Poll: Avatar - Who did you root for

[Chunko]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

 

[Chunko]

The movie is geared to make you sympathetic to the Na'vi at every turn, in fact with everything they portray I thought it was pretty much impossible to root the humans; guess I was wrong

Unless the movie was crap.

 

[Chunko]

I cheered for the humans. Mainly because I actually worked on the game and got soooo fed up of the damn Na'vi art and assets that I could throw myself out the window and set myself on fire.

What was making the game like?

EDIT: sorry about triple post

 

[Chunko]

I'm rootING for the humans, because they'll come back...

With nukes.

I was just rooting for the credits

Does anyone here realise that Avatar is a remake of Pocahontas? an exact copy of the story. humans taking over a "barbaric and alien" race, does that not ring any bells to anyone?

OT: Na'vi. Humans were just portrayed as gluttonous rabid animals.

**afterthought**

I wonder if Nintendo chucked a shit over Na'vi, what with it being so much like Navi (Zelda OoT) I mean.. they were both blue.. but did anyone say, "Hey, Listen"?

They should have abducted some for painful research though.

Fuck those blue Na'vi hippie bastards.

Humans should've had them bent over a bin and severely raped (figuratively). Besides, surely if Cameron wanted it to be a powerful enviro-hippy film then he should've done just that and showed us humans fucking Pandora over completely.

I would totally want to see a sequel where humans win hint hint.

As soon as I started watching it I knew I'd be supporting the humans. They were so cartoon character evil that I was waiting for the shitty hippy scenes to end so I could see what Colonel Stalin Hitler Pot McNastypants would do next. There's also the fact I don't like a movie to tell me what I should think, It was so ridiculously over engineered so everyone would cheer the Navi. I'm surprised Cameron didn't go the whole hog and slap in some subliminal "LOVE THE NAVI" frames.

You bring up a valid point, this is one of the main reasons why I supported humans.

EDIT: okay wow quadruple post, I thought for sure someone would have commented by now.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. I would find a way to support them. So, say you and your family have a house. You lived there for a long time and love it. Now some people come along and say they want your house and you have to leave, and if you don't they will kill you. Would you just get up and leave because they needed the house you have? I mean they are just trying to survive.

 

[Chunko]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. I would find a way to support them. So, say you and your family have a house. You lived there for a long time and love it. Now some people come along and say they want your house and you have to leave, and if you don't they will kill you. Would you just get up and leave because they needed the house you have? I mean they are just trying to survive.

What if you couldn't support them? Would you just let them die?

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm a human.
They had cool tools.
The colonel was kickass.
They tried to kill the main character and stupid love interest!

For that, they could've been kicking puppies and I'd still love them.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. I would find a way to support them. So, say you and your family have a house. You lived there for a long time and love it. Now some people come along and say they want your house and you have to leave, and if you don't they will kill you. Would you just get up and leave because they needed the house you have? I mean they are just trying to survive.

What if you couldn't support them? Would you just let them die?

You didn't answer my question.
Ok, so I fuck myself over and can't feed my family. How does that make it ok for me to steal? Because I made stupid choices doesn't give me the right to do anything. How does it? When my car breaks down, I'll be sure to come find you at steal yours because I need want a car and it is perfectly in my right to take yours since it is "key for my survival" (*cough* easy way out *cough*).

 

[Wicky_42]

Not telling us what unobtainium actually is, was a major failing of Avatar. It basically took away our ability to have a properly informed debate about who was in the right and who was wrong. If it was, say, a mineral people could get high on, which is why it commanded such a high price, then yeah, the humans were just being exploitative and cruel.

But if it's something like starship fuel--without which human colonies and space explorers would be stranded and left to die--or some substance that can cure disease and the overpopulated Earth is suffering from endless plagues, then the human battle on Pandora is cast in a considerably different light. It would become a battle of two species trying to preserve their people and way of life. But it's never spelled out and it just becomes all about "humans want money, the Na'vi just want to be left alone."

Cameron didn't seem to realise that, with unobtainium being the crux of this conflict, he should tell us what it actually is. The conflict in Avatar could have been much more nuanced with villains and heroes on both sides. But because he clearly wanted to focus just on Jake Sully's Na'vi Adventure, he didn't bother. It reduces the film to the moral equivalent of a cartoon when it could have been much more, so easily.

