Posted on 12/26/2009 12:15:26 PM PST by smoothsailing
December 25, 2009
By Phill Kline
The visuals are stunning, the story borrowed and the message shallow and false. John Cameron's new epic Avatar features a jump in animation technology and a throwback of over 1,000 years to pantheism.
Set in 2154, the movie features a U.S. mega-corporation mining the distant planet of Pandora for a rare mineral that suspiciously looks like a carbon spewing lump of coal. The mining is conducted with smoke belching machinery that rape the planet while the human workers are protected by Marine mercenaries from the mind melding sensual native population of 10 foot tall spiritual beings.
The natives are one with their native planet, including their mother-god Eywa. Eywa is the planet, and the natives reach oneness by entwining fibers from their bodies with the fibers of the planet. This representative sexual union allows them to hear their departed ancestors and gain rhythm with the planet — a séance orgy so to speak. All life on the planet is one, with one spirit and one energy.
Avatar's themes represent the new American "apology" at its best. The movie mirrors complaints about U.S. expansionism of the 1800's that drove Native Americans from their sacred grounds and reflects the "new" history that represents modern America as an imperialistic regime willing to do anything for wealth and power.
The movie's villain, the commander of the mercenary Marine force, reinforces this view when speaking with the movie's hero Jake Sully. Sully is a wounded Marine who lost the use of his legs in battle for the U.S. in Venezuela. The commander was also in Venezuela and mentions he also saw action in Nigeria. Both countries, in which the U.S. has never fought, are oil-exporting countries and the movie assumes are places where we will fight and die in the future.
As any student of the "new" history knows, U.S. soldiers are buried on islands in the Pacific, in Europe and in Southeast Asia and Korea in order to protect our polluting ways.
In the movie, these polluting ways have "killed our mother," the Earth, and now we must bring our imperialistic exploitive and destructive ways to the spiritually focused pantheistic cultures of planet Pandora, named after the Greek mythical goddess and which literally means "she who sends up gifts."
Avatar seeks audience cheers for slaughtering the Marines who are portrayed as bent on killing, cash and forwarding the capitalistic matricidal imperialist ways of the United States.
Sully, is on assignment as a mercenary for the megacorp. His assignment places him deep undercover in the native population. Technology allows him to exist in a native body (an Avatar) such that he befriends and then falls in love with the spiritual princess of the natives. While in the avatar he is also able to run and fly and hunt and love.
Over time he predictably identifies with the natives and goes to battle against the Marines. Offering a prayer to Eywa, the Marine, now native, Sully, asks for Eywa's help in repelling the Americans. In the prayer, Sully states "I know you have chosen me for a purpose...."
Such a prayer represents atheistic Hollywood's dilemma. The only way to reconcile a godless Darwinistic worldview with a deeply spiritual American culture is to convert environmentalism into religion. For what greater purpose for man than to save mother earth, or Pandora? And thus, our purpose in a purposeless world.
Further, as a plea for Eywa's assistance Sully asks the planet god to look into his memories to see how there is no green on earth and how his people have "killed our mother."
Sully's soon to be bride, a native princess, hears his prayers and instructs him that Eywa does not choose sides, a bow to the modern definition of tolerance, but only balances the forces of life and death.
All of this builds to the movies epic battle scene. US Marines moving in with carbon belching high tech machines to face the arrow firing natives. The battle looks lost for the good guys (the natives not the Marines) until Eywa chooses sides and she chooses Al Gore environmentalism. Suddenly Pandora's animals join forces and attack the U.S. forces. The attack is led by giant, aggressive, hippo-resembling beasts with giant anvil heads.
Nature prevails and evil capitalism and man is defeated. Eywa thereby expresses the only truth respected by the left, a truth worth choosing sides for — a truth worth killing for, mother earth. China's forced abortion policy as spiritual expression.
But Sully still has one more critical passage. He desires to permanently inhabit a native body, his Avatar. To do this he must join forces with Eywa and possibly be reborn into a native body. He is warned that all is Eywa's choice — he may be reborn as a native or he may not for as all of us know — it is always the mother's choice.
As the natives join in a ritual touching and chanting that has a cultist quality, Jake Sully is laid before Eywa, becomes one with the planet through the intertwining of the fiber of his Avatar and the planet and is reincarnated as a 10 foot dragon subduing arrow flinging environmentalist.
Avatar represents the left's first epic introduction of the new Darwin spiritualism. Since Darwin cannot survive in the West's spiritual culture, Darwin has now become god in the form of mother earth. Every living thing on planet Pandora is a god. And so, the new left has reached back in history to leap ahead of the scientific age. In the new religion, man is not god as in the age of reason and science. Rather, all is god and thereby nothing is god. But at least we're spiritual.
