King of the Turd

I finally saw Avatar. Let me rattle off the good stuff, since that's shorter. I like the 3-D, since it's not in your face. There were few flying objects aimed directly at the viewer. Everything, from the actors, to the scenery has a more 3-dimensional reality although things tend to be "floaty" instead of having real dimensions. The special effects were first rate and there wasn't the uncanny valley effect, although the main characters weren't truly human to really test that bugaboo.

Now on to the bad stuff. My theatre didn't really have a 'real' IMAX screen. It was obvious from the size of the screen as well as the seats. A real IMAX screen, the kind that are installed in places like museums, have screens so big you shouldn't even be able to see the screen edges while sitting in the middle. Also, the seats are so vertically stacked, like the nose-bleed seats at an arena or stadium, that you feel like maybe you'll fall off as you shuffle to your seat.

I wasn't bored with Avatar, but I didn't really feel any genuine excitement except for some appreciation of the 3-D and the special effects. Though Anton Chekov said that "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.", I think he would have blanched at James Cameron ham-fisted way of telegraphing every plot point.

In Avatar, if characters show some skill or information early on, why then they will no doubt use it later. If they fail at some task, then of course they will succeed at the same task when the crucial time comes. If some plan of action failed for a secondary character, then whaddaya know, it'll work later for the main character.

Of course, the most obvious plot failure is the usage, once again, of the honky hero (or mighty whitey). You can find many rant about this trope or this trope in Avatar online so I will contribute only a few thoughts to this. One, this is white man's burden, even with the sugar-coating, so no matter how positively the native culture is portrayed it is still inferior. Two, the native culture and people are really there only as obstacles or aid for the personal redemption of the white hero. Finally, not much for viewers with 2 X chromosomes, as another male protagonist stars in yet another Hollywood movie.

From a plot perspective, Avatar's narrative suffers from this Dances With Aliens lack of imagination. A traditional male leader, somewhat set in his ways, but wise enough to recognize the outsider's specialness? Check. A young, hot-blooded rival whose narrow-mindedness and hide-bound ways (often with a 'stealing our women' chip on his shoulder) is actually more of a threat than the hero's irreverent, disrespectful manners? Check. A lithesome native love interest, initially irritated by the hero's irreverent streak, who finally falls in love with his individualist, independent ways? Check. And a down-trodden outcast hero, who discovers that he has an extraordinary destiny, finds redemption? Check and mate. As an aside, nobody seems to mind that his redemption often comes only after massive, and irreparable harm or loss of life has occurred because of his action or inaction. But hey, he's a different guy now.

It's too bad since Cameron made a movie 14 years ago featuring 2 powerful women: Ripley and the female alien. Sigourney is back, and we have Neytiri, a sympathetic, and skilled, female Na'vi. So Cameron could have avoided all the cliches and gave us a movie with powerful, kick-ass women (though that is also a minor trope, at least in sci-fi), natives who save themselves, and Sigourney Weaver finding herself being the 'bad alien' this time round (how deliciously ironic that would have been).

Mr. Cameron, might I suggest Whale Rider (for strong female native characters) and the Foreigner universe (for tips on how humans may actually interact with huge aliens on a dangerous world where the humans may be technologically superior but are vastly outnumbered). Or, you know, you can just continue to blow shit up.