Monday, January 25, 2010
OPENING PANDORA'S BOX HERE ON EARTH
I usually try and avoid over-hyped films, at least until the fuss has died down, but with James Cameron's Avatar it seems it just won't go away. Every now and then a film comes along that you just have to see in the cinema, either to appreciate it fully, or because it's groundbreaking in some way. I followed the Lord of the Rings trilogy avidly through the cinema and then invested each year in the extended edition DVDs (well, ok, they were Christmas presents) and will undoubtedly do the same with The Hobbit. Slumdog Millionaire was another cinema must-see and so Avatar, with its promise of extraordinary 3D and a compelling story, was added to the list.
It's not a complex story as it happens, but is perhaps the better for it. The theme is simple, but it was refreshing to watch a humans-versus-aliens film where we humans are the baddies for a change - and what venal, rapacious, amoral, planet-pillaging, culture-raping baddies we are in Avatar, for the most part. I'd like to think that by the time we develop enough to journey to the stars and find new life and new civilisations, we might have learnt to live more in harmony with our own world and the universe, but this film suggests otherwise. Certainly the history of mankind and the systematic displacement, 'ethic cleansing' or plain and simple eradication of indigenous or minority peoples who stand in the way of colonisation, 'progress', religious fundamentalism or plain old tribalism - Native Americans, African slaves, Australian Aborigines, rainforest indians, Hutus, Tutsis, Jews, Bosnian Serbs, Croats et al - give little reason for optimism.
The unadulterated greed and self-interest of corporate man, as evidenced most recently by bankers clinging ferociously to their obscene bonuses, regardless of what has happened to the world as a whole, largely as a result of their actions, suggests that the character traits that give us the boss of the mining operation on the world of Pandora in Avatar, and his mindless military lackey, will indeed survive well into the future. It's in our genes to be selfish and exploitative, but it's also in them to be incredibly humane and self-sacrificial - look at the truly heroic rescue work going on in Haiti right now. That's not to say that the former behaviour isn't our fault, it's more that we have to be on our guard against it at all times and to work hard if we are to resist it successfully. That isn't easy.
Films come and films go and some have a lasting impact and become classics. But has any film every changed this world - or any other - for better or for worse? Avatar could possibly be such a film, but I doubt if the people who need to go and see it will bother, or if they do will only do so out of curiosity because it's the first 3D blockbuster - films are a minor distraction from the serious and very grown-up business of making money - whatever the cost.
I usually try and avoid over-hyped films, at least until the fuss has died down, but with James Cameron's Avatar it seems it just won't go away. Every now and then a film comes along that you just have to see in the cinema, either to appreciate it fully, or because it's groundbreaking in some way. I followed the Lord of the Rings trilogy avidly through the cinema and then invested each year in the extended edition DVDs (well, ok, they were Christmas presents) and will undoubtedly do the same with The Hobbit. Slumdog Millionaire was another cinema must-see and so Avatar, with its promise of extraordinary 3D and a compelling story, was added to the list.
It's not a complex story as it happens, but is perhaps the better for it. The theme is simple, but it was refreshing to watch a humans-versus-aliens film where we humans are the baddies for a change - and what venal, rapacious, amoral, planet-pillaging, culture-raping baddies we are in Avatar, for the most part. I'd like to think that by the time we develop enough to journey to the stars and find new life and new civilisations, we might have learnt to live more in harmony with our own world and the universe, but this film suggests otherwise. Certainly the history of mankind and the systematic displacement, 'ethic cleansing' or plain and simple eradication of indigenous or minority peoples who stand in the way of colonisation, 'progress', religious fundamentalism or plain old tribalism - Native Americans, African slaves, Australian Aborigines, rainforest indians, Hutus, Tutsis, Jews, Bosnian Serbs, Croats et al - give little reason for optimism.
The unadulterated greed and self-interest of corporate man, as evidenced most recently by bankers clinging ferociously to their obscene bonuses, regardless of what has happened to the world as a whole, largely as a result of their actions, suggests that the character traits that give us the boss of the mining operation on the world of Pandora in Avatar, and his mindless military lackey, will indeed survive well into the future. It's in our genes to be selfish and exploitative, but it's also in them to be incredibly humane and self-sacrificial - look at the truly heroic rescue work going on in Haiti right now. That's not to say that the former behaviour isn't our fault, it's more that we have to be on our guard against it at all times and to work hard if we are to resist it successfully. That isn't easy.
Films come and films go and some have a lasting impact and become classics. But has any film every changed this world - or any other - for better or for worse? Avatar could possibly be such a film, but I doubt if the people who need to go and see it will bother, or if they do will only do so out of curiosity because it's the first 3D blockbuster - films are a minor distraction from the serious and very grown-up business of making money - whatever the cost.
Labels: Avatar, bankers bonuses, Haiti, Pandora, Pandora's box
