Are you fucking serious?

[MrEleven]

I think this argument just undermines real issues with race.

I find it ridiculous that people think the movie is even slightly racist.

Off topic, but is it not enough that the main character, the saviour of the planet was a minority, he was disabled? When have we seen a disabled man save a group of people, or a planet in a hollywood movie?

Maybe think of that achievement before crying wolf and making a non-issue out of this movie.

 

[StlKj]

Yeah, my horrible comments pointing out that some minorities upset by the film might possibly not be idiots as suggested by people in this thread. Even my dig at mikami and the ipad came with an emoticon to attempt to infuse some humor. You're the one coming on like a flame, trying to force someone onto the other side of an argument that only exists in your head.

And with that, I'm done trying to talk to a brick wall.

 

[StlKj]

That's all that I've been trying to say.

Is HE talking about the human race? Meaning, in HIS mind. HIS.

Jesus.

 

[CaptainJohn]

Oh my god! I just realized that the bible is one of the most racist books ever! Nowhere in there does it mention that any of the protaganists are black/indian/chinese/phillipino/eskimo/martian/whatever!






Some people seriously need to get a life.

 

[Entity]

Or it's just a movie and people are bitchin' for no reason.

Avatar was fantastic by the way, Imax 3D was pretty badass. Music was great, Visuals were great. So what if it was a little Dances with wolves, it was a great movie, and to pick up a racist undertone in the movie is ridiculous and goes to show how little people have going for them that this needs to get them off.

Look at the movie from a different perspective, the one they force feed you.

Humans are bad. (Although not all) Na'vi are not.

Why does everything have to be so black and white?

I'd join the Na'vi any day.
*Hangs self upon realization that Pandora isn't real*



Ewwwwww, i hate that i JUST changed my avatar to this one, now I seem like a fanboy

 

[Kennylingus]

Wow.
....Just wow.

 

[Lefty]

I would repeat my post #49 but that would require to much typing

and nobody read it or commented on it anyway.

My Cameronesque attempt at social commentary totally wasted on

the merely human raced specie..

I want my 2 cents back

 

[StlKj]

Thank you.

Yeah, so I'm back, because I'm curious about something, Stacy, and maybe you can provide some perspective. I thought it was a beautiful touch that they made Sully a character who deals with a physical challenge--how often do we get to see that? But for a movie that takes such a leap, then they do nothing with it at all. In the first few moments of the movie it seems like perhaps we'll learn something about him and his struggles, but then they completely abandon how life might be like for him, and they use it as a plot device instead. He infiltrates the Na'vi so he can get his ability to walk back--and then he gets it anyway by becoming one of them. We don't get to see anything that might resemble a realistic emotion from him about how she might respond if she were to find out he is in a wheel chair. Could that not have layered more emotional depth onto their relationship? Would that not have made him an even greater hero, to see how a person with a disability might genuinely respond when presented with such a difficult and weighty decision? I thought it was an inspired move on Cameron's part--is it wrong of me to wish I could have seen more involving such an important part of the character's struggles?

And really, Everyone, just saying it's a fucking movie and enjoy it for what it is is a lame response. If you want to just see films like this without actually talking about things that matter, don't join in the conversation, and go see Transformers 2 again. James Cameron drew very obvious parallels between real life situations and politics and those in the movie. When those parallels are thinly-veiled and rather heavy-handed, what is wrong with discussing them? Is Avatar just a kick-ass action film that uses real-life parallels and stock characters to make you have a visual orgasm, or is it also supposed to be a work of art that teaches us something and has a message to it? Cameron seems to be suggesting there's a message, and if there is, is it wrong for the viewers to question that message or how it was delivered?

As I said, I loved the film, flaws and all. But I also love film and its ability as art to make us ask questions, not only about its meaning, but its execution of that meaning as well.

 

[Lefty]

Some one around here is not only killing jokes but seems intent on killing the fun in a movie too.

Why has my old bud got such a burr under his saddle over a freaking movie?

 

[StlKj]

Some one around here is not only killing jokes but seems intent on killing the fun in a movie too.

Why has my old bud got such a burr under his saddle over a freaking movie?

Because, Darlin', when I love something, I'm not blinded by its flaws. Is there really harm in discussing such things? Maybe it's just my background as an English teacher, but I was taught that to love a piece of art, or even to hate it, is not to just dismiss it. My God, I don't want to be standing in front of a magnificent painting and hear someone dismiss it with "ew, that sucks." I want to know why they think it sucks. Or if they love it, why do they love it? Aren't those the kinds of discussions to be had over a cup of coffee while deepening our understanding of each other as humans?

No, I guess we can only have opinions based on gut reactions, and anyone who wants to have true discourse is just a fun-killer. I try to understand why people might find some offense to this movie, while others would rather just dismiss them as idiots, completely ignoring the conditions of their lives that might lead them to see it that way.

 

[StlKj]

KJ.

When the moment came that she was about to see him in is "human" form my immediate emotional response was "What will she think of him in this form? Will it matter?" In some ways I think Cameron handled it well because the simple fact that she had no other reaction to him but the love she felt for him in his Avatar form was still there. At least that's what I am hoping he was trying to convey.

Cameron lacks a lot of emotional conveyances in the film, his writing is terrible and there were so many things I wanted to shake him and scream at him for.

But the simple fact is, he did portray Sully as someone with a disability that would act and react exactly how he did. In my dreams I am an able bodied woman. I never see myself as disabled in my subconscious. So the fact that they left his struggles out of the film just shows that they understood that his goal was to be that guy in his dreams. Yes, had the film not had 101 battle scenes and had Cameron not spent so much time showing the audience the bitchin' stuff you can do with 3-D animation now, there would have been more time to explore Sully's difficulties and give that part a little more depth.

