‘Avatar’: What If Cameron’s Na’Vi Found Christ?
by Big HollywoodJonah Goldberg in The Los Angeles Times:
In short, “Avatar” tells the tale of a disabled Marine, Jake Sully, who — through the wonders of movie magic — occupies the body of a 10-foot-tall alien so he can live among the mystical forest denizens of the moon world Pandora. Sully is sent in mufti, like a futuristic Lawrence of Arabia, to further the schemes of the evil corporate nature-rapists desperate to obtain the precious mineral “unobtainium” (no, really). Jake inevitably goes native, embraces the eco-faith of Pandora’s Na’Vi inhabitants and their tree goddess, the “all mother,” and rallies the Pandoran aborigines (not to mention the Pandoran ecosystem itself) against the evil forces of a thinly veiled 22nd century combine of Blackwater and Halliburton.
The film has been subjected to a sustained assault from many on the right, most notably by Ross Douthat in the New York Times, as an “apologia for pantheism.” Douthat’s criticisms hit the mark, but the most relevant point was raised by John Podhoretz in the Weekly Standard. Cameron wrote “Avatar,” says Podhoretz, “not to be controversial, but quite the opposite: He was making something he thought would be most pleasing to the greatest number of people.”
What would have been controversial is if — somehow — Cameron had made a movie in which the good guys accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts.
Of course, that sounds outlandish and absurd, but that’s the point, isn’t it? We live in an age in which it’s the norm to speak glowingly of spirituality but derisively of traditional religion. If the Na’Vi were Roman Catholics, there would be boycotts and protests. Make the oversized Smurfs Rousseauian noble savages and everyone nods along, save for a few cranky right-wingers.
Read the full column here.
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158 Comments
Please don't bring up John Podhoretz.
Or Evangelicals. If the Na'avi became Protestants, they'd get burned at the stake (cinematically speaking).
I can imagine the reviews…
'Avatar's majestic effects are throughly ruined by a preachy subtext.'
Here's one I've mentioned before: Black Robe. It's about a French Jesuit priest traveling with Indians through Canada in the 1500s, trying to locate a remote mission that hasn't been heard from in months. It's got sex, violence, a love story, good Indians, bad Indians – and interesting questions about faith, duty, love, culture clashes, and other things. It doesn't depict the French or the Jesuits as genocidal white imperialists. It doesn't depict the Indians as Noble Savages. (Some are in fact Noble, others are just Savages – big time.) It mostly contains some of the most beautiful outdoor settings I've ever seen – huge shots of tiny people moving through a vast, pristine Canadian wilderness. Highly recommended if you want a movie with a less in-your-face "message" about Christianity and the European settlement of North America.
What would have been controversial is if — somehow — Cameron had made a movie in which the good guys accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts.
Why do I picture the smurfcats as Roman guards scourging the newly religiously oriented marine as the princess washes her hands in magical earth mother water?
Perhaps its due to Mr. Cameron's reputation for "borrowing" ideas from his fellow writers.
I went to see an EVENT movie and that's what I got. The 3-D environment of Pandora was immersive and spectacular.
I felt the references to European settlers displacing the native American population were spot-on; and I felt the handful of references to the Iraq war were strained and artificial. My only complaint is that rather than just a small group of Corporate-Baddies, all of humanity, the race that destroyed their now-brown-no-green-Mother-Earth; were portrayed as the bad guys.
It's a Science Fiction movie. The Na'Vi being spiritually and physically connected to their planet and environment isn't a real thing. In order to enjoy it, you'll have to do away with reality and religious beliefs.
Having done that for 21/2 hours, and knowing it was a Sci-Fi movie, the reward was a very satisfying movie-going experience that lived up to my expectations of an EVENT movie.
Wow, I did not realize Cameron was officially "stuck" in Gore's Brown Hole.
You might also want to check out Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" as an EVENT movie. Thrill to the grand vistas of Germany and the solidarity of the German people in their native land. The set design and choreography is simply stunning. Like AVATAR, it doesn't have much of a plot, but it is an EVENT. Leni was also worried about the native Germanic peoples being invaded by commercially exploitive foreigners so I'm sure you'll love it .
If the Nav'ii accepted "christ" they would be worse off like anybody that "accepts" any nonsense religious mumbo jumbo. religion is for fearful little people that like to wallow in in ignorance and fear.
Unlike the hate and intolerance espoused by enlightened individuals such as yourself.
