Avatar (2009)

Even without knowing what this film was about, knowing that it was James Cameron's new film and that he spent something like 10 years creating this was enough to know that this was going to be something of a hiccup within movie going society. so going into the film only knowing that the graphics would be 'groundbreaking', I of course thought it would suck. however, I was pleasantly surprised.

I've heard and spoken to people who were not very impressed by the plot and pass the film off as a 'Pocahontas in space' kind of story, and it's true, that's an accurate description. Something to keep in mind however is that all stories borrow from that which came before it, and most often the best stories are simply re-imaginings of earlier ideas. It could be said that pride and prejudice is nothing more than a glorified Cinderella story, but that doesn't make it bad. basically, even though this movie is a blockbuster, try to keep an open mind.

The film takes place in the future and focuses on this marine, Jake sully, who lost the use of his legs on the job. he gets called back to duty when his scientist twin brother dies, to take his place as an operator of an organic being grown from his brother's DNA and the DNA of the Na'vi, the people on the planet Pandora. Earth is running out of resources and humans want to farm an ore found on Pandora (which has become the equivalent of gold or diamonds). So the army recruited a team of scientists to create these beings that could be used to communicate with the natives and essentially move them out of their home so that they can mine the ore underneath the tree they live in. Of course the scientists only have a professional interest in Pandora, in the people and the land, but are funded by the government/ military and are therefore at the disposal of the source of the funding. On his first journey to Pandora, Jake gets separated from the other two scientists he's with and is forced to attempt to survive the night in this unknown and deadly jungle. Before an unfortunate 'death by jungle dog' incident, he is found by the chief's daughter, Neytiri, and she saves him. Before she can leave him to fend for himself, the holy being of the Na'vi signifies to her that he is important so she takes him home and he is ultimately given a trial period in the tribe to learn the ways of the people. As he learns more about the na'vi he comes to support their perspective. Pretty standard stuff, but the plot isn't what grabbed me most about this film.

One of the most obvious themes in the movie was the push for environmentalism, or preserving our planet. The reason humans were in Pandora was because their planet was dying, because the people on earth used and wasted almost all of their resources. This of course represents the perspective of mainstream north American society. It's pretty much an accepted philosophy that the economy rules nature, destroying nature in the name of money is logical even if it may rub some people the wrong way. it's logical. But people haven't thought this way forever, not all people and cultures think this way, and an alternative perspective is represented in the Na'vi. For them nature is the economy. to harm or destroy whatever is alive is akin to harming yourself. This of course is reminiscent of a sort of aboriginal ideology that takes time to respect the living aspect of nature and the symbiotic relationship they share with it. This connection to nature is presented in a very literal sense in the movie. the Na'vi literally connect to their environment. They all have a long pony tail hairstyle, and at the end of their hair are these tentacle- like feelers that can wrap around certain things and allow them to 'plug in' to that thing. this allows them to create a bond with animals they ride and with the tree that represents their deity and holds the memories of their people. This was a lot like the way people today are constantly 'plugged in'. Whether it's cellphones, iPods, computers, TV, radio, we are rarely without our technological network to connect us to our world, or the part of our world we care about. It might be harder for the average post-colonial North American to truly appreciate a connection to nature as did pre-colonial societies, so M think the way this was presented helped get that message across.

my favourite scene in the movie, and the reason I enjoyed the movie as much as I did was the scene when Neytiri and the general were fighting near the end of the movie. I loved it because symbolically they were both 'plugged in' to the technology of their own worlds and were using that connection to fight each other. Neytiri was connected to a this wild, jaguar/ jungle dog animal through the 'bond' and the general was sitting in this robot, gundam wing/ escaflowne kind of idea. the two of them had to use where they came from as a means to fight the other, they couldn't just face each other person to person. They were kind of like Jake's Na'vi body, Jake was sitting in some lab somewhere while his intentions were lived out through a body not his own. Basically their ideals and I guess you could say worlds were fighting against each other with the help of the intentions of the people behind the wheel.

It was not the most ground breaking film I've ever seen, nor the best told story, but overall I'd say it was a good movie and worth the watch.

Princess Mononoke (2001)

This movie is a classic. The animation is spectacular and the story very well done. I happen to be somewhat into Japanese culture as of present, but before I was so into it, and people who I know now who are not into it, sometimes Japanese media goes over their heads. The cultures are kind of different and place importance on different things and when a person used to seeing one kind of story or moral repeated over and over in different ways sees something else... well they may not immediately appreciate it (an example of this would be how at the end he doesn't end up with the girl). This happens in almost every western movie because we are very focused on the 'happy ending' fairytale, validating the storyline with the 'kiss at the end', but that doesn't happen in all cultures). However, I found Princess Mononoke to somewhat transcend this confusion, because the story is so relatable and well told. I found it to be so when I first watched it, which would be late elementary school, and feel this way even more now.

The story can be translated in many ways, but the general message I got out of it was the modern attempting to erase tradition. The people of Iron Town worked hard to destroy the forest because by doing so they could earn a living in the new world making iron. The only way they could do this however was to cut down the forests, which meant that they would have to kill the gods from the old world, who were already dying out. The thing is that the Lady Osono is painted in something of a bad light as she is cutting down the forest and killing the gods, but she is an amazingly strong humanist. She's a proactive woman in a time and place where women weren't liable to have that status (the status might help to paint her as a 'bad guy' however, because even though we are making progressions, many people are still very sexist... I would bet you that if not you yourself, someone you know thinks that women are by nature evil or devious... in 2008). So when looking at it in this light Osono is opting for humanity. She takes in lepers, she saves brothel workers from whatever fate they would face in brothels, etc. and yet she's the 'bad guy'. Interesting to note at any rate.

Ashitaka is a great protagonist. A pacifist to the end. He goes on his journey to find something to remove his curse. Not for selfish reasons I don't think, but to right the wrong. He's a pretty selfless person. At the beginning of the movie, the reason he got the curse was because his sister was in the way of the cursed boar, so he had to shoot it, but before that he was trying to talk to it and calm it's anger. This is basically how he acts throughout the movie. He tries to get things done without violence, but if it comes to it, he will resort to violence to protect himself or those he cares about.

I didn't really notice the environmental message when I first saw it. I was more focused on cultural loss. But recently, with the environmental bludgeon the media has been playing around with, I noticed just how 'for nature' this movie was. Traditionalism would of course take the stance against industry which would be a way to save the forest, so it makes sense, but I guess I just went into it too symbolically. It does have a pleasant environmental message however, better than a lot of other animated environmental movies.

So, to sum up, this is a great movie.