Blue (Skin) State

MovieBob

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Dec 31, 2008
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Blue (Skin) State

How did Avatar become a political firestorm?

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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Furburt said:
People should stop equating politics into these things and just enjoy it for what it is.
Once you begin overanylyzing, everything turns to shit.
Very, very true.

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.
 

Nimbus

Token Irish Guy
Oct 22, 2008
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Do people still applaud in Cinemas where you live? I don't think I have ever heard people clap at a screen before...

Or was it just a metaphor?
 

Tharticus

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Dec 10, 2008
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Great analysis. But people takes movie seriously though much of the likes of District 9 - xenophobia, anti corporation and forced evictions.
 

Undead Dragon King

Evil Spacefaring Mantis
Apr 25, 2008
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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.
 

Sephiwind

Darth Conservative
Aug 12, 2009
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Nimbus said:
Do people still applaud in Cinemas where you live? I don't think I have ever heard people clap at a screen before...

Or was it just a metaphor?
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.
 

CuddlyCombine

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Sep 12, 2007
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Nimbus said:
Do people still applaud in Cinemas where you live? I don't think I have ever heard people clap at a screen before...
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.

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.
 

RTR

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Mar 22, 2008
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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.
 

crotalidian

and Now My Watch Begins
Sep 8, 2009
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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
 

RTR

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Mar 22, 2008
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People apllaud in cinemas where I live. Other than Avatar, a recent example would be 2012.
 

qbanknight

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Apr 15, 2009
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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
 

Satosuke

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Dec 18, 2007
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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.
 

lawdjayee

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Dec 13, 2007
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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....
 

GrinningManiac

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Jun 11, 2009
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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)
 

Dudeakoff

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Jul 22, 2009
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Why would people clap when the best character in the movie got killed? I was quite disappointed...