Maybe next the Romulans can "find Christ." Then the Klingons. Perhaps Wall-e should have started quoting scripture at the end of the movie. That's controversial! A robot who's also a Christian!
I haven't seen Avatar, and I don't know if I will, but Jonah should stick to writing his column instead of coming up with ways to make already marginal entertainment even worse. Just as most films suffer when we're beaten over the head with a left-wing agenda, most films also suffer when we're beaten over the head with a right-wing agenda.
It's very poor form to compare Hitler propaganda to AVATAR in order to undermine my opinion that the movie has value despite some flaws that I pointed out. You are way off-base in your analogy, and an embarrassment to conservatives.
We won't, will you leave now?
stupid! this idea is just stupid!
Right. Listen, I'm about to die laughing so when I get to the Other Side I'll let William of Occam, St. Augustine, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Captain John Smith, Joan of Arc, Albert Schweitzer, Gandhi and all those other ignorant, fearful religious people to stop their wallowing. K?
Uhhh…. believe it or not, some people who call themselves left-wing also claim to be religious. Religion is not a "right-wing agenda". If you haven't seen Avatar and don't know if you will, why do you care? If a writer/director wants to come out with a religious based film will you describe it as having a "right-wing agenda", even if you don't see it?
Remember, the environmentalist/greens/global warming movement is also a "religious" movement. They just don't believe in God, however they maintain their religious fervor in the name of mother earth. Paganism is not the absence of religion, it's a false religion that worships false gods, not the one True God.
That was quite an ignorant statement by someone who will NEVER come close to achieving anything remotely close to what those people did with their lives.
Do you worship at the altar of "Global Warming", rc? I'm sure you consider yourself a very enlightened, tolerant, intelligent person. Well you just failed miserably, troll. Talk about wallowing in ignorance and fear. Now look in the mirror and repeat after me, "rc is a jack@ss, rc is a jack@ss, rc is a jack@ss".There, fixed it for you.
Then why did you read it and why are you here? Mommy let you out of the basement?
But then the majority of the reviewers would be saying that, instead of a "cranky" minority.
IntenseDebate Notification <DIV>Thanks again for the translation, Jake. Guess I'll have to learn Spanish, always wanted to……</DIV> <DIV style=\”FONT: 10pt arial\”>
Thanks for proving my point. Avatar isn't a good movie because it overdoes the whole "man rapes the earth and destroys indigenous cultures." I've heard this any number of times, which is why it's not high on my list of films to see. Likewise, I don't line up the night before for every new Kirk Cameron flick that comes out.
p.s. Paganism encompasses any number of actual religions, of which there are millions to billions of adherents. And by the way, did God personally tell you He's the "One True God" and your religion is the only way to gain spiritual enlightenment–or did someone else tell you that? There's a reason it's called faith and not fact.
Well thought-out piece, ultimately undone by not paying close enough attention to the details in the movie.
The Na'Vi don't have a "religion." Religion is based on belief in unknowable supernatural concepts (i.e. if you can prove that a god exists, it isn't a god.) The Na'Vi don't "believe" in Pandora's all-powerful nature-consciousness, they KNOW it's there (and so do most of the humans, the bad ones simply don't CARE that it's there) because they interface with it biologicially.
FWIW, the humans don't seem to have ANY religious background, and are openly derisive of the idea until the human scientists explain that what's at work on Pandora ISN'T magic but scientific. One gets the sense that Cameron doesn't think much of religion, since a huge amount of exposition is devoted to hammering home that it doesn't exist in "Avatar's" context…
If Douthat, that egg-headed squish that calls himself a right-winger, doesn't like it then maybe I'm going to have to change my opinion of it.
Why yes, he did indeed tell me…….the True Light of God, which resides in us all, is self-evident. Now whether we choose to listen to it , or not, is our choice as defined by "free will".
Now as for proving your point, I'm not real sure how I achieved that, as your "point" was illogical, at best. Wasn't your "point" that a religious film would have a "right-wing agenda"? BTW, my faith is,indeed, based on fact
Just sayin'…. God Bless and have a nice day.
Show me a liberal filmmaker who makes religious movies and I'll show you a conservative filmmaker who makes porn.
Just saying.
Show me 1 film in100 that have a religious "right-wing agenda" and I'll show you a chicken with teeth. So why are you complaining about the above article?
