January 2010
7 posts
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man...”
– Thomas Jefferson
On Avatar
CHARLIE ROSE: It also has political messages.
A. O. SCOTT: Oh, yes. And I think that, you know, in some ways they might be, the politics you might say are a little naive, perhaps.
CHARLIE ROSE: It’s straightforward.
A. O. SCOTT: The Na’Vi are kind of noble savages in the classical sense. They have so in tune with nature and they have this holistic life, and the humans are these alienated, greedy, rapacious, militaristic, racist people.
DAVID DENBY: But what a comedy that this pro-ecology, anti-technology message is being delivered though in a package that is the piece of the advanced technology, costing $250 million plugs and further. It’s definitely aimed at the Bush administration because there’s talk about shock and awe, we’re going to hit those monkeys.
CHARLIE ROSE: Fight terror with terror.
DAVID DENBY: Yes. And it’s being distributed and partially paid for by FOX, by Rupert Murdoch, a right wing press baron who one imagines supported the war in Iraq.
A. O. SCOTT: Plus, quite provocative -- if that’s the analogy, then what happens to this character is quite provocative and even...
DAVID DENBY: It’s more than go native, in other words. He leads the revolt.
A. O. SCOTT: But that’s the fun of it. I think that entertainment
like this at its best has always had kind of an allegorical top lead, has always been able to read in sort of some kind of political message. And part of the fun of going to movies like this is it simplifies and clarifies and makes emphatic something that in the real world is of course much more complicated and nuanced and difficult. So it has -- it’s also not ironic. There’s no sort of winks and nudges. This is not a movie that’s kind of self-conscious and playful and showing you how smart it is. It’s a very sincere piece of storytelling.
Avatar 3D
I just got home from seeing Avatar in 3D. Quite a visually stunning movie to be sure. I’m not so hip to the movie’s overall message, but it was worth seeing just for the visuals.