Avatar - Is the New Communist Movement Red or Blue?

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri in Avatar.

I went to see my best friend (since 7th grade) Steve and his parents last week in San Luis Obispo (SLO), CA. SLO is a liberal college town (Cal Poly SLO) a dozen miles from California's central coast. On Thursday, after many dropped hints from Steve's mom, we went to see Avatar. She and her husband had seen it and wanted us to see it with them again. After seeing the movie, I noticed the juxtaposition of where I was staying and what I had just watched.

While visiting, I stayed as a guest of my friend's step dad, Dave, on the local national guard base. We all had to show IDs to get on base. When they saw his retired military ID (full-bird colonel), they would go to attention, salute, and say "Welcome back sir." He then returned their salute and we would drive on.

Nighttime at Camp San Luis Obispo National Guard Base

All the roads are made of reinforced concrete so tanks and heavy equipment wont damage them as they motor about. Everything is clean and ready. As I looked about at the soldiers doing their jobs, I wondered how many had been to war, probably most. I felt I owed them respect and thanks for doing what they did, even if I don't think we should be in as deep as we are. They kind of got the shitty end of that stick. Their professionalism was appreciated as I saw them go about.

Avatar

I will not go into the story line since you can find a decent summary everywhere. My reactions though were predictable. I cheered for the Na'vi and despised the corporation and military that were threatening them. I wanted to personally save the planet and ride one of those cool flying lizards things. I had a crush on Neytiri (played by the beautiful Zoe Saldana who also played Uhura in the newest Star Trek movie) and loved watching her. I drank the blue koolaid.

A few days later, I read an interesting article at Slate on how the conservatives despise the movie and its messages. I highly recommend you read it since it covers how the Right are attacking this blockbuster.

In the article, it talks about how many of James Cameron's movies have progressive/liberal themes running through them. They mock the hubris of the mighty empires and how the simple, the romantic, the real people will prevail. I agree with many of these themes and appreciate them.

One part of the article mentions a critic who was shocked that the movie audience cheered when the American soldiers were getting killed in the movie. To be fair though, the characters are mercenaries, not American soldiers. With that in mind I had to think about the real soldiers I saw at the base. I hope in my heart they would know what is right and their leaders would as well. I hope they are not sent in harms way to hurt others just to earn the overseers more money. I wonder how they feel about the movie.

After a few days reflection, here is my take on the movie. It is a Star Wars moment for sci-fi and special effects movie. Now that we have seen what can be done, we are going to expect better stories matched to visuals as good or better than seen in this movie.

I have only seen two movies with CGI characters that had soul in their eyes. Gollum from the second Lord of the Rings movie and Avatar. Usually CGI characters' eyes are flat and dead. This brings up the question if we will need real actors in the future, or just voices. My vote is that real actors will always be needed in the same way as real trumpets sound so much better than digital ones in recordings.

As for the story, I give it a B. It has some original minor story lines, but the main story has been told in countless books and movies. In many of these stories, a soldier or explorer joins the "natives" and becomes one with them to battle his old allies or compatriots. In A Man Called Horse, Richard Harris showed us the most painful initiation into the culture I have seen. You can also see this theme in Dances With Wolves, Little Big Man, and many others. It is a story told many times in many different ways, but is it a story worthy of being told again and again?

Another gripe that I've read about is that in Avatar, and the other movies listed above, the "natives" are always saved at the end by the spirit, bravery, and leadership of the "foreigner." Does this mean the natives would not have accomplished this victory without the intervention of the great white savior? I can understand why some criticize this movie for that message.

Avatar is beautiful sensory experience. It is well worth the extra admission and I want to see it again on an IMAX screen. The story is old, but very well told. I highly recommend it if you want to feel your liberal righteousness achieve victory. I enjoyed it for that. I just hope the DVD version has the rumored "un-edited" love scene that would have made it an R instead of the family friendly PG 13. The Na'vi are so damn sexy. What??? Was that racist (or species-ist) to say that?????

For a very well written take on Avatar, please read Stephen's review over at Magic Flute.