disney movie The Great Mouse Detective as one of my favorite Holmes retellings, but Basil of Baker Street actually possessed all those qualities I just mentioned. He hated kids and talked to his chemistry set and could go from grinning like a maniac to desolate beyond hope in the space of a second. Quite a feat for a cartoon knockoff.
Watson was the same. In the past he always seemed to be played some place between 'paunchy blundering moron' and 'stalwart but relatively boring'. The fact that Watson is the storyteller for Holmes and typically seems to downplay (downwrite?) his own part in favor of showcasing his friend does not change that fact that Watson does a lot in those stories. Without him, Holmes has no one. And we do see plenty of evidence that Holmes does not suffer fools gladly (or quietly). Clearly, Watson is not an idiot. (Now I'm looking at you, Nigel Bruce. Laurel and Hardy, my ass.)
So now we have these new fellows. Holmes is a certifiable nutjob in all the best possible ways. He doesn't spend all his time playing sonatas and caprices on the violin, he's plucking the instrument madly because something doesn't make sense to him and the music is another form of reasoning, another way of letting his mind loose. By the way, Holmes kicks some serious ass. By the way, that's also canon. We've just never really seen it on screen. Okay, so maybe he was a bit more emotional than the Sacred Writings Club would have it. Then again, I can think of plenty of places within the stories where Holmes seems to be showing emotion very clearly, whether or not Watson picks up on it. 221B Baker Street looks as messy as it is described for a change, full of oddities and stacks of paper and clouded with smoke. Oh, and look, we're actually showing his nasty cocaine habit! *shockhorror*
Oh Watson. Someone finally did you justice (poor Jude Law, he's actually an excellent actor, but he's so pretty everyone tends to forget it. Personally, I like him better with the moustache). You're capable, loyal without being a sycophant, snarky and have just enough of your own fantastic issues that we can see why Holmes liked you in the first place. (And people can bitch that they don't think Watson's personality was canon enough - some reviewers went so far as to say that he was too young and didn't walk with a limp, which was wrong on both counts - but they don't have any real way of knowing that. Which brings me to another discussion I want to have later on this journal; the Problem of the First Person Narrator. Hint: they lie.) You're kind of bitch, and we always knew it. You also put up with more than you should. Then again, that's sort of the point. This friendship is Sherlock Holmes. It always has been in all their comfortable, fuming, horribly codependent glory.
This movie, it's really all about the banter and chemistry. It's killer. It's 90% if the reason to see it. That and the fact that they're totally at it like rabbits. No really. I mean, come on. People who don't even have the goggles were seeing it. The fact that Law and Downey have done so little to discourage the rumor isn't helping at all. XD That doesn't bother me because I'm at the theater for them. But in case you're not, the plot is tight, well-paced and fun, the film is full of Victorian eye candy, there's a lot of humor and... Rachel McAdams gets nekkid? You get to see her back....
You know what else I like? Female characters who are not ignored and poorly written simply because they are not the focus of the film. This Irene Adler was played a little different, now the action woman, but I would say that's fair since you only have a single solid story on which to base her character. And I liked her. A lot. She was spunky and classy. She put Holmes in his place. Mary was lovely, and her understanding of the relationship between Holmes and Watson gave her a depth that she might not have been allowed in another film. In fact, an earlier version of the script had her coming off a lot meaner. I'm glad they changed it. (You know what I like about this fandom so far? very few people are hating on the girls. There is an overwhelming amount of respect for both Mary and Irene among the film fans. *cough* *glares at certain fandoms that shall remain nameless* hey, Star Trek reboot, maybe y'all could stop bitching about Uhura? there's plenty of porn to go around. it's not going to stop just because she is snogging the logical half of the Spork oreo.)
So that's that. Best movie that's come out in a long time. No matter what goes on on Pandora (by the way, really? That is the worst name for a planet EVER). I'm off to write Holmes fic. A fabulous artist drew a picture that needs a story. After that, there's this Holmes/Good Omens plotbunny that won't leave me alone. So we'll see how that goes. XD
Yes, the movie. Frankly, I wasn't all that excited about it from the previews. It had been out in the theaters for over two months before I saw it, and then it was mainly because so many people had been shouting "OMGWHYYOUHAVETO!!!!!!" Since I was pretty damn pleased (for 'pleased' read 're-obssessed and squeeing overmuch') with "Sherlock Holmes", I saw no reason to go see anything else for a while. XD
So I finally did. And there were good things. Sure. But ultimately, I left the theater thinking what's the big fucking deal?
First off, this whole 'oh the special effects are amazing, this will change cinema forever!' ...whut? Erm okay, I get that the scope was large for the quality, but these effects are no better than Gollum in the LOTR trilogy. And you saw him first in 2002, guys. Big deal.
Frankly, I'm not a very harsh critic. I don't usually notice problems in plot/structure/etc unless it's really obvious. When I'm watching something, I'm usually so immersed that I miss the weaknesses. And I like it that way because I have more fun. Ultimately, if you spend all of your time at the movies getting bothered by every little thing, you just shouldn't go. Not everything is brilliant and it doesn't have to be. As a culture, as a species, we could all stand to lighten up a little bit.
