Avatar: pretty but disappointing

By Colleen Sinsky

Avatar has been called groundbreaking, extraordinary, a jaw-dropping wonder. Set 150 years in the future on a small planet named Pandora, Avatar follows the confrontations between a greedy, heavily armed corporation from dying Earth as they try to exploit Pandora without regard for the native Na'vi humanoids. To get an "in" with the locals, scientists of the future have created a way to let humans inhabit Na'vi bodies, as avatars.

One rogue human, a paraplegic ex-military grunt played by Sam Worthington, is accepted into the Na'vi culture and eventually abandons his race to help defend the peace- loving natives from the humans' high-tech weaponry.

I'd argue that none of this is terribly important to the movie. What Avatar is essentially about is CGI animation, with an overused plot designed to showcase the $237 million spent on revolutionary 3D filmmaking technology. The hype about a non-cheesy 3D film paid off, as approximately 80% of Avatar's $555 billion in revenue in the United States and Canada comes from IMAX screenings, according to hollywoodreporter.com.

It reached the $1 billion mark in just 17 days. Outside of the U.S. this weekend, Avatar became the highest grossing film in history. I thought it was three hours of predictable eye candy, but the numbers don't lie.

Cameron created Pandora so convincingly that, unlike other sci-fi movies I've seen, I was never distracted criticizing the reality of the new world. The Na'vi in their bioluminescent rainforest were unique and strangely majestic without being uncomfortably alien. The Na'vi characters felt familiar, probably because we've seen the "noble savage" trope countless times and their peace loving, eco-friendly utopia has become a sort of generic throwback to an idyllic existence that popcorn munching Americans have never seen. Cameron masterfully appeals to our white guilt through a tried and true invocation of Native Americans.

I'm all for infusing an action blockbuster with a deeper message, but Cameron has wrangled his audience's sympathies and attention to impose a generic laundry list of anti-war, anti-corporate and anti-environmental degradation propaganda. Cameron deliberately makes his agenda clear enough to convince even the slowest of audience members. Even the name of the sought-after element that the humans ravage the planet Pandora for is "unobtainium." We get it, Cameron.

In fact, you spent three hours making sure we got it. I'm on your side; the rainforest is good and evil corporations are bad. But could you have introduced even a little gray into the black and white morality tale? Maybe I'm expecting too much out of a blockbuster. Avatar is great in that it forces the mass audience to consider politics. It's a discussion starter and effectively chronicles a number of very real issues facing American society today.

I was also struck by the incorporation of so many known stories into Avatar's plot. Even at the midnight premier, I felt like I'd seen it before. Cameron drew on familiar cultural elements to synthesize preexisting characters into a timeless story. Critics have called comparisons to Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves and Romeo and Juliet.

While Avatar was about as predictable as Titanic, Pandora did present a blank slate for Cameron and his artistic crew to unleash their imaginations resetting the classic story. Santa Clara alum Brian Fisher, who studied film, compared recycled plots to music: "Songs that may have similar chord progressions are not necessarily alike or bad for having comparable foundations." Fisher feels that the predictability of the plot should not be the sole evaluative tool for determining the overall quality of a film like Avatar.

Filmmakers like George Lucas and Walt Disney have all drawn on classic themes to turn culture into a widely accessible theatrical adventure. It's possible that I'm only complaining about Avatar's simplicity because I'm more drawn to Matrix-style brain bending movies.

Cameron really did re-invigorate the cinematic experience through the beautiful CGI work and by telling a simple, universally appealing story. I still felt somehow cheated by the corny dialogue, bland characters and stereotypical screenplay. Hopefully in movie making future, amazing graphics will be just a part of a great film, not the sole selling point.

Colleen Sinsky is a senior economics major.