Avatar
Every once in a while, Hollyweird gets it right. James Cameron, who wrote such notable films as The Terminator 1, 2 & 3, and Titanic really outdid himself with Avatar.
As you know, I’ve been reading lots of stuff concerning midlife and heroes journeys, etc. Of particular interest to me are the writings of Joseph Campbell, who did a lot of exploring into the importance of myth. I don’t know if James Cameron was influenced by Joseph Campbell or the works of Carl Jung, but Avatar is a masterpiece, in my opinion. It’s multi-layered, multi-faceted, and skillfully weaves different, but similar myths together.
At first I was very skeptical because the move was in 3-D. This skepticism comes from having seen other 3-D movies that depended on special effects rather than content. I was prepared to be bored by the tricks of things flying at the screen trying to make the audience dodge flying objects. I am happy to say that no such tricks were used. In fact, the story was so engaging that after about 10 minutes, I had forgotten all about the 3-D effect and was totally immersed in what turned out to be a beautiful story line.
I promise not to include any spoilers, so please continue to read on. The story blends Native American, or perhaps indigenous peoples beliefs that we are all one with The Mother and we should take only what we need and be thankful for it. The story also contains a hero, of sorts, who initially has certainty that he is right about his beliefs, then when he learns other things, is unsure of who he is (sounds like midlife to me), and later has a change of heart. Certainly, all Hollywood formula, but put together so well. There is also a fantastic antagonist who you will certainly learn to loath. He, I viewed, as the giant ego, the bad part of the shadow. Evil.
That’s about as far as I’m willing to go, save to say that if you haven’t seen it, you should go see it. I’m not much into fantasy type movies, but this one was absolutely golden. I didn’t much care for The Lord of The Rings, but perhaps I’ll watch it again, now that I’m in a different place, mentally.
A special note to my friend Chris Klug. I think that you’re going to love this movie!
Thanks, Paul. I had mentioned to my wife that Avatar might be one film we need to see over the holidays. As I teach storytelling, and as someone who makes (made?) his living in the ‘new media,’ Avatar certainly sits in my wheelhouse, so to speak. And if Cameron really was wrestling with some of those issues, I will have to see it before it leaves the theaters. It is so easy in that type of film (as you point out) to let the technology overshadow the film’s soul. The trick for us will be trying to see it when the theater isn’t crowded, as my wife doesn’t like to sit in a very crowded theater.
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Paul Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Well, if Peg doesn’t like crowds, I’d suggest a 9:30 AM showing. The kids are still asleep! We tried to see it in IMAX, but that show was continuously sold out, so we did the regular 3-D. They are showing it 3 different ways: 2-D, 3-D, and IMAX 3-D. I would suggest the 3-D just for the added depth. As I said, there is no trickery involved, but it is nice to have the depth. Also, there are some cool 3-D animated movies coming, like Despicable Me, which I certainly want to see.
As a storyteller, I certainly want to see your take on it. I’m very much interested in what you have to say.
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I ‘ve just come home from seeing this movie. It’s definitely entertaining and beautiful to look at. I came out thinking it was very much “Dances with Wolves” (minus Costner thankfully). My kids compared it to “Atlantis”.
I like your interpretation though. I also picked up on similar themes plus a few political ones. As you pointed out it follows the usual Hollywood formula which was the one thing that disappointed me. I had hoped that for once the hero would come from the underdogs, in this case the na’vi. It would have been nice to have been shown a whole new perspective on this age old story.
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Paul Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Well, it wouldn’t be a Hollywood movie without a political statement, now would it?
You bring up and interesting point about the hero. It would have been nice to see the hero come from the Na’vi, instead of one of the transformed ‘bad guys’.
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I loved the movie as well, and also saw it in 3D. I agree that the 3D effects were not overdone. One part I thought was visually quite fitting for it were the holographic computer displays. I can just imagine editing photographs on screens like that someday.
The landscapes were quite immersive as well.
I was hoping for a bit more character development for such a long movie, but overall it was fine. The storyline and morals can apply to so many situations of human history as well as our present.
I would say the movie was a little predictable because perhaps we are all too familiar with the story and parallels with reality (unfortunately).
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I came out of it wanting to take a photo safari on Pandora
The story reminded me a lot of “Princess Mononoke” more than any other film. (If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it.)
It is refreshing to see an incredibly high-tech film that uses the special effects to tell a story rather than merely to create spectacle. And WETA Digital outdid themselves with the performance capture and synthetic actors.
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