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"Avatar " as the "Anti-Lion King"

Posted by Bambi B (A) on January 16, 2010 at 09:51:34

In Reply to: RE: "Avatar ": Accept no substitutes ! posted by patrickU on January 14, 2010 at 08:38:37:

PAINTING: "Welcome to Oklahoma"

Mon Ami Patrick,

I can't argue with many of your comments concerning Avatar as I too felt the plot was familiar without anything unepected and the (Human) dialogue overly familiar. This is why I qualified my recommendation for you to see Avatar by emphasising that this is a movie for children- it has a plot easy enough for 13-year olds, and depicts a neat and clear Good and Evil, with Good winning after a heroic struggle. Thinking about it, there may be method in having the plot and dialogue simple enough for the kids and as it’s so recognizable, it releases audience attention to the stunning visuals.

That " Avatar " was crafted to a young, fantasy-orientated audience was true of "Titanic" as well. I had no patience with the love story until I realized that the entire movie was made as the flashback/memory of an 18 year old woman- it tells the sinking story from the viewpoint of a protected, romantic young woman. And, James Cameron must have guessed correctly as to what 13- year old girls fantasize as Titanic made $2.4 Billion- so far.

"Avatar's" political content though has apparently greatly enraged a lot of conservatives because it is from start to finish a anti-imperialist and anti-greed message- the bad guys are the members of the 20th C. military/corporate greed machine that Eisenhower warned us about in 1958. The Pope- I just love his movie reviews!- considers it a dangerous promoter of the worship of nature and paganistic. We know of course, that the Pope has to deride and diminish any challenge to Christian and particularly Catholic authority. In dact, it’s about the Pope’s only job to protest anything showing people who rebel against the established hierarchy as Jake does by changing sides in a miltary struggle- the definition of “traitor”.

Politically, I see "Avatar" as the answer to another very political movie for children, "The Lion King"- it's the "Anti-Lion King". If one is reductive of this childrens' movie plots, "The Lion King" tells the story of the responsibility of inherited royalty to rule- never questioning whether inherited royalty is a proper form of government. And, it's interesting that "The Lion King" introduces racism into nature- the black wolf-creatures are the evil predators- while the blond lion- who as a lion is actually more predatory than wolves is the "good" animal. As a Bambi myself, I didn't care for the fact that the deer can't speak and don’t have any human personality- they're mute, herd animals in contrast to the humourously anthropomorphic pig sidekick. There’s a hierarchy then in the animal world as to the right of expression and individualism. So, where "Avatar" is intensely naturalistic, showing cooperation between not only the animal species but with plants, and in oppostion to meny driven dominance and genocide by technology, the Lion King is a skewed un-naturalistic promotion of the rights of an inherited royalty- automatic right to rule by birth. As America fought a revolution against this concept, "Lion King" is making a severely anti-American statement. By contrast, on Pandora, even your hair can trees, it's a meritocracy without hierarchy, and things are so serene and non-economic there is no written language or need for accountants and attorneys. I'm not sure there is any hot water or any bathrooms either,..

If you read Locke, Jefferson, Goethe, Emerson, Thoreau, Ruskin, and Pugin, I believe therein lay the antecedents of "Avatar"- a naturalistic, environmentally integrated meritocracy, fueled by an acknowledgment of human interdependence and reliance on the natural world. A very dangerous message in the eyes of those who have to reinforce hierarchy, dominance, fear, alienation, and consumerism.

I still maintain that "Avatar" is an important movie technically and in terms of the visual inventiveness, and important as the strongest of Cameron's series of reminders of the horrors of technology when it becomes so expertly destructive, as well as the importance of paying attention to signs put out by the environment. On another level, there is a quite subtle depiction- of the way in which environment through selection and adaptation affects evolution.

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy “Avatar” -it seems on any level. If you’d care to fly to Los Angeles, I should like to treat you a very good cup of coffee and key lime pie at a place called 72 Market Street in Venice.

Cheers,

Bambi B

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