thoughts on avatar

Music: Christian Death: Ashes (1985)

And since we're on the topic of violence, I saw Avatar last night, because this is the final week of its showing in the local IMAX theatre. I am not a fan of CGI effects---things always seem very fake and unnatural. I grew up during the era of Rick Baker and Jim Henson, so I am moved by puppets. Avatar had that CGI-fake feeling, but I confess that the third dimension did add an element to the graphics that made it much more tolerable---often downright thrilling. The color schemes were amazing, and I think if films like this existed during the psychedelic drug-taking phase of my life, I would be . . er, happy. As I watched the vivid, glow-in-the-dark colors and sparkly, floaty creatures milling about all I could think about was poor Timothy Leary: dude didn't make it long enough to see this film on acid. Eye candy, indeed! I will bow and gesture where both are due: this film is an amazing feat of visual debauchery. I cannot imagine how this will translate to the home theatre, but in 3D-IMAX, it was well worth the twenty-bucks. My proof was my fortitude: I am the kind of person who must be "empty." For just about any film I leave the theatre once to refresh. For this film, however, I made it to the final battle before I had to ditch for the bathroom.

So, does it deserve top honors at the Oscars?

No.

As impressive as the film is for its "Six Flags over Gaia" message, it's difficult to support precisely because of its do-gooder idealism. That doo-gooderism is a not-so-thinly-veiled working-through of racism, and while I recognize the good intentions behind the heavy-handed lecture the film advances, it still nevertheless delivers the narrative of "white guy saves black people from other bad white guys." White guy convinces black people---oh, sorry, blue people---that they must overcome their primitive instincts to defeat white guys . . . ugh.

I recognize, given the constraints of the entertainment industry, that it is difficult to deliver a narrative that is responsible---a narrative that confronts us with our problems in a way that does not suggest status quo solutions (that is, that advances magic as the way). Even so, this is a film that chooses to directly address the problem of racism. I laud the critique of capitalism. I cringe at the sexualized exoticization of the racial other. I need to think more about my reaction, of course. But I feel dirty: we should not let our dazzled and psyched-out giddiness over the aesthetic achievements eclipse the symbolic force of the narrative.