{"id":283,"date":"2010-11-04T11:36:33","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T11:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/?p=283"},"modified":"2010-11-04T11:36:55","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T11:36:55","slug":"avatar-and-escapism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhing.com\/chaotic-tortoise\/2010\/11\/avatar-and-escapism\/","title":{"rendered":"Avatar and Escapism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0while ago, I mentioned that I enjoyed Avatar and that it was something I wanted to talk about.\u00a0 I realise that makes it sound like I\u2019m looking for some sort of counseling or that I feel it\u2019s something I need to confess as opposed to express, but I did find it a genuinely interesting film and I\u2019m a little perplexed as to why it received so much hate and negative criticism from the greater geekdom.\u00a0 Perhaps it was just because it did really well and there\u2019s an instinct to disregard anything that\u2019s mainstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0The theme is what interests me the most. \u00a0I\u2019m not talking about the basic plot of a man from an industrial and technological culture defecting to a more spiritual and romanticized tribal way of life in the style of dances with wolves or Space-Pocahontas or anything like that.\u00a0 What I mean the basic theme that underpins the entire film: that of escapism.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story follows Sully, a monster who is the top scarer at Monsters Inc<\/span>\u00a0an ex-marine who has been paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheel chair, stripping him of his identity as a soldier and condemning him to feel trapped in a life he is utterly unprepared for.\u00a0 The treatment exists to cure him, but he can\u2019t afford it, adding a layer of frustration to his torment in that he knows there is a way out, but that he feels powerless to reach it.\u00a0 This mirrors the way a lot of people feel towards their lives in modern society: They are trapped in lives they don\u2019t particularly enjoy and although they know there are ways out of it, they feel powerless to escape because they can\u2019t afford it, or it\u2019s just out of reach.\u00a0 Sully is invited onto a research program that his twin brother was working on that allows him to explore an utterly alien world through the body of a synthetic alien-like avatar, offering him a complete escape from his current life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So we\u2019re back to escapism.\u00a0 The film is about any video game where you create a character and explore a fantasy world.\u00a0 It has parallels to MMOs and the acceptance otherwise socially awkward or unaccepted people find within their virtual walls.\u00a0 Sully becomes a very much accepted member of his new society whereas it\u2019s clear from one of the opening scenes that he is looked upon with pity or shame by his own people.\u00a0 As he\u2019s leaving the drop ship, one of the passing marines comments \u201cthat\u2019s just sad\u201d when he sees Sully wheeling past him on the tarmac in a patronizing yet throw away fashion, telling us exactly what his people think of him and how they treat him. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0At first, Sully is very much a \u201cn00b\u201d in the alien society, learning how all the mechanics of how everything works and being run through various tutorials, but gradually he becomes highly proficient and skilled before becoming their leader and leading them in to a final battle to save their home.\u00a0 This is your atypical fish out of water story once again, set in the context of vicarious living through an avatar that allows you to be something you\u2019re not and achieve things you otherwise can not.\u00a0 In fact, the clue is in the title.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is currently the highest grossing film of all time, beating James Cameron\u2019s previous highest grossing film of all time about a love story on a sinking ship.\u00a0 Love story on sinking ship < sci-fi action about vicarious living through and avatar set on a visually stunning alien world.\u00a0 I would consider that statement a no brainier, but it\u2019s incredibly reassuring that so many fellow members of the general public feel the same.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Avatar was by no means a perfect film.\u00a0 There\u2019s a fair amount of cheese, some of the tropes are a little overused and heavy handed, and I suppose you\u2019d be disappointed if you were expecting twists and intrigue beyond the obvious, but there\u2019s a lot of good stuff in there as well.\u00a0 Some of it is clearly subjective: I personally think Unobtanium is a fantastic name and fantastic plot-macguffin that doesn\u2019t need an explanation but I know that had people spitting and spluttering in disgust at the unexplanium of the Unobtainium.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To all those that went into Avatar sneering that it was just Dances with Wolves in space, I\u2019d suggest giving it another try without letting that bother you.\u00a0 To be perfectly honest, I think I\u2019d also enjoy a film called Dance with Wolves in space, and I would wager that half the people who complain that it\u2019s Dances with Wolves in space hadn\u2019t heard of Dances with Wolves before they\u2019d heard that comment, much less seen it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Avatar is by no means the next generation\u2019s Star Wars (there isn\u2019t half as much toy-making or marketing potential in it) but it is a piece of original science fiction cinema that isn\u2019t based on a bastardized franchise and isn\u2019t a sequel to something.\u00a0 Even if the film was bad, in my book, that would count for something.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Additional Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The sequel might as well be given the tag line of \u201cthe burning crusade\u201d, or be about a massive dragon bursting out of the world, tearing it in two.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t mention it above, because it\u2019s not really important, but visually, Avatar is stunning.\u00a0 Every frame is packed with visual elegance without it being over saturated or distracting.\u00a0 Incidentally, on the subject of visuals, I got through this entire piece without mentioning 3D!\u00a0 I think I deserve a biscuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0while ago, I mentioned that I enjoyed Avatar and that it was something I wanted to talk about.\u00a0 I realise that makes it sound like I\u2019m looking for some sort of counseling or that I feel it\u2019s something I need to confess as opposed to express, but I did find it a genuinely interesting film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17,33],"tags":[50,240,51,18,52,25,27],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer_games","category-film","tag-avatar","tag-computer_games","tag-escapism","tag-games","tag-mmo","tag-science-fiction","tag-world-of-warcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nAvatar and escapism | Chaotic Tortoise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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