There were little nuances that showed him in the way many of us who are disabled feel though. You never see him being "helped" unless it's absolutely necessary. He was never lifted into the machines, he was never taken care of by anyone. That is how we all want to be treated. We struggle but we are still independent (those of us that can be anyway).

So in some ways Cameron portrayed a disabled person perfectly. By pretending it's not there. That's how I like to be seen. I want people to forget.

Yes it would have been nice to see what he deals with and to show at least one or two of the other people seeing him differently - because in reality not everyone is going to look past that. Instead of going there, Cameron made his lack of training as a scientist the reason they doubted him. That was a cop-out in my opinion.

I'm not even going to breach the topic of racism at this point. My feelings of the movie are that it was very very spectacularly filmed in vision and wow factor. Everything else, including plot and emotion, was weak and disappointing.

I'm glad you got some of that out of the film, Hon. I actually did as well. I thought it was a bold move on Cameron's part, and I applaud him for it, even if I would have liked more from him on the issue. If he hadn't taken the step to have such a character as a lead, then I couldn't have been left wanting more in the first place. And to his credit, the character does have to deal with a few comments and looks from his fellow soldiers-for-hire at the beginning, at least hinting at what it might be like for someone who was once able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them and kick their asses for making such comments.

It's probably lame to admit, but when I saw him in the wheel chair, I thought of you for a second, and I was excited for you to see such a thing. I would have felt some of the same giddy energy if, when he met the Na'vi, he would have fallen in love with a male member of the tribe. How splendid and bold would that have been?

 

[StlKj]

Considering that I just used the word "lame" much in the same way as others might use the word "gay," I still have a ways to go.

My sincerest apologies, even though you graciously didn't even point it out.

 

[Lefty]

Sorry we miscommunicated, my California Spanglish must not translate well... I will still care for you at the end of this thread.

When I see a work of art or read one I am in awe, not love...I save love for more animate and hopefully even some more intimate moments...I do movies, music, many books and even JUB for entertainment. Sometimes I glean some intellectual titillation from those genres but not love.

For edification I listen to many people and make use of both the right and left sides of my brain for evaluation and determination. I wish the brain were larger or had a higher capacity...but that is my disability.
'
Sorry, don't mean to prattle on like a 'Fill Gosh a Fee' prof or a grad student (small joke) so will hang up hoping you won't be...aren't offended by my thoughts.

 

[StlKj]

That is an incredibly enlightened view, and I appreciate it.

That still doesn't mean I shouldn't aim to a higher standard--I do, and I will.

 

[Adrock-JD]

So the film is biased towards imaginary blue people.

White males have been portrayed as idiots in television commercials for sometime now. They can't do anything around the house without the help of a female?

Okay, granted, that's true for a lot but that's not my point.

Some of us can cook, clean and write checks for bills and I'm certain that some of us are better than some blue people.

I have no idea wtf I'm talking about but I'm pretty sure I just pissed off somebody.

 

[StlKj]

Sorry we miscommunicated, my California Spanglish must not translate well... I will still care for you at the end of this thread.

When I see a work of art or read one I am in awe, not love...I save love for more animate and hopefully even some more intimate moments...I do movies, music, many books and even JUB for entertainment. Sometimes I glean some intellectual titillation from those genres but not love.

For edification I listen to many people and make use of both the right and left sides of my brain for evaluation and determination. I wish the brain were larger or had a higher capacity...but that is my disability.
'
Sorry, don't mean to prattle on like a 'Fill Gosh a Fee' prof or a grad student (small joke) so will hang up hoping you won't be...aren't offended by my thoughts.

No offense at all, Lefty. Rarely do I ever type anything on here with venom or hurt feelings. Frustration and annoyance with some posters, yes, but rarely anything more than that. And not even that with you.

 

[Lefty]

Oh my god...Stacy,

At first I thought that was directed at me and I was crushed. You might have a physical challenge (p.c.) or two but your tongue is definitely not lame. A lingual gymnist you are.

One of my "disabilities" is insecurity and its not funny but sometimes the ones people can see are more easily accepted and understood.

I have never gushed over you, your chair or your femaleness..I have hugged and slammed you just like another other peep on this rag of a site and will continue to do so until one of us cries Uncle..or Aunt or Discrimination.



Any chance you're over Elvie yet? He is not worthy..he is a dog in lambs woolies.

 

[StlKj]

So the film is biased towards imaginary blue people.

White males have been portrayed as idiots in television commercials for sometime now. They can't do anything around the house without the help of a female?

Okay, granted, that's true for a lot but that's not my point.

Some of us can cook, clean and write checks for bills and I'm certain that some of us are better than some blue people.

I have no idea wtf I'm talking about but I'm pretty sure I just pissed off somebody.

I am highly offended you chose to show a seemingly angry Smurf, as we all know the majority of Smurfs are happy-go-lucky most of the time. Are you trying to portray them in a negative light just so you can make your offended white male stance more sympathetic?

For shame, Sir, for shame!!


(see what I did there?)

 

[Lefty]

JD

It's time to smell (and make) the coffee man.

This current phase is what your mother meant when she said DON'T PISS ME OFF.

So many of us (males of all skin configurations) took it as a personal remark when mom meant it as a feminist and globally. The sad part is we have only just begun to atone for that grievious male transgression on the largest and longest lived, longest memoried species on our planet...yes,
on MOTHER earth.

 

[Lefty]

Damn....that bitch (generic not sexist) talks tough....

But mention Elvie and here comes the mush...OMG care dudes..Thats sticky but throw in Pattinson and ICKY takes on a whole new saccharine definition.