_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

PS I have never seen Avatar. Should I watch y/n?

I think I will just wait until discount theatres get 3d.

Was it even protested by the Christian right? Because that's the gold standard response to having a message.

It was protested by at least one right media-watchdog group.

maybe I was just reading the wrong reviews? this is the first time I've ever heard anyone take the film's political content even vaguely seriously

jeez, go to rotten tomatoes and check the linked "full reviews" from "top critics". most concentrate on the movie's visual splendor, but there's also quite a bit of praise of the film's moral and political agenda.

Was it even protested by the Christian right? Because that's the gold standard response to having a message.

usually to a "club em over the head" DO U SEE message

jeez, go to rotten tomatoes and check the linked "full reviews" from "top critics". most concentrate on the movie's visual splendor, but there's also quite a bit of praise of the film's moral and political agenda.

typically those aren't the critics that I read, and I guess I see where you're coming from, y'know I'm sure lots of people praised Bruce Almighty's strong Christian message too

Really, come on - the message of "Avatar," like that of most action movies (bless 'em) is that things look cool when they explode. I can barely name any non World War X action flick that does not depict military authority in a negative light, as duplicitous and manipulative. You see it in "Aliens," you see it in "Rambo," you see it "Avengers." Any message "Avatar" had was negated the second those 3D glasses went on. It was spectacle, and the fact that it pushed gently in an environmental direction meant nothing. Was it even protested by the Christian right? Because that's the gold standard response to having a message.

i don't think that aliens, rambo or the avengers are anywhere near as brave as avatar wr2 the message(s) presented. in aliens, brave soldiers are betrayed by a corrupt corporation. in rambo, vets are abandoned by the military. in the avengers, covert gov't/military organizations are duplicitous and craven. all SOP relative to avatar's wartime celebration of violent revolt against what basically equals the invading US military.

the film's environmental themes are hardly it's primary message. it's much more prominently an impassioned condemnation of imperialist genocide (easy target, sure), and a fantasy of deus-ex-machina justice overcoming the "inevitable" forward march of historical progress. it's also a pointedly specific anti-irag/afghanistan-invasion flick. sully subtly compares the invasion of pandora to war for oil. quaritch is much less subtle: "our only security lies in preemptive attack. we will fight terror with terror."

typically those aren't the critics that I read

who are the critics you read? do they typically spend a lot of time engaging with the politics of fantasy adventure flicks?

y'know I'm sure lots of people praised Bruce Almighty's strong Christian message too

i don't imagine any of the critics in that group had a single nice thing to say about bruce almighty's christian message

who are the critics you read? do they typically spend a lot of time engaging with the politics of fantasy adventure flicks?

mostly 'independant' ones, but no, they don't, because thats the part of the movie that almost always bogs it down

iyo

no surprise that reviewers who don't care about thematic content writing for an audience that doesn't care about thematic content do not spend much time analyzing thematic content

again, i'm just saying in my experience nobody really gave a shit about the political content, calling it "dumb" at best. the fact that yes some paid reviewers for big magazines decided to harp on about it (likely because they knew they had to write a good review) doesn't really change my opinion

god DAMN some ilxorz be wilfully obtuse itt

Was it even protested by the Christian right? Because that's the gold standard response to having a message.

the point was made upthread (can't remember by whom) that avatar was released in a moment of defeat and disarray for the american right. would be funny if the right's failure to mount a sufficient froth of outrage in response to avatar in turn caused it to be dismissed by leftists to whom its messages would ordinarily appeal. like it can't matter unless the right (wrong) people say it matters.

anyway, i remember a lot of online outrage about the film's demonization of the military.

god DAMN some frogbs be wilfully obtuse itt

hey jon. we've been here before, iirc.

yep. I don't have the juice to do it again. And I think I like the movie more than you!

okay contenderizer. you win! *fucks off*

contendo i'm honestly thinking you do not remember a thing about 2009 sry

not my observation, just passing it along. and it may be that i remember 2009 differently than you do. stranger things have happened...

also it is not surprising at all that this movie had absolutely no cultural currency (and it didn't, no argument)

it was lauded for being an incredible 'experience'. it did not have a compelling story or compelling characters. there's no cultural resonance for a movie without at least one of those things. no one was ever going to give a fuck about jake sulee and the noble blue people, and no one was going to go nuts over the story from fern gully and dances with wolves and a billion other movies.

xp the only people that were still shitting their pants over terrorism in 2009 was the same fringe right-wingers that are shitting their pants about it now. and EVERYTHING is controversial to them and they don't matter.

also the incredible experience of seeing avatar is pretty stunted when you're not watching it on a giant 3D screen. that's 98% of the replay appeal of the movie down the drain unless you're sitting painfully close to a big screen television.

that's stated as though no one might ever disagree, but (surprise), i do. the characters and story may be simple and familiar, but that doesn't prevent them from being compelling. i would say that avatar has both a compelling story and compelling characters (mostly among the na'vi). it lacks a strong, iconic villain and too many of its supporting players are dull. those are real problems, but they don't cripple the film, imo.

that's stated as though no one might ever disagree, but (surprise), i do.

hes right, you're wrong.

the only impact this movie had was compelling the studios to convert all their releases to 3D

compelled me... to have a wicked headache!!

hes right, you're wrong.

i'm sorry, but that's just stupid. there is no such thing. when it comes to this kind of thing, there are only arguments made well and arguments made poorly. you may think i'm failing to make my case, but no surprise, we disagree there too.

