Avatar

[Joseph Tracy]

  Avatar is the Ist full length imax 3D film I have  seen. It was  
quite a ride if not exactly a bold  venture into the unknown as  
storytelling. Lotta silly shit in here, but I think the Newitz review  
is too harsh and too narrow as a cultural lens. This is about  
civilization's war on  tribal cultures , not dark skinned people.  
Also it ignores the fact that a film of mass appeal is taking an  
openly subversive position on the role of the  US corporate/military/  
colonial/ mercenary nexus. Nothing was disguised  and I saw military  
looking fellows walking out after the movie shaking their heads and  
looking disturbed. For me that justifies the many weak points. This  
is not pure escapism, and I hope it has some disturbing effects on  
the culture, particularly on youth.


We really do live at a time when the last traces of tribal cultures  
are being extinguished along with vast swaths of the planet's complex  
ecosystems. All done in pursuit of the rocket fuel of infinite  
consumption.