All this provided just in time for Christmas, oops, the Winter Solstice.
At least my theatre audience did not applaud when Sully's eyes came alive in his Avatar body at the "climatic" (predictable) end of the movie. In fact, the movie did not draw cheers or tears at any point. Perhaps we were still fixated on Hollywood's tossing our Marines around in the jaws and claws of Eywa's warriors — Freudian expressions of the left's desire for that all-powerful environmental protecting global police force.
Call me unenlightened, but when I see a Marine battle an anvil headed beast called forth by a planet-god — I root for the U.S. Marine.
© Phill Kline
Avatar. Another movie that I don’t want to sse.
Presumably he means "climactic," unless global warming is more of an issue in the movie.
I thought the movie proved that Sully, even though now an AVATAR, was still a MARINE, a good Christian, and a good American.
Excellent on-target review of an anti-American liberal pukefest.
I also root for Marines in general, making us modern day heretics.
The Ewoks were bad but this is infinitely worse.
The decadent aristocrats of eighteenth century France used to play at being nymphs and sheperdesses in the formal gardens at Versailles.
This is the Hollywood equivalent.
You know you’ve lost it with Hollywood Ca. when you find yourself rooting for the villains in their stupid movies. I was rooting for Daniel Day Louis all the way in Gangs of NY.
This is SO sad! I love Sci-Fi, I LOVE Special Effects, I love a good Movie, and I LOVE innovative film making. But as soon as a movie gets “preachy” (in ANY direction) it is ruined for me. This one sounds particularly manipulative, not to mention idolatrous. I loathe an agenda-driven script!
This is one I will be sure to miss. (sigh)
To Phil Kline:
“Call me unenlightened,”
OK, you are.
” but when I see a Marine battle an anvil headed beast called forth by a planet-god — I root for the U.S. Marine.”
So did those who saw it, and guess what Phil ,(I can guess you haven’t seen the movie), the Marine won.
I will see it in DVD , eventually. I like to oause these left films and adress the screen with a string of unmentionable explicatives.
It sharpens the mind to debate liberals/lefties and win.
True. But with much better graphics.
And to see it at IMAX in 3D is even more astonishing.
BUT, it is not to be taken in literally.
I don't understand the insistence that this, a science-fiction movie, should have anything to do with reality.
The message I got from this movie was NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO STEAL FROM SOMEONE ELSE.
I believe that is in the Bible.
The “marine” turned traitor and fought and killed his fellow Marines. That’s why he’s the “hero” of this commie movie.
And what high tech, high budget movies are there with positive American themes coming out as a counterbalance to this movie? None. Epic fail by the monied conservative intelligentsia for not even getting into the field of battle. We need hip, edgy, high tech movies that subtly promote traditional themes. We need a major movie studio/record company/tv production conglomerate that caters to non-leftist writers, directors, actors, etc. Not to try to overtly sell a political view, but to subtley and artfully portray themes that will find their way into the cultural zeitgeist.
My inlaws saw it, and came away with the message that the US is wrong. They are your typical dopey independent voters. This movie clearly has an anti-American message.
The good news is, the Avatar video game bombed big time in both the US and Europe.
Good!
What’s wrong with Ewoks? Weren’t they helping to fight big government with the rebels?
More good news, the new Sherlock movie is poised to beat out Avatar this weekend.
I guess you've never seen a RAMBO movie.
That’s why he’s the “hero” of this commie movie.
HE was the hero. Not the woman who 'noticed' him and saved his life, talked everyone into following him, then devoted herself to protecting him?
Not the woman who made everything possible through her actions?
If not for her, he would have been dead the first five minutes he was on the planet.
I can see it free because my nephew runs a movie theater.
I couldn’t make it though an hour of this flick.
I’m going to see it tomorrow.
I received a $25 AMC theater gift card and promptly re-gifted it.
What is shows to me is that dopey,independent/liberal/left-wing voters find messages any where they want, whether the message is there or not.
(1) Finds something (message) where it doesn't exist.
And they also find nothing (like evidence or facts) when they really do exist.
(2) Find nothing even though it obviously exists.
The Rambo movies were infantile, but at least Rambo didn’t turn traitor and kill his fellow soldiers.
LOL!!
STE=Q
Watch with open eyes, and see if it doesn't boil down to a plot that has been well used over time....
The plot: In the end, will the main character stick to his morals (choose right over wrong), or listen to those trying to corrupt him for their own ends??????
Did you even see the movie?
There were no marines, all the soldiers were mercenaries.
They mention it in the movie.
And Jake Sully, the hero of the movie, was a Marine fighting mercenaries!
OH YES HE DID. Commanding officer, politician, and plenty of LE officers.
James Cameron himself has stated that the movie amounts to a homily of leftist causes and beliefs.
