The Irony of Avitar

Yes, I went and say James Cameron's movie, along with my wife and son and some good friends. And yes, I have several thoughts about the movie, and thought I would write them down. So here goes:

1) The movie is visually spectacular. We treated ourselves to the 3D version, slapped on the classy glasses and remained visually engaged for 2/12 hours! The colors and the speed were especially impressive to me. As a film designed for pure visual engagement I rate it very high.

2) I also marveled at how Cameron got me to consider the Na'vi as though they were human. By the end of the movie, I was quite attached to several of them as characters with "something" about them that I found admirable. I found myself wanting to visit their world. That was strange for me given that I absolutely hate science fiction films.

3) It was hard to see American soldiers as the bad guys, just as it was hard to miss Cameron's biases concerning the deity of the environment, the evil of progress and corporate greed, and the interconnected "pantheism" of all living creatures. But, honestly, I knew this going in, and did not attend this film for the purposes of political enlightenment.

4) My main impression was that the film is a classic example of post-modern irony. Here's what I mean:

The basis of the film is that technological advancement comes at the price of our natural environment, and the authenticity of relationship. More technology means we get less real life. This is part of the post-modern cry against the "religion of progress" that fueled modernism. And yet, the irony here is that it is the very progress of technology that Cameron relied upon to make the film in the first place. He uses newly developed techniques to produce a film that vilifies new techniques. What the film's bad guys do to the Na'vi in the name of progress is essentially what Cameron has done to traditional film making with his technologically advanced techniques.

In a nutshell, this is the problem with the post-modern answers that some are trying to give to the problems of modernity. The answers themselves need modern elements as their foundation. For example, one of the mantras of post-modernism is that we can never know something is true for sure. Yet, to prove this, they have to resort to some sort of absolutism, which is truly modern.

So, as a film critic I am totally unreliable. I enjoy what I enjoy, even when it is laced with bad political theory, and even worse theology. For me, Avitar was filled with both, and yet, since I don't believe thinking people get their politics and theology from Hollywood, I'm not going to castigate Avitar as dangerous. And as for non-thinking people, even if they do take some erroneous views away from this movie, they'll forget them as soon as they leave the theater.

Hope this helps,

David