Avatar, quick-like
Saw the movie Avatar on Saturday night. I suppose I could go on for hours, googly-eyed, about the special effects and the world and pretty, pretty stuff…but I think the movie critic community has beaten me to it. Never mind the CG; we all know it’s new and state-of-the-art and whatnot. The world Pandora itself was awesome, simply from a worldbuilding point of view. (At first I was a bit irritated that they called the world something loaded like “Pandora”, but in the context of the story and the creatures that live on that world, it actually makes a kind of sense. “Unobtanium”, on the other hand…ah, no. Too cheesy. Fail.).
It was a cognizant, consistent world, where every creature, no matter how bizarre, made biological sense and looked like it had a place in the ecosystem. Most of the oddities of Pandora ran consistently across the gamut of species, like bio-luminescence, nostrils on the chest, two sets of limbs in front and one in the back, and of course, the string of filaments that allowed them all to connect with each other and with the plants. Seriously, I am convinced within myself that the movie plot did not do justice to that world…you could do so much more with a place like that. I actually hope they do.
The plot was formula. Dances with Wolves, The Last Samuri; how many “going native” stories exist out there now? Can’t do too many variations on that theme. It was also a definite action flick; lots of battles and plot moving and running around, not much introspection and character development. (Okay, admittedly, it was a kickass action movie, but it’s still not my favorite genre). Cardboard classics: the hard-bitten military man; the corrupt, weaselly capitalist; the nerdy but purehearted scientists; the classic (and flagrantly FALSE) stereotype of the noble savage. I particularly hate it when enemies have no depth, no particular reason for what they do. I want to know why. I want to know what drives them to act like that.
But it had moments. The flying scenes were awesome. Every time the natives got rallied, those were stirring moments. The whole Pandora-kicking-butt part at the end was awesome, even if one could see it coming a mile off. Both Narnia and LOTR had moments like this: Gandalf rushing down the mountainside with Eomer and his men, the Narnians charging at the Witch’s forces, etc. I think brave charges and last stands stir something very primal in the human spirit…and that’s something that’s very hard to mimic in writing.
Of course, the ending of Avatar made me raise an eyebrow because I thought to myself, “Oh sure, you’ve scared Earth away for now, but they’ll be back. You’ve humiliated them. What are you going to do when they return with the REALLY big guns, the nukes, the weapons that could probably blast your whole planet apart?”
Also, I know the tribes were all at peace, and probably somewhat connected via Eywa’s roots…but still, I thought Jake’s character convinced them to join forces just a little bit too easily. Even if he was flying a whatchamacallit. The tribal people were too idealized, too much of the “noble savage” stereotype, to really be a real people. Honestly, they were probably the least believable aspect of Pandora. They weren’t different enough, and let’s face it…human enough for me to buy them. There was no unique Na’vi culture…it was just a mish-mash of Native American, African, and other native cultures, without all the blood and feuds and not-so-noble stuff that those people have in their history. Watching the avatars play basketball was more real, in a sense, than watching the natives hold arms and sway around the Tree of Souls.
I walked away from Avatar with the same sense I get after riding a roller coaster: a great ride, but ultimately, now I go on with my life like nothing happened. Eeeh…I appreciate a ride, but I feel like fiction ought to do more than that, you know? Maybe that’s just me.
Like!