I saw this movie and it was clearly propoganda; however, I still enjoyed the movie for its entertainment value.
I would bet they get about the same 'draw'. Holmes will draw more, since it is the newer release, but in the long run, I expect it to be the same.
For what purpose were his fellow Marines fighting?
Did he really turn 'traitor', i.e.: turn against his country? Or, did he fight against a bunch of mercenaries wearing the uniforms of US Marines?
True. And just what I have been saying.
It shows what can happen when you have 'liberal' leadership in government, and 'liberal' leadership in corporations (and some semi-mercenary 'forces backing them) running things. (rather like we have now)
The MORAL of the STORY was that those leftist forces were WRONG.
The HERO of the story fought against those LEFTIST FORCES, and won.
YET everyone claims this movie is trying to 'sell' Leftieism. I don't get understand their position, except that most having that position haven't seen the movie.
Opponents to the movie seem to be of two classes:
Those who haven’t seen the movie, but read up on negative articles about it, then spew the results as if it were their original idea.
Those who went to the movie, prepped toward the negative bias, and who then conveniently ignored some of the facts.
Fact: The CO of the Mercks ‘asked’ the Jyrene to keep him informed.
Fact: The ‘hero’ of the story was being paid to be a ‘corporate spy’, not a ‘soldier’.
I’ll wait until the library has it and I can check it out for free.
THe chopper chick ALso said
“I didn’t sign up for this,,,,,” ANd joined the indigs going after the mercs. An unlikeable lot, all.
WHy the Corp good wasn’t left on planet (moon) to get eaten is a point the movie missed.
Also, who paid for the transport? If was the corp, then once this batch left, all the other humans would be stranded.
Too many loose ends for a 3 hour movie.
>This is SO sad! I love Sci-Fi, I LOVE Special Effects, I love a good Movie, and I LOVE innovative film making. But as soon as a movie gets “preachy” (in ANY direction) it is ruined for me. This one sounds particularly manipulative, not to mention idolatrous. I loathe an agenda-driven script!
True. But interestingly enough preachy characters, manipulative characters, and/or agenda-driven characters can help make a good story.
A minor correction. The brother who died wasn't a Marine. He was a scientist who spent time preparing for the science-based mission.
Fact: The CO of the Mercks ‘asked’ the Jyrene to keep him informed.
The CO told the Marine that the 'Corporation' would buy him a set of legs in exchange for intel.
Fact: The ‘hero’ of the story was being paid to be a ‘corporate spy’, not a ‘soldier’.
And, when the Corporation learned that the Na'avi wanted nothing that the humans had to offer, the corporate decision was made to use the mercenaries to drive to the Na'avi out of their home so the corporation could mine the alien planet to get the mineral ($20 million per kilo) what they wanted.
The Na'avi were given a choice. Leave your home or die defending it.
It is kind of humorous to see folks here siding with mercenaries who are killing solely for the sake of corporate profits.
They weren't left stranded. They were trusted by the Na'vi, and thus, were allowed to stay. Those who wanted to leave on the Corporate transports were free to leave. Those who stayed behind made that choice for themselves.
I love a good story, and character development is really important.
The first three Star Wars were cool (4-6), but the “message” in 1-3 got so overbearing and transparent that those were ruined for me, even with the more advanced digital effects. A line was crossed somewhere in Episode 4 and it went downhill from there. I guess it is almost a spiritual thing with me. As soon as I feel I am being manipulated, my enjoyment of the movie shuts down. LOL! Oh Well. I’ll just go and make my own entertainment. Ha Ha Ha. I have a set of drums in the Living Room, so there is always something to do.
Life is 24 hours a day without some common sense you will never make it.
Dude, you got suckered by “Dances With Smurfs.” You should hide your face in shame.
At least “Dances With Wolves” was related to injustices that actually occurred, rather than envirowacko fantasies.
While you’re watching with open eyes, bill, look for another oft-used plot:
“The primitive non-white needs the help of the white man to find moral clarity and carry out even basic functions like self-defense.”
Seriously...all the main villains and the infiltrator Sully are white folks and all the aliens are wearing cornrows and voiced by non-whites. The aliens are getting their buts kicked until the white savior comes along. Additionally, some people have pointed out that it’s racist in another direction, i.e., the white is evil until he becomes non-white, and then he becomes a shining star of morality.
It’s sort of like Tarzan, if Tarzan had been written by contributors to Daily Kos so that it ended with the gorillas fighting Halliburton.
See post 47. Are these things not also true?
We’re not siding with mercenary murderers, we’re siding against Hollywood scumbags who want to equate American and capitalist values with mercenary slaughter.
Would you be suspicious of a supposedly intelligent food critic who gave a bad review to a restaurant because 13% of their food was contaminated with dog crap?
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