This is why I only enjoyed Avatar as a very beautiful sci-fi nature documentary. Cameron doesn't put enough substance into the conflict for me to care about who wins.

Yeah, this is a good point. Cameron really should have included more of his back story into the first film - shown a bit of the state of the Earth, expanded on the use of Unobtanium and all that sort of stuff. It would have helped create a more balanced films as well as fleshed out its substance for those unwilling to read the site to supplement their understanding of the film.

But... why was something so important on the site and not in the finished film? Avatar is three hours long, and much of that is glorious shots of Pandora's landscape. Much as I liked the look of Pandora, I'd have gladly sacrificed a few scenes of Jake and Neytiri swimming or running through the forest, to understand more and care more about what was happening.

If a conflict's so unimportant they don't bother explaining it fully to the people watching the movie, how can the conflict be important enough to spin a whole movie around? All it would have taken is a few lines of dialogue, and the entire meaning of Avatar would have been positively shifted. That's what makes me sad.

Yep, I completely agree. Quite a missed ball there, really. Perhaps he's seeking to re-address that in the sequels, but it would have been best something alluded to in the first film to a greater degree than through some background vague remarks about how bad Earth was.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

if you don't like the ending here's a better ending

 

[Jack_Uzi]

May I root for the bright mind who took the story of pocahontas mixed up with the smurfs and brought it all together in a new movie to make lots of bucks from it too?

 

[Altar]

One of many things I didn't understand in the movie was, why was it so easy for Jake (Name?) and co to escape from the RDA compound. I mean there was only one guard between the cell and the vehicle depot... I don't know about you but if I was designing that place... I'd keep the cells away from the vehicle depot... Yeah... but who was I going for?! Well meh... all I was hoping was the Jake would die... I mean he betrayed he's own species for some blue tail... Betraying ones own species has got to be the lowest of the low... your so low your not even dirt... Ahem yeah...

 

[I Max95]

i loved the movie and i side with the Na'vi
humans have ahistory of fucking up foriegn civilizations
they dominated the Native American land and forced them to live in deserts which seemed to be what the Cameron was going for with the na'vi
first its "just a tree" next thing you know their forced to give up their entire culture to survive

 

[Berethond]

Mich4elle Rodriguez. I was more rooting for her since she was easily more badass then anyone else in the movie besides Jake. xD

She was definitely my favorite character.

Actually, she was the only character I liked in the whole movie.

 

[Chal]

Humans all the way. They just endeared themselves to me with how beautifully cliched they managed to be.

"Yeah! Come GIT SOME!"

Plus the crying over the tree was kind of embarrassing to watch. Horribly overdramatic. The blue bastards can go die. I didn't hate Avatar, and though it certainly didn't deserve the oceans of money it made, the space marines stuff had me thoroughly entertained.

 

[Chunko]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. I would find a way to support them. So, say you and your family have a house. You lived there for a long time and love it. Now some people come along and say they want your house and you have to leave, and if you don't they will kill you. Would you just get up and leave because they needed the house you have? I mean they are just trying to survive.

What if you couldn't support them? Would you just let them die?

You didn't answer my question.
Ok, so I fuck myself over and can't feed my family. How does that make it ok for me to steal? Because I made stupid choices doesn't give me the right to do anything. How does it? When my car breaks down, I'll be sure to come find you at steal yours because I need want a car and it is perfectly in my right to take yours since it is "key for my survival" (*cough* easy way out *cough*).

What you're saying is true, but that's not the issue here. We're already in the situation. Would you steal food to feed your family?

 

[DocBalance]

As for the unobtanium we needed the minerals for our economy, and therefor our species to survive.

I'm gonna stop you right there. That violates every rule of basic economics. The species does not need an economy to survive, the economy and the government itself is an imaginary construct that we all play along with for sake of convenience. Rather, the economy is needed for our way of life to survive. There is a big difference there.

On a side note, why does everyone say that we needed the unobtanium? I didn't catch that anywhere in the movie, just that that it was shiny and thus worth a lot to the millions of sheep back home. Never was it a matter of human survival, just a PMC wanting to make some extra cash.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Why did everyone root for the Na'vi?

Because the humans were imperialistic, greedy pricks. They wanted to destroy the Na'vi land and take whatever that thing was just to sell it for money. That is like watching District 9 and siding with the douche before he has his change of heart... err... grows a heart...