Just sayin'….;-)
"You might also want to check out Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" as an EVENT movie. Thrill to the grand vistas of Germany and the solidarity of the German people in their native land. The set design and choreography is simply stunning. Like AVATAR, it doesn't have much of a plot, but it is an EVENT. Leni was also worried about the native Germanic peoples being invaded by commercially exploitive foreigners so I'm sure you'll love it ."
Comparing Hitler propaganda to an EVENT movie shows your lack of intelligence. I can see how this site works. Any person who offers a fair review of the movie, and includes anything positive about it, gets marked with a negative because it included positive information, and any person who unfairly reviews the movie, as long as that review is a slam against AVATAR (remember the false blog about this being a movie about our military) is met with a positive mark by those willing to follow the leader.
Ignorant conservatives are an embarrassment and this is one of those cases.
Now let the negative marks fly – Show what sheep you are.
"Peter" here thinks Christians are stupid for believing we are intelligently designed, and think they are smart for believing they are not designed intelligently at all. Oh, the irony.
http://www.youtube.com/user/jaguarhorse
"Peter" there thinks Christians are stupid for believing we are intelligently designed, and think they are smart for believing they are not designed intelligently at all. Oh, the irony.
http://www.youtube.com/user/jaguarhorse
Why don't you just blow me?
So, you missed the point, I see.
How is accepting "christ" any different from accepting the tree mother?
stupid! this idea is just stupid!
Of course it is stupid. We all know that the tree mother is the one true god.
Wow, congratulations on completely missing the point.
He wasn't comparing Hitler to Avatar. His point was that the fact that something is an EVENT movie does not mean you are free to ignore the propaganda contained within the EVENT movie.
Sorry didn't mean to go plural… let me try again.
"Peter" here thinks Christians are stupid for believing we are intelligently designed, and thinks he is smart for believing he is not designed intelligently at all. Oh, the irony.
Sorry didn't mean to go plural… let me try again.
"Peter" there thinks Christians are stupid for believing we are intelligently designed, and thinks he is smart for believing he is not designed intelligently at all. Oh, the irony.
No evidence for the "tree mother"… Got some?
I didn't miss the point – Learn how to read. Comparing Hitler PROPAGANDA (don't delete words) to an AVATAR movie (because it's an EVENT movie) is INSANE!! It was clearly written in the first review (that was attacked) that the reader acknowledged the negative and did NOT ignore the propaganda, but chose to enjoy the movie for what it was – a Science Fiction (nor reality based) movie.
GET A GRIP PEOPLE – IT'S A MOVIE!!!
Conservatives like you make normal conservatives look bad. How many people (ignorant puppet conservatives) are going to run around repeating that this movie is about our military, based on false information on this blog site, because they are too stupid to think for themselves?
Looks like you missed the point – and to the person who said "blow me" your lack of maturity is showing. Another embarrassment to the sane conservatives.
The review was fair (it's very possible to enjoy a fantasy movie with spectacular 3-D effects) while putting aside one's own biased agenda – obviously something many on here are unable to do. Bigots!
I remember that movie! I found it horribly depressing at the time. But it sure was historically accurate, I guess.
No, as everyone knows, it is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
"Avatar" meets "The Mission"? Truth be told, it might have been a more interesting take on the concept of discovering the new world all over again. But it lends itself better to a drama than blow-em-up action flick.
If he made a point of the scientific basis it was likely because all of the trappings of a pantheistic nature religion were there and inescapable. The difference being that the pantheistic religion, the nature-consciousness, is real. Being real doesn't make something disappear. Being real *confirms* it.
Amen. One of my favorites. And unless I am overlooking something, it is Bruce Beresford's last great film.
"I remember everyone looked really cold and hungry all the time…and then most of them died horrible deaths. "
An accurate description about living life at one with nature.
Anyone that agrees with you is fair, anyone that does not is ignorant, does that about sum up your position?
LOL! Genius! I need to remember that!
and live in fear of the day when the rain of flaming meatballs commeth.
It's different in that accepting Christ is more common with everyday folds, and more commonly ridiculed by the entertainment world.
This movie should have been named "Dances with Aliens"……the whole staff should stay after school for plagiarism.
