AVATAR: A 3-D and One-Dimensional Movie!
James Cameron’s billion-dollar blockbuster is a 3-D movie with a one-dimensional story, populated by one-dimensional characters. It is visually stunning and is a triumph of technology; however, as Bronx philosopher, Yogi Berra, once exclaimed, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
The film is aesthetically pleasing, but the story is a result of putting Ferngully, Amazon, Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai, The Smurfs and World of Warcraft ( W.o.W has gravity defying floating rocks) in a blender.
It’s a movie with a message delivered with all the subtlety of a bulldozer engaged in deforestation.
The Oscar nominations are out and Avatar has a tally of nine. I plan to see it again and have the full meal deal sensory experience of 3-D IMAX. Is it really worthy of nine Oscar nominations? Is it a worthy Best Picture pick?
Avatar is a not so subtle cinematic sermon that espouses caring for the environment. The Navi are blue-skinned, feline yet humanlike aliens, who live in harmony with nature on Pandora. Exploitative humans in pursuit of “unobtanium” threaten their idyllic coexistence with nature. Cultural imperialism, commercial gain, and military muscle threaten “noble savage” and nature alike.
Cameron could be pitching an anti-Iraq War message and/or anti-Bush administration message. The film makes references to “shock and awe” and pre-emptive strikes. Just in case we don’t grasp the film is preaching pacifism, we are served up a couple of caricatures to despise. The really bad guys are the ugly military dude (Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch) and the nasty corporate sleaze ball (Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge).
Avatar offers us a pantheistic spirituality. Plants, animals, and Navi enjoy telepathic connectivity in a monism where they all tap into Eywa, the feminine force that pervades the planet. Of course, George Lucas offered us big screen sci-fi pantheism before with “the force.” Star Wars’ spiritual force is genderless while Avatar ’s pantheism is feminine. Neytiri tells the hero Jake, “Our great mother Eywa does not take sides, Jake; only protects the balance of life.” This makes Navi spirituality sound pretty much like Gaia .
Avatar ’s spirituality is ambiguous and confused. Maybe there is not a cosmic consciousness that pervades Pandora. Maybe there is not a soul, which indwells and permeates all Pandora’s beauty. Maybe it’s just an energy field open to scientific scrutiny. Sigourney Weaver’s character, Dr. Grace Augustine says, "We're not talking about pagan voodoo but something that is real biologically: a global network of neurons.” In other words, it is real because it can be supported by empirical scientific evidence.
This raises a couple of questions. Does Cameron present us with a vision of science, faith and spirituality in harmony? On the other hand, is he offering us what Professor Donald Mackay called “nothing-buttery?” Do we see a universe where spiritual phenomena can be simply explained and categorized by the scientific intelligentsia in a rationalistic reductionism? Cameron may not be offering us life as a glorious spiritual mystery albeit in pantheism, he may be offering us scientism.
