Avatar
I saw Avatar.
Thoughts and review here. Spoilers abound.
That sure was a movie.
It had a beginning, a middle and an end. A really depressing end, though it was trying to be upbeat with the humans carted off Pandora, it's kinda obvious that we're gonna be back, and that time there'll be more of us, and we'll probably bring defoliant and tactical nukes. In that case, it doesn't matter if the forest has all its plucky animals rise up against humans, they Na'Vi are fucked three ways from Wednesday.
The movie itself is a very heavy-handed metaphor for how our capitalistic, consumerist culture fucks over both ourselves as feeling beings and the very planet itself, since humans are described as a species that has "killed our Mother". We are basically thought of as space locusts, and since we don't have a neural connection to the planet's consciousness we're downright infantile because we can't feel the pain of other creatures. Honestly, I thought it made us sound kinda cool but I guess I'm just a pervert Sky Person!!!!
Essentially, the movie wasn't about the Na'Vi. The Na'Vi could have been boxes on wheels for all the character and personality given to them, because the real characters were the white people who are soulless, overdone killing machines driven only by bloodlust and money. There's four good people in the film, and they are the doctor who loves the Na'Vi (she dies), the pilot who defects from the awful space-locusts when the humans start knocking down a giant space-tree (she's a Latina, and she dies), a nerdy, effeminate scientist (who isn't considered a real man and he nearly dies), and the main character: a handsome white guy who has sex with a Na'Vi and suddenly decides that he is truly One Of The People.
The premise of the film is that while human beings climb into avatars to interact with the Na'Vi, the Na'Vi are essentially avatars for the planet Pandora itself, which is alive and conscious. Fair enough, interesting idea, but it's just a dressed up morality play.
Yes, it's lovely that your space-lizard people thump their chests and ride dragons around through their neural uplink in the dragon's neural uplink and it's very charming, but it doesn't really give the Na'Vi character. The princess's character is that she's beautiful, fierce and brave. Her betrothed's character is that he's brave. Her father's character is that he's brave and supposedly wise (he's not) and the mother's character is that she's wise (she actually is).
All in all, I'd see this movie again if I were hammered. It'd be interesting to watch again, but one thing I have to say is: things glow on Pandora. We get the idea. If everything glows, then it's not really special anymore.
Also, everything has tentacles. And everything is ~*connected*~. And humans are assholes. And lizard girls need breasts even though they lay eggs.
edit: also, the Princess was really mad at her boyfriend for helping the evil space-locusts (us) knock down their giant space-tree that ended up killing her father and traumatizing hundreds of her people... but then he got a really big peni--I mean, space-dragon to ride around on, so lol it's all okay XD
Also, it's totally fine that he called for a massive attack on the humans which ended with thousands of Na'Vi brutally killed because it was all his hastily formed space-plan to knock down their space-helicoptors. You know, instead of scattering into the woods and enacting a guerilla war (as a fully trained Marine would know about) which would have saved thousands of lives.
But lol, he rides a really big space-dragon so it's all forgiven and he is One of the People (he gets to have sex with the Princess).
Thoughts and review here. Spoilers abound.
That sure was a movie.
It had a beginning, a middle and an end. A really depressing end, though it was trying to be upbeat with the humans carted off Pandora, it's kinda obvious that we're gonna be back, and that time there'll be more of us, and we'll probably bring defoliant and tactical nukes. In that case, it doesn't matter if the forest has all its plucky animals rise up against humans, they Na'Vi are fucked three ways from Wednesday.
The movie itself is a very heavy-handed metaphor for how our capitalistic, consumerist culture fucks over both ourselves as feeling beings and the very planet itself, since humans are described as a species that has "killed our Mother". We are basically thought of as space locusts, and since we don't have a neural connection to the planet's consciousness we're downright infantile because we can't feel the pain of other creatures. Honestly, I thought it made us sound kinda cool but I guess I'm just a pervert Sky Person!!!!
Essentially, the movie wasn't about the Na'Vi. The Na'Vi could have been boxes on wheels for all the character and personality given to them, because the real characters were the white people who are soulless, overdone killing machines driven only by bloodlust and money. There's four good people in the film, and they are the doctor who loves the Na'Vi (she dies), the pilot who defects from the awful space-locusts when the humans start knocking down a giant space-tree (she's a Latina, and she dies), a nerdy, effeminate scientist (who isn't considered a real man and he nearly dies), and the main character: a handsome white guy who has sex with a Na'Vi and suddenly decides that he is truly One Of The People.
The premise of the film is that while human beings climb into avatars to interact with the Na'Vi, the Na'Vi are essentially avatars for the planet Pandora itself, which is alive and conscious. Fair enough, interesting idea, but it's just a dressed up morality play.
Yes, it's lovely that your space-lizard people thump their chests and ride dragons around through their neural uplink in the dragon's neural uplink and it's very charming, but it doesn't really give the Na'Vi character. The princess's character is that she's beautiful, fierce and brave. Her betrothed's character is that he's brave. Her father's character is that he's brave and supposedly wise (he's not) and the mother's character is that she's wise (she actually is).
All in all, I'd see this movie again if I were hammered. It'd be interesting to watch again, but one thing I have to say is: things glow on Pandora. We get the idea. If everything glows, then it's not really special anymore.
Also, everything has tentacles. And everything is ~*connected*~. And humans are assholes. And lizard girls need breasts even though they lay eggs.
edit: also, the Princess was really mad at her boyfriend for helping the evil space-locusts (us) knock down their giant space-tree that ended up killing her father and traumatizing hundreds of her people... but then he got a really big peni--I mean, space-dragon to ride around on, so lol it's all okay XD
Also, it's totally fine that he called for a massive attack on the humans which ended with thousands of Na'Vi brutally killed because it was all his hastily formed space-plan to knock down their space-helicoptors. You know, instead of scattering into the woods and enacting a guerilla war (as a fully trained Marine would know about) which would have saved thousands of lives.
But lol, he rides a really big space-dragon so it's all forgiven and he is One of the People (he gets to have sex with the Princess).