Here's another idea: Space colonists land on planet of Smurfs living harmoniously with nature and spending their days hunting and gathering when not copulating with each other's perfectly muscled blue ten foot bodies in the majestic redwoods. The colonists seek to clear away some of the majestic forest to farm the lush soil to produce enough food to feed not only themselves, but the Smurfs, too, and to have enough left over to export. The powerful Smurfs resist this blatant nature-rape and prevent the colonists from farming, leaving everyone on the planet to remain hunters-gatherers. With the additional mouths to feed, the mighty un-tilled forest soon runs out of enough food to feed all the colonists and Smurfs, who continue to resist modern farming methods. The film ends with half the populations of the two groups dead of starvation (but not before a stunning Battle Royale between a bunch of good and bad giant robots who show up just in time to entertain the audience).
That was my point about this site and the negative/positive ratings prove my point. The original reader's review was fair, but some over-reactive person undermined that review because they didn't agree with it. Somebody can get on here and outright lie about the movie or mischaracterize it by saying our military is represented as the bad guys, and like a bunch of sheep, the majority believe it and run with that false notion. Most on here are no better than liberals who have an agenda. All I'm saying is learn to think for yourselves and stop undermining people you don't agree with.
Do not mock the Pastafarians!!
And why I don't go camping.
they do wear those really cool dreadlocks.
I have and still do (in some very inhospitable places) but I go in with no illusions. Never know when true primitive skills (not the weepy tree hugger crap that the left idolizes) will come in handy so I keep them honed.
I actually have great respect for those that know what they're doing in the great outdoors. If I ever meet my Tarzan, I'm sure I'll adapt. (hey–I get the Cabelas catalog!) Seeing/reading "Into the Wild" just drove home the fact that people have zero business in the woods if they don't know what the hell they're doing, or have the smarts to hire people who do.
Sheep? Are you serious? Let's see here, the typical lib dross verbiage goes something like this~ad hominem,ad hominem, ad hominem, don't address a valid point or issue, ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. Here's 1 for you, just to let the marks(sparks?) fly, go back to HuffHo or Kos and form a line so that you and your cohorts can pat eachother on the rear ends in assembly line fashion. Just sayin'….
Now we need a movie that's an Avatar like movie, but it turns out that the tree goddes plant sentience is malevolent, and has destroyed the aliens' civilization every time it reaches a certain level of technology, because it feeds on their brains. Also, the destroyed alien civilization's scientists new it was dangerous, but "fudged" the data in the name of protecting the environment from industrialization.
Godwinning the thread already? You have such bad form!
I get your point, though.
By reading all the replies to RicardoCabeza's message, I have to wonder if those are the kind of replies Christ would use. Do you all really think that your responses to him would actually show love toward your enemies as directed by Christ?
Oh man, that gave me a story idea. A tree-hugge goes out into the woods to stop a logging development. At first they have fun standing against trees and doing enviro-terrorist stuff. Things go terribly wrong when he and his girlfriend get lost in the wood and actually have to survive. It can be serious or it can be a comedy. Either way, it does remind me of the movie Mosquito Coast when the father goes out into the jungle and finds he can't really survive on idealism alone.
Nice try. Liberals love to try to get Christians to roll over and play dead.
Sorry, ahavah. Loving your enemies does not include rolling over and letting them beat you up. In fact, you can still win love your enemies AFTER you win the battle.
Let the truth be said, if the Bible was false, then everyone would love Christians.
Ha, ha, I love it! Going to have to remember this one the next time I'm told how ignorant I am because "its just a movie, and the special effects are worth every penny of admission."
I'm conservative, the movie is clearly flawed in the respects mentioned. However, the "good" vs. "evil" subtext is so poorly played out that it has no impact. I went to see the effects. I don't believe that anyone is lauding the story. Honestly it is too bad that the story is ridiculously stereotypical because the effects and animations were that good.
The last Rambo was kind of on that line.
What is it about AVATAR bringing out the leftist wackos? Every time this movie is mentioned Big Hollywood gets more of them than any other topic.
I respect your review. A lot of people here are just fed up with preachy liberals messing up a movie with their heavy-handed self-righteousness. I didn't see Avatar. I'll rent it in a few months, just to have a look at the visuals. But when I read the plot line to Cameron's latest self-indulgence, I just can't endure another insult from a depraved Hollywoodpecker…at least not when I'm buying a ticket.
"Sheep? Are you serious? Let's see here, the typical lib dross verbiage goes something like this~ad hominem,ad hominem, ad hominem, don't address a valid point or issue, ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. Here's 1 for you, just to let the marks(sparks?) fly, go back to HuffHo or Kos and form a line so that you and your cohorts can pat eachother on the rear ends in assembly line fashion. Just sayin'…."
