Comments on: Recent movie round-up

By: isaac

isaac — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:31:54 +0000

Hey,

Just wanted to say thanks for the shout out/link to my Avatar summary. I really like this site, it’s a lot of fun.

I think why I was so turned off by Avatar is that I had heard the plot was semi-colonialist and formulaic but the visuals were amazing. But the visuals weren’t more amazing than any number of video games I can think of, and in general lifted those visuals from them.

It was probably the best integration of CGI and non-CGI imagery, but that’s not enough to hang a movie on.

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:15:06 +0000

Undoubtedly the whole reason rugby never took off here is that, like soccer, there are no long stretches where players stand around, making it easier to schedule commercial breaks.

I had no idea there were so many teams around here though!

By: Nina

Nina — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:10:41 +0000

re: rugby – there’s club teams around the Bay Area and in LA. There are no doubt more around. They have rugby matches at Stanford too… not sure what league though.

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:27:59 +0000

The repeated theme of the Westerner (ie, white guy) joining native tribe and becoming the leader is repeated often enough that it really grates. The two most often mentioned recently in conjunction with “Avatar” have been “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last Samurai.” (I’m sure with a little thought we could come up with a hundred more.) The idea is catnip to our self-image: not only are we adaptable and progressive enough to realize the inherent goodness of these people, but we’re awesome enough to learn their ways quickly and be better at it than they are.

I think it would have been worse had the lead been black or Native American or Asian, because of the history of stereotyping those races as being “natural” or “pure” (ie, unable to deal with our complex society). There’s too much opportunity to say, “Oh, he’s just going back to what he knows.” I think this story only works (such as it does) with a white guy.

By: Juventas

Juventas — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:28:43 +0000

I love your movie round-ups, even when I disagree with you.

I was smitten by Avatar, but felt the last act was too conventional. I was taken by the liberal anti-war, pro-environment, pro-science theme wrapped up in a big, fantastic epic. But then… then the happy ending is the good guys declaring all-out war and some nonsense involving nature taking revenge and chanting ceremonies creating miracles. Shame.

I had heard the white guilt complaint before, and I think it’s a little silly. He’s only like us because we’re the largest target audience. The story would of worked the same if the protagonist was black or native. If anything you could say it was “industrial-age westerner guilt”. For some it’s a tough look in the mirror.