_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

I remember liking this at the time. I don't remember why I liked it though.

I guess seeing something on a huge Imax screen affects my enjoyment of a movie more than I'd like to admit.

i hope that Avatar 3 is tailor made to only be watched in under-water theatres while wearing scuba gear and 3D facemasks

and surround-sound headphones!

given that it was released in the midst of the iraq/afghanistan war, i'd say it too some pretty substantial risks

how so? this kind of dumb pseudo-commentary has been going around for years

avatar's 'super hardcore fandom' isnt comparable to star wars or star trek - like im sure someone has cosplayed as John Postman from kevin costner's sci fi epic The Postman before, but that doesnt mean it has a real fanbase

All big tech heavy action films like this do more to recruit than any other films, I bet. I bet people saw the space marines get their assess kicked in aliens and thought, hey, I want to be a space marine!

given that it was released in the midst of the iraq/afghanistan war, i'd say it too some pretty substantial risks
how so? this kind of dumb pseudo-commentary has been going around for years

avatar is a very pointed and obvious metaphor for the genocidal consequences (agenda) of specifically western imperialism. and it presents "terroristic" responses to an invasion by what looks suspiciously like the US military as unambiguous heroism. for a funtimes, family-friendly summer action blockbuster, that's pretty remarkable.

avatar's 'super hardcore fandom' isnt comparable to star wars or star trek - like im sure someone has cosplayed as John Postman from kevin costner's sci fi epic The Postman before, but that doesnt mean it has a real fanbase

star trek had a tiny fanbase in its day. it failed on TV, and its memory was kept alive for decades not by popular acclaim but by its importance to a small but dedicated minority.

contenderizer that is bog-standard hollywood liberalism with a 'save the planet' gloss, absolutely risk-free

it presents "terroristic" responses to an invasion by what looks suspiciously like the US military as unambiguous heroism. for a funtimes, family-friendly summer action blockbuster, that's pretty remarkable.

to expand on this: for a funtimes, family-friendly summer action blockbuster made during wartime, while america was collectively losing its mind in fear of terrorism, that's pretty remarkable.

contenderizer that is bog-standard hollywood liberalism with a 'save the planet' gloss, absolutely risk-free

i don't think that's true at all. i can't think of another major, family-friendly action blockbuster made in the last 10 years that stakes anywhere near so radical a position.

oops, it was a holiday release. i always forget that (second time itt).

i thought x-men was all about being a gay misfit

"while america was collectively losing its mind in fear of terrorism"

come on, it was '09 not '03

it is, but it doesn't swing anywhere near as hard at that target as avatar. maybe if you threw in some scenes of obviously gay populations being annihilated before rising up to completely smash the state.

well we can say that brian singer is a touch more subtle than james cameron

contenderizer that is bog-standard hollywood liberalism

Bullshit, especially now, when George Clooney is disappointed in progressives/Dems who are disappointed in mass-murdering warlord Obama.

To the electric chair with them all.

come on, it was '09 not '03

fair point, but that doesn't make its obvious allegorical implication and explicit anti-war/anti-military stance* any less remarkable, especially in a film of its type.

* conflicted, of course, by cameron's obvious hard-on for combat, tough-guy tropes and military tech

corporations bad, fighting good. noble savages better than a mean soldier or a kid with an MBA.

really arresting stuff here, never seen its like

re: lack of cultural currency, i waited until a few weeks after it came out, and then tapped a friend on the shoulder, looked deeply into their eyes, and whispered "I see you". and nothing happened. at that very moment i said to myself "this film really isn't going to have much cultural currency". i even whispered "I see you" to someone else later that month, and nothing. what a ripoff.

i admit, as always, that it's possible that no one knew wtf i was talking about

i hear you

corporations bad, fighting good. noble savages better than a mean soldier or a kid with an MBA.

really arresting stuff here, never seen its like

sure, but context is everything. try to think of another big, family-friendly action blockbuster of the post-9/11 era that makes a similar statement.

Wait until Step Up Revolution sees the light of day and this will all be moot.

the bourne movies?

or like the daring stance against big oil in the muppets

Most noble savages films don't actually end up with a tick in the win column for said savages.

the lorax!

er, xp

I wouldn't overestimate the size of the super fandom right now (though we'll see what happens if we get movies every 5 years for the next decade or two), but it was definitely a real, weird, thing at the time.

http://worldbuildingrules.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/avatar-bono.jpg

ravey

just wait til Django Unchained takes on racist-imperial foot fetishism

the bourne movies?

― goole

or like the daring stance against big oil in the muppets

― a la bouquet marmoset (Austerity Ponies)

i don't think those compare to avatar's heroicization of armed resistance by native "terrorists" to what appears to be an invasion by the US military - made during wartime, when the US military was actually invading foreign countries and demonizing resistance as terrorism.

goole & AP's day to troll

ha. maybe that's fair in my case, but Morbius do you really believe that James Cameron's Avatar is too radical for Clooney?

avatar is a very pointed and obvious metaphor for the genocidal consequences (agenda) of specifically western imperialism. and it presents "terroristic" responses to an invasion by what looks suspiciously like the US military as unambiguous heroism. for a funtimes, family-friendly summer action blockbuster, that's pretty remarkable.

well, I do admit it's remarkable how incredibly hamfisted the message is, even for Hollywood. but I don't really consider this too important because that's not really the reason why it became a Blockbuster.

to expand on this: for a funtimes, family-friendly summer action blockbuster made during wartime, while america was collectively losing its mind in fear of terrorism, that's pretty remarkable.

this came out during the Obama administration, right?

hamfisted = clear. and i wasn't aware the movie had to pass some kind of message = selling point test for the message to count.

this came out during the Obama administration, right?

but before CHANGE

this came out during the Obama administration, right?

it was conceived and made during he bush admin (shot in 2007/8), but yes, it was released during the first year of the obama admin

tbf I think Cameron started working on it during the Korean war

well, yeah, if you count the childhood daydreaming/crayon illustrated part

Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film.[12][13] Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999,[14] but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film.

I think 1994 was when we intervened in Haiti under Clinton

star trek had a tiny fanbase in its day. it failed on TV, and its memory was kept alive for decades not by popular acclaim but by its importance to a small but dedicated minority.

and syndication

well, I do admit it's remarkable how incredibly hamfisted the message is, even for Hollywood. but I don't really consider this too important because that's not really the reason why it became a Blockbuster.

Right, but the original context for this discussion is not that it was The Anti-War March of Asses on Seats, but that it must have looked a little risky (even as the next film from that man who made all that money).

then i'm not sure what's risky about it, the movie was going to be a blockbuster regardless of how liberal or hamfisted it was, it just kind of boils down (for me) as "James Cameron is kind of a shitty dude"

political "message" of this film did not resonate/register with the general public at all afaict. they just liked shiny things that explode. also blue boobs.

exactly, unless people talk about "reasons why I fucking hated this film"