down in...somewhere

[indecision]

OH MY GOD I JUST WENT TO SEE AVATAR.

after being browbeat for ages by certain peoples who shall remain nameless.

it's so hilarious i couldn't even find it in myself to be remotely offended. IT'S ACTUALLY CALLED UNOBTANIUM. LIKE, REALLY I THOUGHT IT WAS AN INTERNET PRANK, BUT NO.

i got up at ten am to watch this! PANTS. PANTS I SAY!

can't they just re-screen titanic? now that was entertainment.

cm

Comments

[anansie-s.livejournal.com]

:(

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

!!! what, omg i didn't mean you! your frowny face makes me sad what did i dooo?

um, possibly watching something at ten am+my inability to wear glasses without getting a headache+the 3D not really working=me cranky and just wanting to go home?

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

oh okay i just went back and i saw your post - i'm glad you enjoyed it! just for me, re: learning about what's going on in the world right now, hrm. i kind of think that if you're the type of person already inclined to care about that you would? but if you weren't then it would likely be an excellent movie to feel guilty about over what happened to indigenous people centuries ago rather than considering that it's happening right now? possibly i'm missing the parallels though because i'm really behind on current events?

(i'm also having a really cranky day, as i said. i watched wolfman as well, and spent the whole time wishing it were over. i feel it is not a terrible movie, and yet.)

*stealth hug*

[anansie-s.livejournal.com]

Haha no no I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you upset. Although stealth hugs are cool.

The story does have big flaws for sure, IMO mostly related to the white honky saviour you guys mention below. I just loved the earth philosophy stuff so much that I overlooked that for a while. And hee, I saw it in regular old 2D *is a luddite and does not approve of these new fangled inventions*

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

And hee, I saw it in regular old 2D *is a luddite and does not approve of these new fangled inventions*

i feel i should have watched it in 2D as well!

re: the white honky savior. i mean at this point it's like, every hollywood movie ever there is really not much to say about it that hasn't been said before. and i mean, from an outsider's perspective, if i watch a chinese movie i'd expect a chinese person to save the world, even if is IS sci-fi, we all need to insert ourselves into the narrative in order for it to make sense, so you go ahead and do that, james cameron.

i do wish the movie had taken a more creative approach to the ending though, without resorting to the typical hollywood final battle. too many deaths on both sides for a movie purportedly about loving the earth and all its creatures? hollywood blockbusters take death far too lightly - to me the na'vi culture is irrevocably changed for the worse due to what happened to them, and it's better than being wiped off/chased off their land? but it's not a cause for celebration in any way. but then again, the na'vi were given to killing all sky-people who happened to wander by as a general rule, so i guess they're not an entirely peaceful culture? just in certain ways.

[anansie-s.livejournal.com]

Mm, yeah. It's just that given the message I felt they were trying to convey at the core, they could have cut back on the white-guy machismo and had him as a lens, but not their ultimate saviour. It still would have worked.

And yeah I agree fully about taking the deaths and the destruction much, much too lightly. The destruction of their home was horrendous and yep, not something a community like that could ever recover from. Also I really disliked the fact that the marine dude's nemesis (the guy who was going to become the next chief, I suppose, after whatsername's father died) had to die (presumably leaving that leadership position open for guess who!)

the na'vi were given to killing all sky-people who happened to wander by as a general rule, so i guess they're not an entirely peaceful culture? just in certain ways.

I suppose so, it depends on what 'peaceful' means. A hunter/gatherer culture *can't* be 'peaceful' according to the modern/industrial definition of that word. But I think that it's pretty rational, within a world-view in which nature balances itself, to kill alien species who come in as aggressive predators who destroy important and sacred things. So. If it had been any other way it would have been so offensive in terms of idealising indigenous cultures as peaceful( ie clueless/kind of stupid).

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

Also I really disliked the fact that the marine dude's nemesis (the guy who was going to become the next chief, I suppose, after whatsername's father died) had to die (presumably leaving that leadership position open for guess who!)

oh seriously! and ahaha he was such a stereotypical like, warrior dude who had to be taken down a notch in the face of the clearly more superior outsider. i mean, again i feel it's funny more than anything else, you can count the cliches as you watch! i literally LOLed when i found out she was the chief's daughter! <3

i agree about the hunter/gatherer culture being capable of violence as well - with regards to the na'vi: yes. but i guess i don't really look as a culture practising non-killing as a general rule as clueless/stupid? vulnerability/being unwilling to fight back is not a sign of weakness unless you look at it from the point of view from an aggressor. but you're right, that's not how the na'vi were portrayed, so it makes sense in that context.