Blue (Skin) State
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Very, very true.Furburt said:
People will see what they want in anything they look at, and, at the end of the day all it will do is ruin the whole ethos.
It was a great film, yes, it has alot of messages behind it. See what you want in them but dont ruin it for everyone else.
An excellent read, and one that really forwards an excellent argument: people do not go to the movies to be a captive audience for political soapboxing. They go to be entertained. Even as a moderate conservative, I thought Avatar was a damn entertaining film and I'd readily see it again.
It happens once in a great while. I think the last time I saw it happen when I was in a theater was during Pitch Black when Riddik finally kills one of the aliens. It's a rare occurance but will happen given the right story telling.Nimbus said:
I've seen Avatar three times so far in theaters, and the audience (full theatre each time) has applauded without pause. I live in a Canadian city of nearly a million people, so we're by no means a village.Nimbus said:
Avatar is just one of those movies that you want to applaud. Hell, I know I did. It's illogical, yes.
Bob, I'm impressed. While you seem to be overtly liberal (or maybe I'm viewing this through my left-leaning lenses), you look at the issue pretty fairly. I agree that both parties are applying too much political spin to the movie, though.
Now that I think about it, one could say that the whole subtle and not-so-subtle messages about the world today in Avatar were put there intentionally by Cameron as a marketing strategy.
Come on, like he actually needs it.
But seriously, regardless of the message of the whole movie, I agree that people that take this way too seriously are way in over their head and just use it as an excuse to start a flame war with anyone that looks at them funny.
Come on, like he actually needs it.
But seriously, regardless of the message of the whole movie, I agree that people that take this way too seriously are way in over their head and just use it as an excuse to start a flame war with anyone that looks at them funny.
300? Fascist? I didnt see that in the film. Ok they were a bunch of macho semi-psychotic jarheads but boiled down they were protecting their homeland and Ideals from an invading slave army and being betrayed from behind by their slimy greedy government, with a little hidden message about acceptance and loyalty. Not that I saw any of that at the time I just saw a kick ass war film done frank miller style...
Good points though. get a feeling a lot of this is knee jerk reactions by people who probably have'nt seen the movies in the first place
Good points though. get a feeling a lot of this is knee jerk reactions by people who probably have'nt seen the movies in the first place
really interesting article Bob, I can see the political allegories you have made to Avatar and 300 being liberal and conservative respectively (and I do remember people discussing them) but I never thought it was important. As you said, as a film goer I do not see films based on my politics. I saw both of the above movies and enjoyed each one thoroughly (neither is perfect, but their both nonetheless fun to watch).
Ps: love the modern warfare comment at the end
Ps: love the modern warfare comment at the end
Oh come on, Bob. The 'they're mercenaries' excuse is a paper-thin cop-out and you know it. If Cameron really wanted to hammer home that specific fact, he would have actually gone into some detail as to what the hell said corporation actually does, how it amassed enough money to create its own space armada, and where the bulk of their mercs actually came from. I'm assuming that the majority were former soldiers.
Granted, the Na'vi were made out to be pretty aggressive when necessary too, but it just seemed that Cameron was weakly trying to cover up the anti-military message with his even stronger anti-corporation message.
That's the thing that pained me most about Avatar. It had the potential to be the perfect moviegoing experience. The visuals, setting, and CGI were all absolutely stunning, but I hated the story and the characters so much that it got in the way of me truly enjoying it. You said a more involved story would distract from the overall experience, but I strongly disagree. How it looks is important, but unless the story's good and/or the characters are well characterized, I just can't get into it.
Granted, the Na'vi were made out to be pretty aggressive when necessary too, but it just seemed that Cameron was weakly trying to cover up the anti-military message with his even stronger anti-corporation message.
That's the thing that pained me most about Avatar. It had the potential to be the perfect moviegoing experience. The visuals, setting, and CGI were all absolutely stunning, but I hated the story and the characters so much that it got in the way of me truly enjoying it. You said a more involved story would distract from the overall experience, but I strongly disagree. How it looks is important, but unless the story's good and/or the characters are well characterized, I just can't get into it.
In my experience nobody (including most people who benefit from racism) thinks they are racists, and there's a great deal of current history/sociology literature which indicates why. Most Americans of all political stripes like to believe they would have been the heroes who stood on principle, and fought oppression (it was *really* bad back then, after all, but we've ended racismlookblackpresidentandstuff!) and contemporary Hollywood filmmaking is all to eager to indulge this desire. The Shoah (Schindler's List), Civil Rights Movement (Mississippi Burning), even the Blind Side become tales not of exploitation but about how that one cracker (or Kraut) who was genuinely a *good* person fought evil....
A thrilling and intruiging read
Avatar didn't have a message, however. Beating someone over the head with political commentary wrapped around a large, CGI rock is not a message, it is assault.
Meh film on the whole. Graphics were pretty but pretty overhyped as well (see what I did there? Hurr Hurr)
Avatar didn't have a message, however. Beating someone over the head with political commentary wrapped around a large, CGI rock is not a message, it is assault.
Meh film on the whole. Graphics were pretty but pretty overhyped as well (see what I did there? Hurr Hurr)