lol, y'all are arguing about avatar
culturally important in '12

the only impact this movie had was compelling the studios to convert all their releases to 3D

it did do that, but i'm okay with it's legacy in that regard, as i like nu-3D. adds a lot when its successful, and when it isn't, the films still tend to work just fine in 2D (up, coraline, how to train your dragon, etc).

just saw the avengers in 3D, for instance. was lots of fun.

xp yes, but do you at least see how that opinion is not shared with the majority of the population that saw the movie in 09? you are a fan of the movie but you're not really accepting the fact that you're in the small minority of people who saw it and actually remember the main character's name. when people were talking about its cultural currency, they weren't talking about whether it deserves to be a part of our cultural canon, they're talking about exactly why it isn't.

really one of the easiest indicators has to be how well people know the names of characters. i think i saw it twice when it came out and i don't remember a single proper noun outside of "jake sulee", "na'vi" and "pandora." and those three terms aren't ever really referenced as it is. i have no idea what anyone's character looked like besides jake sulee and that's because he looks like a stock image of a marine. i didn't even remember that there WAS a bad guy until you mentioned him. and he has that one female ally, right? i don't remember a thing about her other than that.

With the previously-noted caveat that I have not seen Avatar since seeing it twice during its theatrical run, IMO its immersive effects and world building make it great, and pretty much sweep its familiar plot and clunky script up onto the crest of a wave. Is it only great while you're actually watching it? Maybe. So what?

Let me introduce the example of grand opera and superhero comics. In the former, you are routinely confronted with not just hackneyed but totally implausable plots, insufficiently motivated characters, and inept verbiage. When done right, the musical element makes the plot plausible, the characters motivated, the verbiage profound. For superhero comics, substitute visual-sequential for musical. Thus Avatar. That's why some ppl cried while watching this ridiculous story.

zachylon you are being ridic

i think the most salient point here is zachlyon's—the characters in this movie sucked, no one is ever going to remember "jake sully" like they did, say, ripley or sarah connor. that's not a little DRAWBACK, there is NO MOVIE without characters. that's another thing the new star wars movies got wrong. you need interesting/memorable/lovable/fascinating characters to make a movie. it's the most important thing. fail at that, and your movie fails, period.

if you liked avatar that's your business

but if you think the film has remained a part of the mainstream culture since 2009 you're out of touch with mainstream culture

i also cannot believe i'm arguing about avatar in 2012, that's the point

all you're really saying, zachylon, is that the movie didn't do anything for you. which is cool, i'm not an evangelist. you go on to make sweeping claims about the views of "the majority of the population that saw the movie in 09", but i don't know what you base that on or why i should take such claims seriously.

I don't care whether its relevant in 2012, y'all are just being rly weird about your recollections of 2009.

2009 timeline, fyi:

--LOLOL mega budget, blue ppl, Cameron douche, this will be awful and biggest flop in history (basically same pre-press scuttle as John Carter)
--Hmm ppl who saw the screenings were rly into it?
--Damn even the NYer likes it
--whoa that was amazing
--hmm yeah I grant you the story was p dumb and white savior archetype smdh
--shit I have to see it again

Like do you guys srsly not remember the mega-schadenfreude in the lead up to this thing and then the wave of goodwill when ppl actually saw it?

it's not about me!

i have been interacting with a wide variety of real human beings as far back as 2010, AT LEAST, and i don't think the film "avatar" has ever come up in discussion, once, in those years. organically or inorganically. no one gives a shit about it anymore dude.

who is disputing that this movie was successful? it won a bunch of oscars and stuff! and made all the money! but who gives a shit about it now? contenderizer! and no one else!

also, jake is a stronger character than you and s1ocki seem to think. he's not a flashy or flamboyant hero, but i think sam worthington brought a lot of depth to the role.

i'm not arguing, by the way, that the film has a great deal of cultural currency - merely that it's more substantial and worthwhile than some claimed upthread. imo, of course...

i think the most salient point here is zachlyon's—the characters in this movie sucked, no one is ever going to remember "jake sully" like they did, say, ripley or sarah connor. that's not a little DRAWBACK, there is NO MOVIE without characters. that's another thing the new star wars movies got wrong. you need interesting/memorable/lovable/fascinating characters to make a movie. it's the most important thing. fail at that, and your movie fails, period.

Well, no? I mean that's what interesting about this movie IMO. It fails at those things and yet? You can call it a 'theme park ride' pejoratively or you can call it an 'environment' non-pejoratively...

yo i'm not sure the people who were stdhs about the white savior/noble savage shit were generally the same ones saying 'i need to see this again' but sure

no one's saying it didn't make a lot of money and distract people for a month in late 2009

you seemed to be saying that? 'you don't remember 2009' were your words.

People trying to pretend Jon Lewis's version of events never actually happened are invited to consider the 'show all messages' button at the top of this thread.

who is disputing that this movie was successful? it won a bunch of oscars and stuff! and made all the money! but who gives a shit about it now? contenderizer! and no one else!

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki)

i don't think i care about it any more than anyone else itt. i'm certainly using fewer exclamation points than you. a bunch of people on ILX seem to hate it A LOT and will make that point in no uncertain terms if given the opportunity. that's "caring about" of a sort. otoh, a few of us like it to some degree or another. i do like it, but i don't think it's a great movie or anything.

I do think it's a great movie, I'll take the arrows.

*realizes the only reason he doesn't like avatar so much is because he's head-over-heels in love with it*

LOL