Yes, you’re sheep if you base your decision on whether or not to see a film on reviews that don’t even get the basic points of the movie correct. As an example, the military in AVATAR are NOT the U.S. Marines as one Big Hollywood reviewer wrote. As another sheep example, I find it interesting that this site will rate “blow me” as a +3 comment, but a four-paragraph review, noting positive and negative aspects of the film, receives a –3 rating. Next time, I’ll remember to go with “blow me” to impress the sheeple.
The only comment even approaching a “valid point” was the comparison of “Triumph of the Will” to AVATAR, and I already responded to that. I guess since my response wasn’t “blow me” – and nobody got it – I’ll give it another shot. Now, “Triumph of the Will” was a fictionalized presentation of a real world government and an apologetic for Nazi geopolitical aims. Propaganda to promote Hitler and Nazism does not equate with a fictionalized future extraterrestrial conflict in which the very nature of the protagonists has no real world equivalent. Until any of the indigenous sapient species on Earth can literally and physically “plug in” to their environment, their past ancestors, and their god, the moral choices made by the characters in AVATAR have no real world equivalent. On the most basic level, “Triumph of the Will” was not a cinematic EVENT movie because it did nothing to advance the very nature by which movies can be crafted (AVATAR’s CGI motion capture system is the first time the nuances of an actor’s performance can be translated to a computer generated image) and “Triumph of the Will” was not an EVENT movie (except for maybe Nazi party big wigs) because it was not a recreational, escapist cinematic experience.
As far a the comment, “Leni was also worried about the native Germanic peoples being invaded by commercially exploitive foreigners so I'm sure you'll love it,” he/she must not have read what I wrote. I said, “It's a Science Fiction movie. The Na'Vi being spiritually and physically connected to their planet and environment isn't a real thing. In order to enjoy it, you'll have to do away with reality and religious beliefs.” I specifically stated, “you’ll have to do away with reality and religious beliefs” in describing the FICTIONAL setting of the AVATAR story. If you accept the idea that the Na’Vi can spiritually and physically connect with their environment, their ancestors, and their god, and you then believe committing genocide against them is a morally defensible act, that’s not a liberal or conservative viewpoint, it’s monstrous and reprehensible. “Triumph of the Will” is the antithesis of AVATAR in the sense that it promoted a (real life) system that saw genocide as an appropriate social and economic tool, just as the RDA mercenary army and corporate leadership did. Suspension of belief (the Na’Vi can spiritually and physically connect with their world and god) in AVATAR is NOT the same as suspension of belief (that Germanic peoples were threatened enough to justify genocide). AVATAR has not happened and most likely cannot happen. It’s PRETEND. “Triumph of the Will” was a glossy reflection of a real life engine of destruction that cost humanity about 60 million souls. Agreeing with the poster’s viewpoint that a person who enjoyed AVATAR would also enjoy “Triumph of the Will” requires either mean-spirited intent or sheep-like, unthinking, tagging along mentality.
And if you don’t agree, blow me!
IntenseDebate Notification <DIV>Verrrry lucid and sentient, indeed. I didn't know sheeple could speak english, must be damned difficult to type with your hoof, tee hee hee….</DIV> <DIV style=\”FONT: 10pt arial\”>
IntenseDebate Notification <DIV>Verrrrrry lucid and sentient comments, indeed. I was not aware sheeple knew english, much less satire. Brilliant!! Must be damned difficult to type with your hoof though, tee hee hee….</DIV> <DIV style=\”FONT: 10pt arial\”>
Did you really expect anything better from someone whose user name means 'Dick Head" in Spanish?
"..most films also suffer when we're beaten over the head with a right-wing agenda. "
Um, When has THAT happened in the last 30 years?
Jettboy, close but the thing that really, really brings out the lefty whack jobs is any article that is favorable to a certain mother of five, former governor and now best selling author. Maybe we can convince Mrs. Palin to write a review of Avatar and then we can watch the fur really fly.
You might want to read The Tuloriad by John Ringo and Tom Kratman. Pope Benedict has a little job for a rejuved Jesuit Priest and a sentient warship. Oh and that "offer you can't refuse" that Tulo'stenaloor got at the end of Hell's Faire is revealed.
Your words seem oddly full of fear when you write that.
Do you indulge in pronouncements like this often?
