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trinityvixenIt shouldn't and doesn't really surprise me that a conservative white dude wouldn't have a problem with the "white man saves the ignorant savages" aspect of Avatar. After all, aren't white people the bearers of all that is good? Men especially? (PLEASE NOTE: DEFCON 200 BILLION-LEVEL SARCASM.)
It shouldn't but did surprise me that there would be anything to scream and holler about regarding religion. Seeing how the "all Mother" goddess/nature spirit of the Na'Vi was, sort of, supposed to be somewhat biological, I figured the more likely source of attack on Avatar would be the enviro-nazi angle.
There's also the fact that the movie vilifies mindlessly militaristic macho types, of which most couch-potato conservatives believe they are, secretly, a member. I suppose there's enough of a soldier in the hero--given the major military battle that he basically causes. There's also the excellent point raised over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money that the soldiers are not, in fact, soldiers but mercenaries. Cool as it is to be a mercenary in concept, as screen characters, they are decidedly Not Heroes. I suppose, despite the conservative government that forwarded the aspirations and lined the coffers of outfits like Black Water, most conservatives would still agree with that assessment.
My own problem with Avatar--the racist aspect--is spelled out in that link under the cut to LGM, in addition to this follow up post. You know what that blogger did? Some goddamned relevant research about the kinds of things that are problematic--as in literally fostering ugly ideas about race and civilization--in a major motion picture release that is currently being hailed as the second coming of CGI. What did the NYT columnist do? Picked apart a minor nitpick to whine about how one of, if not the, most powerful religion on this planet wasn't also the major religion of a bunch of 10-foot-tall kitty aliens. No seriously. He watched this movie and all he could think to complain about is how unfair a science-fiction fantasy action film failed to prioritize Christianity on a planet where fully 99% of the sentient beings haven't ever seen a human, much less heard the Good News. Jesus H. Christ himself is going, "What the fuck are you talking about? It's a movie about kitty people. Cats aren't even supposed to go to Heaven anyway. (But PS? They totally run the joint.)"
It shouldn't but did surprise me that there would be anything to scream and holler about regarding religion. Seeing how the "all Mother" goddess/nature spirit of the Na'Vi was, sort of, supposed to be somewhat biological, I figured the more likely source of attack on Avatar would be the enviro-nazi angle.
There's also the fact that the movie vilifies mindlessly militaristic macho types, of which most couch-potato conservatives believe they are, secretly, a member. I suppose there's enough of a soldier in the hero--given the major military battle that he basically causes. There's also the excellent point raised over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money that the soldiers are not, in fact, soldiers but mercenaries. Cool as it is to be a mercenary in concept, as screen characters, they are decidedly Not Heroes. I suppose, despite the conservative government that forwarded the aspirations and lined the coffers of outfits like Black Water, most conservatives would still agree with that assessment.
My own problem with Avatar--the racist aspect--is spelled out in that link under the cut to LGM, in addition to this follow up post. You know what that blogger did? Some goddamned relevant research about the kinds of things that are problematic--as in literally fostering ugly ideas about race and civilization--in a major motion picture release that is currently being hailed as the second coming of CGI. What did the NYT columnist do? Picked apart a minor nitpick to whine about how one of, if not the, most powerful religion on this planet wasn't also the major religion of a bunch of 10-foot-tall kitty aliens. No seriously. He watched this movie and all he could think to complain about is how unfair a science-fiction fantasy action film failed to prioritize Christianity on a planet where fully 99% of the sentient beings haven't ever seen a human, much less heard the Good News. Jesus H. Christ himself is going, "What the fuck are you talking about? It's a movie about kitty people. Cats aren't even supposed to go to Heaven anyway. (But PS? They totally run the joint.)"
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Date: 2010-01-05 02:12 am (UTC)Extrapolate that out further as the Company not being willing to wait until the planet *maybe* allows them to be there without attacking them, and feeling that damaging the planet enough that it can't fight back, and viola, we have a reason for the Company's genocidal (terracidal?) actions.
We can even further reason this by adding in a bit about "Unobtainium halves the travel time for space flight. Do you have any idea how many people we could save by getting more resources, faster medical treatment to them?".
It wouldn't have taken much to really improve the feel of it as well as the look.
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Date: 2010-01-05 04:17 am (UTC)