Patricia Abbott (pattinase): AVATAR

Sunday, January 10, 2010

AVATAR

This is not a review of Avatar, which I liked in many ways, but rather a question. How is this movie that portrays the American military as guns for hire being viewed around the world? Isn't this just the sort of self-indictment that some people are waiting for. I am hardly a flag-waving type, but it seems to me that portraying so many men in US-type uniforms and speaking Americanese as mercenaries is bad timing. Or did I read it wrong? Was I so caught up with its beauty that I misunderstood the message?

Addendum-Okay, I have researched this question and come away with the idea I am not supposed to see the military as an an American force but rather an "earth" force. But where are the Spanish, French, and Chinese speaking soldiers? More importantly, was enough care put into the plotline to consider this? Did Cameron mean it as a critique of US policy (and I don't necessarily disagree with some of this) or was he just trying to make a damned exciting movie? Have we finally decided that making the villains Arab or Russian or German was passe? Did Star Wars come in for this critique thirty years ago? I am just asking...

31 comments:

Todd Mason said...: Are you asking if AVATAR makes people think of US soldiers as merely mercenaries?; 5:07 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Yep, I guess so. I'm struggling with its message and I can't take away any other.; 5:17 PM
John McFetridge said...: It's unlikely much of the world connects "Hollywood movie" and "America." Most of the world understands that the America of the movies isn't much like the real thing - of course most of the world is probably even more anti-American than most Americans realize and far too willing to accept any negative image of America (my own snobbism comes into play here as I always feel "sophisticated" Europeans have a far too simplistic view of the US).

Or maybe James Cameron is just a very effective Canadian spy sent to undermine America...; 5:33 PM
Todd Mason said...: You must remember, John, that European imperialism was (and in too many ways remains) Uplifting, US imperialism is just crass.; 5:35 PM
Todd Mason said...: Chinese imperialism must be good, in comparison, because for some small fraction of their history they were subjugated by the English and the Japanese, and threw that off...to go back to playing in the I league, in Africa as well as East Asia (including the continuing hassles with India and the countries unfortunate enough to be between them).

I suspect, Patti, much as John does, that no one who thinks the US military are mercenary (as opposed to the tools of mercenaries rather higher in the hierarchy) came to that opinion from anything in AVATAR or, say, THE HURT LOCKER.; 5:40 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: having been here or there over the years, I am very conscious of it, John.
I guess I need to look for Cameron's thoughts on this. Maybe it is meant as a critique-just didn't think that was his primary interest.
Maybe our continual self-examination through cinema will make us see ourselves as others might.; 5:47 PM
Todd Mason said...: In re addendum: I think you credit Cameron with way too much depth.; 6:24 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Well, perhaps the writer then?; 6:32 PM
Todd Mason said...: Hey, on the matter of misperceptions and such, international division, has anyone else been catching THE BOOK GROUP, the UK sitcom involving a mix of various sorts of British and expatriate characters? In the US, its running on the Ovation channel, and the first season is up on Hulu:

http://www.hulu.com/the-book-group

Anne Dudek, late of HOUSE, plays the severely uptight (to a slightly overwritten fault) and lonely Yank who gets the group together. How much Karen Joy Fowler's inspiration for this series, written by (the Scot) Annie Griffin, was key, I'm not sure.; 6:36 PM
Todd Mason said...: Cameron is the credited writer...though, as folks have been quick to note, it has clear resonances of Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe," among others, and for that matter is almost certainly a descendent of Clifford Simak's "Desertion"...

I think the notion of American imperialism being most callously expressed through our military is just too much a reality to ignore, unless one is making a conscious effort to do so (as with the Europeans clutching to the notion that theirs was/is somehow Less Bad).; 6:40 PM
Todd Mason said...: STAR WARS not coherent enough to make this kind of critique about, though it was a post-Vietnam film, wherein the notion is taken for granted that guerillas might well wear down the overwhelmingly superior military force that was too busy trying to Rule Everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if STAR WARS the original isn't a fave film of Al Quaedans.; 6:45 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Our main computer is in trouble. I'll try to catch it at work. Less than two years old, and it's freezing on the Internet at first and now all the time.; 6:59 PM
John McFetridge said...: I imagine Cameron grew up a bit of a sci fi nerd like the rest of us and likely read all those books and stories - the theme's been done an awful lot.