Thank you. Black Robe is an excellent, underrated movie.
Yes it is a dark story. The movie has a tough and unsentimental outlook that makes it, I think, historically plausible. I hate it when modern values and judgements are injected too blatantly into a historical setting and characters sound like 21st century dudes. To a certain degree it is unavoidable, but when the rare movie comes along that takes its characters and their world seriously, let us praise it.
I´m glad you liked it. The eye candy is there, no doubt.
"My only complaint is that … all of humanity, the race that destroyed their now-brown-no-green-Mother-Earth; were portrayed as the bad guys."
But that is the deal. Don´t think environmentalism is about blaming "them". It´s ultimately about controlling "you". You´re the problem.
"It's a Science Fiction movie. The Na'Vi being spiritually and physically connected to their planet and environment isn't a real thing. In order to enjoy it, you'll have to do away with reality and religious beliefs."
But you don´t "do away with religious beliefs". The point is that the movie peddles a quasi-religious idea of all-encompassing spiritual something. As a liberal message movie, it is not Christian but it sure isn´t secular or rational. I think the word for it is "mumbo jumbo".
What if their heads were proportional to the rest of their bodies? That's what I'd like to see.
It is not about what the Navi know, or whether Cameron invents a scientific basis for it. Inventing scientific proof in a movie is no different than having a couple of saints appear. It just help to sell to the audience. And what the movie sells, in the context of 21st century Earth, is the usual pagan, pantheist mumbo jumbo "spirituality". Which is just a matter of fashion and wanting to hang with the cool kids.
Goldberg´s point is that liberals may not be Christian, but they can´t help clinging to religious concepts, sometimes quite openly so. As they become less Christian, they do not become one bit more rational or even secular – though that is what they flatter themselves with – just more superstitious. They don´t believe in nothing, they believe in anything. Feng shui anyone?
I don´t always agree with Douthat but he is worth reading. You know, it is easy to dish out the red meat to hardcore conservatives 24/7. A guy who is basically a conservative but has different views on some issues is good to have around. And if he can´t convince me at least I can say I tried
1. The first bad sign was the trailer, not reviews. Does the trailer not "get the movie correct"?
2. It is not the US military but anyone can see the heavyhanded parallels. Young people around the world will perceive them as a stand-in for the US, not themselves or some world government. And they don´t look like global mercenaries either. We had that discussion a week ago.
3. Regarding the Riefenstahl thing, all he said what that a movie being spectacular (an event) doesn´t mean it has merit. It´s a crude argument but it´s true as far as it goes.
4. "…the moral choices made by the characters in AVATAR have no real world equivalent…"
But they have real world consequences in that the movie peddles a view, an interpretation of real world events, however vaguely. Cameron said as much. We are simply holding a director accountable for HIS choices. You got a problem with that, too?
5. "If you accept the idea that the Na’Vi can spiritually and physically connect with their environment …. and you then believe committing genocide against them is a morally defensible act, that’s not a liberal or conservative viewpoint, it’s monstrous and reprehensible."
Any director can stack the deck in this way. That is what propaganda does. The setting just makes it easier. Of course Avatar does not share the aims of "Triumph of the Will" – we get the difference, thank you – and nobody said so. But it isn´t innocent make-believe either, or Cameron would have made different choices in lots of areas.
The hell we won´t. John´s a great guy. Read Commentary. Read their Contentions blog* in any case, it´s one of the smartest blogs around:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php...
* I mean, when you´re done reading Big Hollywood and Big Government
You have a point, but "a second-string David Brooks"? That is harsh. I have nothing but contempt for Brooks. When it comes to intellectual honesty, I give Douthat 7.5, Brooks 3.0.
Ah, nothing like the old 1-to-10 scale!
I'm not a sociologist, but if I remember correctly, pantheism is part of the logical evolution of a culture. Monotheism would be a rarer occurrence; a trinity-concept ("God as a divine being"/"God as one of us"/"God in each of us") even more so. An alien culture *might* have a "God as one of us" concept – but… "Christ"? Ludicrous. And to introduce such a concept – to "spread The Word", as it were – seems misguided at best. Calls to mind Father Peregrine from Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles"…
Doesn't work if you substitute the word "everyone" with "the Obama administration and the entertainment industry," who can't show enough love for the bad guys.
Christ is real, the tree mother isn't.