That said, when I say that the plot of Avatar was so clichéd I was wincing in the theater, you know I'm not doing it to be uppity bitch and prove that I know something special about scriptwriting. Um, wow. Not only is the plot kind of stolen from the Disney version of Pocahontas as others have pointed out, but it is simply one of the oldest stories in the books. And there's nothing subtle about it. They might as well go around batting us in the head with clubs and shouting "WE'RE KILLING THE EARTH, WE'RE HEARTLESS BASTARDS THAT DON'T UNDERSTAND NATURE, WE THINK WE OWN WHATEVER LAND WE LAND ON. THE EARTH IS JUST A DEAD THING WE CAN CLAIM. HAVE YOU EEEEEEEEVER HEARD THE WOLF CRY TO THE BLUUUE COOORN MOOOOOOON--"
Whoops, spontaneous song break. Sorry about that.
Seriously though. I know they managed to avoid any racism comments because the Na'vi were aliens and an amalgamation of all sorts of people. I don't think James Cameron was being racist at all. But please, for the love of GOD, stop with the 'noble savage' stereotype. It's a pet peeve of mine, and I'm shocked that I haven't seen anymore complaints on that front. You know what? the Na'vi would have been more interesting people if they hadn't been so amazing and wonderful and in touch with everything the world offers, zomg. You want to show a culture connected to the earth, that's great. But if that makes them essentially perfect and humanity essentially shitty... well, I'm sorry. That's not very interesting. People are more complicated than that. I'm sure aliens are too.
What amazes me with this movie is how incredibly batshit people have gone over it. The film is so heavy handed, and yet people who don't even like sci-fi allegory or movies about aliens (or movies about how we suck and need to get out asses in gear) are eating it up like sugar cookies at Christmas. Why? Are they honestly not getting that slap in the face? You heard the boy talking to the sentient tree - "They killed their Mother." That's us, guys. Get it? *elbow to the ribs* Get it?
It was nice that the female characters were a little more interesting than the male characters for a change. Unfortunately, that didn't do much for the overall story. I get it, the film is called Avatar, and avatars are being used on several levels; the scientists use the alien body avatars, the military guys use the mechanical avatars, the Na'vi use their flying dealy-boppers as avatars, but the main character is basically an avatar too? Really, the guy is crippled and his brother was a smartypants. That's pretty much all we know. He has practically no personality. He is the avatar for the audience.... K, bored now, thnx. Also, the thing was about an hour too long and you knew every plot development an hour before it came to fruition. Even the soundtrack wasn't saving it; James Horner did a nicely majestic score, but it had quite a bit in common with the work Klaus Badelt did on The Time Machine. Nothing we haven't seen. And they play long and hard on the theme about how the whole ecosystem is connected: "She is a part of you, as we are all a part of each other." Oh wait, that was from The Dark Crystal. Jim Henson already beat you to it a couple decades back. Muppets: 1 Cameron: 0
To it's credit, the clichés still managed to get something out of me once or twice. I mean, who doesn't like to see nature kick man's butt? Neytiri shouted "Eywa has heard you!" and yeah, I teared up even as I was going 'wow, that's sort of ridiculous.' To be honest, I think the most important part of the film is the moment where she is holding Jake's human body and they finally see each other. That was really the only moment I had been waiting for and it had a nice impact.
And in the end, District 9 had a lot of the same themes - albeit more centered on an allegory about people (and Blackwater, shh, don't tell anyone) and how we willfully misunderstand and hurt each other, rather than our abuse toward the planet - and was handled masterfully in comparison. To the point where I nearly had to walk out of the theater about halfway through, I was so uncomfortable and upset. And that has never happened to me before in the theater. The fact that they have both been nominated for Best Picture makes me sad (not that the Oscars really mean anything. it's the principle of the thing). They are not the same caliber by a long shot.
And then there was that whole hilarious fiasco about the deleted scene. You know the one I'm talking about. With the alien sexors. And the best part? Lots of people are, it seems, less concerned with that than they are with thinking about The Great Detective banging his trusty flatmate. *cough* Um, I have no idea why. Really. I don't. >_>
It was perfect. ...I'm sorry, did you want something else? Hang on, lemme think a second.
Okay, let's start with one sad fact; the Sherlock Holmes fandom (get over it, fogies, it is a fandom. I know you hate new words, but trust me, this one's not anywhere near as hard as 'slash' or 'eroticism' or ...) is one of the oldest in the world. With that comes a very severe problem. Any time you reinvent something that has a multi-generational fanbase, someone's gonna get pissed. I'm looking at those old guys who go to those Baker's Street Irregular meetings. Yeah, you. Stop glaring at me.
It occurs to me now that one of the problems that the Homes fandom has is a similar problem in the Doctor Who fandom: you're dealing with a main character who is portrayed, at first glance, as entirely asexual. So when the character is then later portrayed in any way that is not asexual, people get CRAZY. (okay, when I finally post my trip record of the ChicagoTARDIS convention, I really want to have a discussion on why it is that men seem to be more threatened by this development than women. I'm not kidding, the overwhelming majority of the people who seem to want to keep their brooding genius characters asexual are men. This intrigues me greatly). So now you see, we have a problem. Because when Sherlock Holmes is played by Robert Downey Jr. ... well, he's going to be sexy. Really sexy. (See: Tony Stark, Harry Lockhart, et al.) Sorry.
