I'll pay nine dollars to get two and a half hours of top notch eye-candy, even if there's thirty seconds of half-hearted moralizing scattered throughout. It didn't bother me since science was actually on the side of the natives and their tree-Internet, so there really wasn't any anti-intellectual message there, even if they did comment on people's tendency to make others their enemies so they have an excuse to take their stuff.
There's dragons fighting helicopters and cat-people knife-fighting mecha (also with knives). It's like anime done in CGI instead of cell-shading.
Haven't seen Avatar yet and I didn't read the article (I try to avoid information about movies I haven't seen to avoid spoiling the movie) ...
With that said, I personally believe that you can't make a good story without having a a message to deliver; and in most cases a Hollywood movie will have a very liberal message behind it. Now, after seeing the Director's cut of The Abyss, and seeing how the studio cut out a 10+ minute lecture for the theatrical release, I doubt I will be all that suprised by the message in Avatar.
The carbon-foot print of the films production kinda makes them ....oh whats that word where people say one thing then do the opposite ... oh yeah leftards.
South Park had this one in the bag: it's Dances with Smurfs. Still, if you can stomach the blatant Walt Disney plot and stereotypes (greedy corporation, trigger happy jarheads, arrogant scientists, beautiful Gaia-worshipping aborigines) and logical plot holes (no fear by ANYONE of criminal prosecution for their actions, traveling lightyears by relativistic rocket - a planet sterilizing doomsday device - then engaging the enemy at bow-and-arrow range with helicopters) it's admitttedly an awesome visual treat. And unlike the Star Wars prequels, the protagonists could act.
It's not that Avatar's message was tiresome (though it was), it is that the writing was remarkably poor: The dialogue was shallow, meaningless, and the story was laughably preposterous.
Visually spectacular, the story wouldn't rank well against anything in Mother Goose for complexity.
If all it is is eye candy, I'll stick to LSD and a lava lamp.
When I watch a movie, I want a story that is compelling with characters that are interesting. I certainly don't need a modern day Sergei Eisenstein lecturing me for two hours about how evil the military, the US, capitalism, and humanity is.
"I certainly don't need a modern day Sergei Eisenstein lecturing me for two hours about how evil the military, the US, capitalism, and humanity is."
The soldiers are mercenaries, the US isn't in it, most of the named human cast are good guys, and killing the natives to take their rightful property is imperialism not capitalism.
I didn't find that there was much of a current day message in there. It was more like the story was lifted from various episodes around the Spanish conquests in Central and South America. With the hero in Avatar being a sort of Gonzalo Guerroro. The only nod to modern day liberal Hollywood politics is that the natives win.
I'll pay nine dollars to get two and a half hours of top notch eye-candy, even if there's thirty seconds of half-hearted moralizing scattered throughout. It didn't bother me since science was actually on the side of the natives and their tree-Internet, so there really wasn't any anti-intellectual message there, even if they did comment on people's tendency to make others their enemies so they have an excuse to take their stuff.
ReplyDeleteThere's dragons fighting helicopters and cat-people knife-fighting mecha (also with knives). It's like anime done in CGI instead of cell-shading.
Haven't seen Avatar yet and I didn't read the article (I try to avoid information about movies I haven't seen to avoid spoiling the movie) ...
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I personally believe that you can't make a good story without having a a message to deliver; and in most cases a Hollywood movie will have a very liberal message behind it. Now, after seeing the Director's cut of The Abyss, and seeing how the studio cut out a 10+ minute lecture for the theatrical release, I doubt I will be all that suprised by the message in Avatar.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/12/22/the-data-crunching-powerhouse-behind-avatar/
ReplyDeleteThe carbon-foot print of the films production kinda makes them ....oh whats that word where people say one thing then do the opposite ... oh yeah leftards.
South Park had this one in the bag: it's Dances with Smurfs. Still, if you can stomach the blatant Walt Disney plot and stereotypes (greedy corporation, trigger happy jarheads, arrogant scientists, beautiful Gaia-worshipping aborigines) and logical plot holes (no fear by ANYONE of criminal prosecution for their actions, traveling lightyears by relativistic rocket - a planet sterilizing doomsday device - then engaging the enemy at bow-and-arrow range with helicopters) it's admitttedly an awesome visual treat. And unlike the Star Wars prequels, the protagonists could act.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that Avatar's message was tiresome (though it was), it is that the writing was remarkably poor: The dialogue was shallow, meaningless, and the story was laughably preposterous.
ReplyDeleteVisually spectacular, the story wouldn't rank well against anything in Mother Goose for complexity.
If all it is is eye candy, I'll stick to LSD and a lava lamp.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch a movie, I want a story that is compelling with characters that are interesting. I certainly don't need a modern day Sergei Eisenstein lecturing me for two hours about how evil the military, the US, capitalism, and humanity is.
"I certainly don't need a modern day Sergei Eisenstein lecturing me for two hours about how evil the military, the US, capitalism, and humanity is."
ReplyDeleteThe soldiers are mercenaries, the US isn't in it, most of the named human cast are good guys, and killing the natives to take their rightful property is imperialism not capitalism.
Hope that covers everything.
I didn't find that there was much of a current day message in there. It was more like the story was lifted from various episodes around the Spanish conquests in Central and South America. With the hero in Avatar being a sort of Gonzalo Guerroro. The only nod to modern day liberal Hollywood politics is that the natives win.
ReplyDelete