Aw, come on, everyone's knows:
AVATAR: A VIOLENT RIGHT-WING FANTASY
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/avata...
Actually, there is some value to Avatar "story," such as it is. Impressionable youth, with proper parental guidance, can take away the following leasons.
1. After attempts at a peaceful solutions with an implacable enemy has failed, the only option is frequently hot war, heavy ordinance, and bloodshed.
2. It is better to take the battle to the enemy, and not allow them to invade your home, because doing so leads to excessive civilian causalities and destruction of valued infrastructure.
WRT the war on terror(ists), these are valuable lessons.
Umm I think it isreally just overlong Penne poorly rinsed and a bit sticky…
IntenseDebate Notification <DIV> Thanks, El_Gordo, checked outthe site.Excellent! Two thumbs up! Everyone here should check it out, after they're finished at BH and BG, of course
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Substitute "Koran" for "Bible." Wow, still works. Must be true!
It'd be nice to see a science-fiction movie with some science in it. Here's this great ecosystem with some fascinating implications, and the best those profit-minded capitalists can think to do with it is haul out rocks? Please. Tiny bits of chemicals are SO much lighter and easier to transport.
Ohh, but that would ruin the strip-mining analogy.
This was a beautiful movie. And, with a more intelligent plot, it could have been great.
I guess you missed mine, the fact that you paint people with a simple brush based on the fact that they disagree with you is what you are accusing everyone else of.
Most people on this site are of a similar mind, which should not be surprising, but that does not mean they are drones or mindless followers.
Your definition of a lie or mischaracterization seems odd to say the least, having been dragged to this piece of fluff by a friend the characterizations to one degree or another are quite accurate, since degree is a matter of opinion its open for debate but your screechy statements simply fall flat.
Do the "Mercenaries" have US flags on their uniforms, no, but they speak English and act like the typical Hollywood evil US soldier caricatures, as far as I can tell the group was a vision of a corptocracy which the left thinks the US is anyway.
Of course that’s my opinion, and since I don’t agree with yours I must be a mindless sheeple.
It always amazes me that since 1969 the leftist malcontents have spent billions upon billions making films to promote their leftist worthless agenda. Now with Avatar they spent close to 500 million and the film sucks. Its the same old rehash that nature os God, America is an evil country, capitalism is evil, the military is evil, its all a one note charlie and its boring as hell. Liberals can't make a film with a solid story like Hollywood use to make for over 80 years. Today they have more toys, more money, to make bigger and better films but they have to inject their useless, worthless agenda into the subplot of these films and they fall flat. In the meantime they throw Oscars at each other as if they are all on a higher level of creativity than the rest of us.
They are all untalented blowhards that make crap with billions of our dollars they get from the Box Office. Liberals are all cowards, the people that run Hollywood are gutless wonders. They will lick a guy like Cameron who can't tell a story unless the main character is a mindless robot. Hollywood is control by a leftist mafia that will NEVER allow other filmmakers to have a fair playing field to make films that go against this sick leftist agenda that after 40 plus years still hasn't grown deep roots.
YOu would think after all these films and TV show there would be no more conservatives. There are more of us out there then all the mad dog leftist no talent drug addicted perverts that infest Hollywood. What are they afraid of, of backing a conservative filmmaker with 500 million dollars that goes after the fraud of global warming, their love over animals more then an unborn baby, all their sick values. Why can't we see films that counteract their ideals. They are suppose to be tolerant and open minded, why are they all scared shitless to allow any film out there that honors our veterans, America. You can't say there isn't a market for it because Mel blew that argument out of the water.
Liberals are a joke, Hollywood is a joke their films suck big time, they are nothing more then fascist cowards who will never allow one conservative to stick their baby toe into the water to make films on a fair and equal playing field. They know we would blow them all out for the water. Avatar is a film with no story with great SPX and it pisses on who we are. This is such growth since Hollywood went after John Wayne's Green Beret.
Can Black RObe have been so long ago?? (1991) I was a mere slip of a girl! I'd probably look at it with different eyes now, but all I remember was how glum I felt coming out of it. Heh–300 as propaganda for Spartans–good call. The Spartans of the movie are extremely cool with their abs and red underwear…and then you remember the pile of "imperfect" baby skeletons that opens the movie. Yikes.
Guest, you are just too balanced and go out of your way to communicated rationally. I'm afraid anything you have to say on this site will fall mostly on deaf ears. But, keep fighting the good fight!
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