I admit, when I first heard the casting for that movie, my internal thought monologue went "Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson? Guy Ritchie? ....WTFBZUH?" I promptly decided not to care about it from that point on, and avoided all the spoilers so that I could be pleasantly surprised (or not) and form my own opinion on the movie. By the time I got to the theater, I was crazy excited. By the time I left the theater, I was completely in love.
I'd enjoyed many different incarnations of Holmes on film over the years (Basil Rathbone was my favorite as a kid, not because he 'got it right' per se, but because, you know, he's Basil Rathbone), but had always been disappointed that no version ever embodied my favorite elements of the character; the fact that he's moody to the point of manic depression, that he's eccentric to unfortunate extremes, that he can be rude and callous one moment and entirely forgiving the next. He has no stiff upper lip, nor is he truly any sort of gentleman. People have teased me for sighting the Disney movie The Great Mouse Detective as one of my favorite Holmes retellings, but Basil of Baker Street actually possessed all those qualities I just mentioned. He hated kids and talked to his chemistry set and could go from grinning like a maniac to desolate beyond hope in the space of a second. Quite a feat for a cartoon knockoff.
Watson was the same. In the past he always seemed to be played some place between 'paunchy blundering moron' and 'stalwart but relatively boring'. The fact that Watson is the storyteller for Holmes and typically seems to downplay (downwrite?) his own part in favor of showcasing his friend does not change that fact that Watson does a lot in those stories. Without him, Holmes has no one. And we do see plenty of evidence that Holmes does not suffer fools gladly (or quietly). Clearly, Watson is not an idiot. (Now I'm looking at you, Nigel Bruce. Laurel and Hardy, my ass.)
So now we have these new fellows. Holmes is a certifiable nutjob in all the best possible ways. He doesn't spend all his time playing sonatas and caprices on the violin, he's plucking the instrument madly because something doesn't make sense to him and the music is another form of reasoning, another way of letting his mind loose. By the way, Holmes kicks some serious ass. By the way, that's also canon. We've just never really seen it on screen. Okay, so maybe he was a bit more emotional than the Sacred Writings Club would have it. Then again, I can think of plenty of places within the stories where Holmes seems to be showing emotion very clearly, whether or not Watson picks up on it. 221B Baker Street looks as messy as it is described for a change, full of oddities and stacks of paper and clouded with smoke. Oh, and look, we're actually showing his nasty cocaine habit! *shockhorror*
Oh Watson. Someone finally did you justice (poor Jude Law, he's actually an excellent actor, but he's so pretty everyone tends to forget it. Personally, I like him better with the moustache). You're capable, loyal without being a sycophant, snarky and have just enough of your own fantastic issues that we can see why Holmes liked you in the first place. (And people can bitch that they don't think Watson's personality was canon enough - some reviewers went so far as to say that he was too young and didn't walk with a limp, which was wrong on both counts - but they don't have any real way of knowing that. Which brings me to another discussion I want to have later on this journal; the Problem of the First Person Narrator. Hint: they lie.) You're kind of bitch, and we always knew it. You also put up with more than you should. Then again, that's sort of the point. This friendship is Sherlock Holmes. It always has been in all their comfortable, fuming, horribly codependent glory.
This movie, it's really all about the banter and chemistry. It's killer. It's 90% if the reason to see it. That and the fact that they're totally at it like rabbits. No really. I mean, come on. People who don't even have the goggles were seeing it. The fact that Law and Downey have done so little to discourage the rumor isn't helping at all. XD That doesn't bother me because I'm at the theater for them. But in case you're not, the plot is tight, well-paced and fun, the film is full of Victorian eye candy, there's a lot of humor and... Rachel McAdams gets nekkid? You get to see her back....
You know what else I like? Female characters who are not ignored and poorly written simply because they are not the focus of the film. This Irene Adler was played a little different, now the action woman, but I would say that's fair since you only have a single solid story on which to base her character. And I liked her. A lot. She was spunky and classy. She put Holmes in his place. Mary was lovely, and her understanding of the relationship between Holmes and Watson gave her a depth that she might not have been allowed in another film. In fact, an earlier version of the script had her coming off a lot meaner. I'm glad they changed it. (You know what I like about this fandom so far? very few people are hating on the girls. There is an overwhelming amount of respect for both Mary and Irene among the film fans. *cough* *glares at certain fandoms that shall remain nameless* hey, Star Trek reboot, maybe y'all could stop bitching about Uhura? there's plenty of porn to go around. it's not going to stop just because she is snogging the logical half of the Spork oreo.)
So that's that. Best movie that's come out in a long time. No matter what goes on on Pandora (by the way, really? That is the worst name for a planet EVER). I'm off to write Holmes fic. A fabulous artist drew a picture that needs a story. After that, there's this Holmes/Good Omens plotbunny that won't leave me alone. So we'll see how that goes. XD