Obviously not wanting your world's economy to crash and forcing everyone to live in squalor is greed.

Ok, so going by what you are saying, if the American economy plummets due to lack of oil, it is perfectly ok for them to go off and kill everyone in another country and destroy their homes just to get that oil? Yes, putting your WANTS for something to sell over someone elses SURVIVAL is greed.

Well they didn't want to kill the Na'vi the humans wanted to sort things out peacefully. The Na'vi were the agressors.

Would you steal food to feed your family?

No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. I would find a way to support them. So, say you and your family have a house. You lived there for a long time and love it. Now some people come along and say they want your house and you have to leave, and if you don't they will kill you. Would you just get up and leave because they needed the house you have? I mean they are just trying to survive.

What if you couldn't support them? Would you just let them die?

You didn't answer my question.
Ok, so I fuck myself over and can't feed my family. How does that make it ok for me to steal? Because I made stupid choices doesn't give me the right to do anything. How does it? When my car breaks down, I'll be sure to come find you at steal yours because I need want a car and it is perfectly in my right to take yours since it is "key for my survival" (*cough* easy way out *cough*).

What you're saying is true, but that's not the issue here. We're already in the situation. Would you steal food to feed your family?

Dude, seriously, can you read? No, I wouldn't, because stealing is wrong. And you still have yet to answer my question. Are you just going to keep saying "would you steal food" until I say yes to 'prove you right' to satisfy your ego or something?

Wait, no... I after rereading the question and giving it some thought (my family = metaphor for imperialistic greedy pricks that fucked up their planet because they were too busy being greedy to try to solve their problems logically the American government), yeah, if I couldn't find a way to support them I would let them die. Fuck this country.

 

[ElTigreSantiago]

Okay, you've got a point on the resources thing, but nowadays we can at least come up with a bullshit reason for invading, like going to war against terrorism.

And I actually did enlist. I had a contract with a $40,000 bonus in the Infantry, and I had Airborne School and Ranger Indoctrination Program guaranteed. As in, I would've walked out of Infantry OSUT and stepped into Airborne School next door, no questions asked, and then gone straight into the Rangers right after. But, I didn't like the level of obedience required, so I got out before I finished OSUT. It's hard, but not impossible.

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are hunting terrorists, not people who just want to be left alone. They're killing people who are actively trying to kill them and anyone else who doesn't believe what they do; quite different than a war for profit. Yeah, there's most likely some profit involved for the higher-ups, but at least the grunts have a legit reason to be there.

Ever heard of Blackwater? Yeah, government contracted, but not government controlled. Even today, there are private corporations that might as well be infantry units, but they're not under government control except for having to obey the law, like everyone else. If you get the right licenses, it's absolutely possible to have people that well-armed under private control.

No hard feelings, man, just debating our opinions.

That's really cool that you enlisted. I'm hoping to do Air Force ROTC to be a pilot with the boys in blue.

Yeah, I totally support the our troops and the rest of the coalition soldiers. But people can get scared and make mistakes, accidents happen, and more people get hurt than just the terrorists. That's gonna happen when the enemy hides among civies. And yeah like I said, our boys sure as hell aren't fighting for the money.

I have heard of organizations such as those. The way I see it is, in real life they would be sending the real-deal government forces for something as big a deal as what happened in Avatar. But hey, who knows what the future might hold. If humanity could unite as one planet rather than all the countries, who knows how military affairs would be handled.

 

[crouchingtigress01]

We all regret that, which is why I think we wouldn't treat the Na'vi the same way we treated the Native Americans. As for the unobtanium we needed the minerals for our economy, and therefor our species to survive. Besides that even if we didn't taking over Na'vi would allow for us to build a galactic empire and make the world better for everyone. Mass Effect Anyone. The unobtanium itself would just get the humans started on bigger projects. Once Pandora was depleated (which would probably take 1000 years) they could expand to other planets.

While I see the point that you are trying to make that, as a futuristic society, it would make sense that the Humans would try to learn from our mistakes and make an honest effort to prevent them; however, human nature never changes and so the likelihood we would treat them the same as Native Americans is very unlikely.

On top of that, I would think that Pandora would not be the humans to claim. yes they were the ones to discover the mineral in question, but I would think it would be within the Na'vi's right to defend their home and way of life from the company trying to strip their lands; after all, who knows what the lack of that mineral could do to planet and ecosystem.