James Cameron? I would never link the name to any meaningful display of dichotomy of civilization and primitiveness, an emotional journey of self-discovery and awkening or even a political statement with stunning persuation. Yet he achieved most of these goals amidst the busy “IMAX” visual effects hooplas and delivered one of the most commercially and morally successful movie of all time.
By no means Cameron is Peter Jackson but maybe the comparison is invalid because we don’t need a poet to convince the general to seize fire before the war. We need a messenger/diplomat, and the message he tried to convey here is undoubtfully humanely touching, political convincing and morally gratifying. It took a lot of imagination and soul-searching to “dive” oneself into a seemingly primitive world and reveal the truth, beauty and strength beneath the hostile nature. Just as exotic as all the living and non-living beings in Pandora, the satirist of Cameron is the exotic James Cameron I hardly recogize and believe.
I see the ideas of Tolkien and Miyazaki’s Nausicaa, but to jump from the universal “environmental awareness” theme to the heart of “pro-war” sentiment of Washington D.C. is rather timely and heavyhearted. The good old James Cameron without too much rhetorics and poetry is what we need, a no-nonsense style on condemnation of imperialism and colonialism can be appealing to the most self-serving human being. Avatar is a metaphor of empathy to the extreme, which might be the only cure for the cruelty of human selfishness.
this movie is probably the most frequently talked topic recently. many friends talked about only the iMax effect, but no one mentioned the “inner story” of it. because of you, i may want to go to the theater (i only go there once a year, i think).
Hi, Wolf,
I probably read a lot into the movie more than most of the people. However, the satire is the director’s intention which aims to criticize U.S. pro-war approach in dealing with many issues(especially middle east). If you don’t get to see many movies a year, you shouldn’t miss this one. Hope all is well with you, miss you! I might go back to Taiwan around July, will keep you posted….