In Cameron's case I suspect he doesn't let his personal views get in the way of box office and treats the script much the way he treats the technology that goes into the production.; 7:05 PM
Todd Mason said...: Definitely get your security software checked, and your system scanned, Patti...nasty bugs out there now.; 7:29 PM
Richard Robinson said...: Look, it's simple. Cameron wanted to make a big ticket SF flim, and he liked the oft-used theme in that genre of the military-industrial complex vs. the simple, peaceful natives who are supported by their planet. Secondary theme is the human consciousness inserted into a native body. He wanted to combine them and make it look believable, and has succeeded, from all reports.

The question whether the mercenary Earth military force represents the U.S. is meaningless - this is SCIENCE FICTION, the military play the role of antagonist, the natives are the protagonist. You're trying to read too much into it.; 8:27 PM
Loren Eaton said...: On an only slightly related note, I thought this critique was gold.; 9:16 PM
Todd Mason said...: All fiction is metaphor, Rick.; 11:01 PM
Bailey said...: I think everyone sees the world too much through our own eyes. That is we assume everyone has the same priorities that we do, and the same framework.

Most of the people around the world aren't even focusing on the American connection, at least not where I've traveled. Rather, they're interpreting the movie through their own concerns.

In Japan, my friends see the movie as a call for preservation and think the movie is anti-otaku (otaku is gamer/comic book lover.) But they aren't certain.

In China, the popular view is that the movie is anti-land developer. Here's an interesting article:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100021328/the-chinese-see-a-message-in-avatar/

I guess Americans automatically see Iraq and Vietnam in the movie, and I'm positive that Cameron did that intentionally (Shock and Awe?) but that doesn't mean the rest of the world immediately makes those connections.; 12:30 AM
Paul D Brazill said...: I've got the the screenplay to Pocahantas..er AVATAR, if anyone wants it? No, thought not...; 4:06 AM
George said...: James Cameron needed some heavies for his movie and decided military "contract" soldiers (like Blackwater) would fit the bill. The raping and pillaging of Pandora is right out of the Greedy Corporation (or Government) playbook.; 11:13 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: I guess I wish that he had made it more obvious that the force was international-for people like me who are neophytes with a movie like this. Certainly knocked me out of my seat visually. How can anyone do an adventure movie with regular fx again.; 11:41 AM
George said...: AVATAR is almost too much to take in visually with a single sitting. That's why some many people, including me, are seeing AVATAR multiple times. Cameron's latest creation will end up being the box-office leader of all time. You're right about the bar for a special effects movie being set very high by AVATAR's ground-breaking graphics.; 12:20 PM
Charles Gramlich said...: Not having seen it yet I'll have to withold judgement I think.; 1:23 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Oh, what the heck, Charles. Give us your opinion anyway.; 1:27 PM
Kathryn Magendie said...: I haven't seen it, but, if it has people talking about somethign besides the gazillions it's going to make, then that must have the creators happy!; 8:03 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Kathryn-how are you!; 9:13 PM
Barrie said...: Patti, now when I see this movie, I will have your thoughts in mind. Must ask my spouse and son who have already seen Avatar what they think of the US military/mercenary angle.; 10:48 PM
C. Margery Kempe said...: It's been called "Dances with Smurfs" and "Dances with Wolves in Space" and "Pocatar" -- any film that actually calls a mysterious but necessary mineral "unobtanium" is going to make me laugh hysterically -- but it's true Cameron has portrayed his film as an "important" one about both race and American military actions. Google some of his interviews. There's a good spoof "Pocahantas/Avatar" script at Slate, I think, and I09 has a "white saviour" review that's been picked up -- without credit, of course -- by many including this week, David Brooks of the NYTimes.; 12:43 AM
C. Margery Kempe said...: It may have been Huffington Post, but Matt Bateman's image is everywhere now.; 12:48 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Funny how both the left and right have objections to this film and see it differently.; 8:09 AM
PK the Bookeemonster said...: I've seen the movie and while it was pretty good, for me, it didn't live up the hype. I've seen it compared to Dances with Wolves mixed with Fern Gully.
I think Cameron definitely had a message. He's never been subtle in his movies (Terminator, Aliens, Titanic). I've also heard that this was planned as a trilogy.; 10:06 PM