Avatar: I'm not sure enjoy is the right adjective
I saw Avatar in 2D at the AMC in downtown Disney last night. When asked I've said "yep enjoyed it!" But after a night's reflection it's not as easy to see it just as a piece of entertainment. Clearly the Na'vi are native peoples of this Earth viewed through 180 degrees making the people who walk and talk like us in the film the aliens.
I saw the Na'vi as native Americans and I think there were strong clues that Cameron intended them to be so. There are many native peoples that have rubbed up against incomers and suffered the terrible consequences of their ambition.
Flipping through the Guardian iPhone app over lunch today I found this commentary on the film and it makes interesting reading:
Mawkish, maybe. But Avatar is a profound, insightful, important film by George Monbiot
Many aspects of the film are silly, and contrived but I think it's very good at telling a story that would be very hard to hear told more plainly. I think you can enjoy the film as a piece of entertainment, you can marvel at the technology but ultimately you'll be saddened to know how it reflects aspects of us as a race that are ugly. I'm not surprised but I am shocked to learn that we are every bit as cruel today. It's so easy walk by isn't it.
If you have not seen it I'd recommend the film to you warts and all. If you have, what did you think?
